Saturday Morning
A quick note because our breakfast potatos are almost ready and I'm pretty spaced out this morning and the coffee isn't really doing anything and I don't have my glasses on and I shudder to think how many typos there's going to be in this update but there's a new photo gallery of Elisabeth's 23rd Brithday up and I've gotta go and eat spicy potatos with too much mayonnaise on them. Yummy yum yum!

S.

I'm in Love: With Woking!
Wow. Yesterday I went swimming (nice pool), and today I went jogging. There is a beautiful park not far from where we live that is just ideal: a fitness and leisure centre, water slides, pools, ponds, ducks, fields, shady groves, large sweeping willow trees, lots of tennis courts, nice paths, flat fields, and not very many people. It's such a pleasure to have free access to something of value for once!

So yes, I am on a fitness kick. And I think we all know the reason why!

Other good news is that I did manage to play the piano this morning for the first time in over a year! The church in the town square was happy to let me walk in and play their grand piano. It felt so good, but I was extremely rusty. The real drawback was that the back of the church is open to a cafe for old dears who eat lunch there. I mostly played depressing nocturnes which made me self conscious because I hope it didn't remind them of their impending death...hey, I can't help what my though process was! I've been watching The Sopranos! (Thank you VERY much SEAN--it's all YOUR FAULT!)

This afternoon Stephen and I went to a used furniture store close by and picked up a small side table and a beautiful stained glass vase--all for 6 pounds!

So yes, Woking is really woking out nicely ;)

E-

Busy, busy, busy
Hi folks, a busy day over here at 31 Dorchester Court. E and I have been roaring around town getting our new lives in Woking in order. I've found out that any part-time jobs aren't going to be very available to me but as soon as I'm done my dissertation, I'll be able to leap into work no problem. Mind you, I'm still hoping this thing in Chertsy works out...

Right now Elisabeth's at the pool swimming laps and getting into shape. She's also picked up a volunteering pamphlet and we're looking at getting involved volunteering in the area. Should I be unable to find part-time work, this is what I'll do for the next little while to keep me out of trouble. She's also arranged with a local church to let her play the piano there - she'll be heading over tomorrow morning to tickle the old ivories once again.

What else? Elisabeth's participation with the Woking amature opera society is getting nearer and nearer and (Thank you very much, Sean!) we're utterly addicted to the Sopranos. Last night wrapped up season two and we've just rented the complete season three so guess what we'll be doing every single night for the next week.

Albums of the moment
The Essential Barbara Streisand
Andrew W.K. - I Get Wet

23 Years Old Today
It is still early morning, and I can say that being 23 is already much better for me than being 22. I actually feel content and happy this fine day.

My co-worker Jane left me with a couple of mystery packages last week, one which Stephen was to open the day before my birthday. It turned out to be a Betty Crocker Chocolate cake mix, which Stephen promptly turned into a scrumptuous snack...half gone by last night...

There were a couple of presents and cards to start the day off with (thank you--you know who you are) and Stephen and I will soon be setting off to London to see a Caryl Churchill play at LAMDA, the Edward Hopper exhibit at the Tate, and finally enjoy a nice curry dinner in the East End.

In addition to making me breakfast, Stephen has agreed to let me sign us up as members of the Canada Network, a social club for ex-pat Canadians living in the UK. We will hopfully soon meet other Canucks, and have a bit more of an interesting social calander.

Anyway, I think 23 will be a fun year.

E-

New Gallery
The Tower of London

New Gallery
We LOVE Don Benis

New Gallery
A visit from Susannah

Woking Store Fire Sale
So we decide to stop by the D.I.Y. store on the way to the newsagents to see what shelves and home improvements we can add to our flat. On the way there, we notice the suspicious presence of police, road blocks, backed up traffic, empty streets with large hoses stretched across them, fire trucks, sniff sniff - yes that's the small of smoke, and a low flying news helecopter.

Turns out the D.I.Y store just burned down. Word of the street is that two vans were driven into the back of the store and one of them exploded inside. The roof's caved in and the mega-store as well as the one next to it will be knocked down. Rumours that a gas main was about to explode sadly turned out to be false. (Would have made a great picture...)

Good thing we moved in last week. Extra good, actually as Elisabeth's company car that we used to move us broke down a few days ago. More good news is that we've found a store that sells proper pita bread (Paving the way for the return of the fabeled Pita Pizza) and authentic curry powder for only a few pence.

So that's about it - read the paper, grilled cheese, onion & tomato sandwiches. We missed the local mosque's open house but listened to the call to prayers from inside our flat. We'll get more pictures up later today.

S.

New Year / New Gallery
Um, Elisabeth may have been over-stating things a bit when she wrote that we'd catch up on all the pictures in our back-log. I have, however, started a 'year 2' photo album and once we've gotten back from the news agents and read the Sunday paper we'll finally finish off our 'year 1' pictures.

By the way, if any of the changes I've made have rendered things more complicated or have resulted in other things disappearing, let me know - I'm kind of only just barely able to make all this internet stuff work and may be inadvertently screwing other things up.

S.

Sunday 11 July-Breakfast
Good morning!

A quick hello to you all to let you know that today is the day we will catch up on all the pictures we've been too lazy to upload onto the webpage---so watch out for the exciting pictoral histories of John and Sean and Susannah's visits, as well as some pictures of our new home, Liverpool and our favorite Italian in Englfield Green--DON BENIs!

Also, I have decided not to try out for the football team. I've come to realize that I'm getting on in years, and my back is not what it used to be. Instead of finding myself in shape, I would probably find myself in a wheelchair. So tomorrow I'm off to the Pool in the Park, Woking's local aquatic centre offering two regulation size pools, wave pool, water slides, water rides, and a fitness centre. I actually did bring my bathsuit with me from Montreal, and I can walk to the pool. Much more sensible eh?

-E