A quickie
Mood:  cool
Now Playing: and you will know us by the trail of dead - source tags & codes
Topic: Stephen Says
Gotta make this a quick one; while E, Tim & Vicki are heading off to Camden market to do some serious Londoneering, I'm waiting for the laundry to finish so that I can work 'till 9:30PM tonight. And then tomorrow morning as well.

Tim and Vicki are doing well. They brought over a bottle of mescal and we drank the whole damn thing. Elisabeth ate the worm and then we were like 'oh, we're not very drunk - let's go into town.' Except we were actually pretty ripped and generally made asses out of ourselves on the mean streets of Woking, arguing with bouncers & chatting up random strangers. No, wait, that was Vicki. I just meandered into Subways for a sandwich. And talked like an American really lound. And tried to talk in rap like Grandmaster Flash.

And all 4 of us pissed in new & surprising places. Someof which you would think that you couldn't actually piss in.

I am also ill. (Not alcohol related) Which sucks.

Oh, and HOLY COW, less than a week until we arrive in Canada! Yikes! Gotta say, I'm looking forward to it.

Damn. Laundry's done.

The Personality Disorder Test
...Just because it's strangely appropriate.

September Song
Mood:  spacey
Topic: Stephen Says
My God, it's September already! All the little chavs & chavettes will be going back to school soon, praise the Lord. No more England jerseys & ra-ra skirts polluting my beautiful town.

Ok, so we're definitely catching the train out of Dorval Friday morning for T-dot - that way we do 7 days in each place. And on the travel front, Tim & Vicki will be arriving on Wednesday so yikes! I've been the mad cleaner, making the flat look presentable so that we can at least appear (at the start) tidy and normal people. We've also bought a little cabinet so that, unlike as my mother had to do, they can unpack some of their clothes and store things.

We've had a pretty relaxing weekend all told. The weather's been ludicrus - Even Montreal doesn't get this hot & humid. Plus no one here has A/C so we just have to slug it out. Boo.

Interestingly, Canada's too tough for Scots. On their recent trip to the Great White North, my manager's partner passed out from the heat and had to get seven stitches in his chin. Heh.

Otherwise, nothing new. E's boss is asking, no, begging her to stay on after October and she has wisely said no. We're just sitting back and watching the news of disaster after disaster in New Orleans come in. Hopefully the one good thing that will come out of this is Bush's impeachment.

There's this weird thing on BBC2 on Thursday nights where they play the BBC world service t 1AM and then at 2AM turn over to ABC World News for some reason. God, it's shocking, disturbing and downright fascinating to see all the things that Americans aren't told by their so-called free speaking media.

Like how many Americans know that Fidel Castro on Thursday held a minute of silence for all the victims of the hurricane and spoke of his grief for their loss because most of the victims were blacks, hispanics & poor white people? Or that America has turned down Canada's (And Germany's) offers to send aid. Anyway, Americablog (Link over there on the right) has got tons of info for you to check out. So do so.

Hey, look at that! I was able to avoid going on a tyrade! I didn't even mention "Dr." Rice's 7000$ shoe shopping spree & night out on broadway (to see 'Spamalot') while thousands of Americanss were dying. Or "Mr." Cheney staying on holiday until when, Thursday? Friday? Or "president" Bush being an arrogant prick playing a guitar on fundraising stops instead of arranging a rescue plan as the hurricane hit land. Mind you, if I was on a 5 week vacation (Longest presidential vacation ever), I wouldn't want to cut it short for a bunch of dying black, hispanic and (eew) poor white people.

As Barbara Bush would say, I don't want to pollute my beautiful mind with such horrific images. Just like I don't want my beautiful Woking populated by ra-ra skirts & England jerseys. It's just a thought but, since we're innundated with chavs & chavettes, maybe we can ship them to Louisiana - strap some chains to them and they could fill in the holes in the dykes quite nicely...

Woteva!
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: The news
Topic: Stephen Says
Rightie ho, it's been a while since I blogged. Why, you ask. Good question, I reply. Will you tell us, you ask (slightly irritated). I will, I reply (slighlty aloof). Right now!

There was some residential kicking off last week that I alluded to last time and there was some mild excitment and she is now back at the hospital. Elisabeth thinks that I'm burning out at work; I think that my brain is morphing into something superhuman by the need to be alert all the time. I'm hoping that, in a few weeks time, I'll be fully capable on mind reading. At the moment, all I'm getting is a smoky grey shifting coloury foggy thingy.

It's also pretty busy because our annual review is coming up next week and I'm supposed to be co-ordinating with a co-worker. This is, aparantly, the single most important day of the year for the residence and they're put me in charge. With the co-worker who is 'destructive to my focus.' O what a glorious day it will be. I'm looking forward to, at long last, meeting the mayor and our local MP. Sorry, I mean the duke & Dutchess of God.

Summer is back in England - it's shorts weather and the nights aren't so bad because it cools off very, very nicely. Hopefully I'll have a nice tan for when we arrive in Canada.

Oh, Canada, you say. Sorry for my lameness - here's a rough plan of our itinary while we're visiting. Thank you Sean, for reminding me how I said I'd post this weeks and weeks ago.

September
16 - Arrive in the A.M. Chill out.
17 - In the evening; pub crawl: Foufs, a single shot at Fats, Brutopia, Brutopia, Brutopia. Maybe a nightcap at Buster Harveys. Sean, Joanna, we will require the use of your house.
18 - Breakfast at the Oxford, Tams in the afternoon, lunch at Cafe Santropol and a nightcap at Cafe la Nuit on Prince Arthur.
19 - Shopping for E, lunch/diner with my dad
20/21 - Relaxo.
22/23 - Train to T-Dot (E- When are we going? We need to book train tickets!)
23 or 24 - Toronto 'party' chez Mark & Jenn. And by "'party'" I mean 'get together'. E realizes that we don't know enough people in the T-Dot to have enough people over for a 'party' per say, so we'll have a fun 'get together.' See my Sister these days, hopefully.
25-29 - Westberg family visits, Toronto exploration, possible day trip to Ottawa to see Stephen W.
30 - Return to England.

Rightie-ho, folks. Please comment & amend and give us your opinions so that we can improve this list.

Trinkets
Mood:  smelly
Now Playing: The Beeb
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
Back to work today...Ok.

I really like Jarlsberg cheese.

Had a Quorn (tm) peppercorn steak, mashed potatoes & steamed broccoli for din dins.

Stephen's working late. Still reading Watching the English...

Blooby bloo

August Bank Holiday weekend: Summer is almost over ;(
Mood:  lazy
Now Playing: The ceiling fan
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
The weather is cooperating marvelously for all those bank holiday revellers who stood in traffic jams for hours on end, just to see a bit of sea side this weekend. It is clear, hot, and a cool breeze runs through the air. And yes, the weather is mighty fine for Carnival, which is today, and we are too lazy to go to. BOR-ING...

Stephen miraculously is not working today, and so we had a pankcake breakfast, followed by a stroll into town to purchase A Fish Called Wanda, and buy some trashy mags ("OK!" and "Hello!") so I can catch up with rest of the world. I had no idea that Paris Hilton was a deeply sweet and generous person...

I DID finish Harry Potter, and enjoyed the book. However, the series still pales in comparison to the Philp Pullman trilogy NORTHERN LIGHTS. Check. It. Out.

We are now lazing around the house, I played piano, Stephen played Jagged Alliance (TM) and he is now drinking cider & reading Andy McNab's latest book...I can't make out the title because Stephen's big hands are blocking the cover...

Poo pee poo....That's all!

Good Morning!
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: BBC Radio 4
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
Oh well! this has turned into a very good morning, and it's only 9am!

I received word that the wad of cash I (stupidly)sent to my parents my registered mail on 11 Aug, has finally arrived safe & sound into their hands!!! Pheww....I may never do that again...

Secondly, I received my provisional drivers licence yesterday, and my passport & marriage certificate were delivered by registered mail this morning!! Yay--no worries about not being able to leave the country on the 16th!!

Also, it's a bank holiday weekend!!! I'm drinking tea!!! And, I'm going shopping in Guildford (Stephen's gotten paid already) with a friend from work!!!

(breathe)

Otherwise, the house is a bit filthy, Stephen's working, and did a sleep-in last night, so won't see him till 3 o'clock today. I spent my Friday night wishing I had a man around the house to help me open the bottle of wine. I was so furious at my ineptitude, that I somehow mustered the strength in the end to uncork that magical elixir, which I nursed into the night while reading Harry Potter. I think I will be finishing it this weekend.

Stephen's father was in Woking on Wednesday, and the two of them enjoyed lunch at the Bridge Barn. We're looking forward to the arrival of my brother Tim & his best girl Vickie in less than 2 weeks!!!

So lots and lots to be excited about!!

I know I've used way too many exclamation marks for 9am on a Sat. morn. but such is the life of a wife of a social care worker....

Bluh?..?....?...........?........
Mood:  don't ask
Now Playing: Danger Mouse - The Grey Album
Topic: Stephen Says
The boss is on vacation (In Toronto of all places!) and, after a few quiet weeks bordering on being flat out booooring, it looks like the shit has finally hit the fan and has left my deputy manager rocking on the floor, clutching himself and hitting his head against the floor (Seriously. He did this twice.).

Can't say much, of course but the exciting thing is that a formal complaint may be made against me by a resident (Utterly unfounded) and, should all go well (And this is HIGHLY unlikely) it could even mean being suspended with pay while the allegation is being investigated. But that would be too good to be true so it'll probably be sorted out by the time I get back on Thursday. Bumer.

I just got off a 31.5 hours shift and it's weird how these things become normal. Though they still require cider for post-work decompression.

Actually, it's weird how my job becomes normal. E&I were waiting at the train station this weekend and this Mad Fucker (tm) was mumbling to himself and making bizarre finger jestures at the trains and/or nothing at all (Think Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys only filthy & weird - not cool & sexy) and, while she was thinking 'What's up with THAT.", I was thinking "Lah de dah dah doodie doo." (As I often do) And then afterwards, we had a chat about yes, that's the kind of thing I deal with every day (And worse) and have learned how to see beyond the illness and recognize the individual underneath.

Which is pretty cool, if you ask me.

Delicious, delicious food
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: The morning trains going by
Topic: Stephen Says
I just want to say that chefs should be the most popular people in the universe. Our meal last night was fantastic and Elisabeth stopped being vegetarian so that she could eat venison shish-kabobs & ostrich steak. Oh, and Best Chocolate Mousse Ever.

So now we're fat & I've got to do a sleep in at work tonight. I will be returning to the would of sanity tomorrow afternoon. Yikes!

Where did all the blogging go?
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: Elisabeth playing the piano
Topic: Stephen Says
So this is me this morning: "You know, since getting back from Sweden, We haven't been blogging that much. And actually, when I say 'we' I mean 'me.'" And then Elisabeth goes "That's because you've been working like shit."

And I suppose I have, really. So much so that on Friday I twice called the residence "home." Yesterday I called Elisabeth "mom" but I'd prefer not to talk about that. This week is my mad week with two sleep ins and the working weekend but when I say working weekend, it's actually alot of sitting out in the garden, chatting to the residents and, weather permitting, having a barbeque.

We went to a very nice luncheon yesterday at the house of a friend of, oh never mind, it's going to be far too complicated to explain the relationship. Anyway, it was a very traditional British affair with aperitifs, brandy after lunch, conversations in the drawing room, a geriatric beagle & kids running around with tiny mallets. It wasn't so much Great Gatsby as it was Clue (Or Cluedo in this country) but alas I'd forgotten to bring my monocole so I was more Ms. Scarlett than Colonel Mustard.

What with all this hard work, I haven't had that much time to do laundry and have been complaining about a lack of appropriate trousers for the last few days. Elisabeth told me to look in the closet and whoops, there are all the clothes I washed last week and forgot to put away.

Elisabeth's been pretty stressed out and feeling down about her job so last night, once we'd gotten back from the lunch, we tried to re-capture to good ol' days when we were broke with nothing to do to raise her spirits (It made sense at the time). One fast and furious game of Monopoly (Which she creamed me at), some spinache & gruyere pizzas, some vino (A very nice South African pinotage) and two and a quarter hours of Queen later, she was quite a bit more cheery.

The good news is that the bookstore will be hiring around the time when she's leaving her company and the two of us agree that it might be fun for her to give it a shot. She already knows the people and, what with the amount of travelling & unpaid overtime she does, the bookstores salary will effectively earn her the same salary PLUS give us 30% off books (Although it seems that my staff discount still applies, even though I haven't been staff there for almost 4 months...)

And speaking of books, after Harry Potter and another girly fantasy book (Tad Williams' War of the Flowers), I'm enjoying some good ol' hard boiled right-wing spy thrillers. On my bedside shelf is Andy McNab's Bravo Two Zero - a 'harrowing' true-life account of the SAS in action during the 1st Gulf War by one of the most decorated soldiers of recent memory.

And in my bed is the crushed remains of a terrifically large spider that woke me up last night because it was crawling on me. Elisabeth was thrown into the usual panic that always seems uncharacteristic of her and is now explaining her reaction as a 'surreal moment.' That's sort of like calling what Bush did to Iraq as a 'slight case of overbombing.'

10 points if you can tell me which 80's goth band that phrase is from.

This afternoon we're off to the South African caterer's house where we've been invited to eat her left overs from this weeks catering. We can't wait. Delicious, delicious food here we come!