Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup
Mood:  hungry
Now Playing: BBC: Your Gardening Questions Answered!
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
I'm home again while Stephen is working...this has now become a very pleasurable pattern...for me anyway. Stephen's working very hard, and I doff my hat to the boy.

In the meantime, the need to keep myself motivated and active has governed my actions in 2 surprising and revolutionary ways: last night, only 1/2 the bottle of wine was drank (i.e., I put the cork in the bottle instead of poring the contents into my glass over and over and over...); and this morning I went for a run in the quiet Sunday morning streets. What is going on? But the body is thanking me, let me tell you...

Today is also "Covering Letter" day, where I must churn out those nasty letters to accompany the CV when I apply for jobs tomorrow.

Last night we stayed in, ate pita pizzas (mozzarella, goats cheese, chedder, red pepper, red onion and mushroom), and watched Goldmember. "Mosha, Fasha!"

Tomorrow Stephen has the day off, and quite possibly we'll have broadband installed tomorrow...wheee!

BBC Gardening: "I suggest you pop down to the garden centre straight away...go down to the evergreen pot grown trees coniferous section, in other words the christmas trees, as they will be charging twice as much for them in a months time..."

6 out of 6!
Mood:  vegas lucky
Now Playing: E playing the piano
Topic: Stephen Says
What does 6 out of 6 mean? That's the number of serious incident's that I've been involved in at work since I began versus the amount which have taken place since I began. Yep, that's all of them!

1 act of physical aggression (Against me)
2 acts of verbal aggression (I was one of the people being threatened)
3 accident/medical emergencies.

And two of them took place last night. The moral of the story: Don't ever work on shift when I'm around. Last night I got to put my 1st aid training to work with a serious epileptic seizure (People 'round here still call them 'fits.') that took up about 90 minutes of my life and then, just past midnight, as I was getting ready to go to bed, the poor man had another, less serious one. At least seizures are easy to deal with.

It's the paperwork that results from it that isn't.

Cans of cider await!

Hours and Hours of Waiting Might Pay Off...
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: Nothing
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
As mentioned, Stephen is sleeping over at work tonight, and I'm alone with THE APT..

After waiting with no response, I started making desperate phone calls to the landlord: "you really don't want to wait anymore, the longer it's not fixed, the more it's going to cost you..." / "...up at 4am for the second night in a row, and I have to tell you that my nerves are shot..." / "I'll be sleeping here alone tonight, and don't know what I'll do if it happens again..."

So a new plummer was called, and he made it over by 2 o'clock.

The verdict: Our immersion heater has two boilers, one general one, the other back-up for really hot baths & such. The back-up generally only comes on at night, and if you don't need it, doesn't need to be on at all. The legal limit at which a boiler's thermostat can be set is 60 degrees Celsius. Both of our boilers were set for about 80 degrees. They have been this way for a while. The thermostats had melted, and were no longer operational, and so were now replaced. What has brought this problem to a head is that our cold water tank being in the ceiling, is only supposed to have water levels up to 3 inches below the top of the water tank. Ours was skimming the top. If water flows out of the tank, there should be a working overflow which drains the excess water. Now. Some bloody builder didn't connect the overflow valves properly ("they're just jammed together") and was causing the leak. The lovely plummer-man corrected all of these problems, and then billed the landlord. As for the ceiling, it will dry, and then will need "a bit of white paint should do the trick."

The upside is that our thermostat is now 20C degrees lower, and should result in lower heating bills!

Afterwards I went to the library and for a lark checked out "A Modern Girl's Guide To Etiquette" by Sarah Evans, and here is some amusing English stuff:

Friends: "They're good for going shopping, eating chocolate, dancing, gossiping, watching videos, doing keep-fit, getting groomed and going on holiday with, AND they big you up and make you feel popular!"

OK, Bridget Jones, hello?

Clothes Shopping: "Remember, all shops produce different sizes, so don't get upset if you're normally a size 12 and today you're a 14- just buy what looks best and cut out the label."

Hygiene: "At all times keep a grooming kit in your bag or desk drawer containing deodorant, tweezers, a nail file, a packet of mints, spare underwear, ear buds, a mirror and a toothbrush. It may sound prissy, but it will stop you putting anyone off their dinner."

Question: What world am I living in? I generally keep deodorant (and if I'm particularly wealthy that month, a pack of gum), on me, but never never would I carry around all that other stuff. Does anyone else that I know do this? Have you all just been humouring me, and quietly throwing up your dinners?

OK--so I've stopped reading this book, definitely not up to scratch, and will now move on to: "Women Unlimited: The Directory for Life: A DIY Survival Guide for the Twenty-First Century"

I'm looking forward to getting out tomorrow now that my two-day sit-in and wait for the bloody plummer is over.

Ciao.

more wet news
Mood:  spacey
Now Playing: the coffee maker
Topic: Stephen Says
*Sigh* again, at 3:45AM the immrsion heater blew. It was a little tense over her chez Allin but I did something tht I probably should have done earlier and turner all the water in the flat off.

The leak's getting bigger, the ceiling's getting wetter and my wife is getting angrier at the fact that we may or may not see any sign of this mysterious plumber name Terry Fox (I kid you not) who may or may not show up today.

Anyway, I'm off to a sleep in at work which has stressed E out about what may happen to our funky heater tonight. She's convinced that one of our neighbours is doing it to us because she's heard someone leaving the block at 4AM the last 2 nights.

Probably just some sad sack businessman who has to communtte to London, though.

I'm tired, the coffee's still not ready and I can't be bothered to re-read this for spelling/grammatical errors. Not that it would really help, anyway.

Now Bring to the Boil
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: Bjork- Vespertine
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
Ok so the dripping has stopped--really not all that bad in the end, and it is clear that this leaking is not the first time, since our cold water tank is in the ceiling. And the maintenance man says what probably happened was our boiler over-heated causing the hot water to boil over & up into the cold water tank, thereby spilling the excess water onto our ceiling. GREAT. We contacted the Apt. building management contractor & the landlord, and after waiting for 6 hours, it turns out the Landlord wants to have his own plummer come by & fix the problem. This will be tomorrow? Maybe Sat? Meanwhile we have no cold water in the shower, so I've invented a new system, which is also very conservative of the precious aqua: get a big cooking pot--you know those BIG ones, and fill it with the warm water. Wait 15-30 min. until it has cooled & then using a washcloth, bathe. It worked rather well in fact, so put those Elisabeth is a grease-monkey thoughts out of your heads!!

I had a phone interview for an admin. role at the Surrey County Council yesterday, and hadn't heard back, so I don't think I got that one. The agency I've registered with thinks I'll get a job by Thurs. next week at the latest. We'll just see if their right.

On another note: I've put into motion our getting Broadband, which will be a whole 7 pounds cheaper than our dial-up...go figure.

I was also supposed to go drinking tonight with some co-workers, but it was postponed, so I had the opportunity to take my bike to be repaired (the spoke had poked through the tape between the rim & inner tube. The job papers came out, and foolishly I went to the newsagents Stephen always says : DON'T GO THERE, THEY RIP YOU OFF...and I thought, how could they rip me off the job papes? But alas, they had stocked last weeks job papers into the newsstand, and I just didn't check the dates. It's so obvious, but when I'm in a store, I'm like a deer in headlights, and can't think rationally...all that runs through my head is, "What can I buy so I can get out of here?" So there we go. After my bike was fixed though, I happily zipped back into town to another newsagents for the correct issue of the Woking News & Mail, and there are lots of jobs, so I'll have fun tonight writing covering letters.

Generally, I am REALLY enjoying not working! I feel pressure to get a job, only because of how we tasted a two-income quality of life for the past little while. But soon enough I'm sure.

Oh and I did go for a run again this morning, despite our leaky shenanigans & it felt so good. I've also been dry for 8 days now! It might be time for a shot of Kahlua!

Aw, crap!
Mood:  d'oh
Topic: Stephen Says
We were woken up at 4AM with the sounds of rushing water in our pipes. This lasted for about 15 minutes. Now we've got a damp spot on our ceiling and it's dripping water and we've lost all our cold water and we can't get in touch with our landlord. I suspect that today will be filled with lots of really annoying shenanigans.

Boo.

I ain't Partin' Till I've Gone Fartin' -Stephen Allin
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: The Essential Leonard Cohen
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
Ok--here's my big chance to blog...

So I've taken seriously the advice of my big brother Mark & have not just sat on my arse waiting for some stupid job to come along. On Saturday I checked a play out of the library: Amy's View by David Hare & have now read it, and am on my 2nd read which involves taking notes, then researching it, which paves the way for a 3rd read to get more details and so on...the idea is that I need to get back into what I love to do. Once I'm finished breaking down this play, I'll move onto another, and then hopefully get a catalog of plays that I've researched & analyzed so that maybe, just maybe one day I could direct them in an actual theatre. In addition I have taken Stephen's advice to not get lackadaisical and on Monday morning, I went for a run, applied for a bunch of jobs, went into town to the employment agency, wrote letters, did a bunch of laundry etc... Today I posted a letter to the local theatre to try my luck there, and went back to the employment agency to complete my registration. My typing test results say that I write 63wpm perfectly, and 89wpm with mistakes...which is pretty good. I'm only looking for temporary work at the moment, so I don't get stuck anywhere just yet. I've had one call today for a job as a public sector administrator, which could be promising.

More interesting news though, is how much we have enjoyed A History of Violence, Directed by David Cronenburg. It's very intelligent, relevant, and well made. Plus, there's Viggo, and so what else do you need?

Here's the last few pix from our trip...random ones...

First, Montreal as seen from the lookout:













Next, a torso in the Santropol garden:

And finally, Chinatown, Toronto:

HAVE YOURSELES A GOOD DAY EH!

And another thing,
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: Elisabeth doing something suspicious upstairs
Topic: Canada trip 2005
I meant to say this earlier, but one thing that I really miss over here that Canada has is a strong sense of a social contract. You know, like 'Gee, if I deliberately run you over while you're crossing the street, it would suck for both, of us, since you would be dead and I would go to jail.' Or, 'I will actually try to avoid walking into you and/or hitting you with my shopping basket because it's irritating for both of us and I don't need to be constantly on a power trip where I am the most important person in the world and everyone should get out of my way because I am the most important person in the world. Instead I'll treat you with the kind of respect that I would want to receive. After all, we're all people and we all share the same planet and it doesn't matter if I save that 1/2 second on my way to get those courgettes because no one's going to take all the courgettes. In fact, Sainsbury's will always have courgettes and, even if they didn't, I could get them at the market, or at Morrison's, or at any corner store. Like Alldays. So why can't we all just get along?'

But what am I saying? I must be taking crazy pills.

***
PS - Here's a picture of Mark & JC:

And here's a picture of Mark taken from when he was the cover of a prog rock album in 1973:

And this was how my mother reacted after Elisabeth threw a potato skin at her:

***
PPS- I've started working again & Elisabeth's started looking for work but appears to be enjoying being a housewife. Perhaps we can all encourage her to pick up the torch and become a blogging maniac while she's at it, no?

Back into the Weird
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Canada trip 2005
Time to spark up the ol' blog after a few weeks of relative silence. As usual, I'm not taking my own advice and it looks like I'll be staying up most of the night because, unlike the medeivalesque regime that Elisabeth and I inflict on our guests, I'm not allowing myself to get over the jet lag in a sensible way, so aren't I going to be a charm over the next few days.

E has already said it below, but thank you to all who holed us up; thanks to Tim and Vicki for taking such good care of our flat while we were gone (And leaving American style fries in our fridge... Just what the doctor ordered after an all night flight and having to deal with Gatwick & UK trains at 5 in the morning.); Anywho, we must do it again soon.

It's funny coming back to England after so much Canadian goodness. While we've been shown that the UK isn't a bad sort of place (It just needs to chill... the fuck... out!), it's still shocking to see that there's more of a rigamarole to get into Canada than it is to get into the UK.

It was also weird doing the same Gatwick walk as we did a little over two years ago; this time with less luggage (Though we did bring back an extra 5Kg's of clothing & music books(!) ) and more of a knowledge of how things worked.

Our train ride back home was marred by an incredibly over-eager conductor who looked like an evil master-spy from a low-budget BBC TV show from the 1960's who was far too perky for 5AM and far too keen about his job; telling the bloke next to us about the variations of ticket prices over the time of day and how a super-saver ticket isn't valid on a friday but a saver ticket is except that it's not between 9:04AM and 10:30AM because it's rush hour and a full fare except until he get's to Reading because it's a super-saver between Gatwick and Reading except that it IS a Friday so there's only low-fares in effect and that when he gets to Reading he's got to go to platform 4 because that's where he can upgrade his tickets unless he wants to wait at the station and get a low fare ticket instead of an upgrade or else he'll have to pay full faAARRRRRRGH! Anyone still reading this paragraph or have you skipped ahead to the next one already?

Then, at the change at Guildford we ended up trapped by this strange woman who spoke only in monologue to us and to others.

Then, walking from the estation to our flat, a strange old lady didn't walk, didn't run, but PRANCED past us.

And we thought, Welome to Woking. Wonderful Woking. And strangely enough, this bizarro place actually fels like home.

At least until we move to Toronto.

***
PS - Pictures!

Posing in the doorway of Octopussy (We're not a boy band):

A motly gang in the Cock'n Balls:


Stephen can't hold his liquor (And other things):

Neither can Sean:

Elisabeth tickling the ivories:

Look! It's Stephen! With a box on his head:

Toronto as seen through my shades (One of Elisabeth's art pictures):

I'm sure E will post some more pics but we really didn't take that many. We were too busy being exhausted. Speaking of which, I'm gonna try and get some sleep.

Return to England
Mood:  crushed out
Now Playing: Quiet Rainy Streets of Toronto
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
It is past midnight and we are drinking our last beers & eating our last pile of junk food before we fly back to England and undertake a massive detox health-kick.

We arrive at Gatwick at 4:15 am on Friday...so hopefully will be functional enough to post a safe & sound blog on Sat.

For all of you who we have had the fortune of seeing here in Canada for however brief a time, it has been so good to catch up & remind us of why we will be moving back to Canada in a few years.

We have relatively quiet times ahead, with me looking for work & Stephen continuing at the Crazy House. Maybe yet another visit from Tim & Vickie in Nov, but otherwise, all quiet.

Till next time...Turrah!