Last blog of 2005 (maybe)
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: Hanson Brothers - Get it right back (My Game)
Topic: Stephen Says
Well, Happy New years everyone!

E&I have been doing the pubs and eating pub food before they all get jam-packed, we've got some champaigne over here (Some very nice bottles, actually - thank you to whoever sent us that Marks & Sparks gift certificate for Christmas).

This year's depressing predictions come to you courtesy of The Independent:

In 2006:
-30bn tonnes of greenhouse gasses will be released,
-22bn rolls of toilet paper will be used,
-The sea will rise by 2mm,
-Around 130m babies will be born, and aound 57m people will die,
-292bn cans or bottles of Coke will be sold,
-around 350bn pounds will be spent on advertising,
-Around 1trn pounds will be spent on arms,
-1 person in 5 will be Chinese,
-Over 100,000 new book titles will be published in the U.K.,
-More than 900 films will be made in Bollywood and,
-Around 2.7trn insects will be accidentally eaten by humans.

I hope that this upcoming New Year is a good one for you all!

Chilly Chilly Bang Bang
Mood:  cool
Now Playing: Chattering Teeth
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
Drafty pooh apartment! It's cold cold cold in here!

Mr. Dehumidifier isn't standing up to those "and it warms the apartment too!" claims.

At the moment I've got my woolly toque on, and waiting for Stephen to call...which he should have done .5 of an hour ago! The idea is we'll arrange to meet in town so we can grocery shop together, but I can't go into town until I know what time we're meeting, and where. Isn't this what mobile phones are for? Mine is on the blitz you see...

So I've run in the rain, made my first miso soup, played piano, read, etc...made an appointment for my first lip & chin wax tomorrow... I know I'm so blonde, but being a feminist (quasi or otherwise), I seem to have a healthy level of testosterone. I shall say no more, for your sake of course.

Oh, & I cleaned our water filter today...bingo!

Now the big question is: What are we going to do this weekend? We have no plans and I'm already bored. So will it be DVDs? Board games? an excursion (not bloody likely), or some good old-fashioned tuning into the radio?

Ah! I know...we'll just get pissed drunk and make Mr. Men cupcakes...

Whatever we end up doing, you'll be the first to know.
>>>>>>
Or the last to know. It's Stephen here and bloody algelfire isn't updating properly. This was supposed to have gone up yesterday. Moan.

Como Esta Usted? /How are you?
Mood:  hungry
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries

Barthelona...the thity of Gaudi & late thupperth.

I've been listening to a how-to-speak Spanish CD from the library, and honestly I had no idea Thpaniards lisp tho much!

Otherwise Stephen is at work, sleeping-in and won't grace the apt. with his presence until tomorrow afternoon.

I tried something new with avocados today:

1. Cut & pitt an avocado, drizzle a small amount of olive oil in the "natural well" then dump some freshly chopped cherry tomatos in there, and cover with cheese. I then baked this in the oven at a high temperature for a short period of time, but really I only did this because the avocado was too ripe & needed some softening up. Which it did, but it still wasn't very edible because it wasn't ripe to begin with. But the tomato & cheese part was nice.

2. Make some guacamole & on freshly sliced baguette layer on cheese & guacamole. Then broil for a few minutes so bread is just starting to crisp. The guac. tasted nice warm & the cheese had melted...

Not feeling enticed by the sales this year. I just want to go shopping when I need to go shopping...

Stephen on a wave of testosterone last night fixed the extractor fan & cleaned the dehumidifier's filter. So the apartment's airwaves are all clear.

To be honest for a second, I can't wait to get back to work! I'm getting really fed up with bumming around the house. I would go to London but they are doing engineering work on the rails between Woking & London & I frankly don't fancy the replacement bus service. So making lots of plans for what to do in the new year. Just discovered the Borough Market in London on the internet...the oldest food market in London...whee!

Hope everyone's gearing up for Saturday night...it'll be a winner I just know it!

Curry Capers
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries

For the first time in...? Stephen was up and out of the house before I could get myself out of bed. This is not a reflection on Stephen's habits, as he is like a boy scout when that alarm rings...no snooze buttons for that bloke...but rather that I'm finding the more sleep one gets, the more sleep one wants. There's nothing like 10 days with nothing to do!

So last night we went to Jaipur in Woking. I'm deliberately naming the restaurant so hopefully anyone curious about going to this restaurant and searching it on the internet will be able to read about our experience.

While the food was not bad, it was not exceptional. It felt very much like eating a British bastardization of curry, rather than an authentic specimen of Indian cooking. I think the fact the place was full of white people should have tipped us off. Anyway, this would have been fine and acceptable had the prices not been totally off the charts! I mean you think you're going to get what you paid for, but boy oh boy: 50 pounds for a vegetable biriyani, another veggie main dish, appetizers (veggie again), 2 beers, 2 coffees & 1 dessert...how does that equal 50 smackers?

It's time to go back to L'Aroma with my tail between my legs.

Anyway, on a more serious note, below is a link to an article by George Monbiot which was published in the Guardian yesterday. The subject: Britain's secret holocausts. Wonderful seasonal material.

http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2005/12/27/how-britain-denies-its-holocausts/

Today, more errands in town. The library is resuming normal hours, oh joy, and get some food for dinner.

That's all for now folks!

Fun with wikipedia
Mood:  bright
Topic: Stephen Says
Just a quickie blog entry because I must be off to bed.

I typed 'Woking' into Wikipedia this evening and such gems as the following appeared:

"Woking's history starts in 673AD or CE. Woking begins around about this time as a settlement of a Wessex tribe followers of Wocca. The name has been corrupted and was spelt as Woccingas, Wochinges, Wokynge, Wochynghe at different times."

Wha??

"Woking was home to author H.G. Wells, who had the Martians in The War of the Worlds land on Horsell Common, close to the town centre. There is a statue of a (Wellsian) Martian in the town centre commemorating Woking's fictional destruction. There is also, inexplicably, a Hawker Hunter jet fighter, painted silver and mounted on a pole roughly 10 metres tall."

WHA???

And best of all is a link at the bottom of the entry to THIS POEM Which you all really must read to beleive. Yep, that's our Woking.

Yikes, I mean, my God, this is where we live?!?!

Later On...
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries

No crossword puzzles... I'm really just not ready for that step yet. But I did buy an address book & am formalizing all the bits of papers and scribbles into one place.

This morning after blogging was lovely. I went for a quick run and it must be noted that the 27th of Dec. has been the quiestest day for street traffic that I've encountered so far. Maybe 1 or 2 cars on my whole run! What's going on?

And then it happened just as I was about to go into town:

The first (and probably last) snowfall of the year!!

So I'm sure drivers were avoiding the streets today, which exlains this morning's phenomenon. But what a pleasure!

I'm now waiting for another hour or so for Stephen to come home. Then we'll head into town for a curry tonight---can't wait!

Weird Art
Mood:  d'oh
Now Playing: BBC4
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
Yesterday Stephen & I characteristically checked out the Boxing Day Sales. We came away with our original Christmas present for the flat idea: 2 canvases & some paint. Here's the result:

Can you guess who painted which one?

These were inspired by our fabulous gift of Heidsieck & Co's Monopole Blue Top Champagne Brut. Mmmm.

Today, what's in store, let's see: food shopping, collect dry cleaning, buy a crossword puzzle book (I've got to learn how to do these early so as I get older I can keep my mind in good shape...always plan ahead I say) and a Time Out magazine as we are finally going to sign up for a subscription.

Also, I'm going to try vacuuming the dust out of the extractor fan in hopes it will work once again, there's laundry and dish washing, and budget making...I better go now!

This is what I did on Christmas
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: Elisabeth playing excessively morbid union songs written by Brecht on the piano upstairs
Topic: Stephen Says
Arrived at work on the 24th at 2PM and all was quiet - everyone was jolly & in a good mood and looking forward to Christmas day. As my shift ended, everyone uncharacteristically went to bed early and so I meandered down to the sleep in room where I watched a DVD before turning in.

For dinner that night, I ate 1/2 a pizza. At midnight I was a tad peckish so I ate another 1/2 pizza. In the morning, I got up at seven and had 1/2 a pizza for breakfast. It's nice to know that even while working, I can keep my Christmas traditions alive.

So anyway, Sunday was spent pretty much just cooking. I was on shift with my Australian collegue and the two of us had to throw together a traditional English Christmas lunch for 14 (Though only 11 turned up). At 7:30 I had our 9KG turkey thrown into the oven. A tight squeeze, I was a bit nervous that it wouldn't even fit in the oven. 15 minutes after waking up, I was fisting the bloody thing, taking out it's giblets and, later that day, spent a good deal of time basting & probing it. I have never been as intimate with a piece of food as I was with this bird.

Here it is in the oven:

After that, the two of us prepared: Boiled carrots, roast potatoes, steamed broccoli & brussel sprouts, 2 different types of stuffing, gravy, honey roasted parsnips, a disasterous trifle that I had made the day before (With some assistance), a Christmas pudding (Well, I just boiled it for 3 hours) and assorted nibbles, juice, soft drinks and booze.

Everything was calm, cool & collected and I suspect that the 2 foreign men suitably impressed the English ladies who showed up at 2 o'clock only to see that the house was stress-free, kitchen was clean and there was no panicing.

So yep, everything was good. The residents told me that Elisabeth really should come because she shouldn't be spending Christmas on her own and, after the meal was done, E retired to the lounge to watch Singing in the Rain with everyone while we tidied up. Withness the destruction of the turkey:

All in all a very pleasant and Christmassy day. We retired home around 5is after I'd spent 27 at work. I'm off today and back to the project tomorrow; E continues her massive block of time off.

We've bought paints and blank canvases and will be painting tonight - sprucing up our flat with unique pieces of outside art. Unless we go out for a curry. But our energy is low & there's a bottle of champaign chilling in the fridge so who knows.

Champagne Breakfast
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: Mozart: the Marriage of Figaro
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
Ahh...that's better. Pop goes the cork & slurp goes my mouth.

Stephen was a dear and called me last night & invited me again to have Christmas lunch at his residence. I've accepted & so will be trotting off in a few hours.

Trusting you all are having/had a very happy Christmas & are groaning with the weight in your bellies.

Let's drink to good health!

Update: Twas the Night Before Xmas
Stephen's at work. I tried cleaning the bathroom & whilst dislodging a chunk of dust from the extractor fan, it was sucked in, and the fan is silenced forever. And because the fan automatically switches on with the light, I'm afraid to turn on any lights. So candles galore are dotting the bath tub & sink. Stephen will be pleased. Oh jeez. New Year's resolution: call the landlord for repairs.

Meanwhile I took a bath by candelight..,very relaxing, highly recommended, & read a short story by Banana Yoshimoto. Now, I thought it would a bit like Haruki Murakami's Norweigian Wood, but it's a bit too bare and boring for me. Not bad, but not teethy enough.

I have since given up cleaning for the day, and have also decided not to go to the Christmas Eve service, partly because the Anglican church in the town centre, I discovered, does not have a midnight mass. So I've listened to BBC4 all day & have heard the King's Choir traditional Christmas Eve service & have had my share of Christmas jingles from internet radio.

So. I've eaten, and now I'll relax this evening. Perhaps finish reading Hamlet backwards.

Joy to the World!