Just some stuff
Now Playing: the clatter of the train, the um of the fan, the fat blow-hard on the radio ranting in his wheezy, flinty voice
Topic: Stephen Says
You know, I really should type ‘light blogging for the next few days’ at the top of every blog entry that I do, because that usually means that there will be some actual blogging going on, instead of dead silence. So, um, anyway, light blogging over the next few days – Very busy over here.

Over on my end of the stick, I’m still really enjoying my job. Now that the inspection is over and the various problems with residents is over, it’s actually quite relaxing: Giving out medication, chatting to people, organizing activities, blah, blah, blah. By my figuring, I’m working 5 weeks in terms of hours for every four weeks of actual time. Make sense? The main problem is the degree to which we’re massively understaffed but the amount of freely available overtime is very nice for my wallet as we’ll should be able to get out of debt almost as quickly as Elisabeth is building it up. And yeah, she will kill me for that comment but, Jesus, do you know how much that piano cost?!?

As for England, well, it’s hot. But I won’t complain, since I understand that Mtl & T-dot are, of course, much hotter and much more humid (Show offs!). The significant advancement in my overall maturity is that I’ve gone & bought myself shorts. Willingly. Happily without argument. The big test is today when I hit Guildford for a new pair of shoes. Baby steps. Baby steps.

Anywho, it’s my day off & I’m only starting my second cup of coffee (I need 3 to function at above 75% capacity) so I’m not fully together. Hoping that there’s a long promised thunderstorm soon so that the humidity will be cut. I’m slowly melting. Oh, and light blogging for the next few days – Very busy over here.

The Cotton Anniversary
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
Since this past Tuesday, Stephen & I have been married for 2 years!!

And only after 2 years of marriage have we begun to do anything close to a honeymoon...(we had no money in Paris...)

We booked at lastminute.com...and got a good deal on a 5 star hotel deluxe room with a river view.

And on closer inspection:

In short, the view was stunning. Especially at night...cor blimey govna'

When we arrived, the room was not ready. But the hotel gave us a sign that our marriage was truly meant to be: complementary drinks at the bar....And what a bar! There was a quiet garden with heating lamps (and yes, we needed them) a trickling fountain, flowers, etc... very relaxing. And relax we did with the help of Organic chardonnay & Jack Daniels. Bliss.

Once the room was ready we were hungry & left to walk through the tourist infested streets of covent garden & soho. We found a laid-back place called Soho Pizzeria (I wonder why this caught Stephen's eye). We ate pizzas to rival that of Don Benis (sorry Mr. Beni...).

Afterwords, we felt we had cultured ourselves enough, and reverted back into our chav-y ways and went to Tescos to buy cheap Cuvee, wine and cookies.

Back at the hotel we watched TV (a big night out, we know, we know!). I saw Big Brother for the first time. Who Wants to Be A Millionaire was also just the ticket. So we drank cheap wine & ate cookies in bed watching the boob tube..how romatic are we??

In the morning Stephen made and drank every complementary tea & coffee. Yes, even the decaff...it was such a fancy coffee maker. Very hard to resist.

We then walked to a much more peaceful & deserted Covent Garden for breakfast, where we found a little terraced joint called the Rock Garden. Service was slow, but it was the best English breakfast we'd had.

After strolling through the streets, we ended up at the Saatchi gallery, and actually paid to go inside. Big mistake...all the art seemed hyped to make you think "gosh, how disturbing..." But after being married to a man who has perfected the art of drawing disturbing monsters and people, nothing Saatchi had to offer could compare with what's drawn on our pink table. That is, except for a room half-filled with engine oil. You have to read a warning before you enter, and there is a steel runway with walls that come up to your chest that are holding back the oil. Very cool, and very smelly.

But just to prove that our weekend was indeed exceptional, here is a picture of...OH MY GOD!!! IS THAT A BLUE SKY IN LONDON???!!!

Apocalypse!
Topic: Stephen Says
Yes, yes, yes at long last we saw it! And yeah, it rocked. Almost too much of a movie to take in in one viewing. And if you haven't seen all three season (plus special), then you'll probably find yourself just sitting there wondering when they'll get around to telling a joke.

Click here you bums who have high speed/ broadband internet for more weirdness.

It's one of these weird films that both Elisabeth and I would happily go back to the theatre to see a second time. It's a terrible shame that there's pretty much a 0% chance of the movie (let alone the show) getting released in North America.

Bring on December! E&I have already booked tickes to see The League's Christmas show...

"Look! I made a brown fish."

Tired
Topic: Stephen Says
I didn't mean to work so much this week. But I did. Thank God for the 5 star hotel waiting for me in London tomorrow. Thank God for Elisabeth's piano music. She's able to play the Buckaroo Banzai theme song on it already in all it's 1984 electro glory. Thank God for overtime pay because this damn piano is good but costs an arm & a leg & a kidney & and 3 pints of blood belonging to an albino virgin from the Magic Land of Moo.

Da duh da da duh dadada DA
Da duh da da duh dadada DA
Duh da da da dadedaaaaaa

and then, later on it goes

meooooooooooooooooooooow
zeooooooooooooooooooooow

Keep Reading Down
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: The office
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
Do not be side tracked by wonderful pictures of pianos, and read on, until you are sure you understand Stephen's mental state...

A new member to the family!
Mood:  celebratory
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries

Hip Hip Horay!!

Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: bliss
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
To my left, you will see an unblemished BLUE sky! Notice the abundance of sunshine which shows off the lush greenery. Yup, it is a GOOD day in England today, and I have a day off of work!!! YAHOOOO!

The reason is not the weather, but that my new piano is being delivered today!!!

Stephen is on Day 2 of his Mental Health Awareness training course in Basingstoke. Unfortunately he is also doing a night shift, so I will not see him until tomorrow afternoon, when I better have some cold cider waiting for him, or else everything he has learned about mental health will go out the window....speaking of which...last night after spilling my wine, we decided to go to the pub to finish of the evening. At the bell for last call, Stephen rushed up to get that last pint...you know the pint you really want but don't need? All was well until 2am when Stephen got up to take a leak, and opened the door to the communal hallway, wearing nothing but his birthday suit. When I groggily asked "What the hell are you doing?" Stephen told me to chill out, it's ok. HA Hha hahaha....he couldn't believe it this morning that he went into the hallway stark naked expecting to discover a place to piss..... Ah the beauty of it.

So yes, Stephen is at a Mental Health Awareness training course today.

Ominous stuff
Mood:  lazy
Now Playing: Why, it's THE ARCHERS! on BBC radio 4
Topic: Blogs with photos
The weather is ominous today. The grey skies plus low ceiling thing is going on and it’s grey and dreary, neither hot or cold, damp or dry and the wind exists only as a nervous rustle. Two years ago I would have assumed the corresponding rain storm was imminent but now that I’m older & wiser, I know that it’s just going to stay this way all day and maybe the next. Maybe all week. Maybe. And maybe it’ll rain but maybe it won’t. Maybe if it does rain, maybe it’ll be a shower or maybe it’ll be a bit heavier. And maybe it’ll last a few minutes or maybe it’ll last all day. Maybe. Like I said before; ominous.

Elisabeth will be pissed off that I’ve bumped her most recent entry down a notch so please read it after this or, if you really want to support her, stop reading this entry and read hers. Now.

Back again? Good. Tomorrow’s going to be my last double (13 hour) shift for a while (It’ll most likely be about a week before I forget how tiring these shifts are & I go back to doing them all over again) and them I’m off to Basingstoke for a couple of days for some training on the core values necessary in my line of work. Like Don’t knock people to the ground and laugh as you urinate on them and Do not employ the ‘one for you/ one for me’ method of distributing medication. Anyway, all the overtime is going to feel quite good when it comes to my ay cheque and there’s a couple of hundred extra quid on it. The shitty thing is that, with only 1 weekend off every two weeks, I don’t have a life any more.

We’re planning out what we’re going to be doing this weekend for our anniversary – Swanky hotel in London? Check. Now we’ve just got to figure out if we’re going to blow the rest of our wad of cash on food, theatre or music. Mon Dieu, the trials & tribulations!

Oh, and here's a treat since we've been skimping on the picture front:

No Peace I Find
Mood:  lyrical
Now Playing: Ray Charles-"Georgia"
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
Good Morning Blog! I sit here listen to Ray Charles on a Sunday morning, watching the washing machine spin in front of me. I must remove the dishes from the top before the spin-cycle, or else mayhem!

Stephen has been working like a horse...over 60 hours this week, and I have virtually seen him for a few hours this weekend...and this week for that matter!

The good news for him is that tomorrow he finally gets a day off, and next weekend we are celebrating our anniversary in London, which we are NOT going to do on the cheap.

Speaking of NOT being cheap, yesterday I took the plunge and rented a digital piano: a Yamaha CPL130 which I thought was better than any of the Roland F-series. The piano will be delivered on THURSDAY!! Oh boy oh boy oh boy....drool, drool, drool...

Yup, here at the Allin Household, Woking Branch, we are adjusting not only to climate change, but also to the change of our working lifestyle...work, eat, clean, sleep, work, eat, clean, sleep...

In fact, I have been accused (rightly/wrongly?) of taking this schedule much to seriously and not having fun any more. In fact, I apparently have become very pessimistic. But the truth is, I am just mourning for Canada. And for as long as I am parted with that beloved simple country, I will fail to see the fun in living a town that was founded on cemeteries and loony asylums, that has been rated as a top CHAV town (see past blogs). And even though the exercise is good for me, cycling 14 miles a day to a job which requires more from a person than the laws of sanity allow, and come home to a tiny apartment that is so drafty that with all the windows closed, the curtains still billow, I will remain humourless. And to buy groceries (only as much as can fit inside our 2ft x 2ft fridge) it is a 10 min. walk each way to shop in a place where the other shoppers make it impossible for you move around the store (see Michael Caine in Ipcress Files...perfect example)...

Aaahh, aaahh, aaah, breathe, breathe,

What I really hope is that I'm not suffering from the "Female Syndrome" where as a girl gets older, she suddenly becomes a clucking hen that spends her time doing this and that, and not interested in just sitting down, drinking a beer, and reading a book.

Uncharacteristically though, I feel optimistic that things will get better. Patience is key.

Gotta grab those dishes....

I AM NOT THE CHIPPER!
Topic: Stephen Says
Aaaaaarg!
We're reading The Corrections again. I'm already spazzing out.
ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRg!