Campy
Mood:  crushed out
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
We survived yet another night out with Stephen's co-workers. This time it was in celebration of Stephen's manager's wedding which took place in Castle Donnington, Derby. Around 2pm, 5 of us packed into a car with some beer & other refreshments and found our way up the crowded motorways to the tranquil Derby countryside. The wedding was held at this venue that must have been an old farm now turned into camping site/reception venue & pub. It was lovely, especially since the weather was very good.

We tried to find a pub where we could have dinner, but the "northerners" didn't seem too keen on us infiltrating their quite ways of life, so we bought some snacks at the supermarket and ate at the campsite. We were the only campers there...go figure.

The wedding reception was a lot of fun, the bride & groom looked very happy and there was plenty of pims and dancing to please everyone.

More merrimaking after the reception at our campsite until 5am, when the sun was very much awake. We left the site around 10am, and wound our way back through the cramped motorways to Surrey.

I've already had two naps, Stephen's in bed, and it's only 9 pm. I'll be joining him soon. Pictures will be posted tomorrow.

Tomorrow is here:

The view from our tent in Castle Donington

The campers

Mr. Ingerlund

The happy couple

Ambience

Will they be next?

beep beep beep
Mood:  lazy
Now Playing: Blondie - Denis
Topic: Stephen Says
All I can say is 'Phew!' and that has nothing to do with the Americans getting lemonaded from the World Cup or Richard avoiding nominations in the Big Brother house.

Nope, I'm done for the week and E&I are off to Castle Donington tomorrow for a wedding/camping extraviganza. In fact, I'm pretty much done, period. I'm working Monday but I'm just super-numery so that I can get things sorted out for the trip to the States which means that I'm shedding stress much in the way that I'm shedding the hair on my head.

(And that's regardless to the fact that the Area Manager showed up today without warning to do a Quality Assesment of the service with me. Two hours later and I've got this splitting headache...)

I am however, having re-curring dreams/nightmares about going through airports & dealing with probelms inside an airport0like maze that's usually located in Berlin. Basically, my fear is that I won't be allowed into the States because I don't have a visa and my U.K. passport isn't Big Brother I mean machine readable and that my now massively expired Canadian passport won't be able to save the day.

Anyone got any ideas on the going rate to bribe a U.S. customs official?

Promise Keepers are idiots
Mood:  lazy
Now Playing: Of Montreal - The Sunlandic Twins
Topic: Stephen Says
And an editorial in the Independent proves it. Sucks that you need to pay to see it BUT...

The title: A ring of ignorance, hypocrisy and stupidity.

In a nushell: Promise Keeper rings actually sexualize pre-pubescent girls by making them hyper-aware of their sexuality and spreads false ideas and facts that, considering that 9 in 10 promise keepers don't actually keep the promise, damage young girls.

Good points:
-re: promise rings: "There may be one or two mitigating factors here - religious fervour, a general sense of moral threat, fear of the modern world - but, in the end, sexual exhibitionism is the same, whether the boast is of promiscuity or of purity, it has no place among girls in their early teens."

-re: the sexism inherent in the idea: "Boys, mysteriously, seem to play little part in the scheme [of promise rings] ... perhaps many years hence, it can be solemnly handed to a husband."

-re: the poor thinking behind the idea: "It may be [promise ring 'inventer' Rev. Denny Pattyn] this man of God is unusually innocent or stupid, but even so, someone, perhaps one of the teenagers he cares so much about, should surely have taken him aside to explain that a girl wearing a virginity ring on her finger will not think less about sex, but more; its presence sexualizes her everyday life."

Anyway, there's more but E's taken the paper to bed with her and if you want to read more, you can pay a pound ($2.10 CDN, $1.80USD).

...

Stupid Angelfire, POST MY ENTRY... Boy, once we move back to Canaduh & this blog has run its course, I can't freakin' wait 'till we move over to Blogger. Angelfire, GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER!

Typical
Mood:  irritated
Topic: Stephen Says
Typical Sunday:
I went to work (Took the bike!), did the accounts (Nearly balanced them!), bought my manager wedding presents from the staff, held a BBQ at work, came home, opened a bottle of red wine and spilled my 1st glass all over our curtains.
Our white curtains.

Much stress ensues as we soak the bloody thing in salt water, spray them with stain removed, bung them in the washing machine with so much laundry detergent, soap suds are leaking from its cracks and... hopefully that will do the trick.
Otherwise it's Bleach City for them tomorrow.

Why does wine taste so good but stain so bad?

And, of course, we're totally broke what with this trip to the States coming up (Interesting factiod: We've spent (thus far) 1/2 of the total cost of our own wedding to make this trip.) and, what with another wedding to attend next Friday, the ballet to attend tomorrow, my Nain to visit on Tuesday, it's like eek! Is this Woking or Englefield Green? So yeah, stress levels are a little high.

Elisabeth's inheritannce couldn't come at a better time. She's in the process of sorting out how much will go to paying off debts, long-term-high-interesting the rest of it, sorting out a standing order and figuring out how much of our salaries we can set aside to save-up, etc. All so that when we go back to Canada, we don't have to deal with the same shit that we had to deal with here.
Anyone know any mental health charities in the Toronto area that are hiring?

Speaking of which, I may not be a deputy manager for much longer. You see, I need to take a test to qualify. And the old DPM who is now the PM needs to take a test to qualify as a project manager. And if he doesn't pass, he get's sent back to my position which means that I get sent back to my old position. Likewise if I fail my test. I thought I was through with tests but whatever, we've decided to put all this off until after he's back from his honeymoon and I'm back from my whatever and we're both (in theory) rested.
With luck ah, getting busy...phone ringing... need to stop blogging.

CONGRATULATIONS!!
Mood:  celebratory
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
CONGRATULATIONS to the fabulous Mrs. Christine McNaughton (nee Lee) who is embarking upon the wonderful journey of marriage today!

We wish we could be in Manitoulin to share in the celebrations.

Hip hip Horay!

----

And in other news, Stephen's working the weekend shift and is in bed early tonight. We watched the movie "Broken Flowers" which we both enjoyed. Bill Murry is always a treat.

I got carded yesterday for buying a bottle of white wine. Other than that, life goes on as normal.

I can't beleive it's not Richard
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: Nick Cave - Abattoir Blues
Topic: Stephen Says
Ing-ger-land Ing-ger-land Ing-ger-laaand...
Ing-ger-land Ing-ger-land Ing-ger-lAAAaaand...
Ing-ger-land Ing-ger-land Ing-ger-laaand...
Ing-ger-land...
ING-GER-LAND!

video and/or transcript
Stephen Colbert

You Did Beautfiully!
Mood:  happy
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries

What a wonderful surprise not to find Stephen drunk and angry in a flour-strewn kitchen.

This fellow pulled it all off beautifully, and had even done all the dishes before dinner. Here's the results:

However, it was all so good, it turned from a "light meal" into a gorge-fest.

I was quite overwhemled.

We then watched the film: 2046, which is beautiful and strange.

It's the next day, and how happy am I to be one day closer to going to vacation?

The Natural History Museum
Topic: Stephen Says
Elisabeth in front of a big fetus followed by 3 attempts of mine to ape Robert Mapplethorpe's style:

It's our anniversary today and I've gotten into the whole idea of, when it's hot, not cooking too much and making light, cold meals for supper. So in that vein, we're having nachos with home-made extra-hot guacamole & home-made salsa, some cheese & chutney toasties and, pushing my cooking abilities to their limit, a banana & pineapple cake with mango icing.

The desert is stressing me out a bit. It's a surprise but I've already warned her that there's a chance that, when she gets home this evening, she'll find me drunk & angry in the kitchen.

poot
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: fittingly, the news
Topic: Stephen Says
So on Sunday, to accompany my paper in the pub I also splurged out a ridiculous 2 pounds 60 on Time magazine becase it had a big report on the Haditha massacre. When Elisabeth finally got to the pub, she chastized me for such a stupid purchase.

And stupid purchase it was. I won't go into the details on the horrible pro-U.S.A. rah! rah! rah! that permiated the article but the real piss in my cornflakes came when I got to the last page and came across what is possibly the stupidest article I've read all year.

And in other news, Robert Fisk has torn Canada a new one. It's kind of sad to see Canada raked across the coals over in England.

Well, about something that isn't the seal hunt.
Or about being a'sexual terrorist.'