Month: September 2007
Note to self
Pink Floyd, like tea, makes everything better.
Canada Redux – part 1
Finally a bit of time to write about the whole Canada trip. The epic begins on the 13th, where it took me 4 hours to get to Gatwick. My flight was at 4:30 in the afternoon but Katy dropped me off at Great Chesterford at 8 in the morning on her way to work. I didn't mind – I actually prefer to take my time and get to the airport well in advance. I just plug into my ipod and reader and zone out until it's time to board the plane.
I had two trains pass right in front of me at the station without stopping. There was a signalling fault and there were delays (these were already late trains). My 8:30 train arrived closer to 9:30, but what can you do. That's when I learned that there were engineering works at Tottenham Hale and the train wouldn't be calling there, but at Seven Sisters instead. Normally, I get off at TH and get straight on the Victoria line to Victoria station and get on the Gatwick Express. This time though, I wasn't sure enough of the stations on the tube line and didn't want to spend an hour waiting at Seven Sisters in case my hunch that it actually was on the right tube line was proven incorrect so I elected to bite the bullet, avoid the shortcut that normally saves me about 45 minutes and go straight to Liverpool station and get to Victoria station using the tube.
This turned out to be a big mistake. It took about an hour longer to get to Liverpool, and then an extra half hour for a circle line tube to finally show up. I still wasn't really fussed, cause I had ample time to get to Gatwick, but I was getting fed up of waiting for trains. I finally arrived at Victoria and had 15 minutes to wait for a Gatwick Express (of course, I'd just missed one). I went to buy some food at the M&S express and a cup of tea from a stall – where the dude was so slow that I almost managed to miss my train (I caught it, but at the price of spilling a lot of my very hot tea on my hand – I should sue Nero).
At this point, I am starting to relax as I am now on the last leg of the journey to the airport, and I have (most of) a cup of tea. Something bad had to happen then. I mean, come on…. And it did, when the ticket lady told me that my travel card was not valid on the Gatwick Express. Now let me say that Katy and I have previously used the exact same travel card on the Express and had had it confirmed from the GE ticket counter that it was valid. But apparently it's not. I must have looked dejected enough that the nice lady only charged me for a ticket upgrade instead of a full ticket.
I finally arrive at Gatwick to learn that my flight has been delayed for 2 hours because of a mechanical failure on the original plane. They're having a replacement one flown down from Manchester.
Nothing else really important to note happened that day. I passed security, went window shopping, drank tea and waited for my flight. The flight itself was boring and uneventful. I watched Oceans 13 (and was glad that I didn't go see it in the cinemas – they managed to make Al Pacino sound lame!!!). Cleared customs without a problem and got my bags. The folksies were waiting to pick me up in Ottawa and we drove to their place, where I spent the first two days getting over my jet lag, which seemed nastier than usual.
On Saturday, I took the bus to Montreal to spend a few days with the boys and taking case of some business. I met up with Michel near the old Forum and we spent most of the afternoon shopping for stuff that I wanted to bring back with me (a new backpack cause my old one was dead, some DVDs that are not out yet in region 2 and flannel sheets that for some reason are impossible to find in the UK). The backpack was an adventure in itself, because Future Shop now sucks the big puss-filled ass.
The new layouts of the store is awful and it's impossible to find somebody willing to help. I wanted a Targus backpack because I know they're solid. My old one, though now literally falling apart at the seams, was bruised and battered through years of solid wear and tear. Future Shop apparently only carried a generic knock-off brand but then we found something really weird. Two identical bags – one branded Targus, one branded the no-name brand. Guess which one I wanted. Guess which one didn't have a price sticker. Guess which one I took anyway. Guess how many trips the sales clerk had to make through the busy store to get me the bag I wanted…
The day ended well though, cause we went for a pint at Hurleys and then really, really, REALLY excellent sushi at Bishoku. I have a really soft spot for the folks who run the restaurant. I haven't been a regular client there since I moved to the UK, more than 2 years ago but I try and go there every time I'm in Canada. Every time Michel goes there, they ask about me.
When I went there and they noticed that Katy wasn't with me, they were sad. I told them we'd be back at xmas and they said “when you come next time, we'll give her ice cream”‡. I finally asked them why they always ask for news about me and it seems that when they bought the restaurant a few years ago, Michel and I were some of their first regular customers. It seems we made a good impression :) Anyway, the sushi was excellent – it's still the best I've ever had and is the yardstick by which I measure every sushi restaurant – and the company was good. I took a cab to go to POs (he was nice enough to offer his guest bedroom for a few nights) and chatted over a few ciggies then went to bed.
On Sunday, I had brunch with Sara and Em and then went to see Nat's new house. I was pleasantly surprised by it – it's nice and bigger than it looks from the outside. I'd made plans the night before to go have dinner with Michel, Isabelle and Danielle (Michel's sister – which it turned out I hadn't seen in over 7 years). Dinner was fun and there was much laughing. Isabelle had bought mussels for dinner, but they seemed a bit dodgy so we ended up chucking them all in the bin and ordered in some St-Hubert :) It still tastes the same.
Monday was another busy day, because I wanted to go to the old port for some tea at Ming Tao Xuan and get a drop-chain necklace for Katy from the jewelers at Marche Bonsecours. Tea was good but I was a bit disappointed that it didn't taste as great as I remembered it :( I got a nice tea set though. The jewelers were also a let down because their stuff was all much of a muchness. I didn't see what I was looking for, and didn't see anything really leaping out at me saying “buy me, I'm original”. I went to see Bernard, my financial planner to go over some paperwork and then went back to the old port to try my luck at some jewelers at the Marche des Artisans. No joy. Got back to POs and went to buy some curry-making supplies as I'd offered to cook for the boys before the game night. I discovered that I missed Tesco…
Boy's night went ok, but I was disappointed that a lot of people just didn't show up. PO had sent an email weeks before, and a reminder days before, and yet another on the day. Seb, Vincent and Simon just didn't come, nor did they give any sign of life. That hurt a bit. Still, it was a fun night. I discovered a new card game called Bang! and we played a few games and chatted over beer and ciggies.
I took the bus Tuesday morning back to Ottawa and spent the rest of my time in Canada at the folks' place. We went shopping on Wednesday for some new suitcases, weird and wacky stuff from the dollar store for Katy and a broadband solution for my dad's computer. I got two really nice Samsonite individual-sized suitcases for about £65 – bargain.
Thursday was lets-get-Dad-connected-to-the-Internet day. We bought a new-fangled WiMax wireless broadband modem from Bell. It's the only way they can get broadband but the upside is that it works and is roughly 80 times faster than their previous connection speed :) The only room in the house that gets decent signal is their bedroom, so we had to go back into town to get a wifi router and card for the desktop computer. Got that hooked up and secured (a VERY big concern for my dear papa) and then spent roughly 6 hours trying to reach somebody at their 24/7 tech support helpline to activate the damn account. We did, it works, they are happy. Life is good. The service was stable for the whole time I was there, so touch wood it should be good. There was only one small speed bump that required another (useless, as it turned out) 2 hour phone call to tech support but I found the problem the next day and worked some tech magic for it to not happen again.
My sister and the sprog arrived the next day and there was drama over the weekend, which I will write about at a later time cause now I'm tired and lunch is over so I need to get some work done.
‡ Katy loves their deep-fried ice cream dessert :)
It's going to be that kind of day today.
Anything but the pig!
THE great British breakfast is under threat – from a shortage of sausages and bacon, it emerged yesterday. Pig farmers warned that a 30 per cent rise in the cost of feed could put them out of business.
And they say supermarkets, which buy 70 per cent of British pork, must pay more to avert predicted £200million losses in the industry. Feed, which accounts for up to 60 per cent of the cost of raising a pig, is dearer because wheat prices are up. Ian Campbell, of the National Pig Association, said: Pig farmers are just giving up. Its not worth it any more.
More expensive wheat also threatens the cost of bread and eggs, other staples of the fry-up. If the supermarkets give in, a pack of eight bangers will go up from £1.99 to around £2.15. But the firms are resisting. Marks & Spencer said: We already pay well above market price.
I'm HooOOoOOOOOOoOOOmmMMMmMmMEeeEEeeE!!!1!
I've made it back home in one piece, albeit a f'n tired one. Lots to write about, but not now. Now? Shower. Then bed. BED!
I've been on the go for the last 13 hours straight with only about an hour's sleep at the beginning, if that. Then there was Gatwick. I hate Gatwick. And Tottenham Hale. Which is not that much better. And then home!!!!!!!!!!
I've come to a profound realization. Canada is a nice place to visit, but it's no longer home. Home is where my bed is. Home is where my cat is. Home is, most of all, where my wife is.
On that note, duckie to you all!
He did it again!
The little fucker did it again. He peed on the couch. Twice in the same day!
We woke up this morning to find a damp spot on the right side of the couch. I used the cleaning spray that Katy bought when he peed on the couch last weekend and it got rid of the smell. When I got back from work today, everything seemed hunky dory. We went for dinner at the pub and when we came back, lo and behold, he'd peed on the couch again. On the left side of the couch.
Katy thinks that it's because we've introduced him to going outside, where he smells a bunch of other cats and this has somehow triggered the instinct to mark his territory. Maybe. Looks good on paper, but it will not be tolerated. Trouble is, there's no way to really enforce that. We're going to get a cat flap installed in the back door so he can go out when he wants to. Hopefully he'll catch on to the concept of peeing “outside” where we won't want to kill him every day.
Besides from sliming the couch on a regular basis, he's in fine form. He gets lots of fuss and still likes a good game of fetch-the-catnip-mouse.
I really hope this behaviour stops quickly though, cause we're running low on cat pee remover and I'm running low on patience.
He peed on the fucking rug, dude. That rug really tied the room together.
Well, he didn't pee on the rug, but he peed on the couch (again) and he peed in a laundry basked. I am talking, of course, about our cat. For reasons unknown, he's boycotting his litter tray and making contributions to the decor of the soft furnishings around the house. We've already had to throw away a backpack that had gone unnoticed until it turned rancid, yellow and generally biohazard-esque. We're also going to chuck two cushions cause they just smell nasty. I just hope it's a temporary situation; otherwise things will get unpleasant :(
In other news, I'm a bachelor for the weekend. Katy is in Derby visiting Rita. I spent the morning lounging around then went into town to run a few errants. On the way back, I saw a sight that really made me want to reach for my camera but I didn't have the time to do so because my bus arrived and I had to hustle to get in. Imagine a gaggle of 14-15 year old girls wearing black fuck-me boots, cammo crotch-hight mini skirts and black wrap-around tops a few sizes too small just hanging out in front of an off-license shop. Now the same sight if the girls were 5 years older would have made me drool (come on, I am male after all). That one though was just wrong in so many ways…
Yay, lesbians!
God, I'm easily amused when I'm debugging :)
As dumb as a sack of hammers
And this is the Leader of the Free World :)
US President George W. Bush today thanked “Austrian” Prime Minister John Howard, in front of a summit of business leaders, for being a kind OPEC† host.
Mr Bush, who flew halfway around the world to be in Australia, not Austria, for the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit of world leaders, took to the stage at the Sydney Opera House. He thanked Mr Howard for his introduction and for being such a “kind host” for the OPEC summit.
“I mean APEC summit,” he said. “I've been invited to the OPEC summit next year. The APEC summit.”
The faux pas brought laughter from his audience.
As if that was not enough though, Mr Bush also botched the host country's name, referring to Mr Howard's visit to Iraq in 2006 as a thank you to “the Austrian troops there”.
Mr Bush also stumbled over his pronunciation of Jemaah Islamiah, the regional terror network, but had no trouble with its abbreviation – JI.
Upon finishing his speech, Mr Bush took the wrong way off-stage and, looking slightly perplexed, had to be redirected by Mr Howard to a centre-stage exit.
But not before a veteran White House correspondent seized the opportunity to ask Mr Bush whether there had been any new message in his speech. Apparently misunderstanding the question, he bristled and asked, “Haven't you been listening to my past speeches?” before turning away.
White House aides later said Mr Bush had been joking and would not, in fact, attend an OPEC summit.
Mr Bush is no stranger to the occasional faux pas, and often jokes about his habit of mangling the English language. One of his highest-profile gaffes came in May when, at a welcoming ceremony for the Queen, he nearly placed her in the 18th century. Then there was the famous incident at the G8 summit in St Petersburg in 2006 when Mr Bush, unaware he was on camera, greeted British Prime Minister Tony Blair with the words “Yo Blair”.
Mr Bush's sometimes muddled syntax and mispronunciation of words like nuclear (“nukular”) have long been fodder for late-night TV comedians. But aides say his folksy style has helped endear him to Middle America‡.
Source: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22378059-5013109,00.html
† OPEC is the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
‡ Look Ma! We ain't da dumbest rednecks!!!