dissonance

Why seafood is all guys, I don't know.

So I sign onto gmail and sit there for a minute thinking "WHERE IS EVERYONE?!?" and then I realize, oh yeah, you guys are all sleeping off your tryptophan induced food comas.

Madrid was nice, saw most of it via a car window to and from the airport and from that vantage point it looks like any other sprawling city.  But I have definite intentions of returning soon if only to consume more of the freshest seafood I have ever eaten in my life. So. Damn. Good.

This is Larry the Lobster.  He greeted me at the entrance of the restaurant. I didn't have the heart to eat Larry and I was happy to see that he was still alive when we left.  However, his mates Calvin the Clam, Peter the Prawn, and Harry the Hake were not so lucky.  But they were all delicious so, whatever.

And I don't know if it's just the hotel we stayed at, but at the breakfast buffet they had churros.  You know, the fried sugar sticks we used to eat at Great America except here they served it with a side of chocolate sauce.  At the BREAKFAST buffet.

So besides the fact that I had clams and prawns for Thanksgiving instead of turkey and stuffing, I think I still did the day justice with all the food I ate.  Oh and another difference is you guys get to sleep it off and maybe go Christmas shopping and I'm stuck at work trying to avoid the funky smell coming from the coffee break area.  Don't look at ME, I drink tea now.

Tiny relapse

Nothing warms the friggin cold flat up like home baked bread.

My new kitchen is tiny, but it's forced me to become more efficient and there's no room to get messy.  The fridge? It's the size of one of those that you probably had in your dorm room, but that forces me to buy fresh ingredients 4-5 times a week.  The oven?  Thank goodness for temperature converters on the phone.

It makes me more hopeful that Thanksgiving this year won't be as dark as I thought it might be.  I think I'm adjusting pretty well to my new life, but you can't blame a girl for being unable to resist feeling a tad homesick over Thansgiving, could you?

My coworker asked me what the idea behind Thanksgiving was, how did it start, what's up with it?  I was surprisingly at a loss for words.  I couldn't really explain the whys... just the images that flashed before my eyes and the warm feelings it gave me.

The delicious smells that waft from the kitchen.. for me it's all about the sides: stuffing, mashed potatos, cranberry sauce, corn on the cob, biscuits, all smothered in gravy followed by pumpkin pie and coffee... sitting on the floor with my cousins complaining how I've been once again relegated to the kiddie table but deep inside this is where I prefer to be... lolling by the fireplace, playing with the newest baby or gossiping with the older cousins... the parade followed by a dvd of a recent movie is on the tv in the background... sleepily wrapping myself up for the car ride home...

I'll be flying back from Madrid when I should be getting a second helping of stuffing, so in case I miss ya, have a great Thanksgiving everyone.

And no, they don't call me shmee

This past Saturday my flatmate, Selina, invited me to a dinner party that her company hosted.  Meet Selina, flatmate extraordinaire:

And for the girls, cause I know y'all wanna see, here's the outfit:

Selina will have to excuse that she is blinking but there you go. I got the top, skirt and necklace from Coast and I better find some way to be invited to a fancy party every weekend this winter in order to get enough wear out of what I spent on it.  Bugger.

The theme was James Bond and so of course there were these hired girls walking around in orange spandex.

And of course there was an electronic rodeo bull ride whereby accountants who drink wayyyy too much free champagne end up behaving ridiculously for my own amusement:

This weekend my friend Chris also taught me how to play conkers after I read a book that mentioned conkers and I said, "Conkers? WTF is conkers?" and then he said, "What, you don't know conkers?" and then he got some chestnuts, drilled holes in them, tied some string through them, and then he taught me how to play conkers and I kicked his ass.

Apparently the game is now banned in a some elementary schools where it's usually played because kids were actually getting hurt. I can believe it. I wacked my arm and leg a couple of times and motherheck, if you get enough torque on the swing that shit hurts yo.  Anyway, I totally brought it and the englishman got served at his own game aren't you proud of me?

Anyway, so there's your first glance at a couple of friends I've made in England so far.  Lovely folks so far, teaching me lots about tea and football and how to cross the street without getting killed.

Mmm... crambrysauce

With no pesky Thanksgiving to get in the way, we can get right down to it:

Although I do plan on hosting my own little Thanksgiving dinner here.  I'm sure that a table full of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and pumpkin pie for my new friends will counteract me running around the table (drunk on wine and faint from slaving over a stove) yelling:

"This is when we told your King George to piss off! woohoo!"
"Um I believe that's more 4th of July..."
"Piss off anyway!!  I mean, anywansmorecrambrysauce?"

wtf is going on over there?

Let me get this straight:

• Reese and Ryan are separating
• Britney files for divorce
• Dems take the House (and possibly the Senate)

Responses:

• Yeah I think it's sad too.  But I'm surprised when people say they're surprised at the news.  Hello, did you just meet Hollywood?
• I'm actually repulsed to read that he'll fight for custody for the kids so that he could get money since there's an airtight prenup.  Brit, I still don't like you much but I hope you kick KFed's nuts in court.
• I don't really consider myself a democrat, but at this point, change is good.  Please don't fuck this up.

This post is ass backwards

Goodbye 4th of July, hello Guy Fawkes!

This past Sunday was Guy Fawke's Night and my first official British celebration.  I guess I could read up on why this day is celebrated but let's be honest folks, it's much easier to just drink the beer and light the sparklers without the history lesson.

That night we trooped over to Guildford's Stoke Park to see more fireworks and more importantly, for me to take a picture of this ride at the carnival:

Yeah, I think that's Ali G too.  Yeah, I don't get it either, that's why I took the pic so you can join me in the not-getting-ness of it.

Saturday night was a house party hosted by some coworkers and they had boxes of fireworks they set off in their backyard.  Very cool!  Everything else after the fireworks is pretty much a haze but it must have gone on all right since no one from the police station across the street bothered us.

On Friday, I met up with Paulafata in London.  How freaking awesome is that?!?  He was out in Cambridge on business so we got together for some curry and beer.  We meant to take a pic but the Hogaarden and Guiness was monopolizing all our attention.  If we did take a pic it would look something like this, except we're inside a pub, we have coats on, it's night time, and um, in London. 

Use your imagination.

Anyway, so that's 1 down, at least 20 more to go. When's your turn?  DO YOU PLAY (in England)??

Consumer power

Argos sucks

=========

I am sorry to say that I am writing regarding my extremely disappointing experience with your company.

I recently placed an order of over £400(!) on October 20 and it is now 3 weeks later and my order is still incomplete.  My shipment was broken up into two groups.  Order AD028303672 was to be delivered on Wednesday October 25th.  Even given an 11 HOUR delivery window during which I had to stay home from work and not budge all day, the delivery NEVER arrived. I called Argos and was told that sometimes the deliveries run behind schedule and to call by at 8pm if no one came.  I called back at 9pm to report that no delivery was made.  This is now *13 HOURS* waiting for a delivery that never happened.

Customer service tried to help me but they could not give me any recompense other than to say another attempt would be made but 1) they could not tell me a day and 2) could not promise a weekend delivery. I was told they would call me back to set a delivery day.

On Sunday, October 22nd, a delivery arrived at 7am, with absolutely no warning and woke up my flatmate to accept the delivery.  The story could stop here, but the delivery was *incomplete* and only 2 of the 3 items were delivered.  No explanation was given to my flatmate (who of course has no idea that there are missing items) and I was the one who had to call Argos to investigate further.  I still don't have a proper answer about why I never got the Cream Double Shelf Unit but again, another delivery was scheduled for Saturday November 5 with again, a very large window of 7am to 4pm.   I was again, chained to the flat for 9 hours and no delivery was made.

I had to leave for the weekend and when I arrived back home I saw that Argos had come by with a delivery. Imagine my reaction to see that you had delivered an item I ALREADY RECEIVED (the corner shelf caddy) and *still no shelf unit*!

To summarize:
- Original delivery never arrived
- Second delivery, unscheduled, improper hour, incomplete
- Third delivery, outside delivery window period, completely wrong
- Order still incomplete, still missing that shelf unit but now I have an extra shower caddy I don't need.

You have completely wasted two days and a number of hours of my life.  You can be sure that I have told many people about my experience already.  I am shocked at how my order has been so improperly handled and I would like to know what Argos plans to do to remedy this situation and my disappointment in your company. What reason do I have to ever be your customer again?

Walk with mi

This morning I've decided to take you on a little journey called the Morning Commute. (warning: very picture heavy. Let it load and get yourself a cuppa.)

Here I am coming out of my flat.  The first thought going through my head is, "Fuck it's fecken cold."

These are supposedly the nicest flats in Reading and it's rumored that football players live there. I don't know about football players but one night I saw a guy going around his kitchen topless.  Humina humina.

This is the street leading out of my cul de sac.  At the end is a department store called House of Fraser and it's connected to a large mall called The Oracle. Yes, it's that close and yes, it's that dangerous.

We now turn the corner and this is where I jaywalk across the street.  For the first couple of weeks I kept looking the wrong way (you have to look right first) but now I'm a pro and the buses that come tearing down the street hardly bother me.

Sahara is currently me and my flatmate's favorite bar.  It's great that I can pretty much blindly stumble home from there.

The churchyard I cut across.  I take the path on the right.

Frost. I told you it's fecken cold.

The church.

The alleyway I cut through (yes, I'm finding all the shortcuts)

Window display at a guy's store called Officers' Club.  It's a pretty cheapie store, not sure how popular it is.  I think Topman is more popular (the guy version of Topshop).

Display window at Warehouse.  Another cheapie store for women.  I like Topshop, H&M, and Zara more but I found a purse here and I really like it.  Anyway, gives you an idea of the fashion here.  Yeah, leggings everywhere.

Broad street is the open street mall I mentioned before.  Lots of shops and it gets pretty busy on the weekends.

We now turn the last corner before getting to the station. Typical street in Reading.

Here we are, finally at the station!  On the left is The Three Guineas. I dunno what a guinea is and I haven't been inside but it gets crowded when Reading has a football match at the local stadium.

Inside the station.

Costa Coffee is a major coffee chain and it's one of my favorite coffee shops here.  I like the coffee a lot more than Starbucks.

What 2 quid looks like.  That's almost $4 for a plain "white" coffee!  As you can imagine, coffee is just a weekly a treat for me.

That's my train, the 07:34.

Once I get on and settled in, I pull out the knitting.  For the knitterly folks, I'm just in the middle of turning the heel on my second Elfine sock.

And by the time I get to my stop, Farnborough ("farn-brah") North, the heel is turned.

The gate at the stop where I cross the tracks.

Down the street to catch the shuttle to work.

Typical house with a name, this one is Oriel Cottage.

During the shuttle ride we stop at Farnborough Main to pick up more train commuters.

This house always brings a smile to my face.  I forgot the name of it though.

Typical roundabout.  We need to make a right turn, but in order to do so you have to go clockwise around that island in the middle .

Here we are at the gates to work. This is the last picture I can take before security gets mad at me.

Ok thank you please come again!

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Credits

Pictures - Nokia 6280
Beverages - Costa Coffee
Transportation - First Great Western
Wardrobe - Topshop, H&M, some flea market in London
Shot on location in Reading, Farnborough and Southwood

Not that I'm complaining

Ahhh, real weather!

It was actually less than zero celsius this morning when I walked to the train station (think back to high school chem, folks, that's below freezing).  The dew drops on the garbage cans were frozen and there was a white frost covering the grass of the church cemetary of my route.  Actually quite pretty if it weren't for the complete loss of sensation from my extremities that prevented me from really appreciating the prettiness.

I really want to take pictures of my route to take y'all on a walking tour but I'm trying to work out how to press the capture button with my gloves still on.

Cause mooblog doesn't update anymore

johnsilva:
happy halloween
ps
i'm trashed
:P

Sent at 9:13 AM on Wednesday

johnsilva: you got halloween drunk served :P