friday + saturday

tacos and a walk to the pub for some brewskies
pretty graffiti in sheffield
a mexican/italian restaurant
petey and myself.
watching dogs do it across the pond.

day tripping: sheffield

today we rode the train through the peak district to sheffield. it was an excellent day. we walked 15 miles. we found a great vintage store, watching dogs procreate and ate lots of delicious noodles. when we got pooped we sat in the park watching kids play in the fountain like old creepers. i liked it. petey did too. back in manchester we bought wine from aldi and made dinner. we have been watching amy winehouse punch and elbow her fans, and jay z rock it, on tv, at glastonbury. today i am very very happy to be in england. i am most days but especially the days like today when it doesn't rain and we find a decent restaurant. hooray!

burn k-doe burn

song by ernie k-doe.

reading, random grumpy ranting + rumps

i'm bored. spent the last few hours reading and browsing online for clothes i cannot afford.. and talking at peter while he played with musical toys and ignored me [he was wearing industrial headphones.. i'm assuming that is why..].

this morning we went out to boots and bought miniature bars of dove soap. we just ran out of the supply i brought over in january, thinking they wouldn't have it here. of course they have dove bar soap, but it is child size. we also went to tesco but it was miserable. it is mostly gray and raining. i forgot how rain affects things like my hairdo and my moccasins and especially my mood. you always read how peple from england [or people from seattle or people from dublin..] do not use umbrellas. i've read you'll stand out in the UK if you carry an umbrella. that is a lie. in manchester city center people love umbrellas and have terrible umbrella etiquette. they wack you in the head and throw them in the street when they get destroyed by the wind. if you want to fit in you should carry a giant umbrella and not move out of anyone's way. act like you own the sidewalk, but make sure to say you're sorry after you poke someone's eye out. don't forget your manners.

we are leaving shortly to attend a going-away gathering for a couple of australians peter met in the hostel when he first moved here. i've lived here for six months and have hung out with them one time. that is actually a pretty accurate snapshot of our social life.

this is hilarious. i don't mind seeing some nice bottoms. it sounds like bill cunningham doesn't mind much either. i don' t agree that men's pants rise and fall along with stock market, but i guess he had to justify all those photos of butts. some of my friends have been bearing their rears for a good ten years. i do not recall their pants raising or falling at all in that time. if anyting, the more dollars you have in your pockets the lower your pants would sag as the moneys pulled your pants down, so the opposite would be true. i would like to debate the topic. i could talk about exposed butts all day infact..

they don't display their rears much here [except by accident]. i don't believe the rears are quite as nice here either. i do miss it. i would love to see some sagging instead of the hoards of men in tracksuits any day.

bus rides, baguettes and bolton

another week is almost [finally] over. most of my time outside work was spent trying to convince peter we should have a chore schedule. he is not having it. he did finally pick a thesis topic. something about noise and models and math.

last friday we carried 5kilos [10lbs] of stinky mussels [on the bus] to piotr's flat and had a feast. we managed to eat 4kilos between the five of us. it was very fun and made me miss dinner parties at alicia's place. a lot. on the walk home i tried to yell at litterers and peter gave me a lecture about starting fights. i think he should know better. on saturday we stayed in town and went to all the markets where we found ridiculously cheap baguettes made by a real life, very stout white-haired french man in an apron and a german beer [and sausages] festival in st. ann's square. sunday we went to bolton on a coach bus.. like the kind we took to cedar pointe for math class. there we ate fish and chips and started a fried chicken takeaway shop photo collection. cherokee chicken was the best find of the day. we finished the afternoon back in manchester eating pop sickles in exchange square with lots of very well behaved gothic youths.

in other news i really enjoyed this. it has two things that i like very much, amy winehouse and vacuuming. i also kind of like these cryptic news blurbs. like finding a foot happens every day [apparently it does in BC].

i like to watch?

lately..

allergies are attacking my face. i am counting down the days until my supposed two-month-long temp position finally terminates. i don't know what has happened to me, but i loath the idea of working another day. i have a very pleasant job but still manage to go through peter withdrawal daily. all i want to do is wear pajamas. i missed my morning cereal because it took 35minutes to pick out an outfit.. even though i was up at 5 a.m. cursing the sun for rising at 4:45 a.m.

friday we drank wine, watched more peep show and ate éclairs. saturday we were still in bed at 4 p.m. later we took the bus to longsight carrying smelly homemade salsa. i talked to grad students about american politics [some more] and dissertations. i thanked myself for being an underachieving office temp. eventually i got into an argument, gave someone the finger at close range and demanded to eat a cheese burger. on the walk home a car full of college-aged guys slowed down as they approached us and yelled "hey gay boy" at peter. they then drove away giggling. it brightened my mood and was a fitting end to a poo-ie night.

sunday we went to b&q to buy a squeegee and light bulbs then spent the afternoon eating sandwiches and reading the paper in angel meadow park. i got moss in my hair and my first real tan line of the summer. peter was recovering from his late night kabob and i don't think he enjoyed the park quite as much as i did.

tomorrow i am going to birmingham for work. they expect me to get on the right train and find my way from the station to the office all alone. they do not know me very well. when i was still working in lansing i went to the thrift store during lunch for the wednesday book sale. an hour and 45 minutes later i had to call in and ask for directions because i was lost. i made a huge loop around lasing while attempting to take a shortcut through neighborhoods. and, unlike lansing and most of the states, there are zero straight roads here. they also change names every block and do not have corner street signs.

chester and too many chips

friday we celebrated by drinking too much wine, smooching and watching peep show.









on saturday we went to chester. the town has ruins of a roman fortress and amphitheater and is generally pretty.. like most towns in england. on the way i read about all the summer music festivals and double-checked to make sure they all really were too expensive to attend. then i thought that maybe that is a good thing.. we are getting old and i'm growing increasingly sassy.. i don't want to be that wasted lady yelling at teenagers for smoking and making out.

we walked the city walls, peeped into gardens, saw fancy gated schools and a horse racing track and lots of families with strollers and kids eating ice cream in the park. we got lots of sun, walked 25k steps [according to petey's phone] and failed to finding a restaurant for dinner[as usual]. instead we ate lots of potato chips and sat in the grass.

later on at home we had pasta and margaritas made with lime cordial and wannabe-el torro. i fell asleep on the couch ad peter woke me to eat cheese toast.. so sweet.

sunday we had the best edamame, green bean, sugar snap pea and arugala [rocket] salad with fish for dinner. we then ordered a crap load of groceries from tesco direct and had them delivered, as carrying cartons of soy milk and cases of cider got old real fast.

tonight we each ate a giant serving of homemake spinach, zucchini [courgette] and mushroom lasagna with bechamel and tomato sauce. the pan weighed 15 lbs and now it is in my belly.