just some nonsense

i just saw pablo of pablo's panaderia in the ikea catalog. then i found this! when i still lived in lansing, peter and i would walk up to oldtown saturday mornings and have a brunch of coffee and burritos there. we went back for lunch last october with my old co-worker abby and it was just as good as we remembered.

as i type a police helicopter is flying in circles over the neighborhood with its spotlight on while a couple fights outside on the corner.. something about love and violating probation. jesus - he really LOVES the f-word. ahhh. home sweet dysfunctional home.

oh. so i tried to reclaim any taxes i had overpaid while working in manchester. i filled out tons of nonsense paperwork and finally heard back. they owe me 445pounds! BUT they are rolling it over for 2009.. so i get no money? bastards!

p.s. get your aretha bow hat here. yeah detroit!

..that reminds me of the list of banned baby names.

this is so sad. and sweet. but mostly sad.

day tripping: blackpool

last saturday we went to blackpool. it was warm-ish and sunny and we had an excellent time walking the promenad and piers, people watching and exploring the pleasure beach amusment park. we also ate fish + chips + [canned] peas that tasted like a school lunch.. and saw some strange people and strange good [check out the osama bin laden masks]. the highlight of the day was the steeplechase ride. we didn't actually ride it, but we watched other people ride it and that was enough.

today i brought in crispy cremes as my almost-last-day-of-work treat. i hadn't had a doughnut since i worked in lansing and almost forgot how heavenly they were. i wish they made doughnut perfume. that reminds me.. there was a quality dairy [neither peter or i could remember the name of the store.. i had to google "lansing convenince store".. we are old] doughnut factory down the road from my apartment in lansing. every morning you could smell doughnuts in the air. i think it was the best part of living there. that and the thrift stores. and pablos. but that was about it.

anyhow, i am anticipating a lot of things in the next 12 days, but mainly just looking forward to going home. i am also dedicating the rest of my time here to visit and photograph my favorite manchester-ish things. happy almost-friday.

garbage

i've been known to become obsessive about recycling. right now our laundry room/closet is filled with sorted recyclables, patiently waiting for us to figure out where to take them in manchester. seeing people being irresponsible - or just plain lazy - about recycling makes me very angry. i used to dig through my co-worder's under-the-desk waste bin and pull out all the paper he was apparently too 'busy' to dump in the paper bin. the frustrating thing is that recycling has been made so easy. it's free.. you have to pay for trash pick-up [in lansing] per bag.. if half your bag is empty chef boyardee cans you may as well throwing them in the recycle bin instead and save $3.

besides paper, another sore spot is plastic shopping bags. peter and i have tried to use paper or cloth bags for a few years now, and have been pretty successful. paper bags hold more stuff and are very easily recycled.. just fill one with junk mail and set it on the curb.

when i moved out of my apt. i tried painfully hard not to throw anything out. i even krazy glued some broken mugs back together to pass on to friends. i made almost daily deposits at the thrift store in an attempt to salvage every possible thing from the trash bin. being so obsessed with old, previously-loved things, i have hope that someone else will discover my discarded goodies and love them as much as I had.. i can only hope.

i've arrived

today marks day two in manchester. it is better than i could have imagined. our apartment is beauteous. you can get french fries, pizza, a kebab or a curry almost anywhere you go and it is not lansing. that is the best part.

my first day in town was spent snuggling my husband, eating a giant plate of curry, purchasing a uk cell phone, stepping in many puddles and falling alseep on the couch with a glass of wine.

today i made an appointment with a recruitment firm, registered for my NHS number, went grocery shopping at iceland [they had "ice lollies" ha], found some unimpressive charity shops and bought lots of goodies at the fruit and veggie market. the rest of the afternoon was spent watching petey do maths and catching up on my blogs.

here are some things i've come to realize in the last 48 hours:
shower curtains are not overrated
petey has very good taste
i don't like airplanes
bell peppers aren't so bad
i am deathly afraid of our balcony
most english people speak to me slowly

we are currently experiencing gale force winds. tomorrow we may see snow.

223 e. hillsdale

may 2006 - december 2007.
RIP

shower-free sunday

i didn't accomplish much today, but i guess there was not much to accomplish. i did start the rake leaves this afternoon - unfortunately i only had three leave bags leftover from last fall, but the maple tree is still full of leaves so i'll have to have another go at it no matter what.

other than that the only highlight of the day was chatting with peter. my phone rang four or five times without no one answering on the other end.. i figured it was him calling from his pocket or someone stalking me. turned out to be peter having difficulty with spanish computers or some business. glad to hear he was out partying until 4 a.m. in barcelona while i was watching reality tv and passing out on the couch at 11. at least our behavior has been consistent.. and i don't want him to feel like he is missing anything over here.. i am obviously doing an excellent job of this.

before passing out last night i took a trip to the downtown liquor store to pick up a beverage. while i was waiting to pay, a very large teenage boy was also making a purchase and discussing the importance of having a wallet chain [which he did not have]. although i did not stick around long enough to hear the conclusion of this conversation, i assumed the point was: a wallet chain keeps you from being pick-pocketed. so, when he pulled out a wrinkled $50 bill in front of about 3 hobos [in this case, hobo refers to the many middle aged men and women who frequent this liquor store to purchase mini bottles and liquor or 22s and then ride their bikes into the street with no regard to oncoming traffic], i was a bit confused. after he was turned down, he asked if they had any $100 bills.. at this point i began to wonder if he wanted to be robbed. i was also curious as to what a lazy looking, sloppily dressed teenage boy was doing with at least $100 in his chain-less wallet. i should have mugged him just to teach him a lesson.

situations like these are what make me feel old.. and broke. i want a wrinkled $50 in my wallet, geez.