too tired to alliterate.

been feeling like something is about to happen lately. maybe because things are back to normal. sleeping in tiny, creeky hostel beds doesn't look so terrible now..

last friday i made sure to look through the paper to scout any garage/rummage sale opportunities. i found a giant, american-style second hand store in berlin and made sure to check out practically every rack, but it only made me miss my regular summer saturday morning routine even more. eat a giant breakfast and getting lost all day driving to garage sales and buying random nonsense. i found one "jumble" sale at a church only three miles away so i google mapped it and we set out to shop. of course we got lost on the way. britain needs to work on signing it's roads.. so, when we got there at 2 they were packing everything up! a lady asked us if we were here for the sale. i said yes, i thought it started at 1. she said it did but these things get over with quickly. what! i have been to a lot of church sales in my day and they do not last for only an hour. they have cookies and coffee and casseroles and make a day of it. this congregation must have had add.! i want to come and buy your old junk and you can't even sit there for an hour. goodness. anyhow, she let us look around, which was nice, but i went to pick up a coat and another lady snatched it up to shove in to a garbage bag and said, you should have gotten here earlier love... bah

after that disappointment we headed back, stopped on the way to get some veggies at the green grocers. we discovered they had joined two buildings together to form an almost grocery store. we were excited to have an option besides the ridiculously crowded tesco and aldi in town. they had a giant selection of chapattis/pitas and a better selection of italian pasta brands than tesco carry. we bought a bag of tiny star of david shaped pasta. later that afternoon we picked up goodies [stinkiest, stickiest, most rank piece of brie i've ever eaten] from the french market in st. ann square and went home to lounge and start season three of the wire.

sunday morning, in another attempt to find second hand stuffs, we took the bus to new smithfield carboot sale and market. it was not very impressive, but it was very crowded. mostly cheap electronics that will set you house on fire and polyester clubbing gear. and a strange meat auction-ish event that sounded like a creepy announcer at a carnival game.. afterward we ate asda sandwiches on the walk to victoria baths. There was a table-top sale but it was lame. mostly handicrafts and romance novels. last time we tried to see the building it was covered in scaffolding, so i'm glad we got to come back and explore the pretty (in a very creepy way) building.

also in the news..

sad but excellent NYT interview -ish with maurice sendak

strange and mildly aggravating story about rednecks and politics from BBC

been thinking about how baltimore would be an excellent home [can't be that far off from detroit] and falling deeper into the wire abyss.. did you know mcnulty is british? i love it when bubbles calls him mcnutty.. hahaaaaa

this make me frightened. i miss having a whole isle devoted to canned vegetables

bon voyage

friday: ate ice pops in the park then made squid and cabbage for dinner, chatting with kelly about imaginary men and drank cocktails while watched american tv shows.

saturday: more of the usual wandering manchester, drinking bubble tea. there was a tiny jazz festival [with obligatory beer tent] and separate dance festival in town. we saw some interpretive dancer with two orange-coat wearing body guards near exchange square. after grocery shopping we bought 1pound strawberries that were tiny and so delicious. we also went down oldham and into the northern quarter to check out retro rehab. they buy vintage clothes from all over [mostly the US i guess] then wash the mothball smell out and sell them at ten times the price. i bought the most perfect 80s ann taylor dress. it is white with purple polka dots and i love it. i will be wearing it all over the place. for dinner we ate the strawberries, drank more cocktails [mojitos!] and went to watch lyrics born. after the ehhh show we stuffed outselved with fried goodness from tastemasters.

sunday: hot and sunny and hazy. after lunch at home we needed to get out and get some breeze. we walked down the canal and around spinningfields. everyone we passed seemed to be drunk. three old men.. one wearing a white tank top with a red sunburn, one wearing black jeans, boots and a long sleeved shirt in 80º weather and one sipping from a wine bottle. they were all drunk. the guy with the black jeans was walking like he was on a moving boat. later we passed a guy near the library who was eating a bag of chips. he winked at us and smiled and shrugged as he lifted a chip to the sky.. like saying.. it is 2:30 in the afternoon and i'm walking down the street, drunk as a skunk eating these chips. isn't life grand. either that or he was making some lude suggestion or propositioning us for a three-way. either way, it was funny. we all chuckled together. we spent a while reading the paper and getting tan in the park then went home to..eat i guess? i forget. yes, we made calzones.

monday: work. we tried to get a fish curry at this n' that but they were closed by time we showed up at 5. instead we ate leftover broccoli, eggplant and mushroom calzones from the night before and cleaned house.

today: i forgot to set my out-of-office message even after being reminded five times, so, in an attempt to avoid co-workers, i got up early, skipped showering and went into work. it took a good 10 minutes for my computer to turn on then i got distracted by a co-worker with cookies, printed out some articles for peter and turned the computer off again.. without setting my out-of-office message! so i had to stay for another 15 minutes, for the pc to boot and outlook to load..

now we are lounging and will soon be packing and leaving for our first euro holiday ever! woo!

house guests, hoodlums and hot days

today was the hottest day of the year. 79º. it was sunny from 5 a.m. to noon, then gray, as usual. it is almost depressing. no, it is actually depressing. i wore a sweater and jeans. you must always prepare for the worst. it actually did rain during my walk home after work so my cynicism about the supposed british summer is warranted.

photos will be posted when i am sober.

lately i've been obsessively making lists at work in preparation of our upcoming holiday. at home we've been watching the new seasons of weeds, no reservations and project runway.. and missing friends. i wish we could re-live alicia's visit the way i had imagined it, but here is what actually happened..

last tuesday we met alicia and cayle at the airport. they were tanned and i was jealous. but they were also jet lagged and hung over so we made them walk all over manchester. we also fed them curry made them drink some mid-day beers, which was cruel. they had the typical manchester/british experience of day drining in a dark pub. we were successful, as there was a sleeping lady on the couch next to us at the pub. we then dragged them around the canals, by the old hacienda, castlefield, the museum of science and industry, st. anne's square, st. peter's cathedral, market street, exchange square, the curry mile, uni manchester and all of oxford street. then we ate pizza. they fell asleep on the couch at 9 o'clock.

wednesday we somehow got the fast train to london and avoided being bothered by hoodlums and their cell phone music, which was good. we ate noodles, checked in to our hostel, which was ehhh then walked through hyde park and all over without much rest. out feet ached. we rode the tube lots, ate 18$ fish and chips in the west end then had lots of beers and tried to sleep on our bunk beds. a loud woman woke me up at 6 in the morning. i was really already up because peter and i were reliving junior year of college and trying to both sleep on a twin sized bed. anyway, this lady was yelling at her kids for a long time. i felt a bit bad for them but i felt worse for myself.

thursday we saw notting hill and portabello road [peter really likes to go by the sausage + mash (s&m) cafe], westminster abbey, buckingham palace, lots of sparkly jewels at v&a, ate 14$ cheese sandwiches, drank coffee, walked by harrods, got rained on, rode the tube some more, walked along the thames and the wobbly bridge, wandered around tate modern then got our luggage, ate thai and got back on the train home. this time there were hoodlums on this train. 4 or 5 boys with a bag of booze. they were boozing it up [and singing?] and doing generally naughty things. i don't think they had tickets. we made an unscheduled stop at crewe where a copper came on and escorted one of the boys out. it was fun and exciting.we laughed at them then reminisced over stories of our [not at all] sorted youth.

friday i went to work while everyone recovered at home. we ate fried rice then made cocktails and forced them to watch peep show.. and they liked it. before bed i made pita pizzas. i am so handy.

saturday we went to liverpool. there were way too many people in town for the tall ships race. we saw excellent skyline paintings at the walker. peter's allergies attacked due to a giant tapestry depicting some debauchery. we ate lunch and got sassed at the egg cafe. after we tried to go to the tate liverpool but were denied. we saw some lobster ladies wearing stilts and kids on leashes. it was cold and windy. we tried to buy hoodies at american apparel but refused to pay 80+ american dollars. we were just cold. found an almost derelict, downstairs irish pub and got tipsy then waited it out to catch a very comfy train back to manchester.

sunday i don't think we left the apartment. for dinner we drank ginger beer, ate yummy fish + chips [with homemade tartar sauce and mushy peas] and reminisced at the marble arch. actually stayed until closing time.

monday i worked, hungover. made green curry for dinner and were generally bums. later on we went for some farewell drinks at the ducey bridge pub then cocktails and peep show back at the apartment.

tuesday went to airport and said good bye's. it was very sad. then petey and i ate egg + cress sandwiches for breakfast in piccadilly park before i had to go to work. i wanted to play hookie very badly but went to work anyhow. we are old.

wednesday thursday friday work, eat, sleeps. the end.

and also in the news..
fun baby names.. yeah detroit!
obamafest in berlin

beck, blackcurrants + bangcock

the boys at beck
beck
slot world in aston-under-lyne
ikea candles named after myself
petey eating goodies on the depressing balcony





last wedneday we went to see beck at the apollo with a canadian and a ginger. it was alright. beck looked tiny and he is still dressing like it is 1994. the girl playing bass had some good dance moves.

friday we made lazy tortilla pizzas and shrimp & avacado salad for dinner. fell asleep early. saturday we woke up early-ish, waited out the rain then took the train into ashton-under-lyne. we wandered in circles forever, ate sandwiches from boots then bought some goodies at ikea: two tiny stools and a balcony table. and two candles. and two packs of mylti-colored chopsticks.

later that afternoon on our way into town to buy groceries i saw an advert for ribena, a very popular juice drink made with blackcurrents. realizing i have no idea what blackcurrents are, i ask petey "are black currents like grapes only smaller?" he mumbles somthing and i go on.. "are sultanas from blackcurrants and raisins from grapes then?" then peter says something like "i think curtains are shear and drapes are heavier." haha. then we got caught in a sudden downpour that made it look like i peed myself.

after conning petey into clothes shopping for a bit we went to china town to buy groceries. we walked in circles for a while and found the suprisingly tiny ladyboys of bangcock circus. who knew you could make a whole circus from thai trannies. i am a little sad we did not get tickets to the show. afterwards we bought goodies at wong wong bakery. we went right home to eat sweets and drink coffee on the balcony, using out new ikea goodies.

the rest of the night we read the paper, planned activites for special visitors who are coming soon, made thai red curry (in homage to the carnies) and celebrated the fact that this week will be my last full week of work until september. hooray!

P.S. read this very sad but acurate story, mostly about detroit, from the telegraph.

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.

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].

scouse, salford quays

these are from last saturday. we wandered manchester, saw some suspicious scouse and took the tram to the plastic salford quays where we bought a bag of mis-shaped cadbury chocolates [also home of the trafford center and stickers about man-u that i do not understand]. then peter did homework. all. week. long. hooray for no more group projects ever!

santogold + spilling beers

we are just home from seeing the fantastical santogold, spilling beverages and eating french fries. she was excellent. i apologize to the girl infront of me that i sloshed beer on for the last couple hours. it was very difficult to contain myself. and, yes, i do know her. being american and all. we all know one another. especially the the black people. we're all related.

southport and scotties

today is the uefa final game. scottland rangers vs. st. petersburg [russia] held at manchester city stadium. this brought 150k blue t-shirt wearing, horn tooting drunkies to city center. they were accommodated by relaxed public intox laws and tankers full of carlsberg beer. i spent the day listening to a roaring crowd in piccadelli repeatedly singing along to simply the best. why scottish football fans know all the lyrics to a tina turner song i have no idea. but i heard it a good 7 or 8 times today so i know the lyrics now too. here is the view from my office, overlooking piccadilly gardens during lunch time.


after work we walked around town to observe what the football fans were up to. their activities included eating takeaways, asking for directions to the stadium, singing unrecognizable songs in sloppy scottish accents and public urination. there were lots of empty booze bottles, horse poo from the coppers and shirtless, sunburnt passed out men and women. it was reminiscent of an msu tailgate + a music festival, but with moms and dads. that is why the uk is so great.. older people understand the enjoyment of getting "pissed," anytime. during the day and/or outside is especially fun. eating greasy food afterwards is also excellent.

last saturday we took the train to southport. it is a beach resort-ish type town. we ate very delicious fish and chips on the "boardwalk" overlooking the "beach." we never actually saw the irish sea, but we did see lots and lots of sand. you could tell the waterline had made it a "beach" at one point, but we were there at extremely low tide and missed it completely. most of the attractions were still in use but old and in need of some tlc, graffiti removal and a coat of paint. it was dilapidated, but in a really good, beautiful way. we walked through town and ate candy floss/cotton candy. then we walked to the botanical gardens. it was a long walk. i had been wearing new flats all week because all of my old shoes decided to fall apart at the same time. it had been so long since i'de worn new shoes that i forgot how painful they are. they are real painful. my feet were wrecked and i decided to wear new sandals which was the last straw. it took like what seemed like forever to find the park, but we were distracted by adorable houses and thatched roofs so i survived. when we got to the gardens we found caged birds and rabbits, a happy funtime kids train and lots of kids in strollers. i tried to convince peter we should get a stroller so i could take a load off and save my feets. we didn't see many botanicals, but it was pretty. then we walked slowly back to town, ate ice cream and headed home. we had pasta with lots of garlic, capers, white wine, spinach and squid for diner. we also had that for dinner sunday and monday as it is the yummiest.

there are photos but it took too long to write this and now i'm pooped.

**
hot, gray, overcast southport-ness

this morning on the way to work it looked almost like there was an explosion.. a beer can, vomit and burger king explosion. the whole of market street was paved with garbage and broken glass and the smell of hot beer and wee was in the air. there was apparently a riot after the scotties lost. a police officer lost some teeth, a police dog was injured and a russian was stabbed, but no tear gas or mace to speak of. they could learn something from the msu riot squad.. it's hard to stab someone when you're involuntarily vomiting or clawing your eyes out.

sunny days, cycles + sickies

last week went by very quickly and the weekend very slowly. my department at work had to move offices so i spent days building boxes, hauling dusty files and getting giant paper cuts. on friday petey had homework due by midnight so we had biscuits, tea and ice cream for dinner and stayed in with our wines.

saturday we ate the bestest foods at this and that and headed down oxford street around uni manchester. it was nice and quiet.. even peaceful in contrast to city centre. we spent about 2 minutes in the manchester museum seeing the lindow man bog body, tried to see the victoria baths through lots of scaffolding then found a seemingly deserted graveyard around a burnt down church. on the way to seoul kim chi shop we found another good asian grocer and bought a giant bag of frozen squids. finally [after too much walking in new shoes] we bought a kilo [2.3 lbs] of mussels for £3 [6$] at the fish monger and made a gigantic dinner with a baguette and hoegaarten.

after food we drank cider in the park and spied a baby henry dog, then had some more drinks at the marble arch pub, some more at the flat.. then one for the road on the way back down oxford road. due to our drunkenness we were an hour late meeting piotr and two friends at big hands. the rest of the night is a blur. i rode a bike without injuring myself, went to a dance club, tore the bows off my dilapidated gray flats and made it home to eat kabobs safely. sunday we recovered from a terrible hangovers and then from mysterious food poisoning. i blame the kim chi, but only because that was what my puke smelled like. monday i slept like a narcoleptic and while peter brought me glasses of cold water with straws and failed at getting icy hot for my aching back.

the weather will be in the 70s until at least the weekend. people are celebrating by making out in public places and exposing themselves unnecessarily.. its just like home. i am ready for summertime.. lots more drinking outdoors, a visit from alicia and cayle, the end of temping, a suntan, and fun concerts.

springtime

it is spring time finally. it will be springtime until wintertime here, because summer does not exist. this morning it was sunny until i left for work. on the walk in it poured and my pants were wet to the knee due to lots of splashing. the sky was dark all afternoon until i got off work.. then it was sunny. we walked to the only store near city center that supplied matza crackers. we [i] am going to attempt matzo ball soup and peter is going to attempt to eat chicken. hopefully we survive. even though peter is a jewish he doesn't observe. we pretended to celebrate passover, whenever it is/was by making latkes and apple sauce last week. actually peter sat on the couch and i made them, but saying "we" sounds better. we both ate them with yogurt as sour cream doesn't seem to exist here.. they were good and the apt. smelled of grease for the next few day, which was strange but good.

i started working in a new office last monday and instantly got sick. by saturday i was feeling better-ish so we went to heaton park thinking it was spring. we saw hairy cows and baby ducklings. it was windy and cold but the park was giant and pretty so we walked around lots until i felt like poo then ate sandwiches and apple/rhubarb crisp in prestwich and went home to lay down.

i miss my family.. i'm glad we were able to see them lots before we left.. i've never been one to be too homesick, but i had a feeling it would be different than being away at school or in lansing, and was taking advantage of being home. i did not know how strange it would be being here and realizing things are going on back home even though i'm not there. it feel like when we go back things will pick up where they left off, but that is far from the truth. i miss my cat, my little sister is turning 21 and my oldest sister is getting married. other people are buying old smelly stuff from my thrift stores and my friends are getting drunk and hanging out without me. pshhhhh

london, bjork, booze

peter is playing games and i am trying to understand why i felt i had to finish last night's kabob for breakfast.. and why there is an open bottle of bulmers in the fridge.. or , back to the food, how all the sweet pink sauce soaked into the samosa to make a cold mushy cumin-ey doughnut. sound gross and probably is, but i enjoyed it.

so, here are some photos from london.

highlights include a semi-authentic mexican meal, actual authentic spring-like weather, managing to get on the correct trains, cookie monster in oxford, being serenaded by a pre-schooler in regent park, sunset in hyde park, stolen greek history at the british museum and the map exhibit at V&A.

anyhow, i must document last night before my brain forgets how strange it actually was. thanks to cousin ian we were able to attend the bjork show at the manchester apollo. and because the tickets were free we felt obligated to spend the money we would have spend on admission on beers instead. we got there earlier than necessary, picked up our very unconvincing tickets from will call and wandered in to the tiny pub behind the venue.. the only real thing in the area [besides a william hill gambling outlet]. it was tiny and the walls were decoupaged with guest passes. notable shows included chippendale's and the beach boys.. which when combined would make n*synch, but more talented. inside we met two flatmates that classed us as "alternative" americans. i'm not sure what that means, but they originally guessed us to be canadians, so it must be a positive. after some brewskies we got a cider and watched adorable bjork prance and throw her fists into the air.

afterwards we went to gigantic pub just off piccadilly. on peter's way upstairs from a goodbye pee his hat was stolen by drunk girls. it all started off innocent enough, they called him sherlock holmes. we had been on our way out, so we asked for it back.. they asked where it was from and we told them it was from america, thinking that might make it sound special.. they asked if it was to cover up petey's thinning hair.. then they asked if peter was "a jewish".. ahhh, it is strange how english people can be so rude and sound so nice at the same time.

on the way home we got a veggie kabob at the usual place.. while waiting an older, drunker couple came in to get some cheeseburgers. the woman was very concerned about her order and kept repeating "salad but no chips.. no chips!" she especially wanted us to know about her request, which was very nice of her.

good friday to easter monday

i've been dreaming of cooking and eating lately. last night i had dreams of egg-in-a-hole and ended up making it for breakfast. earlier this weekend i had dreams of making a bechamel sauce for the first time.. i had been searching through fish pie recipes after we found a deal on fish at tesco. i guess i have food on the brain, but it is only natural after spending a good three days browsing food shops around town with petey. speaking of food.. we've been selectively incorporating english foods into our diet. most notably beans on toast as a lazy dinner, smoked salmon and cucumber sandwiches for a weekend breakfast, tea and digestive biscuits as a post-work/pre-dinner snack and lots and lots of cider. actually, we have been drinking much less beer here.. especially peter. it has been red wine and tesco brand cider for the most part. we have also substituted our usual quesadilla/taco habit with fajitas. they are not english, but bell peppers are much cheaper here, and refried bean/corn tortillas are too pricey.

anyhow, since i didn't realize i would have an extened weekend due to the easter holiday until wednesday, we spent the weekend in manchester.. wandering and getting blisters. we tend to do a lot of that. here is the re-cap:

friday we spent the early afternoon in the northern quarter looking through vintage shops. i bought a 5 pound pair of [non-vintage] flats [terrible idea] and we had another fabulous curry lunch at this and that. we had planned to destroy the pizza hut buffet, but due to the holiday it was not on. afterwards we had curry belches all the up to cheetham hill. we tried to visit a very well-reviewed kosher deli/grocery but it was closed, presumably due to the passover holiday as well. instead we bought lots of veggies at the market and took the bus home, as we had managed to walk several more miles than we expected we would be. that evening we made pizza for dinner to make up for earlier.. homemade whole wheat dough was yummy.

saturday started with an almost full-english consisting of beans, toast, veggie sausages and an egg each. we circled city centre a few too many times.. visited the tiny picadilly oxfam shop, looked for sneakers and visted the northern quarter some more. got some sweat deals at tesco, a giant side a salmon at the arndale fish counter and a new baking dish at tk. for dinner petey made salmon with curried yogurt/cucumber sauce [and cous cous].. a recipe from mark bittman's blog, bitten, in the NYT. it was gooood.
on easter sunday we were lazy.. i got caught up on the first season of skins, did laundry and ate more pizza for lunch. we did get out for bit to walk around, as i was sick of watching peter upload files and have nerd chats online. we went down yet some more canals, past the old granada tv studio and around castelfield a bit.. saw cute little ones in easter outfits. we has our first fish pie for dinner. it was yummy. we finished the night with gin & tonics, then a pita pizza before bed.

ehhh, back to work tomorrow. only four days until another very long weekend/holiday. hooray!

happenings

this weekend was more normal than any have been since we've arrived. we met with petey's friend from montreal and reverted to drinking a bad combination of cider, beer, wine then liquor. there were chats with lots of international students and the seemingly unavoidable conversation about american politics which people here are more interested in than people back home seem to be. on the way back to manchester from rusholme we ate very messy veggie kabobs and witnessed the after-closing-time fiasco around manchester's city centre. saturday was spent recovering because we are old and have been eating like true mancunians. our fridge has been on the fritz since early last week, so we've been stashing perishables on the balcony and trying not to have leftovers. somehow this lead to us eating lots of oven fries and ice cream.. and cookies.

on saturday night we met some of the acoustics boys at the printworks and saw bank job. it was good.. they wore cute 70s outfits. sunday we listened to polka music - coming from the irish festival - through the patio door. we looked at some interesting furnishings at ilva, peter peed in the bushes, then we took a walk along some canals and explored a bit of canal street, the "gay village." there were cute looking bars and cafes and girls with short hair. we ate leftover bean soup for dinner and i finally watched episode 11 of project runway. when we went to bed we realized they moved the bright developer sing that used to shine into our bedroom window. it was good news.

day tripping: salford quays ["quays" = "keys", FYI]

i had researched liverpool for our day trip, but we decided against it due to a poor weather forecast, and ended up taking the metrolink to bury. we didn't realize it until we were getting off at the end of the line, but we were surrounded by a sea of elderly people. very slow walkers. we should have taken this as a sign, but until we saw the many booths of polyester granny nightgowns did we realize our mistake. the reason we went to bury was because its "world famous" market. little did we know it was famous for the type of outfits you see old ladies wear on cruises. and lots of vhs movies.

there was a very yummy looking display case with farmer's market fare including cranberry and chile cheese, which we bought. our cheap fish and chips were also excellent.. but no photos. since the market was pretty much a bust, we took the opportunity to check out tk maxx and asda. it was thrilling. on the way home we got off at salford quays and tried to shop at the outlet mall. we bought pounds of chocolate at the canterbury shop, but that was about it. here is petey at the quays. old trafford is off to his right, although you cannot see it. just for reference.

we made up for the visit to crusty old bury by walking the castlefield canals on sunday. i didn't know about the roman ruins, but apparently a fort build around 300AD was uncovered... and the area around them is a very pretty part of manchester. that is where we will take people when they visit. if they visit. and they will like it.

along the canals we found a little sculpture-ish exhibit about the history of the hacineda and manchester's music scene. it was a very cute.. but not as cute as the cutest pub in the world. it is called the peveril of the peak pub and it is covered with adorable green tiles and i like it a lot.

happy birthday petey!

today peter turns 25.

after his first class of the term i took the train out to salford to meet him. it was my first solo train ride, and even though it is only two short stops away, i was proud i ended up in the right place. we then spent the afternoon with a handful of peter's acoustic classmates at the crescent pub where i had my first fruli. i was the only girl and i was drinking a pint of pink "beer." it was yummy.

later in the afternoon i discovered another uniquely english invention. we were served a round of complementary "chip barms." chip meaning french fry and barm meaning bun. we ate french fry sandwiches. sounds like a recipe a four-year-old might make up, but they are very real and an excellent way to soak up that extra booze before you head home. i look forward to eating more of them in the future. and hopefully they will all be free.

tomorrow i have an apt. with kelly services to find a job. i need a job. please hire me.

happenings

not much is actually happening. just lots of walking, screwing around [watching tv] and wondering what to make for dinner. last night we watched a very pretentious cooking show featuring mexican food. not only did they garnish black beans with chives, they also made a margarita with orange liquor.. and insisted that using lemons interchangeably with limes was just fine. my heart wept. pshhhh

today we went to the ikea in aston under lyne. it was much more pleasant than our first visit to ikea [in chicago], even though it was a saturday. people here doodle less.. and english kids are less annoying. or something. we purchased a tv stand, bathroom organizer, rug and drying rack. it was heavy. i foresee shapely arms in my future. but probably not.

in other news, i have found a new favorite cereal. for only one pound 6o you get a box of jourdan's couty crisp.. with four nuts! sounds strange, but is, by far, the best breakfast cereal i have ever eaten. it is granola with almonds, brazil nuts, hazel nuts and pecans. big, giant nuts, and lots of them. i am impressed.

i'll close with this, taken from www.mymanchesteronline.co.uk

"Close by the centre of Manchester a new 'Green Oasis' is being created. The advertising extols the virtues of life so close to the amenities of our wonderful, modern, Manchester.
But 100 years ago life in 'The Green Quarter' was anything but idyllic.

Bounded by Cheetham Hill Road and Red Bank and lying between Lord Street and the oddly-named 'Scotland' and encompassing Fernie Street, Verdon Street, Adeline Street and several smaller streets and alleys, the area now designated for development was a crowded mixture of tiny back-to-back terraced houses, small 'sweatshop' businesses, a couple of pubs and a number of places of worship all crammed together cheek by jowel and with little daylight penetrating between them."

and this is where we live. sounds glorious.

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.

hooray!