I've discovered that the shop just round the corner from work, the Scottish and Irish shop, do a good range of British goods, as you'd expect from the name. I skipped straight past the tartans to the food....
They stock jaffa cakes (well, normally. They were out of stock today), so I had to console myself with dark chocolate hob-nobs. They were a bargain at $5.69 (with no tax to pay.) The price printed on was UKP1.69, so it's pretty much double the price. But oh, so worth it.
On the other hand, while they stock a good range of pies, they didn't have any steak and kidney puddings. Harumpf!
Friday, 27 April 2012
Monday, 23 April 2012
Hmmmmmmm
So, this morning I woke up to discover that it had snowed again over night.
Not too much - just a couple of centimeters - and the rain had melted it all away by lunchtime. But I was still rather surprised to get snowed upon in mid-April....
Not too much - just a couple of centimeters - and the rain had melted it all away by lunchtime. But I was still rather surprised to get snowed upon in mid-April....
Thursday, 19 April 2012
What the... ?
For those of you who don't know - and I suspect that that's most of you, as I don't believe I've mentioned this before - my former downstairs neighbour is currently staying with me. He was asked to leave his apartment and had nowhere else to go; so, being a soft touch, I offered my spare bedroom.
He's a builder, and starts his working day at about 7am, which means he's up at around 5am or so. (Luckily, I'm generally deep enough asleep that I don't get woken up when he does.) He's generally been back here for an hour or so before I get back from work.
This afternoon, though, he had a visitor, and arranged for a re-visit when I was in. Specifically, it was someone hawking groceries door to door, and was offering $50 worth of groceries for a mere $20.
My erstwhile roommate had been delighted to take him up on this offer - he bought some bread, milk and coffee for a bargain $10, so now there are two bags of milk in the bottom of the fridge. I should point out that:
a) that's not a typo - the milk at the bottom of the fridge is indeed in bags; and
b) there's a two litre bottle of milk in the fridge that we've not finished between us in a week, so quite how long it'll take us to get through a gallon, I hate to think.
I've done some asking around, and apparently door to door grocery sales aren't exactly common over here. I assume, given the fairly random list of things he was offering, that somewhere a corner shop was burgled, and he was busy trying to fence his ill-gotten loot, so people could eat the evidence...
I think my rather bemused expression was enough to put him off....
He's a builder, and starts his working day at about 7am, which means he's up at around 5am or so. (Luckily, I'm generally deep enough asleep that I don't get woken up when he does.) He's generally been back here for an hour or so before I get back from work.
This afternoon, though, he had a visitor, and arranged for a re-visit when I was in. Specifically, it was someone hawking groceries door to door, and was offering $50 worth of groceries for a mere $20.
My erstwhile roommate had been delighted to take him up on this offer - he bought some bread, milk and coffee for a bargain $10, so now there are two bags of milk in the bottom of the fridge. I should point out that:
a) that's not a typo - the milk at the bottom of the fridge is indeed in bags; and
b) there's a two litre bottle of milk in the fridge that we've not finished between us in a week, so quite how long it'll take us to get through a gallon, I hate to think.
I've done some asking around, and apparently door to door grocery sales aren't exactly common over here. I assume, given the fairly random list of things he was offering, that somewhere a corner shop was burgled, and he was busy trying to fence his ill-gotten loot, so people could eat the evidence...
I think my rather bemused expression was enough to put him off....
Friday, 13 April 2012
Hockey, again
I'm sure you've all been following the hockey with as much excitement as I have. After a promising campaign, the Ottawa Senators managed to get into the playoffs for the Stanley Cup.
They managed to get their playoff spot with three games to spare. They then proceded to lose the following three games, and last night lost the first game of the first round of the playoffs. So it's not looking good for them.
But it's quite interesting to compare the hockey season with the soccer one. The regular Premiership season involves 38 games, as opposed to hockey's 82. And while a hockey game lasts for 60 minutes and there's considerably more changing of players, it's a considerably more physical game than soccer is. And on top of that, the schedule means that you're playing games a couple of hundred miles apart every few days - fancy playing while jetlagged?
And as to the playoffs.... There are eight teams in each of the two divisions in the play-offs, with the top team playing the one in eighth place, the second team against the seventh one, and so on. But it's not just one match, oh no - each round is the best of four, meaning that potentially, after playing 82 games in the regular season, there are possibly another 28 matches to play in the playoffs, assuming each round has the full seven matches.
Essentially, I think my point is that I've long thought that footballers were overpaid for what they do, and after seeing how gruelling the hockey season is, I'm even more sure of that than I was....
They managed to get their playoff spot with three games to spare. They then proceded to lose the following three games, and last night lost the first game of the first round of the playoffs. So it's not looking good for them.
But it's quite interesting to compare the hockey season with the soccer one. The regular Premiership season involves 38 games, as opposed to hockey's 82. And while a hockey game lasts for 60 minutes and there's considerably more changing of players, it's a considerably more physical game than soccer is. And on top of that, the schedule means that you're playing games a couple of hundred miles apart every few days - fancy playing while jetlagged?
And as to the playoffs.... There are eight teams in each of the two divisions in the play-offs, with the top team playing the one in eighth place, the second team against the seventh one, and so on. But it's not just one match, oh no - each round is the best of four, meaning that potentially, after playing 82 games in the regular season, there are possibly another 28 matches to play in the playoffs, assuming each round has the full seven matches.
Essentially, I think my point is that I've long thought that footballers were overpaid for what they do, and after seeing how gruelling the hockey season is, I'm even more sure of that than I was....
Tuesday, 10 April 2012
Sometimes, I wonder
I was on the bus home this evening, when I realised that one of the conversations a couple of seats away was more like a monologue; and the accent was rather familiar.
It was, in fact, a fellow ex-pat, lecturing a passenger on the joys of pasties. I couldn't see to be sure, but I'm pretty certain his poor victim would have had a panicky expression.... I was sniggering somewhat, as I'm naturally something of an afficionado of pasties, and we spent the last couple of minutes of the journey chatting.
It did get me wondering, though... I've met a good couple of dozen of ex-pats over here, and it's not like I get that much. Is there anyone left in the UK, or has everyone left for sunnier (Well, snowier) climes?
Also, after our chat, I've realised just how much I want a nice steak and kidney pudding.
It was, in fact, a fellow ex-pat, lecturing a passenger on the joys of pasties. I couldn't see to be sure, but I'm pretty certain his poor victim would have had a panicky expression.... I was sniggering somewhat, as I'm naturally something of an afficionado of pasties, and we spent the last couple of minutes of the journey chatting.
It did get me wondering, though... I've met a good couple of dozen of ex-pats over here, and it's not like I get that much. Is there anyone left in the UK, or has everyone left for sunnier (Well, snowier) climes?
Also, after our chat, I've realised just how much I want a nice steak and kidney pudding.
Monday, 2 April 2012
A week away
I'm sure you noticed that it's been a week or so since I last posted anything. I've been away - I had a very, very pleasant week in Tennessee, with my beloved. And since that's in the US, clearly I couldn't update this blog, else I'd make a mockery of the name. A mockery I say.
It's been a fairly hectic couple of days since I got back, too. On the one hand, my downstairs neighbour moved out of his apartment; but he'd been unable to find somewhere else to stay, so he's currently in the spare room here for a little while (he was looking at an apartment this afternoon, but since I didn't get in until after he'd gone to bed, I've no idea how that went.)
I do have a new neighbour, who I've yet to meet. He turned up at around 6pm yesterday evening to pick the keys up, and drop off the first vanload of stuff; and then returned at gone midnight with a second vanload. I would probably have preferred it if he'd made slightly less noise the second time, and it would definitely have been appreciated had the smoke detector in the apartment wasn't beeping all night - though in his defense, that might not have been his fault. That said, I'm not sure if he spent the night or not - I've not heard a peep from him, though it's possible I might just have not been able to hear it over the incessant chirping of the snoke detector. Why yes, I'm bitter.
And the office move that should have happened while I was away, did happen. Kind of. The stuff was moved, but it's mostly still waiting to be unpacked, and there's still quite a lot of work being done in the office - the contractors are still there, and my colleagues spent a while running cabling through the false ceiling. I do have a desk, and a PC of my own, though I did have to install Windows on it (and spent over an hour installing patches - around 150, I think.) And I really, really need to nag my colleague into finishing setting up the test environment so I can crack on with getting the new web front end written, as he's off on holiday next week. But it's difficult when he's already got half a dozen other things that need doing now - when I left, he was installing a script I wrote on my first day, that had finally become urgent enough to justify the time.
It's been a fairly hectic couple of days since I got back, too. On the one hand, my downstairs neighbour moved out of his apartment; but he'd been unable to find somewhere else to stay, so he's currently in the spare room here for a little while (he was looking at an apartment this afternoon, but since I didn't get in until after he'd gone to bed, I've no idea how that went.)
I do have a new neighbour, who I've yet to meet. He turned up at around 6pm yesterday evening to pick the keys up, and drop off the first vanload of stuff; and then returned at gone midnight with a second vanload. I would probably have preferred it if he'd made slightly less noise the second time, and it would definitely have been appreciated had the smoke detector in the apartment wasn't beeping all night - though in his defense, that might not have been his fault. That said, I'm not sure if he spent the night or not - I've not heard a peep from him, though it's possible I might just have not been able to hear it over the incessant chirping of the snoke detector. Why yes, I'm bitter.
And the office move that should have happened while I was away, did happen. Kind of. The stuff was moved, but it's mostly still waiting to be unpacked, and there's still quite a lot of work being done in the office - the contractors are still there, and my colleagues spent a while running cabling through the false ceiling. I do have a desk, and a PC of my own, though I did have to install Windows on it (and spent over an hour installing patches - around 150, I think.) And I really, really need to nag my colleague into finishing setting up the test environment so I can crack on with getting the new web front end written, as he's off on holiday next week. But it's difficult when he's already got half a dozen other things that need doing now - when I left, he was installing a script I wrote on my first day, that had finally become urgent enough to justify the time.
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