I posted a picture to MSN UK News and it's on there!

http://news.uk.msn.com/photos/special-photo-galleries/photos.aspx?cp-documentid=155343379&page=2

Also, picture #10 (as of posting time) is of the Wear. I see it every day riding on the bus to and from Natalie's nursery.

Man, oh man, am I stoked! My picture is the second one!!! They actually used it! I'm overreacting... BUT WHO CARES!!!


EDIT 12/1/10: The link is no longer for my picture and if you didn't get to see it, that's okay. It is posted in an earlier blog...The third picture, I believe in the 'we went for a walk' post...

3 days

It has been snowing for 3 days straight. Natalie and I went to Tesco for bread and milk and what we got was a circus. The bread shelf was almost completely empty. Luckily, we were able to get a loaf of Tesco brand wheat bread. They call it brown bread. It was only 47 pence. That's about 75 cents US$. Milk was 1.55 which is $2.42. Hmm, maybe I should just list:
Bread @ .47 =  $0.73
Milk @1.55 = $2.42
Peanut Butter @ 1.90 = $2.96
6 pack Yogurt @ .90 = $1.40
Bag of Fusilli pasta @ 1.10 = $1.71
Mince (ground beef) @ 1.21 = $1.89 x2 = $3.77
Stirfry veggies @ 1.00 = $1.56
Total: 10.34 = $16.12 for three bags of groceries. @$5.37 per bag.

And I brought my own bags because that's what you do here and I got 11 Green Clubcard Points.
How is it that peanut butter is the most expensive item? I don't care, it lasts a long time.

Anyway, more about the circus: They had huge display of Foster's beer on the floor in front of the entrance. It was on major sale: 10.00 for a case of sixteen or twelve, i dunno, didn't pay attention. There were men milling about looking for shopping carts to cart the cases. Men were standing by people in the checkout lines waiting for the carts to be emptied so they could take them. I was in the 10 items or less lane, and the guy in front of me was buying 10 frozen pizzas and three carrots. Woman behind me had one package of paper towels. Then behind her, was the long line of men standing holding 2 to 3 cases of the Foster's beer. These are big cases, people.  The cans are 8 inches tall at least; they are at least as tall as bottles back home and three times as big around. Those men really wanted that beer!

Today, as the snow came down (again), Natalie and I made M&M sugar cookies. That was fun and I like baking with her. Sadly, I have no pics.

Dan is still in France and today was his day to go sightseeing and shopping. Last time he brought back some Laderach chocolates from Zurich. The closest to you guys where you can get some of this angelic byproduct is NYC. They have a store there. Should you be anywhere near that town this holiday season, go there, buy up the lot and you'll have the best gifts to give. Ever.

Better dash, sounds like someone threw a snowball at my window. Pesky kids.

Walking In The Air (from: The Snowman)

This is from a long long time ago. It is still a beloved classic here; part of the Christmas pop culture. I remember watching this. At first, I didn't want to; mum was strongly encouraging. 20+ years later, I hear this song at the PlayPit and was just entranced. I racked my brain trying to remember where I heard it and had to ask the lady who owns the Pit. She immediately knew and told me.

I share it with you. This is what it really looks like here. The boy singing is Peter Auty, a former St Paul's Cathedral choir boy.

We went for a walk

Remember my meadow? The one that I found on a walk with Natalie back in May and it had the sunset and illuminated back-lit dandelions? Well, we went there again today. I believe I will share with you the lovely.

To the upper left is the Meadowfield soccer and rugby pitches.

I like this picture a lot... but...

this one is my favorite picture from today. 

Ah, making a snow star with Star Song.

So, it has been six months to the day that we've been here. Here's a pic from the first few days:

Men, in this country, when at karaoke, dance with each other. This and the next picture were taken at our local. 

Such an unattractive photo of myself but to be expected when one has had a few pints. That's Kev. He's been very nice to Dan and myself. Informative about stuff around here and he's a fan of Florida...the state, not the team. 

It's Snowing! And it's National Parfait Day!

"I don't know nobody who don't like no parfait!"

Natalie is well kitted, thanks to SJ!

Early morning snow!

Snow day for Natalie! She was doing snow angels in the back yard but called it a star. We threw a few snow balls at the fence. She woke up today and as always, looks out her window. She yelled, "IT'S TIME! MOMMY WAKE UP! WE GET OUR COATS AND GO OUTSIDE IN THE SNOW!"

 I'm keeping her home today which is a good thing too because when I called just now to let them know, the lady who answered told me they're having trouble getting staff in in a timely manner. Some may not be able to come in because of where they live and the transportation issues. Reason: Not many people live in the city of Durham. Most of the housing is student housing. Sure you get some old houses that have been in families for generations, but for the most part, I'd say the percentage of student housing is around 60-70%. And living in the city area is extremely expensive. So most people, like us, are living in the surrounding villages like Consett, Esh, Esh Winning, Brandon, etc etc. This division of housing is a bone of contention here. Kind of like how there's people who get upset about others who are on the dole and spend their time in the pub. A lot of the men in the pub are older and thus are pensioners. No big deal there. It's the younger people in the pubs in the middle of the day that irritate the taxpayers. I myself was accused of being on the dole by someone (don't remember who exactly but I think he himself is on the dole too...this was a long time ago and was such a non-event that I didn't think that it was a thing of interest. Come to think of it, I'm not sure it is a thing of interest now.)

Anyway, I was talking to mum on skype and wanted to share one of the things I told her: Buying rounds. When you go out with friends here to a pub, you're expected to buy a round of drinks, one for yourself and for everyone else. It's a cultural thing here. Treating is another thing; I didn't bring any money for lunch yesterday (forgot wallet arrrgh!) and Laura (mah frien) said she'd treat me to lunch because I treated her to a movie. I was like, dude, you didn't even get to see all the movie and you bought me a drink and popcorn, which is the ticket price equivalent so we're even stevens. That made her laugh. When I was out with the girls a month or so ago (pitiful me, j/k) I saw this as the night progressed. I'm pretty sure I bought my first drink and then someone bought my next. So, of course, I'm obliged to buy her next. As mum said, this can get expensive but the night doesn't last long here anyways because people have to catch buses home and the buses quit running at midnight, so you've got to be done with your drinking before your bus is due to leave plus the time it takes to get from your pub to the station. The chip shops do a brisk business in this time period. It is kinda funny to see a bunch of drunks, men and women, standing around sharing fries out of a paper cone while using forks to eat the fries.

Happy Thanksgiving y'all. Eat up that turkey, stuffing, and green bean casserole for me. Don't be surprised, they don't celebrate Thanksgiving. Think about it.

Use Even If Seal Is Broken Day

Anyone else think of the rash of baby seal clubbing news that popped up in the 90s when you read my title?

I enjoyed Harry Potter. Enormously. I was surprised it ended where it ended. Audience reactions were great and I took a friend with me. Sadly, her babysitter crapped out on her just as we were walking out the door to head to the theatre. So, she saw about 45 minutes of it before she had to go pick up her boys. She wasn't upset with her babysitter, but I sure was since we made the plans a week ago and everything was agreed to. Babysitter made plans yesterday to go shopping today and was unable to get back in time. Nice of her to let us know in time rather than be called in the middle of the movie. So, my friend was mentally prepared to leave and I guess no big deal. Summary: I'm upset on my friend's behalf.

Today, I'm doing my big clean and I hear there's snow on the way. Supposed to hit Thursday and be blizzardy until Saturday. So, I'll get the house ready so if necessary, Kiddo and I can play and bake all day tomorrow and through the weekend.

Or I go to the shop and get some grownup interaction with friends and regulars at the shop...hmmmmm. Clean tomorrow when I've got a helper...

National Cashew Day

A favorite of the Monroney teachers.

Today begins Dan's first full day in France. He's in Orsee/Orseilles/Orsay. I dunno. I'm going to see Harry Potter. Without him. That's how I get back at my husband for not taking me to France.  *Laughter*

Durham City's Lighting of the Lights

As always, when it comes to government/council sponsored things, the result was underwhelming.  Let me preface with the following before you judge me.

"They're here."

That was a massively awesome set of TV screens. They seemed to be hi-def from where I was standing but to my camera it appears to be circa 1982 via Poltergeist. You can see the draping of the strings of Christmas lights. There were vendors hawking the lighted toys you get at the Oklahoma State Fair. Sorry. The Great State Fair of Oklahoma. There were even toy bubble machines. There were minor celebrities from this country and I have no idea who they were but I did get excited when I saw Jason Isaacs' (Lucius Malfoy) name appear and was disappointed that we missed him as he was listed as being on earlier in the day. There were people on the stage televised on the big screen TV. So, I know what people look like, just not who they are. And they were trying to get people to sing Christmas carols. But when you yourself don't even remember the whole song, how are you going to get a bunch of chavs into the holiday spirit? And then... the guy who was leading the singing was applauded and it was said that it was Jason Isaacs. OH NO IT WASN'T! It was not my Jason Isaacs, it was some other Jason Isaacs who I've never heard or seen before. 

Really, for all the fuss that went into this, I expected a bit more when it came to the moment we all were waiting for. There wasn't even a tree.

Now in my relationship, I'm the Clark Griswold, but even Dan noticed that Norman, with its miles and miles of Christmas decorations, doesn't put out the big whoop like this. And we decided that if Norman did put up the same amount of decoration that Durham did, you can darn well bet there wouldn't be a big ceremony involving a plunger.

It is pretty though. Just imagined that there'd be more. Afterwards, we headed to Nando's for some vittles. Dan wins the feeding-of-the-child award for today. He ordered the green olive appetizer, which she ate. He ordered the kids' grilled chicken with the light peri-peri BBQ sauce and she ate that too! I tried it and it was hotter than I would think a kid's food item should be but she's a daddy's girl. However, she also tucked right into the frozen yogurt, so really, she's my kid too.

Did Natalie like the Christmas Lights Spectacular Extravaganza Soiree? I think so...

Result: A nice time out of the house. 

The Big Squat

World Toilet Day was Friday. Dan sent me this photo and yes Virginia, there is a Dirty Word used on a public poster.

Yes. Yes I do. Every day, hopefully.

People squatting around the world for one minute. Seriously? That's quick!

For more information on this very serious organization, go to http://www.worldtoilet.org/

You can even enroll in World Toilet College.

The lack of potable water is one of my nightmarish, apocalyptic horrors in my imagination. This is somewhat related, I think.

Anyway, today's National Day is a double feature: World Hello Day and False Confession Day.
"Bonjour, I have two baby seals that I'm hiring a retiree and a five year old to beat to death...I'm selling tickets."
"Hola! I spent all the stimulus money on a 3,000 mile long, 40 foot deep fence to put on the US-Canadian border."
"Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
"Hello, my name is Barack Obama. You can be the change we believe in! Prepare to Hope!"

Have a Bad Day Day.

Fitting really. My coffee/tea mug got knocked off the end table and is now broken. Luckily, Natalie is okay and so am I. I didn't get to drink all of the tea, so Natalie "made" some to make me feel better.

Worked for two hours in the shop today and then went shopping/searching for some boots. I'm particular about this. I want brown leather biker boots without a lot of doodads and geegaws on them. Fur or lambswool is okay. I found a pair, but there were none in my size. Frown. Also, they're a little more than I was mentally prepped to pay. I'm still translating pounds into dollars and 79.99 is a lot in US dollars but it's even more when it's in pounds sterling. Roughly, they'd be about $120. I'm hoping for the equivalent of $60. We'll see. And so, it became lunch time and I had this:

Real china!

Stilton Beef Casserole with Roast Potatoes and Peas. Schweppe's Lemonade in the cup.

The casserole had these cheesy dumplings that were over-peppered and somewhat inedible for my palate. The overall taste however was pretty good. The potatoes had a nice crispy outer with fluffy innards. Peas were peas.

This was my view out the window while I ate lunch. That's the River Wear below and the Marriott Hotel at the top.

This road will go right by St Oswald's and past the campus that contains the science center where Dan works. It wasn't until as I was leaving that I realized that you can see St Oswald's now from here because the trees are losing their leaves. So, sorry, no view up the hill.

New features!

Have added a poll, which you can see to the right of this post and have added a counter!

Hearse

Saw my second hearse today; the first one happened so fast, I wasn't sure it was what it was. How I knew these vehicles were/are hearses is that due to traffic, one was stopped alongside of me and I saw into the back. Hearses in the states, as I recall, have small windows that are nearly or completely covered over by curtains. These hearses had surround-sound version of windows. And they're tall! If it wouldn't have been obviously rude, I would have taken a picture. Was there a coffin? No, but there were four men in the vehicle and ... I.... just didn't feel right doing that.

National Button Day

Hey button button, who's got the button?

Forgot to get milk yesterday, so Natalie is learning what oatmeal made with water is like. I'm really trying to sweeten the deal for her: I added a spoonful of sugar and a smattering of cinnamon to help the porridge go down.

National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day

I guess it'd be to make room for the cupcakes... and upcoming Thanksgiving Dinner prep and leftovers.

We took Kiddo to Krazy Kingdom for a classmate's 4th birthday. If this birthday party is any indication of British birthday traditions then, for the kids, it's awesome. For parents like us, it's crap. I think we each had the unspoken goal of getting to meet and talk to parents.

Kiddo had a blast! And we enjoyed watching her have a fantastic little-girl-running-amok time. There were trampolines (which she made a beeline for) and a three story climbing structure not unlike the one from the PlayPit.... it was just huge! There was a posted policy saying you can't take pictures or videos of children in the play area, which was the entire warehouse-sized space. But I took one anyways. It's my kid, I can do what I want.

Kiddo is in the pink jacket and purple trousers. You can't even tell who the other kids are. Take that, massively invasive public policy! I pwnd you!

Then a gal came on over the PA system and announced that it was time to have the party and would all attendees for that party please make way to the room at the stairs. We make our way there and before I get into the details, let me talk about what happened between me and another parent.

We're all milling about around this small area and some parents stay downstairs, others go up the stairs... for the same party. I overhear someone say "well, which one is it?" I look around quizzically, and I kid you not, I catch a parent's eye and she says, "Normally, we queue." This means, "Normally, we line up and wait for someone to tell us what to do." I sigh, and decide to remove Kiddo and myself from this state of limbo. We go upstairs, just to look around and saw.... a GO-KART TRACK! AND TWO BOWLING LANES! Really neat! We make one circuit around and sure enough, by the time we come down the other set of stairs, the birthday party queue is sorted and everyone knows what is expected of them. It was kind of fun to watch. *cough*

In the room, which was about the size of our current living room, they crammed 20 kids under the age of seven into two long kid-sized picnic tables and served them lunch. The accompanying parents jostled each other for wall space. Eventually I channeled my mom and had to get out of there...it was claustrophobia inducing. That many people in that small of a space is not something I would do if it were up to me.

And where's ScienceMan while we're doing this? Eating a hamburger. To be fair, his food came out first so it was no problem for me. He finished and then I got to eat this surprisingly good (and large!) pizza which I had to take home. ScienceMan was smarter than me; he stayed in the doorway where he could see Kiddo and help her if he needed to.

Okay, so after the other kiddos ate, they passed out small styrofoam tubs of vanilla ice cream, which Kiddo demolished. Quite right. Her lunch looked like laskdjfslfdjkks. And then there's the cake. It was the size of my laptop. Who gets cake? The kids.

Who doesn't get cake? Me.

But it wasn't good cake either. They do cheese and butter and yogurt really well here, but when it comes to pastry that isn't cheese, onion, and meat-stuffed, they're crap.

So, 4 candles are lit and blown out. Everybody sings 'Happy Birthday' and shouts 'Hip hip hooray' four times after. The cake is taken away (I'm really upset about the cake, I now realize) and everyone is ushered back out into the play area. Meanwhile, the cake is cut into several pieces and each piece is individually wrapped and put into the goodie bags which are handed out after everyone gets ushered back into the room. Yes, there was another announcement on the PA system. At some point, I'm eating my pizza, and I see Krazy Kingdom's mascot, a red dragon, walk into the room. Every British child in the room, and those outside in the play area not attending the party, goes nuts. My kid reacted like you think ScienceMan would react. I reacted like you think I would react: furtive glances around the room (i'm outside the party room at a table eating) looking for the destructive children who run up to mascot/characters and kick them and then take off running. I had a bad experience at a Cavs game.  I'm really enjoying my pizza though.

But I kept thinking, "soon we'll get some cake."

Eventually (2pm), it's time to go home, without cake. I finally figured out who the birthday girl's mom was and introduced myself and said thank you even though she never allowed me cake. Received a goody bag on behalf of Kiddo. Drove homewards through some heartwrenching English countryside views that ScienceMan got to enjoy and I saw only peripherally (was driving, so am responsible, Sensible Lady). Sheep with black faces and with white faces. Horses. Gigantic windmills. Hills and valleys. Cloudy and shafts of sunlight. Fall foliage. Arrived at home and opened goody bag with Kiddo, confiscated cake. Took one bite. Had to meet my kid's gaze afterwards. Resolved to never raid my child's party bag ever again.

Summary: Kiddo had a great time. ScienceMan and I ate lunch and watched our kid have a great time.
Stats: New friends: 0.
         Increased personal knowledge of the island's geographical range: yes
         Increased personal knowledge of personal behavioral tendencies to be selfish: yes
Result: Successful day.
        
      

This is what passes as a dryer.

Little girl not for sale.

Look closely and you'll see the price on the sign listed above. This translates into USD $177.10 as of today's exchange rate.  It is smaller than Kiddo!

Top loading, has a capacity of 2.5 kg. This is slightly more than 5.5 pounds. We had an idea about heating this house using a dryer... What do you think? Put some pantyhose over the vent?

Your Link for the Day and if you laugh, then you're just like me.

Fainting Goat Kittens.

http://thedailywh.at/post/1415386893/fainting-goat-kittens-of-the-day-charlie-and

Two additions

#1: 11-11-10. We wear yellow ribbons, the people here wear red poppies.

#2: World Premiere of Harry Potter 7 is tonight in London. It is scheduled to open in cinemas here on November 19. Should it be in theaters in the US prior to that date, and you go see it, don't talk to me until the evening of November 19th. I have plans. And you are not to spoil them.

I think it snowed today.

And yes, they definitely are exceedingly merry. I think my favorite was the Plum, Pear, and Cinnamon combination. The display picture indicates that these are bursting with fruit. Alas they are not.

Dan's research group go to tea every day. 15p gets you tea, 20p gets you a cuppa. (coffee)  BUT NO COOKIES/BISCUITS!!!!! Only if you bring them. And then, because of the culture, you share. Not my idea but there you go. So I decided that I'd make some cookies for them but not chocolate chip like last time. Nope, I wanted to make Oklahoma's official state cookie. There's no such thing apparently. I looked. However, there IS pecan pie. So I searched for a pecan pie cookie recipe and found this:

http://www.landolakes.com/recipe/1057/pecan-pie-cookies

It said it would yield 3 dozen. I got 12 or 15 cookies ONLY!  I did try to make them small but it didn't work out so they'd look like the picture. Also tried to bake them in a muffin tin. Basically, they're the chocolate chip cookie base with pecan pie essence.

Got my hair cut. Didn't get it highlighted and am having static electrical problems with flyaways so it doesn't look like much, but I'll still smile for ya:

Just got it trimmed and thinned is all.

So yeah, I think it snowed today. I was in the back of the shop when one of the new kids burst through the door and said "It's snowing, look!" I went to the back door, there was blue sky. I looked towards the front through the windows and there was some stuff coming down. It was white, it was falling slowly. I looked out the back door again. Still blue sky. So.... dunno.

Xmas in Tesco

The top shelf is reserved for "Tesco's Finest".  Is like putting WalMart's Great Value brand at Dooney & Burke prices.

So a completely new display along one of the main aisles popped up sometime today. What you can see are Christmas puddings and mince pies of multiple flavors and brands. They look to be individual servings on the higher shelves and larger pies on the lower.

'Alex Reads Twilight' is finished. He's blurry brill.

Bonfire Night

Last night, the three of us went to St Oswald's Bonfire. I took video and if I can figure out how to transfer it from my phone I'll add it to this post later. My tech adviser is still asleep awake but busy.

The event was exactly what I wanted it to be. The only thing that could have made it tip of the top was if they had hot mulled cider. As it was, they had potato and leek soup for 50 pence a cup. And a really sweet little old lady walked around the crowd handing out free cinder toffee, which is just like peanut brittle without the peanuts and with more air holes. So we stood around for half an hour watching the fire go up 50 feet in the air and the sparks another 25 feet on top of that. Interestingly, we were in the churchyard which was filled with tombstones and headstones. They're really really old, like 1500s old. And we were surrounded by all these trees, one of which was determined not to catch on fire even though it was nearly on top of the bonfire. It was neat to watch the heat from the fire make the leaves and branches of that tree wave about like it was in a hurricane but not affect any of the other trees. There wasn't any wind; it was the fire making the tree move. Kids were twirling sparklers and the grownups were just chatting and watching the fire. It was really laid back. The guy in charge of the fire would use a pitchfork to scoop branches back into the fire. Kids would try to throw sticks but couldn't because of the heat. The same guy read what I can only describe as a mini-proclamation aloud to the assembled but it was so garbled all I could make out was "boys and girls hip hip hooray, God save the queen" after which no one cheered.

The videos were taken with my phone. There may or may not be any sound. When I view them on my phone there is sound, but when viewed on my laptop there isn't. The woman in the second video is my friend Laura, and those are her two boys, Cameron and Oliver. C and O are fun...they use phrases like, "It was lovely", to describe video games.

So I've mentioned fireworks this week. Those were teasers leading up to last night. As SciMan said, this is a people's holiday. And we really saw the evidence of that. We walked back to the station from the churchyard, and on our way decided to swing by the cathedral. On the western side of the green is a low wall on a small incline. We could hear tons of fireworks going off and so we watched from there and saw some pretty impressive fireworks. And none of it was city or council organized. Imagine going somewhere high in elevation in OKC or Norman or wherever and seeing the horizon lit up with fireworks all across its line. These were private displays. And it was something.

Our neighborhood was no exception. But I am sad to say that I came home with a little girl who fell asleep on the bus, so she didn't get to see the ones right outside her window. We put in 'Fringe' and I fell asleep on the crappy one and three-quarter seater sofa.

Did they burn Guy Fawkes' effigy? No, not at St Oswald's, but I can't say that they didn't at other Bonfires. I invited my friend Laura to come with her boys. But had the bonfire not been at St Oswald's I don't think she'd have come. Her words were "That probably wouldn't be too bad." Because it was put on by a church. Apparently she hasn't been to a Bonfire Night in 15 years. I did ask why and basically, it is an issue of safety. Not from fire, but from people. It is legal to drink alcohol pretty much anywhere, including around a massive arrangement of burning twigs and logs.

Side note: I took care of the boys for just a few hours after they got out of school yesterday and asked them how much candy they got for Halloween, since it's a shared holiday that I can understand. They said not much but then told me they got several pounds. Took me way too long to figure out that people handed out money in lieu of candy.

Catholic Homer

The Vatican has declared Homer Simpson "a good Catholic", 'even if he doesn't know it'. Have I mentioned this before?

One firework went off in the neighborhood tonight.

National Sandwich Day and Housewife Day

Is the housewife making the sandwiches?

Mary Fallin is OK's new guv'nor. That woman makes history every day. Is it me, or did Jari Askins shoot too high too soon? Does she keep her Lieutenant Governor-ship since she lost? Mary Fallin's wiki is updated whereas Jari Askins' is not.

The education spending issue didn't pass. I probably would have voted against it because of the language. Nowhere have I seen any indication that Oklahoma needed funding at the regional level other than the recent massive operating budget cuts. Why make it illegal to not fund something when you can't afford it in the first place?

What if we did away with political parties and their platforms?  Instead, we could have candidates that picked only ONE issue and run on that. I like a cafeteria and why not do this with parties? Some things from the Democratic platform I agree with and some I don't. Same with Republicans, t.e.a., Green, Communist...etc. Maybe it'd get rid of that feeling that you're choosing the lesser of the evil.

OKC got the top spot in the list of 'most affordable places to live'... followed by Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Rochester. Houston and Austin were on there too.  I was proud but irked by the accompanying picture to the article. It was of Birmingham, Alabama. Not of OKC. Virtual slap to the face to that editor.

National Deviled Egg Day

I think someone's making up this list of national days.

We had three knocks on our door on Halloween. Only three trick-or-treaters, can you credit that? How many did you have?  Fireworks went off again last night. I'm assuming they'll go off again each night until Saturday.

We had their version of daylight savings this weekend. So, now Natalie is waking up naturally at 6 and falling asleep at 7. She would've probably been happy to get in bed at 6 last night. So, now we're only 5 hours ahead CST until you have your 'fall back', then it'll be back to 6 hours ahead.

Haven't heard from Dad about the rally, so I'm going to assume it was as boring for him as it was for me.

Was told something fairly surprising to me last night. Seems that Brits are aware of the midterm elections to be held today. That they even know of the word midterm is the eyebrow raising part. I know that presidential elections are a global media event (see history) but that citizens from a country other than ours would be concerned is interesting. This is related to my by Dan, who had this conversation over tea at work yesterday. I think the phrase was, "The world watches America."

So here's my next questions: Do you care about the equivalent to midterm elections in the UK? Did you know they had them last month (September)?  Do you know there's two political parties in charge here because there was no clear mandate? Do you know the name of the prime and deputy prime ministers?

Honestly, if I wasn't paying attention at the time, would never have known that UK was experiencing political upheaval in April.

They even know what colors traditionally represent the Republicans and Democrats.

Happy November.

Here is your Happy November greeting. November 1st is known as 'Plan Your Epitaph Day'. What would you have as yours? I don't know what I would have.

What brief, literary piece would you like to have describe the entirety of your life?  It's 4:00 pm here and the sun is setting. This is slightly off-putting. And I'm thinking about the Celts who were pre-Britons. What, specifically, I don't think I can articulate but the thought process is related.

Also been watching The West Wing because it's good. Fairly certain I'm addicted.

It's been almost a full month since moving to this blog. Still pleased.

Forgot to send the rose rock with Natalie to school today. Maybe next time?