Pictures

I really cannot believe that it is actually mid May! Time is zooming! I should probably do some shout outs as the birthday season has begun... April: Leanna... all the best for a new chapter this summer and best of luck training your ass off. I have put my name down on the list for Olympic tickets, so you better be there! It was my friend Tracy's birthday two days before Craig's at the end of April and we did a joint celebration at a local comedy club. I can say that it wasn't really any different from going to the ones in Edmonton. The MC (Comp-Air they call it here) was FABULOUS and the acts were good and terrible. I bought Craig a new kite (you're how old?) for his birthday. I do admit that this isn't your ordinary paper kite with the bows on the tail, it is a power kite that lifts you off the ground if you aren't careful or are feeling particulary dangerous. Happy b-day to my dad, my aunt, and to Nadia in May. Good luck Nadia with getting your photography business up and running... check out http://www.nlnstudios.com/ to see what Nadia has been up to. As well, Happy Mother's Day to my mom and all the mom's in Canada. FYI: Mo-day is in March in the UK so I had to remember to buy my cards then because I realised I would't be able to buy any cards at the end of April. Now that's planning!

What else have I been planning lately? First camping trip of the season is coming up next week, so stay tuned to hear how that has gone. But for this one, like I promised a long time ago, picture diary! I was asked by Kym and Chelsey in Edmonton to take really ordinary pictures of "a day in the life..." back in December, so this is really overdue. I suppose better late than never, and looking back at some of the photos, it is nice to see how spring is coming along. Without furhter delay and in reverse/ no particular order...
A view on my way from Birmingham to Reading. This is the power station in a town called Didcot. Apart from the houses being made of brick, you would think this could be Springfield.

Jap-nap on the train. My colleagues have never heard of this term and I was explaining how Japanese tend to sleep on all forms of public transportation and never miss their stop. I also explained how I must have been Japanese in my past life because I (touch wood) have never slept through my stop.

The road that we live on.

Spring daffodils pop up everywhere! It amazed me the first time I saw them because the city does not take the effort to plant them, they just grow.

A row of terraced houses.

The English que for many things... like the bus.

Horrible pointy suade shoes.

Assembly point... where you gather outside if there is a fire in your building. The English signpost everything.

Bus with stairs... I am in a double decker.

Pedestrian walk-way in the parking lot.

Crocuses that also spring up naturally. They cover the entirety of a field.

Ye olde house on Reading University Campus.

Reading town hall.

Reading. (pronounced redding)

My train screen in the AM before I get on my traing. Yup... see the time.

Computer says no... How my dongle DOESN'T like to work for me.

My own Jap-nap.

Local train seats. Nobody there because it is 6:30am.

My local train station and destination.

That's all. Check my facebook page for more pictures coming soon.

Hope all is well and have a great May long weekend!

Boogie and a Knees Up

I'd like to start this one off by bragging that the weather has finally started to perk up with a sunny and high-teens week ahead... Sorry to hear about your latest snowfall, E-town folks. But you can't say that you didn't expect one more dump; it's more like you were desperately praying that it didn't come. Much like I desperately pray for the end of the week now... hmmm... I seem to have adjusted to the real-working world quite quickly.

I never really understood the phrase TGIF; in my past 8 working years, I more or less dreaded Fridays because they usually stood for a two show day into a six show weekend, or an inevitable full Saturday/ Sunday shift because of school in the week. To me, it was TGI-Mondays or Tuesdays. And even Monday's weren't that relaxed because it was either a jam-packed day of learning + an added short shift OR even worse, attempting a seamless travel day wth nearly 100 people. The latter is nearly worse because at least one person unapologetically always has too much to drink on a Sunday night and holds up the remaining 99-ish travellers while the Tour Coordinator drags the holder-upper's drunk ass out of bed either at 5:30am or noon... it makes no difference and it's the truth. So in retrospect, I guess I was always thankful for Tuesdays.

Regardless, I now understand the full value of a normal-working-person's Friday. It's great! Your week of filling in spreadsheets has come to an end. In fact, I have noticed that it is so exciting to me that I cannot even sleep on my train journey to work on a Friday morning. This leaves me annoyingly sleepy come 3pm... good job there is an endless supply of coffee and chocolate in my office.

So I have decided, along with much of the 9-5 population, that Fridays are a joyous occasion. Here many joyous occasions are celebrated with a "knees up"; aka: a boogie, or a generally good night out on a Saturday. This is another part of English culture that I love: people are not afraid to have fun and let loose. I was reminded of this a few weeks ago when I went out with some girlfriends after my first 10km race of the year.

We were in a town where my friend lives and wen to a "happening spot" in said town... Remember, it's a town. Town bars or pubs usually remind me of a run-down/ dress-down/ country music playing watering hole decorated with posters of baseball and hockey players. I usually prefer the posh wine bar/ ultra lounges in the metropolis where sophisticated people dress up, the music suggests you should dance, but instead you talk ideologies while you look coyly over your martini or vintage red. We decided to dress up, but also have a knees up. In this town, this was meant to be "the spot" for such an occasion.

We arrived at a pub-looking place (95% of watering holes in the UK look like pubs), and to my initial horror, the lights were on and the bar-staff were wearing cheap cotton t-shirts. Ack! One saving grace that allowed me to walk past the front bar was that there was not sports memorabilia littering the decor. We walked through to the dance floor area to see that a band was due to play. ACK ACK! What were we getting into? My friend was also feeling slightly uncertain at this time, but we decided to give it an hour and see how we felt.

Good thing we did because it was a great night out! The band was great; they played old jivey/ rock and roll music that had nearly everyone on the dance floor. And by everyone, it was really everyone.... average age: who knows... there were 19 t0 65+. Race: mosaic. Size: every. Dress code: jeans and a polo from your day in the garden to my $$$ designer dress. Best character there: Pat, an Asian-Indian Taxi Driver by day/ party animal by night. I had the pleasure of speaking with him at the end of the night and his philosophy was that life is far too short to be sitting at home watching tele (pronounced telly; aka: TV). He likes to have a boogie, so he does!

I was reminded of this general great spirit of letting loose a few weeks later when Craig and I had our somewhat delayed reception/ welcome home party. Really, it was an excuse to get all our English extended family and friends together for a great evening. Who says you must not have a good time dancing after 40? Silly North Americans, that's who. Just ask Cherryl (Craig's mum); her and her friends were on the dance floor far longer than me or any of my friends... And after the DJ packed up, they were the ones to carry on a sing-song at the table to serenade our drunken friends into their taxis.

So, what should you learn from this? That you should never stop dancing! And that you don't need an excuse to go and dance. Remember... life's too short to spend your weekend watching tele!