the ants have taken over the asylum

also known as my basement suite.

Oy vay, as I'm sure my dead Jewish grandmother said a time or two. Don't know though, she disowned my dad when he married my Catholic mother back in 1960. But that's a different story.

Well the ants seemed to have been calming down a bit, just a few here and there, I told my landlord and we weren't concerned.

This morning I see HUNDREDS of black ants on my kitchen counter, climbing up to the counter and in some of the shelves. FUCK!!!!!! I gag and call my landlord upstairs but he is not home. "Please do something, it is so gross!!!!!" Then I'm realizing that I'd better do something ASAP or by the time I got home tonight (I had an appointment after work in North Vancouver at 6:30 p.m.) the ants would be everywhere. I call in at work, say I'll be late (I'm an hour and a half of unpaid time late). Luckily, my subboss was very good about it. I hop in the car, speak to my sub at work while driving and go to Home Depot. For some reason I overshoot it and end up in a traffic jam that adds about 20 minutes to the whole melodrama. Oy Vay.

The Home Depot guy is helpful and I return home with $19 of ant traps and toxic spray. I see that my landlord is home so I call upstairs and spit out that I'm missing work, that I'm subtracting the cost of the ant traps/spray from my rent and blah blah blah. And something about how we've had floods in my place, now an infestation, what be next, fire? I'm all up in his face on the phone. Anxiety out of control, toxic like the spray (oooh - cool analogy eh) He grunts a few things, says go to work. I put out the traps, spray the toxin and off I go.

Landlord leaves phone message so I call him back. "I went down there for an hour and only saw a few ants. I wish I'd seen the ants you saw." Meaning: you are exaggerating you anxious tenant. Well, said I, that's because I put out 9 ant traps and sprayed toxin. Oh, says he. Anyway, Scott, said I, you know I flip out and then calm down. You know that by now (see: garbage can incident). Oh, says he. Of course I feel the need to apologize for my anxious behaviour. Meanwhile, I now feel all awkward like he keeps seeing my ungreat side. For some reason I'm obsessing that he thinks i'm crazy. All people must like me or there is no there there. That's some major messed up thinking. There's a few people at work who don't like me and I'm thinking of buying them brand new cars.

Anyway, that was a tangent. I went to my doctor and said "let's up the effexor. The ants got me all riled up and if the effexor was working at peak capacity, I believe the ants wouldn't affect me as much." The doctor, who has no idea what the hell I am talking about, nods her head. I spoke fast too and kind of mumbled, so maybe she thought I said the pant incident or the fat incident. who knows. more questions asked, more effexor given.

got home tonight, no ants again as of yet.

yup, i do need to move. don't think the landlord will put in the new door I asked for with a window in it to provide more light. nope, don't think so.

a bit antsy. hee hee, that joke never gets old.

my god, I just read over this blog entry and it is so keyed up it's giving me diarrhea cramps. Hopefully it doesn't have the same effect on you, my wee fan base.

Also, let's remember one of my fans - Toastmaster Melanie. She's having her long awaited knee operation tomorrow. Break a leg, Melanie.

so what is happening

apologies for the lack of posting. Oddly, my life is more boring when not done in Paris.
My cooking/baking jag continues, oh wee fan base. I went out to the dreaded and evil Superstore yesterday (late Saturday morning, what was i thinking) and bought a bunch of ingredients and a few spices (me! spices!). I made the vegan pumpkin muffins I loved at London Dale's and they were pretty good, albeit a bit undercooked. Live and learn.
I made a vegetable soup (peas, corn, rice, potatoes, beans of various sorts, carrots, tomatoes, etc.) Other than being a bit bland, it's not too bad. And everything in it is good for you. Craziness. I have been getting my recipes from allrecipes.com. A nice website. Honestly, somehow visiting vegan Dale and seeing him cook all of these amazing things turned me around, flipped some switch in my old brain. I'm not becoming vegetarian but I am definitely more dedicated to some home cooking and a bit more healthy food. But don't worry, at a film night last night I had about 5 date squares and a brownie. But it feels good to make this change. I've also been on a cleaning spree - cleaning up my little basement suite. How long will this last?
Speaking of the film night - once a month some people and me! get together and watch an international film. Food is involved. It is usually a film from the person's home country. Last night we watched Farewell my Concubine. I'd never seen it. I really enjoyed it and learned some fascinating bits about China's history and the Beijing Opera. Fascinating, thought I. I have to thank my friend Chris for allowing me to come to these film nights as it is generally people just from his work. Good bloke he.
So I'm eating better, exercising a bit, vacuuming - all I need is the man and a bit more mental health and I'll be set. Oh and a child or two. Breathe. One step at a time.
Thanks, as always, for reading.

antsy

I have ants in my basement suite. Those annoying black little ones. My kitchen has so many cracks that I can't possibly patch them all up.

Advice? I don't want to use poison.

thanks!

a few random thoughts

yup. My friend and co-worker Kristina (referenced in earlier blogs) suggested today that maybe I don't give myself as many days at home after a vacation away, before I go back to work. Fair enough. I got back last Wednesday and don't have to return to work until tomorrow, Tuesday. yup. I think she is right. Well, Thursday was okay because I slept and felt jetlagged and Friday too and I went into work on Friday to do some prepping so I saw some people that way.

Then . . . it all went to hell. Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Sure, I hung out with a few people, did some cleaning, today I did some cooking (that's right! me! - broccoli casserole (very proud of myself on that one - downloaded from a vegetarian recipe site), chicken, steamed veggies and potatoes, cut up some veggies for a stir fry this week. I also cleaned the kitchen - ants! there are ants! is there a solution other than poison? And I exercised - jogged (yes, I know) for 1/2 an hour. That nearly killed my cardio as I haven't exercised in any way in over a month. Yikes, thought I.

So that wasn't hellish but I still have had way too much time to sit around and contemplate my navel and my loneliness. Yes, yes, self-pity x 8,000. Yes, I was just in Paris. Amazing that. But now I'm back and glad to be - I like travelling but always love returning to home and routine and my "stuff." Despite not being in a relationship here in Vancouver I do feel settled here, it has been my home for nearly 20 years. My Effexor was working just fine thank you very much, until I got under a little pressure - end of travelling time I noticed it and being back here. Obsessing, etc. Being single at 40, watching my friends be busy with their lives, blah blah blah blah. You know the drill.

Sigh. Again, I'm not trying to elicit sympathy (money, yes, always money) but not sympathy. I'm just saying where I'm at.

Sigh.

I need to become involved in more things me thinks.

Thanks for reading.

Sigh

Wrote this on the plane home, hoping to make some sense of it

Death walked in and stole her like it had been chomping at the bit.
I loved her gravelly voice. It heightened her terrific wit.
She laughed at one of my jokes one time.
She brought in some books she was done with and I still have her hard cover Da Vinci code.
Maybe she would have found work in Ontario, where she went on what was to have been a year's leave of absence. Her sister lived there and she wanted to be closer to her.
But then she got snatched away. It was so quick, who understood it?
How could death have done that to you?
You gave us a lot of your extra work materials when you left and copies of session calendars for a year. I just remembered that it was you who did that. That stops my breathing for just a moment.
Weren't you the treasurer of our union's local?
Fucking death.
It came in one day and picked you.
Do you know you are missed?
Some people have known you for years - I had the privilege of almost two.
How is it that you are just gone?
Pithy, isn't it, to say, to hope that
there is peace now
for you.

i'm back in Lotusland

Back in Vancouver, oh fan base. Got back around 3:30 p.m. yesterday afternoon. Against all jetlag advice, I went to bed, put on my eye mask to simulate night, jammed in the earplugs and slept for 6 hours. Then I slept on and off till morning.

The first day of the jetlag is often bad and this time is no exception. I'm restless, exhausted, manic, teary and already had an argument with my friend, who I called on the phone at 7:30 a.m. because I was awake. Ah yes, emotional stability, where art thou.

Went to Superstore, got my film developed - that was fun to see the pictures - note to self: use a flash indoors, always, and when using a cheap camera with no zoom, get closer to object. Also, have a focus for the picture, otherwise, it is often just the backs of people's heads. I'm overusing and misusing the comma here, but hey, I'm jetlagged (see paragraph two).

I also bought a new pot and some BROWN RICE. Big step for me, me of the white instant rice. And some vegetables I bought. Slowly I'm going to eat better. Man cannot become vegan overnight. And then I cleaned the kitchen - did all of the dishes, wiped down the counter, etc. Did the laundry, etc. I need to get right on these things I want to change or I won't do them.

Okay, back to my futon I go to do some more reading. May I suggest the book, "Stuart: A Life Backwards," by Alexander Masters. Really good. If you live in Vancouver, after I'm done, you can borrow it if you like.

In TV news, I see that Yvonne has won our work America's Next Top Model pool and that tonight is the series finale of Will and Grace.

Sorry about the argument Tracy, I'm out of sorts (see paragraph #2). No excuse really but hey, I believe that jetlag was a defence in many a criminal case.

Carry on, my wee fan base. I'M BACK!!!! Four more days till work but I'm going in tomorrow to do some preparation.

Oh and finally, Vancouver is beautiful x 10,000. I'd forgotten how amazingly green it is. It is also very warm here although, of course, it is to cool down over the long weekend. I want to go swimming this weekend, either indoors or outdoors and get back into the exercise thing again.

and that's the way it was

on the Champs Elysees today. I figured out that I've walked up and down it at least a dozen times since I've been here and that's pretty damn cool for me. Feeling lazy, I didn't venture out too far on my last day in the city of lights and love. I discovered that not all clothing shops on the Champs are outrageously expensive, some are downright alright. I could have bought a lot but I held myself back. i bought a t-shirt. That was all.How to spend a lot of money in Europe. I have spent more money these last 2.5 weeks than I want to think about! oh well. Because of Dale, Donna, Pinder and Nicolas I saved a lot of money. Such a Canadian care package going out to each of them. Well, I can deliver the one to Donna because she is coming to Canada in June! I am using a lot of exclamation points in this blog.
On the Champs Elysees today these British guys appeared trying to get tickets or something for the upcoming World Cup of Soccer. They stood on the street saying tickets in French. Oddly, when they saw a beautiful woman they would follow her and say, "hey,baby, want to go out with me?" Strangely, the women said no. It was odd, odd, odd.
I saw another movie today - a perfect mellow day for that. I don't know if this movie is in Canada or your country but go go go - it's called Keeping Mum in English and starts Maggie Smith, Kristin Scott Thomas, the great Rowan Atkinson and believe it or not, Patrick Swayze. It was, and I never, ever use this word, delightful. Go now. go go go.Go to that movie. You will say, "delightful."
Tomorrow, 800 hours to London. Wednesday, 10 hour flight to Vancouver. Pray per moi s'il vous plait.
Pinder's still at work and Nicolas is cooking for us. I am spoiled and humbled.

i must confess

I must confess that I used an online translator for that last blog. I haven't suddenly become fluent. Hence, for you genuine French fries out there, there are a lot of mistakes in it.
Today, Monday, I feel rather unwell. Since no information goes unshared in this blog, I will let you know that it is that time of the month quite heavily and also, due to travelling, my intestines have been rather blocked up the last week or so. And I slept oddly feverishly, weird dreams like I had Siamese twins. Thank god Pinder isn't making me go out of the house early this morning. Patient with me that Pinder. She's allowed me to take the laptop into "my"room so I can compose from the comfort of the bed. Good thing, I feel rather lightheaded.
Oh, she doesn't have a balcony by the way, it's actually scaffolding. Easy mistake. They are fixing up the outside of the building. This apparently entails lots of French screaming and banging at 8 a.m. till 6 p.m.
Sorry for the complaining, a bit under the weather. Yeah, yeah, say you, you are in Paris so shut the up.
Anyway, yesterday I went to Chateau Versailles. It reminded me a lot of my basement suite, ha ha. Beautiful and ostentatious. I somehow managed to expose both a roll of film that was almost finished and a new roll of film. I'll have to see if anything turns out. My god the french workers are noisy, do they not know I am near death? Should I die, I've asked Pinder to bury me in the famous Pere LeChaise, next to Jim Morrison or Gertrude Stein. It would be an excuse for you to come to Paris. Anyway, Versailles. The gardens are beautiful and at 3:30 p.m. the numerous fountains come on and music begins to play.
And then last night, Pinder, Nicolas and I went to see a movie. Choices are limited for me as the French movies oddly have no English subtitles. So, yes, wait for it, we went to Mission Impossible III, versione originale, with French subtitles. Oh that Tommy Tom Tom. It was an easy, breezy romp of silliness. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is great and Michelle Monahan, the girlfriend, looks eerily like Katie Holmes. In Paris, you can pick sweet or salty popcorn and they don't make it then, it's all premade and you simply pick it up like at a grocery store. Viva la difference.
Today, je relax.
Martin, I laughed at the translation - grasses should have been fat and gai should have been gay as in homosexual, not merry. Funny.

Bonjour, mes amis

Les gens. Ce n'était pas tout à fait comme chaud dans ma ville natale de Paris aujourd'hui mais je portais toujours le short. Pinder et je suis parti à 10h00 pour Marais. Le marché aux puces était un buste mais le Musée Picasso était grand. Je dois découvrir plus de M. Picasso. Marais est un secteur très frais - tant juif que gai, selon Pinder, mais non nécessairement dans cet ordre. Donc c'est très funky et vieil et cher de vivre dans, dit elle. Nous avons déjeuné là et j'avais encore une autre crêpe - cette fois rempli de l'oeuf, le bacon et creme. Très provoquant une dépendance. Doit lire ce livre, "Pourquoi des Femmes françaises Ne deviennent pas Grasses '. Rappelez moi. J'ai voulu acheter quelques vêtements donc nous sommes allés à cette allée occupée folle dans Chatelet. Fou. Image Metrotown temps environ 100 et plus petit. Fou.
Demain je vais à Versailles parce que ce n'est pas ouvert lundi. Mardi, en arrière à Londres (avec bon espoir pas un autre événement de 9 heures) et mercredi en arrière à Vancouver. Cinq jours pour dormir et obtenir mon film développé et ensuite en arrière travailler. Ces vacances sont parties vite.

french fries

Pinder and Nicolas took me to the coolest restaurant last night. Just off the Champs Elysees, it's not well known by tourists. So it was packed, but with Parissienes. It was great - for 25 Euros you got steak and fries. They served this in two servings - so it was like two meals in one. It sounds odd, I know, but it was really, really good. Best fries I've ever had and the steak was amazing, served in little strips. And they are apparently know for their steak sauce - also very good.
Of course you can smoke in Paris restaurants, which feels odd after years of the clean air thing in Vancouver. But it also felt very French. "Stop complaining about it," said Pinder, "You are in France." Fair enough. So, if you come here, and you should, expect a lot of dog shit and a lot of smoking. A lot of both. But, hey, it is Paris. Pinder and Nicolas treated me to my meal, which I protested of course and then accepted, of course. They have been so kind I'm all teary. I've been having the most amazing time here in Paris, mainly due to their kindness. Such a Canadian care package I am going to send them. I am so genuinely touched by the generosity of everyone I have stayed with on this trip.
Today, as I said before, Pinder and I are going to go to Maraise. Flea market, Hotel de Ville, Picasso Museum, French Onion soup for lunch. And it is a cloudless, hot day again today.
Tomorrow I will go to Versailles, as it is closed on Mondays.
So I say, find yourself a friend in Paris who lives thisclose to the Arc de Triumphe. Pinder wants me to stop writing all of this nice stuff about her, but I can't.

Poor Pinder is sick

Poor Pinder. I woke up this morning and saw that not only was Nicolas still here but so was Pinder. Pinder I shouted, awakening her, do you know that you are not at work? yes, said she. Poor Pinder has her "that time of the month" and was throwing up. Oddly, I did not hear that. She feels awful and is doing some work from home. Her beautiful Indian skin looks a bit pale. I worry.
I seem to be in this odd cycle of insomnia in that I don't sleep till about 4 or 5 a.m. Oh well, it's still Paris.
Today is another beautiful day. Amazing I say. I think I'll go to the Jardin de Luxembourg and see what I can see.
I'll post more later about how I got lost and such like that.

got lost again and I want to build an altar to Pinder

My sense of direction is definitely lacking. I got LOST AGAIN. It always happens when I'm tired at the end of the day, trying to find Pinder's place. I took the metro to Charles de Gualle Metro, which is five minutes from Pinder's. An hour later and three people asked for directions, I arrived. I'm exhausted.

Nonetheless, it was a beautiful day today. Just beautiful. At least 25 or 30 degrees. I love, love, love Paris in the springtime! (except getting lost). I lay in the grass by the Louvre, read a book, ate a crepe, slept. then I went to rue de rivoli (too tired to do caps)and then took the metro to the Left Bank. I went to the Museum de Cluny (it has a longer name but again, tired). It was very interesting. Let me just get some information for you. Okay it's called Musee National de Moyen Age at the Hotel de Cluny. Let me tell you a bit more. "The collections bear witness to the arts and human activities of the Middle Ages." The site was a 13th Century Abbey and lots of the old stuff is there. For example, stained glass, alabaster carvings, fabrics and The Lady and the Unicorn hangings. The other part of the museum are the Gallo-Roman bath. All very interesting. Check it out online if you get a chance.

I then wandered around the Latin Quarter and found the university area - the Sorbonne, the Pantheon was there and a lot of other schools. It was beautiful and gloriously hot. I then found a Lebanese restaurant and bought a falafel sandwich for 3 euros, an unbelievable price in Paris. The owner talked to me for awhile. He had moved from Lebanon to Paris three years ago and taught himself French. Interesting.

More aimless wondering and I went over to the Notre Dame Cathedral area. Then I took the metro back to the arc de triomphe. And then, once again, I got lost. Very frustrating.

So I'm back at Pinder's now and it's very cool - I feel like I'm in France. Her boyfriend is here, her friend and me and Pinder. The boyfriend's friend is also coming over. Their common language is French (Pinder's friend speaks Italian, Spanish, French and English) and so they are speaking French. Sounds rude but it's really not. Occassionally they lapse into English, although Julian doesn't speak it.

Pinder gets an altar because she is letting me stay at her flat! It is amazing to stay so close to all of the cool things. Donna and Dale should get an altar as well.

i'm tired and it has taken me an hour to write this blog. More later.

how to get lost in Paris without really trying

Thanks, Martin, for your encouraging comment. Although I haven't talked to you in years, it's really neat to have our "online" friendship. And I'm going to go to the chiropractor when I get back to Vancouver!

So I'm blogging a lot because I want to have a journal of my trip and typing is so much easier and faster for me than handwriting. Plus, my regular fan base of 3 or so can keep up with my epic adventures, while bemoaning your dull lives (joking)

After Pinder went to work, I got up and went out. I won't have the luxury of sleeping in after tomorrow, as her boyfriend returns from his parents and he works from home, in the living room, which is where I am sleeping. Pinder is really lucky - she works ten minutes from home by foot and starts at 10. Ah, the French. Well,she's not French but she works in France. 10-6:30 are her hours. And six weeks holidays. Ah, the French.

I wandered aimlessly through the streets which I like to do in Paris. Last time I wsa here in November 2003 (in that bad hostel in that bad area of town)I loved the Hotel Invalides. I didn't go into the museum that time as I was near the end of my trip and short on money. So this time I did. It's all about the French military which normally I couldn't care less about, but because of my intense feeling of having lived another life as a nurse at the Hotel Invalides (odd, I know) I wanted to check it out. Lots of military stuff, of course, and all, oddly, in French, ha ha. It's quite a big museum and worth the 7.50 Euros. Included in all of that is Napoleon's Tomb. That was interesting. I learned a bit more about the occupation of France during the second world war. Lots of pictures were taken and if i can borrow my friend's scanner when I get back to Vancouver, I'll try to post some. While I was there in came lots of French soldier types. I know that soldiers get in for free, but they were all smoking and looking rather bored. I wanted to get my picture taken with one of them but alas, chickened out.

After the Hotel I wandered aimlessly and decided to try to make my way back to Pinder's because I knew that i would get lost and that it would take a couple of hours and I could sightsee along the way. I wanted to come back for a break and then go out again later. Sure enough, it took me more than 2 hours of what is normally apparently a 20 minute trek. Sigh. And try as I might I found myself getting frustrated. But, eventually, the map got me back here. It's really nice, she lives between a grocery store and a bakery. Now that I have a better idea how to get back here, further trips out will be better for sure. I know I shouldn't get frustrated, that it is all part of the travelling experience. But alas, it's just how my brain works. I always eventually find my way and I know that but I still get all wound up.

Oh well.

Paris! It started out cloudy and cool and got nice and sunny, birds singing by the end of the day. oh and I seemed to have bumped into a really cool outdoor market - lots of fruits, vegetables,meat, fish and clothing and shoes. Really cool thought I.

Tomorrow I'm going to stay home all day. Joking. I think I may check out another museum (I did the louvre last time and the Musee D'orsee but there are million of more to choose from)and walk through the latin Quarter and St. Germain de Pres. St. Germain is where Brad and Angelina were living for awhile but alas they have moved on to Africa.

and you thought getting to Calgary was difficult

Hmmm - everything is in French on my friend's laptop - maybe it will translate this automatically into French? ha ha.

Well, well. London-Paris by air is one hour. One hour. It took me, door to door, 9 hours, 9 hours! Well, first as I said before London Luton is forever away in London. tube-train-short shuttle bus. Then, the plane was an hour late. then, when I got to Paris CDG airport, well, it's huge. Pinder had told me to take the Air France coach bus to the Arc de Triomphe. I searched around for this bus, then asked under the information sign. The unhelpful and slightly ticked off French woman told me to take a shuttle to Terminal 2. That took about 20 minutes to find. Then, when I got to Terminal 2, it took a long time to find the coach stop. i asked numerous non-English speaking people, non of whom could understand my attempts at French. (If you think your high school French is good, come to France and be disabused of that notion). Finally, I found it but then I decided to find a phone card to call Pinder to tell her I was very late. you can't use coins in the pay phones, you need a card. The guy behind the counter at the newspaper shop first tried to sell me 15 Euro card. He spoke no English so I couldn't say don't rip me off in a way he understood. finally, he settled on 7.50 Euro. I then tried to find the coach stop again, couldn't, so asked two young employees, dressed in soldiers' uniforms and carrying guns. really. I was very tense at this point (really?) and said never mind when they didn't know. finally, I found it again, the bus came and off I went. The traffic was unbelievable, that took an hour and then I was there. I hadn't peed in hours I'll have you know. Amazingly, Pinder had waited at the stop for two hours, well, at a nearby bar. Amazing.
We walked to her place, she lives about a 10 minute walk from the Arc. Amazing! She has a cute little flat and I am currently typing lying down on her computer. We went for a walk last night in her hood and her hood includes the Eiffel Tower, the Champs Elysees. Crazy.
Couldn't sleep last night and this morning there was a worker man on her balcony. But i can walk so many places - the area is amazing - right in the best part of Paris. Her flat is in an old building from the start of the 20th century. Amazing.
I'm very excited to be here (finally!) and will have fun. Pinder is busy till tonight so I'm on my own. It's great to see her - she's young and successful too - all of 26 and works as a legal assistant for lawyers who work on huge government and company contracts. She's so sweet and I've already broken a few of her things. Closet door, light, toilet. She's very good about that. I'm to meet the French boyfriend tomorrow.
More later. Pinder needs the adaptor to iron her pants.

off to Paris - May 9th to May 16th

Dale's bathroom mirror is too high - two tall men live here so they don't need to shorter. It just means I can't pluck my chin hair before Paris. I can't have chin hair in Paris. Too much information? Yup, for sure.

I had a relaxing day as Dale was working. I went to the Tate Modern Museum for awhile. Tonight Dale and I took the train (not the tube, the train) and a bus to Celine's house. He made another great meal - vegan pasta with artichoke and olive sauce. I don' normally like olives but they were cut small. I'm quite psyched, when I get back to Vancouver, I'm not going to become a vegan but I am going to look into healthier and more interesting recipes and buy some new pots and pans - I don't have many and what I do have are too old to be good. Dale has really changed my mind about what veganism can be. He has made the best food I've had in years. It is expensive and certainly more time consuming but yum. At the very least I can start with vegan pasta. I knew travelling would eventually pan out for me! It always gives me a new perspective on something.

Dale's friends are amazing - three women live in Celine's flat- one from France, one from Germany and one from Spain. The Spanish girl, all of 25 I think, is beautiful, speaks 7 languages and has one year toward a PhD in European history. These Europeans get it together really early in life it seems. They are all smart, kind and not pretentious at all. Food were eaten, cards were played (the game president, do you know it? Suffice it to say that I was the asshole nearly every round. Excellent fun) There are lots and lots of Europeans living and working in London, most trying to improve their English. A great and fun bunch. Really great.

So, more from Paris but probably not as often as I don't believe that Pinder has the internet at home. How big is London? Well, I'm flying out of London Luton and getting there is a tube ride, plus a $25 (one way) hour long ride on the train and then a short connecting bus. Crazy.

you deal while I roll

said my friend Dale to me. We played cards tonight, something we did last night as well. Fun and relaxing, I love card games.

Today was another relaxing day. Good thing too because I'm still coughing and I didn't sleep well last night, so that all adds up to relaxation needed.

I slept in and Dale went off for the initial setting-up-a-program session at his new gym. I could have gone along, he had a guest pass. Nah. One of the perks of being 40 is you can say nah without feeling guilty.

We went to Notting Hill, of the Notting Hill movie. To be honest it doesn't look anything like Notting Hill the movie, not nearly as quaint. The Tube was crowded even on a Sunday. Craziness. After Notting Hill we braved Oxford Street to get me a much better suitcase. I just have a lame bag right now. The suitcase is great and was only 15 pounds (about 33 Canadian). And it has wheels so I can pull it easily. Yee haw. My stuff fits much better in it as well. It is so nice to have a good bag when you are living out of a suitcase.

Dinner was more homecooked vegan food, this time tortillas and re-fried beans, made without fat. Very, very good. Dale is spoiling me. All of this relaxation, good food, TV and internet, card playing - very nice. He makes the food, I do the dishes. Then he re-does the dishes because they are not clean enough. Oh well.

Sorry to go on and on and on about my cough, wee fan base, but I am just sick of it. I've had it for a week now and it's annoying as hell.

The Tube - Dale says most people just go to work and come home and do nothing on weeknights because they are so bloody tired, partly from the commute. It's crazy. I'm exhausted just from travelling around as a tourist. People don't have time/energy to think about other things (i.e. politics) because they are just trying to get on the tube. Craziness.

soya bread, veganism, relaxation! and sky TV

Hack hack. I'm still coughing away. It is a bit ridiculous but I don't want to go the doctor out here in London, way too expensive. Hack hack. He'd just tell me there's nothing to be done.

In more interesting travel news - I'm so relaxed right now it is downright wonderful. Dale met me at Putney Train Station and we took a short train ride to Vauxhall, where he lives with his boyfriend. His man is out of town at the minute and so it's just us. They have a lovely two bedroom apartment (I believe the rent is about $3,000 Canadian a month). I get my own room for the next three nights! And he has a big screen TV with lots of channels and the internet (three computers!). Yes, yes, I'm in London, I should be out all of the time. Not! Relaxing, particularly while coughing, is very important.

We're spending today (at my suggestion) hanging out at his place (it's a bit rainy today anyway and I need a break from the crowds) and eating, relaxing, reading, interneting and his friend Celine is coming over later. Pot will be smoked apparently but sadly not by me. If I'm going to start I think I'll wait until I'm at the home of B.C. Bud.

Dale is an amazing cook. I've already had a great sandwich - made of soya bread, fake vegan meat, tomatoes and vegan pesto. Awesome. And then a pumpkin muffin (all vegan) and some freshly squeezed grapefruit juice. Amazing. My body is coursing with health and my cough will be forced to go away! Hack, hack. He's going to make spaghetti later, refried beans and such like that.

We're fairly comfortable around each other (and no weird sexual tension to worry about, in fact I'm naked at the moment. ha ha, not.)so that's good. Tomorrow we are going to Notting Hill and Monday Dale is working. tuesday I'm off on the 3,000 hour journey to Luton airport and off to Paris for a week to stay in a smaller, but centre of Paris, flat.

I love relaxing "around the house" and not feeling pressured to go, go, go. While this bores me to tears at home, here it is wonderful.

Oh and Dale has a great collection of books (including a Noam chomsky, good boy). It's all good.

Now, remember, my wee readership, relaxing is an important part of a vacation so no lectures please and thank you.

hack hack.

I am a vegan for three days.

a little West End play

Still in London. There are many, many, many, many, many people in London. Many. I went to Hyde Park this afternoon and that was great. The weather, unusually, has been amazing. 25 or something today and sunny. Hyde Park was very relaxing and calm. I didn't see Diana's memorial fountain, but I did the sign pointing to it.

I left Hyde Park into the craziness of the centre of London. Oh my bleeping god. I forgot about the crowded part. Why are there so many people out in the middle of the day? I just don't understand. People, people everywhere and not a boyfriend to love. They don't seem to watch where they are going either. Very odd. I found it all a bit stressful. I ended up on Oxford Street and it took me about an hour to find Piccadilly Circus where I was to meet Donna later. I found a paper and sat down and read. Yikes.

Donna and I went to see the play, Honour. Got half price tickets so it was 22.50 British pounds. A good price. An excellent play. Diana Rigg, Natasha McEhlone (spelllng?) and two other people, including an actor apparently well known in the British realm. A really good and gripping 90-minute play.

Just a short blog tonight but more later as I will now be at Dale's starting tomorrow till Tuesday, then off to Paris, where there are fewer people and more French Onion Soup.

Carry on. As always, thanks for reading.

mind the gap

I do love the general politeness of Londoners. "Mind the gap," at the tube and "sorry for the inconvenience." And when someone smashes into me full speed ahead, they are genuinely sorry. And the accent too!

Anne tells me I must forget my cold and jetlag - I'm in london for god's sake! Well, my cold is now a hacking, annoying, keep awake type of cough and I sound like a seal. Very interesting to say the least. But i push on. Because I am strong. Strong and silent. and strong.

I hung out with my pal Dale yesterday. I met him when I was travelling in London 2.5 years ago. He's a 27-year-old South African fellow who has taken up residence here in London. He has a job, a two-bedroom flat in East London and an American live-in boyfriend named Judd. I met the boyfriend yesterday too. He is very nice and very successful - he works for the Marriot chain of hotels and is constantly jetting around the world. His latest is to India on Friday for four weeks. I'm going to stay with Dale for three nights starting on Saturday. He's taken up Kaballah and tells me he volunteers at the centre in London, where he has trained Madonna's two young ens. And he's Kaballah meditated with Gwyneth Paltrow. He says Kaballah has helped to centre him, etc. He is also now a vegan. He will feed me well over the three days and I'm sure health will just pour out of my veins. Hack hack hack.

What else? oh yeah, Dale took me to gay Soho and we boywatched together. Nice.

Today, hack, hack, i took two long tube rides and one long train ride and hung out in Cambridge. It was a beautiful and hot sunny day - 25C - and I rented a bike. There are more than 30,000 bikes in Cambridge. It wsa more harrowing than I thought to ride it - opposite side of the road and cars veering and honking! I mostly walked the bike really. Later I took a double decker bus tour - the woman giving the commentary was very informative. Oh and I had a bagel and cream cheese as well. And chips (crisps!) for some reason I have been utterly, utterly craving the crisps since I've been here.

Have I lost my writing mojo? Hmmm. I don't seem as humourous as I used to be. This is a bit of a worry.

On the way back the tube was in a bit of trouble and it only ran once a half hour on my line at rush hour. This resulted in massive squishing, massive heat (50C?) and a near fainting experience. I will never complain about the skytrain again. It's all part of the London experience!

Tomorrow night I believe that Donna and I are going to go to a West End play of some sort. Now that's London.

I have intermittent access to the internet so I may not blog for a few days. Hack hack.

Mind the gap. Good one, Gail.

Oh, in other news, the scandals that are rocking the government here are the stuff of pure tabloids. The Deputy PM has been caught out shagging one of the secretaries and her diaries from 2003 have been exposed. Yee haw! She's 43, he's an old bugger. And other problems too with criminal immigrants not being deported and such like that there. There was a local election today -for wards or whatever they are called out here. For all the accent sophisticaion, them Brits like their tabloids.

Later people.

to sleep, perchance to be in London

Well, after all after all, I'm in London, England. London. The queen's London. London Bridge is falling down. Double decker buses. Other side of the road, such like that there.

Overnight flight - well, wowza that. Amazingly and luckingly, an emergency exit seat was FREE AND AVAILABLE so I quickly switched over and spent the 9.5 hour flight with lots of legroom. Good thing too because regular Air Transat seats have no legroom. Three movies were shown but I didn't watch any of them. I slept on and off and the neck pillow was the best 10 dollars I ever spent. Seriously, buy a neck pillow. Go now, go and buy one.

I got to london around 5 p.m. local time on May 1st into Gatwick. Gatwick, of the four London airports I have been through, is by far the dingiest. The customs lineup snaked up and down stairs and everything else. After about an hour I got through, got my luggage and headed to the train. Very easy and two trains later I ended up at Donna's stop in Putney. She came and got me and we walked the ten minutes to her flat.

Putney is in southwest London, and its closest airport nicely is Gatwick. It's a nice little suburb. Today I slept most of the day (well, on and off) and then walked around Putney. Donna got home from her teaching placement and we went out for Japanese food and met two of her schoolmates. Excellent fun. Donna is a wild and crazy gal.

I'm still quite exhausted and jetlagged and now have a cough to finish up my cold/flu. I have started to lose my voice a bit too. Oh well. You all know me, I'm a silent sufferer (yes, yes, stop laughing)

Tomorrow I'm off to central London (about 45 minutes by neato doubledecker bus from Putney) to meet with Dale and his American boyfriend. I haven't seen Dale since I met him at a London hostel in November 2003. He's a cool South African guy and I am going to stay with him from May 6-9. Should be fun.

Have I mentioned I'm jetlagged?

There are awesome amounts of people in London and I love all of the signs. "Way out." "toilet" "Walk" "wait" It's very calming being told what to do.

Alrighty. Another updatge to come.