WE ARE HAVING A HOOT!!!

I love going back to places I have been before.  Its kind of like seeing a movie a second time.  Now that you know the basic ins and outs you can sit back and relax and pick up more obscure bits and pieces.

This trip is the second one for April and Myles.  So they had fun showing me some of the stuff they encountered on the first round.  We have definitely done a lot of walking!  In fact we bought an Oyster card each when we arrived and we have hardly used it!  Maybe tomorrow we can make it a tube day.  Just randomly ride the train and get off here and there. One time Bill and I did that in Shanghai and when we got off the subway and climbed up out of the station we were way out in the middle of nowhere...fields all around us and not a soul in sight!

We have done the traditional things so far.  Hyde Park, all the squares, many pubs, Harrods, Covent Garden, China Town and....Book of Mormon.  I bought the tickets in Leicester Square.  Four seats from the front, centre.  They could not have been better.  And the toughest part of seeing this show...is it is impossible to explain it to anyone afterwards.  We laughed till we cried and there was an immediate standing o at the end.  But if you are at all sensitive to the idea of blasphemy against god, or Mormons, and can't handle the 'C' word...best not to go!

Today is a quiet day for me.  The kids have gone to Camden Market Town.  I have been there many times and my feet and hips need a break.  We have averaged way more steps per day than I am used to.  Maybe not quite as walky as China was but almost.  So I stayed home and am now having a lovely quiet day.  I did go out to Garfunkles for a fish pie and then a quick stop in at Tesco's for buns and butter and such.  

A quick word about the room/apartment we are in.  It is on Trafalger Square.  Perfect location.  The room is utterly fantastic.  Separate bedroom.  Separate toilet room...so sensible.  A pull out couch.  A beautiful little kitchen.  The whole place is beautifully decorated and very big and roomy.  And it isn't expensive!!!  

Enough for now.  We leave for Paris on Saturday.  We have another apartment in the same chain of hotels as this one.  And that one is right on the Seine smack dab across from the Louvre!

OUR LOVELY LITTLE KITCHEN...WITH A PEN ON THE FLOOR.  IT WASN'T WRITING THE WAY APRIL LIKED SO SHE THREW IT RIGHT ACROSS THE APARTMENT

TTYL

THE SHARD.  THEY CALL IT THAT BECAUSE THEY THINK IT LOOKS LIKE A SHARD OF GLASS.  47 BUCKS TO RIDE UP TO THE TOP....NOT THAT INTERESTING

TEA TIME

BAD PICTURE BUT WE ATE AT THAT PLACE ONE NIGHT...PRETTY GOOD

COVENT GARDEN

COVENT GARDEN...THAT WOMAN ON THE LEFT IN THE PINK SHIRT WAS EXTREMELY LOUDLY SINGING AN ITLIAN OPERA...NO WORDS FOR THAT ONE

THE SHARD FROM A DISTANCE

BOAT RIDE ON THE THAMES...THAT BRIDGE IS TOWER BRIDGE

THE LONDON EYE

THE FACES ARE DARK BECAUSE I WAS USING MY STUPID AWFUL PHONE CAMERA AND I WAS REALLY WANTING TO SHOW THE CHANDELIER REFLECTIONS.  IT WAS EITHER OR....FACES OR DECOR.  FACES LOST.

WE RENTED THREE OF THOSE BEACH CHAIRS FOR AN HOUR AND IT WAS PROBABLY THE NICEST HOUR WE HAVE SPENT HERE

CRAZY RESTAURANT....YOU CHOOSE YOUR CUT OF STEAK, YOUR SALT OR RUB, YOUR FLAVOUR OF BUTTER AND YOUR CHOICE OF SAUCE.  THEY BRING IT AND THAT IRON UNDER THE STEAK IS FLAMING HOT...YOU COOK IT TO THE RARENESS OR DONESS OF YOUR CHOICE...SO MUCH FUN!!!

SHE DID A YOU TUBE SUGGESTION ON HOW TO PACK YOUR JEWELRY....CLEARLY A FAIL...

I FINALLY SUCCUMBED

It's funny, when I am leading up to a trip I hate to buy food.  I always end up either chucking it or giving it to poor Kathy, whom I am sure is too polite to say no.

But it dawned on me yesterday...I was actually hungry. In my cupboard was nothing edible but sardines, and weird tinned mixed tuna, and chick peas (shovel list), and pasta etc...Oh and a bag of oatmeal...so old I am afraid to look at it.  I am pretty sure it will be full of weevils.  And we know about those don't we Cookie?  Weevils and hot tubs shall not be discussed.

I was whining to Arnie about being hungry and she said the obvious...go get some food.  So today I emerged into the smokey muck outside to Safeway.  And jeez!  I bought a ham, two rib steaks, a bunch of wieners, buns, breakfast sausages, chilli, tuna snacks, Mac and cheese in a box (two of them), bran muffins, four danishes, fried chicken. ahhhhhhh.........Needless to say I am NOT hungry anymore.

I know we are all tired of the smoke comments.  But seriously, how much worse can it get?  It is so bad right now and I am tired of the sky and atmosphere everywhere being a strange baby poop yellow.  It honestly feels like we are living in a wifi movie.  Achhh...not wifi, scifi.   A science fiction movie is the only place I have seen this before.

I will finish off this lame post with a feel good story.  I went to the Lemon Grass for lunch the other day.  They are Vietnamese and the pho is amazing.  The place, which isn't tiny, was packed to one last table, a pretty big one.  The waitress didn't blink an eye and sat me at this large table, one that they could be making way more money at than just little me.

I ordered the small veggie pho and agadashi.  It was delicious.  I read my book on my phone while I waited and then ate.  Somewhere there as I started eating I noticed about five young men milling at the entrance, waiting for a table.  The waitress came out to them and said she had a table for about four if they wished to squeeze.  No, they said they would wait.  So I waved her over and said I don't mind moving and they could sit at the table I had.  It was a table for six.

 She was so grateful and moved my food and called the fellows over and they profusely thanked me.  It was no skin off my nose.  So I moved and finished my lunch and ...I went up to pay and they had already paid for my lunch!!!  Wow!!!  I went straight over to their table and personally thanked each one.  They didn't have to actually do that!  Made my day it did!!!!!

One last comment....I hate Gordon Ramsey.

TTYL

STUFF STUFF AND MORE STUFF

Sooooooo.....meat.  Movies.  Dinners. Games. Boxes.  Stuff needing places to go.  Notary Publics.  Lightening (causing a scared shitless dog).  Horrible head ache.  Smoke. Pho. and now Christopher Robin.

Dinners:  we have had a couple up at Kathy's, delicious dinners.  Last night they had a couple of friends over and we all brought something.  Kathy has been buying local corn on the cob and its unbelievably sweet and crunchy and amazing. Those little sweet kernels pop out deliciousness when you bite them.  It reminds me of Bill...I think it was almost his fave food.  And last night was no exception.  Iris brought the most delicious spinach, strawberry, candied walnut salad, I stuffed a couple of salmon and made a dill sauce and .....  get this...Kathy made strawberry icecream....real ice-cream.  God it was good!!!  After dinner we played games...had the best time ever!

Movies:  The other day Kerry, Kathy and I went to Mission Impossible....and of course it was mellydram, impossible and pure entertainment!  I always sit down in front, like right in front, three or four rows up so there is never anyone around to bug me with their frigging popcorn chewing and candy bag rattling.  Plus I can see.

Tonight Kathy, hopefully Jo, and I are going to Christopher Robin.  It looks like its a really good movie.  I would go just to watch Pooh!  What an adorable little bear he is!  Plus gloomy Eeyore is played by Brad Garrett...there couldn't be anyone more perfect for that role!

Boxes:  Ah jeez!  You know it doesn't matter how much crap I throw out all the time and especially when I move, I always have more.  These boxes, big ones, I haven't looked in since I moved a year ago.  So Anne and I started to go through them.  We did about six or seven of them and once again I end up with three garbage bags right full of garbage, one bag full of donation and one full bag of recycling and one pretty full bag Anne is keeping.  How the hell does this happen?  What made me keep that shit when I moved a year ago? I only ended up with two or three armfuls, and one laundry basket of stuff I am keeping...out of six or seven BIG boxes!

Work:  In the midst of this I get the occasional call from Aryn, my awesome business person.  Mortgages to sign payouts and discharges on and mortgages to buy etc.  This involves trips to the notary....whom I really like.  We always take time to visit.    I enjoy this activity!

Travel:  Last night I went to bed and got myself all comfy and settled and as I was drifting off to Lala land.. I suddenly jolted up, it just dawning on me that I had no recollection of seeing my passport recently and I knew it wasn't in the little purse it is always in...cause that purse was all folded up and stuffed into my camera bag.  Jesus H!!!  I lay there in a sweat trying my damnedest to remember where it was.

I eventually went back to sleep but I woke up at five thirty and I just couldn't stay in bed.  I got up and started hunting.  I couldn't find it.  Until I suddenly remembered I had put my American money and my passport in three matching vases on top of the bent box Bill is in.  Whew!!!  I am most definitely getting dementia I'm telling ya!  Then I rounded up all my euros from here there and everywhere.  I ended up with over a thousand euros!  Thats crazy.  Thats from the trip to Paris I made with April in 2016.  Good thing Bill doesn't know...he would be so pissed off with me!  Not keeping track of my weird money was a pet peeve he had with me!

Meat:  On Sunday aft. Kathy and Iris and I met another Kiwanian, Darren, at the Dirty Jersey, a dark, comfy pub connected to a pool hall and bowling alley way on the other side of town.  We were going to do the meat draw and 50/50.  We have done it before but the gaming powers that be came by a month or two ago and demanded we follow minute detailed annoying rules...writing down all the ticket numbers, and logging every possible detail etc.....  So Darren taught us how and off we went and sold tickets.  We had so much fun.  I love kabissbing with all those old wrinkled dudes and their old wrinkled wives in their glittery t-shirts and sweat shirts.  It really was fun.  We raised 401.50!

Smoke:  Okay, I am not going to talk much about this one.  But one certain Vancouverite was complaining about the air quality down there.  I got the feeling she wasn't understanding the real badness up here.  So I looked it up and read that Vancouver air quality was 18 and ours was 178.  So I texted her this.  She texted back that really it was their humidity that was getting her.  So I looked that up too.  I know we have some humidity cuz my hair smells like perm when I go out.  Vancouver's was 62 and ours was 58.  I texted her that too.

  Sorry Arnie.  I didn't mean to be a one upper.  At least I didn't say I told you so!  And she has a real lung problem too.  I smoked about 75 cigarettes a day when I was pregnant with her.  We didn't know back then it was bad but I am pretty sure thats what caused her lung problems.  I also drank a whole bottle of Southern Comfort when I was about two months pregnant.  Sigh.  Its a lucky thing she is normal.  Well, actually she isn't.  She is way way way smarter and more organized and a math whiz than anyone I know.  Maybe the smoking helped.  No, It didn't.  Maybe she would have been a freaky freaking genius if I hadn't smoked.  So maybe it was a good thing I did.  No.

Enough now.  Its been a busy awesome few days.  I did miss the rib fest though.  When I got up I had the mother of all mother headaches.  And I never get headaches so I just simply went back to bed and to sleep and didn't get up until it went away, around three.  Poor Wrangler.  He didn't understand what was going on.

Okay really enough now.  TTYL

MY NEW LITTLE LAPPY

I am making the switch over to my little new laptop.  This makes me tres nervous.  I don't like change.  But, as I was saying a post or two ago, my other one has so many lines etc...and black blocks on the screen from a tiny crack, its hard to see some things.  This one is so easy and its way smaller so easy to handle.  We will see.

I have had a good day or two since the last post.  Yesterday morning I was busy doing banking and emails when my phone rang.  It was Annie with an invite up to her place for waffles, strawberries, butter, maple syrup and whipping cream!!!  I have not had that combination since living for a summer with my aunt in Anacortis Washington when I was 12 years old!  I have had awesome waffles at my sister's, but not the strawberries and whipping cream.  What a lovely invite!!!  It was so dam good!

Today I made a trip up to Costco.  I am testing out my new shoes.  I def needed new good walking shoes.  I really want to walk further and with less discomfort when we are in London and Paris in a couple of weeks.  I think they are going to work out.  Yay Solomons!  Best shoes ever!

A couple of days ago April got hold of me and told of a horrific thing that happened to Jessica, her friend in North Van.  She had tied her cat up on a long leash at her door.  She does this often.  But a couple of nights ago the cat was attacked by three raccoons.  No surprise there...North Van is totally riddled with the bastards.

She flew out the door, making sure Mabel, her one year old baby didn't follow her, and grabbed the leash to save her cat.  One of the raccoons attacked HER!!!  It scratched and bit her!  She ended up having to go to the hospital and the cat to the vet.  And now she has developed sepsis and has to go to the hospital every day and have intravenous antibiotics pumped into her.  And she is breast feeding... a problem.  I think I will contact the news.  Something has to be done with the raccoon population in north Van.  So many people are attacked and animals killed by them.  Time to do something about it.

Well its ribfest weekend in Kamloops!!!!  Yummy!!!!  Last year we went but it was so cold it was hard to enjoy it.  I don't think we will have that problem this year.

On Sunday Kathy and I are heading over to the Dirty Jersey to do the meat draw.  Thats always fun but this time there are new registering tickets etc rules.  One of the fellow Kiwanians is coming to teach us what we need to do.  I have heard its a pain in the ass...but fun just the same.

Tomorrow Annie, good friend that she is, is coming over tomorrow morning to help me unload and figure out what to do with all the stuff in the boxes downstairs.  On the one hand I am looking forward to it but on the other I don't want my place looking even more like an old lady's over stuffed house.  And it would piss Alice the scary housekeeper off.  She has already given me shit for having too much stuff.  I'm scared of her.  Overpaying her doesn't seem to help with the attitude.

Well I am off to do laundry.  I am going to organize my bags upstairs and start packing.  Possibly I will find forgotten clothing in the boxes that I can take to London/Paris.  I am going to take three hot day outfits and three cold day ones and thats it.  I always pack way to much.  I can easily wear the same outfit for a week.  I have no pride...can do it as long as it isn't too dirty.  Some dirt is okay though.  I have noticed though that now my stomach isn't as big (its still huge, just not quite as huge) I can lean over the plate further and its cut down on the spillage.

Thats it folks...pretty lame post.  I will take pics tomorrow of us unloading boxes and having fun with stuff.  I have zero pics on this machine.  Forty six thousand on the old one!  TTYL

NOT SO QUIET NOW

I sat on the phone with Telus three times this last week.  Each time was one and a half hours.  No choice for a call back.  Twice I hung up ferociously pissed off.  And...I called Shaw to come and get them out.

Shaw arrived right on schedule on the Friday.  He comes in, looks around and determines that if I want telly in the kitchen nook where it is now and in my tan purple room, again where there is another one, there would have to be some drilling done.  And to do that they need permission from Strata, in writing.  Holy fer Geez!!!!  Well that aint happening.

So I called Telus a third time.  At the hour and a half mark I was foaming at the mouth and ready to kill.  All I can say is its a good thing they don't have an office I can  physically walk into.

At about 98 minutes they answered.  I blistered the poor girls ear for a couple of minutes.  She kept saying I am sorry until I told her to just stop.  Don't tell me you are sorry for christ sake, tell the upper echelon to get more people in.  This is truly BAD customer service.

Any way eventually she started trouble shooting.  Finally she asked about the 'white box'.  What white box?  Both my pvr's are black.  Then I remembered, it has been a year afterall, that they had installed a white box downstairs so I could try out extra ultra fast internet....which it was but for twenty five bucks a month I didn't need it so I had them get rid of it.  But the box stayed.  

At her request I went downstairs, moved the bed, found the box....unplugged.  Taylor must have unplugged it when she moved out, not knowing what it was.  So all that flipping aggravation for a simple plug in.  Gahhhhhh!!!!

April and Myles came up on Friday night.  I love having them.  They are so easy to have.  They spent time with Jo and Craig out on the lake having a good time wake surfing and paddle boarding.  I stayed home and made salmon patties...the kind you coat in mayo then crushed potato chips.  They are a lot of work (a labour of love for me) but worth every bite.  Kathy and Kerry came down and joined us for dinner.  I had five people for dinner!!!!! That rarely happens!

Yesterday K&K headed out to Shuswap and the kids and I went over and borrowed their hot tub.  They are so generous.

I didn't get in...my bathing suit is kind of loose now and tends to show my lower flaps...so embarrassing plus hot tubs and blood pressure are not friends.  So they got in and I sat on the sidelines and yelled at them.  So they could hear over the water.  

I went home before them and cooked up a couple of t-bones and we made beef buns when they got back.  They got away about six thirty.  The house was awful quiet after they left...even with tv.  Even Wrangler moped for a while.  He loves company.  Extra ear scratches.  He is a major suck up.

Today was a Kiwanis day and the meeting was a hoot.  They are such an amazing bunch of people. Kathy and I signed up to do the meat draw on Sunday.  I had driven Kathy down so afterwards we hit up Home Sense, Walmart and the Liquidation store.  What fun!  The only draw back is the amount of smoke out there.  It is horrendous at the moment and its super hot out.  Not a fun combo.  But we still had a blast.  I love shopping with her.

Whilst Myles was here he came downstairs with me and unstacked all my heavy boxes.  I can now go through them and unpack them.  I started already and its like Xmas!!  It has been exactly one year since I moved into this place so I have not seen all that stuff for a long time. There seems to always be someone living down there.  But right now there is no one.

  And I really liked everything I saw.  I threw out so much before moving that I am really down to what I wanted...and so far what I am finding I am excited about.  For example I found my tall yellow pitcher and bowl that I carried back on my lap from Portugal.  I will never ever get rid of those.  And now I am looking for my trifle bowls.  I love them too.

Anyway, I shall sign off here before I start to ramble.  Wrangler is butting his head into me, a sign I need to get him outside.  He is a bit of a bully but I love him anyway!  (munch munch...eating more crow)  TTYL