Tuesday, November 30, 2010

29/11/10

     I am changing the format of my dates.  I just helped Sean with his expense reports and I was trying to organize them by date and well, their date format makes more sense.  I have a few things I want to mention before I go into our Monday adventures.
    First, I was out on a run and I turned the corner from our flat and saw a plaque on the building.  I stopped and read it.  It said something along the lines of "E.M. Forester, famous novelist, lived here".  Then it gave some dates. Cool! We could've had tea together.  He must have had a nice view out onto the green.  He could probably watch all the foxes.
   Second, we are experiencing some slight issues with our private little alley way.  Apparently it's not so private. I was sitting in Starbucks doing a previous blog post when in comes Sean and exclaims "SOMEONE POOPED ON OUR WALL!!!"  Um, ok Sean, Please explain.  The way our alley is set up is that it's sort of a little "L". You enter off the High Road and it's like a little tunnel/alley then along the long arm of the "L" is the row of flats.  Does that make sense? So, as Sean was leaving the flat he passed through the little tunnel/alley and saw some big poop on the wall, then down on the ground.  He excitedly, disgustedly, explained this to me while we sat in Starbucks. I really hope someone was eavesdropping.  I sort of brushed it off and figured it was a fox. Hopefully a fox. Who knows! When I came home later in the afternoon I walked quickly past the supposed shit spot. I did NOT need to see any alleyway excrement.  Sean yelled at me from the kitchen window to go back and look.Ugh.  Really Sean? Really? Sure enough feces on the wall.  We sent Ogue some texts and he saw it too.  I'm sure it wasn't the least bit odd that all of a sudden he's getting messages from the new neighbors about poop on the wall.  It did however ignite some good conversation between him and Sean about the dark alley and possibly getting the landlord to install a sensor light to deter the dumper.  Good idea. In the meantime we'll keep our outside light on, although it doesn't shed too much light.  But, it's kind of gross and hopefully a one time turd.
     Third, I am in LOVE with how people end everything with "cheers".  They don't say thank you, they say "Cheers" or "cheers cheers" or "cheers love".  I just love it. Today the mail man was delivering a box that had my little computer desk in it. He kept saying "It's a big box darling, cheers, it's heavy, can you lift it love? oh you can, cheers, good, cheers cheers good evening".  When you go to the store or out to eat instead of saying "thank you" or "have a nice day" they say "cheers". I love it. LOVE IT. I can't bring myself to say it yet.  I think it'd be like trying too hard right now. I just stick to my harsh thanks.
    So Monday Monday Monday.......I went to Starbucks for some free internet but didn't stay long. It's just distracting there.  So many kids to watch and I was sitting by the front windows so I spent most of the time staring out into the street.  That was the day Sean came in way too excited about poop.  Later on while I was sitting there I saw the funniest thing.  A mum was walking in pushing her stroller ( I think they call them prams here) and following close behind was her little daughter pushing along on her scooter.  The mother pushed the button to automatically open the door and she pushed her stroller right in. Just as the little girl was about to enter the doors closed and the little girl starts screaming "MUMMMMY MUUUMMMY YOU LEFT ME OUTSIDE!!!  HELP YOU LEFT ME OUTSIDE!!!". It was hilarious. The girl was so upset. The mom was laughing too so I didn't feel too bad for finding it funny.  It's also probably one of those stories that's funnier if you're there.....  After that I headed home, past the poop and had a late lunch with Sean.
   Upstairs he was hunched over his laptop and phone and notebook, scheduling appointments and booking flights.  It turns out he has meetings a lot sooner than he thought, tomorrow, Tuesday.  He was pretty much set for suits and shirts at this point but he desperately needed a new overcoat especially with the looming snow in the forecast.  Hm, we decided to go to the mall. Ha! Our THIRD time.  What did we do in London? We went to the mall. A LOT. So we headed out to catch the bus and do some evening shopping.  We heard on the news that the Tube workers were on strike and the trains were all messed up but it seemed like the buses were fine.  On our way out Sean got a call from one of the sales guys that he's been doing a lot of work with from another company.  They invited him out to their Christmas party later that evening.  We quickly did the math and figured we had exactly 30 minutes in the mall to find him a coat.  Good thing we were familiar with the mall!
   We found him a spiffy coat which was also on sale! ANDDDDDD The sleeves were long enough! Bravo.  We were ahead of schedule and decided to slow down and go look at shoes for him.  Next thing ya know, his phone is ringing and it's an invite for me to join in the party. Holy Moly what to wear?!?!?!?!? Apparently the attire was "smart casual".  Sean was planning on wearing jeans but scratched that and decided to step it up a notch and wear some nice dress pants.  Smart move.  I however had no clue what I had. I couldn't remember for the life of me what dresses or skirts I had. I panicked.  Instead of taking chances that I had something wrinkley laying in the corner of the bedroom we decided to mad dash it to the ladies' section of the department store and find me an outfit.   We had about 20 minutes.  That is NOT long.  I buzzed from section to section grabbing all sorts of stuff but it was Sean in the end who found me a nice black skirt and sweater.  We ran to the bus stop and barely waited two minutes for the next bus.  Thankfully there was no traffic and we rushed to get ready.
    Sean planned the trip into the city and we prayed that this tube strike wouldn't affect us. But it did.  We got to the connecting stop and found all the gates locked up and lights off.  These workers were angry and stops were getting shut down left and right.  In the end we had to walk which was not fun in fancy shoes but made it just on time.  I was a little nervous.  I didn't know who these people were or what to make small talk about but as it turned out they were just there to party and drink. Brilliant! The party was at this Belgium beer restaurant and we sat in a tunnel.  I don't really know to explain it. I won't try.  There were tons of other Christmas parties going on and it seemed like everyone in the place was having a grand time.  The company was very welcoming and I'm SO glad we dressed up fancier than what we thought we should. Everyone still had suits and dresses on!  But we sat down and almost immediately shots of something were brought out and everyone cheers-ed to Christmas and started drinking.  Beers were brought to the table and bottles of wine followed close behind.  I wasn't sure if we were eating dinner, even though there was a Christmas menu in front of us, or just drinking the rest of the night.  We had Christmas poppers but not many people put on their paper crowns.  Dinner was ordered and everyone was such a hoot.  It was so great to listen to everyone chit chatting and it was made clear that NO ONE would be talking about work.  It was their time to kick back and have some fun.  Sean and I had some great laughs and it was wonderful talking about London and our experience thus far.  Everyone was so friendly and welcoming or else they were just drunk or both.  We asked about the foxes we were seeing in London and we were told that they are urban foxes and are quite a problem in London. They can't control them and are everywhere.  We were then told about a story that someone read about a fox sneaking into someones house and going up the stairs to where the baby was sleeping.  Then the fox ate the baby's face. Wow.  We'll keep an eye out for those foxes.  That story was then followed by one of the owners of the company telling us how he was out hunting once and shot a fox at point blank. He then gave us a little demonstration on how it died. Wow.  Then more shots were brought out.  The food was delicious, the company was thouroughly entertaining and although I love spending every hour with Sean, it was nice to be in a big group of loud partiers.  I think my favorite point of the evening was when one of the sales guys was punished for showing up two hours late to a meeting.  His punishment: a glass with double shots of baileys and orange juice.  It looked like curddled cake.  He then had to drink this awful mixture and hold it in his mouth while his boss timed one minute. Then he had to swallow it. It was painful to watch but completely amusing and the entire table was in an uproar with laughter. Twisted. There was also a lot of yelling about someone's dessert tasting and looking like "shight" or shit.  That went on for a good ten minutes. The booze was kicking in.
  But seriously, seriously, it was so much fun to be out and about and sharing some good times with some new faces.  We didn't leave the restaurant till late and it was gorgeous going home.  Right behind the tube stop the London Eye was lit up blue and people were all on the street hustling and bustling.  The ride home was short.  The train would come up to a stop and the conductor would announce that it's closed and we'd pass by.  Hopefully this strike will get resolved but no one seemed too upset. I guess it happens a lot.
   I'm so glad we got to go to one of these Christmas parties we've been seeing advertised.  It was great to get out with people who aren't me or Sean and it was just plain old nice to have some wine and some good laughs in this new place.  I mean, Sean and I are having a blast here and things are getting easier. But you know, it's good to go out sometimes! Well, I don't think I have anymore talk about poop or drinking so  Cheers. Goodnight my lovlies.  

1 comment:

  1. Love this post and glad you had such fun! Cheers! hee hee. I would probably think the foxes were so cute and cool and adopt one of them and then be ostracized by all the neighbors. Last night Clint and I saw two raccoons outside of Michael's (really near some restaurant's dumpster) and we just about fell in love with them. The four of us stared at each other until a car came up behind us and we had to move along. I know they are supposed to be a menace but I LOVE THEM.

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