Basil has a baby brother

VH is now off on Easter holidays for two weeks, while I still have to work. :-( Lucky for some! In my opinion, everyone should work school terms, then the world would be a happier place. Well at least it's Friday night, and there is the whole weekend to look forward to. Shopping time! It is is also starting to feel like summer. It's getting sunnier (sometimes even sunny) and the evenings are nice and long. It's getting dark around 8pm - perfect.

We bought a new basil plant last week. It isn't a replacement for old basil, just a brother. After all the love and attention we have given to basil, we cannot bring ourselves throw him out, even though he has brown stalks. New basil is hopefully of higher quality than old basil, grown in organic soil. Unlike old basil, it looks much healthier in many respects, and has green stalks. However, new basil is not perfect either, which I will take the blame for. When we got new basil to the check-out till to pay for it, we realised it was already injured, squashed underneath all of our shopping. So new basil looks somewhat flat, and lop-sided. It seems that we are not very good at taking care of basils!

Spot the difference:

The sounds of Brittany

VH and I are in Brittany again, for a short break. Outside in the garden, the stars can be seen shining brightly at night; if you look carefully you can see lizards; and if you listen, you can hear birds singing. It is enjoyable to sit in the garden, close your eyes, and listen to the birdsong. I was doing this when I heard the sound of... an elephant? Surely not, in rural France? As we drove to the supermarché later, we passed the origin of the noise: a travelling circus, with camels, llamas and donkeys tied up on a field. Quite a strange sight, one which you wouldn't see in England.

Another common sound here is the sound of VH's constant cough, caught from school. It doesn't stop, and now I have a very sore throat myself. So it isn't quite the relaxing holiday I had hoped for, but enjoyable to be with my family and little black friend nevertheless.

London and back

VH and I went into London for a day out today. It was a lovely, sunny day, and London looked beautiful. We walked along the Thames, and in the parks. We had an enjoyable meal out in Las Iguanas; it felt like the summer. Then, we went on the London Eye, and saw some fantastic views over the city. It was a nearly perfect day... slightly ruined, by one very selfish man we encountered on our journey home.

Our journey home was very very long. Sunday travel is never good, there are always maintenance works on the railways. And the dreaded replacement bus services.... We had taken a long journey on the underground, another train journey (standing, as there were no seats) and then we had to get the replacement bus. We missed one by a few minutes, so had to wait nearly an hour for the next. We eventually got on it, and just as we were about ten minutes away from home, the driver stopped to let some people on. Big mistake!

The bus driver refused to let them on because they didn't have tickets, and besides they wanted to travel in the other direction. One man however, refused to listen. He said that it was impossible for him to buy tickets as the ticket office was closed and the driver couldn't sell them, so he was getting in the bus anyway. He came in and sat down on the seat in front of us. The bus driver came over and started yelling at him to get off, or he would call the police, but the man stood his ground and shouted back. It was quite scary. The driver rang the bus company, who told him to ring the police, which he did. We had to wait for a while until they arrived. VH and I spoke to him a little; I did understand his point of view, as he did not have a way of getting tickets. When the police arrived, they asked him to leave the bus, but he refused. They said that he could not remain on the bus because he was holding everybody else up, and people had lives to get back to. When they threatened to remove him by force, he eventually got off, swearing at them. I was very impressed with the way the police handled the situation, and also very relieved when he left. I wonder what happened to him, he was still arguing with the police as we drove off. He was incredibly selfish, causing a scene just to try to prove a point, but I also think that this demonstrates how useless public transport is in this country.

Five days in the life of...

Thursday March 5th- Veggie Hubby went to visit a school, and they offered him a job! It was that simple! :-)

Friday March 6th - I had a nice meal out at Nando's with my colleagues at lunch (not the ideal place for a vegetarian, but I still love it, as they make the best veggie burgers). After work I stopped by at J&J's house and we made some delicous vegetarian pizzas, and laughed over old photos (and hairstyles!). Anglophile Veggie Hubby stayed home alone, ate fish and chips, and watched James Bond.

Saturday March 7th - Veggie Hubby and I went to visit my goddaughter and my other second cousins for my goddaughter's first birthday party. We gave them all presents which they seemed to love (I couldn't give a present - fluffy pink bunny - just to my goddaughter, and not the others). We got the boys "boy" toys (Power Rangers) and the cute little sister a girlie toy (a bright pink My Little Pony, which just happened to match her dress). I got home, and watched Lost which is my favourite TV show at the moment by far.

Sunday March 8th - VH and I went out for a meal at an Italian place nearby, to celebrate his job. We were just about the only people in there. The meal wasn't the best, but it was nevertheless enjoyable. It was a relaxing, rainy day before the big day today.

Monday March 9th - VH started his new job! This involves the commute from hell (15 minute walk, 4 train changes, followed by a very long walk) but is ideal apart from that. I'm so proud and pleased for him, for his persistence has paid off.

Friendship

It's the weekend, and I haven't blogged for a while, so I thought I'd let you know I am still here.... We just had a school friend and her husband over to visit for the afternoon. It was really nice to catch up with them, as we hardly see them anymore now we no longer live next door like we did we were growing up. My friend and I were inseparable as children/teenagers, and interchangeable. As we grew up, we grew apart, but still remain in contact. The last time we saw them was at our wedding over a year ago, and the time we both saw them was at her wedding three years ago. Veggie Hubby had never even properly met them - just on these formal occasions. We have decided to meet up again in the summer, to go to the beach!

Two weeks ago we went to visit friends who live up north, and next weekend we're going to visit family (including my goddaughter) to the west. It's always nice to have friends live nearby; it is something we lack here. We do not even know our (elderly) neighbours in our block of flats well, and are in a pocket of isolation as we don't have any friends in our town. I think it's sad as our friends and family live around the country - and in other countries - everyone is dispersed. I think it is important to keep in touch but takes an effort to meet up with busy lives. So my moral for the day is to make the effort to keep in contact with friends and family, because they are what matters in life.

Busy busy busy

I feel like I can barely find time to blog these days. I am trying to blog inbetween.... working, travelling to and back from work through hours of roadworks (the non-event that this takes up most of my life!) reading "The Secret Life of Bees" travelling to visit friends in Liverpool for the weekend, going to a party, going out for a delicious Valentine's meal at Cafe Rouge, preparing to give a presentation tomorrow... oh yes, and sleeping!

Weird

VH and I went to the supermarket yesterday, and bought a towel, some light bulbs, a pack of Valentine's cupcakes and a pie. VH commented that it was quite a weird shop.

Other weird things that have been happening recently...Firstly, it has been snowing lots. The most snow in England for 18 years. (Not as much as in Canada however). Beautiful, but impractical.

Secondly, I went to get my haircut yesterday. I tried out a new place, run by some crazy (gay?) Italians who cut hair in a unique Italian way, using razors instead of scissors. They encouraged me to have a different kind of hair cut, rather than my normal straight one. I had the impression that they were hair artists. It was quite an experience, but I don't think they did a bad job, it's certainly different! VH didn't notice though, which I think is a male thing, as my dad is exactly the same.

Edit: Third (forgot to mention earlier) we have been having some weird food this weekend. We had a mock-duck stirfry last night. Mock-duck is vegan duck with the appearance of a plucked duck! It tasted nice, but the appearance was a bit off-putting. VH had a banana sandwich for lunch today. Tonight, we are trying a vegetarian haggis. I'm curious about it, as I've never had real haggis before, although I'm not convinced it will taste good. Edit: it was vile.

None of this is quite as weird though as the man who smuggled pigeons into Australia under his trousers!

Movies

Veggie Hubby and I went to see Slumdog Millionaire last week, and we both really enjoyed it. I love seeing films that we can both appreciate, and that we quite often have the same tastes in films.

We haven't always been so lucky though. On our first movie date, we went to see X2, which VH dragged me along to see. I'm not sure if he liked it, but I certainly didn't. To make up, we went to see a girly movie a couple of weeks later, A Guy Thing. We both hated it!! Things started looking up and we saw some movies at the cinema that we both enjoyed: Lost in Translation and Brokeback Mountain being some of my favourites. Last year, we saw some better movies of my choice (The Kite Runner, Juno) and his (The Dark Knight, Indiana Jones and Quantum of Solace) - although I admit I didn't like his choices so much! With the Aquatic Life with Steve Zissou which we weren't sure if it was good or bad.

With Veggie Hubby, and perhaps before that, I have discovered that whilst I still enjoy some blockbusters, I prefer to watch smaller independent movies. My taste in movies became more eclectic, I think. Veggie Hubby bought me Mamma Mia! for Christmas (as I had hinted at!) but I saw it on the plane before he gave it to me, and found it too cheesy. We exchanged it for the Chronicles of Narnia boxset.

Have you seen any films recently that you enjoyed? What kind of films do you like?

Winter brownies

Snow is fun, rain is most definately not. Today it rained all day long, tomorrow i have a friend and baby coming over so after a long baking (and blogging) holiday, i made chocolate brownies hmmmmmmm they were soft and gooey inside, perfect on a horrible wet day, enjoy...

xxx

First post of 2009

Happy new year! I haven't blogged yet in 2009, but I haven't had much to blog about really. After a lovely (but chilly!) trip to Quebec, I returned home last weekend. I pretty much slept all day and stayed awake all night last Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and thought being at work this week would be really difficult. However, it only took a couple of days to recover from the jet lag, and I felt fine again by Tuesday. I had a pretty uneventful week... and uneventful weekend this weekend, apart from a visit to Pizza Express with Veggie Hubby tonight. Life is fine ... but dull. The most exciting thing is that Veggie Hubby has got a new job working on Saturday morning teaching French to 5 year olds, which he began yesterday!

This month, I am looking forward to...

1) Obama's inauguration, which I think will start a new era of hope for the USA and world. I'm fairly excited about it
2) Lost season 5 starting
3) The Oscar nominations. I am hoping Penelope Cruz wins for her role in Vicky Barcelona Cristina, which played on my flight home from Canada.
(Okay, I think I am sounding American now).
4) Seeing friends
5) Finding out who will represent the UK in Eurovision this year, and what song Andrew Lloyd Webber will compose for them.

I am not looking forward to...

1) Having to wake up at 6am tomorrow to travel all the way to Leicester and back in a day.
2) Spending Saturday mornings alone while Veggie Hubby works.

"Snowmageddon"

Veggie Hubby bought me some clothes to survive the cold weather here, so we could go out and take some photos. Here are a few pictures from snowy Montreal....

The picture below was taken by Veggie Hubby whilst we were sitting in Starbucks. We braved the snowstorm just for a festive drink.
This picture below (of a shop window display - unfortunately not my own handiwork) is especially for Ms Cocoa.
So these are some of my pictures of the extreme snowy weather here. I am sure more will follow soon. In the meantime, here is a link to pictures other people here have taken of the recent snowstorms.

Bitter chill

I am finally on my long-awaited Christmas holidays, in Canada. It is very very cold, colder than I had ever imagined, and I don`t think my clothes are warm enough. I went outside earlier, walking around Montreal, and my knees and face hurt lots from the freezing (below freezing!) air. However, I did manage to have a nice warm sugar-cane flavoured coffee in town, at Second Cup. I was going to go out for a meal tonight in a veggie restaurant (serving coconut bacon!) but as it is so cold, and we couldn`t face the walk, we are staying in. Even Veggie Hubby is no longer used to this weather. I will put up some pictures of the snow tomorrow. There are lots of things we want to do here, but the weather is hampering us. It is -17 today, with a wind chill making it -29!