now playing



Added Aqualung's new single "Strange and Beautiful" to the listening menu on the left. Yes, it's that song from the Beetle advert. It's fantastic and dammit, it's been stuck in my head for ages. Also added Coldplay's latest one "In My Place" as it's another crackin' tune. Mucho thanks to Chris Gissing for hunting these down for me.

also appearing in the top five



Surprises (good ones). Came into work this morning to find the DVD "Amelie" resting on my keyboard. No special occasion; he got it for me just 'cos. What girl doesn't like stuff like this? It shows that your boyfriend actually pays attention to what you say (e.g. knowing which films you love) and can be spontaneous.



Because I'm reading Nick Hornby at the moment and am in that kind of mood, I'll ask: What's in your top five things you do or things your partner does for you?

gifts from home



My Mom sent me a "care package" that arrived yesterday. In it, she sent me: fat free Jello chocolate pudding, Orville Redenbacher light microwave popcorn, Japanese rice crackers, Sapporo Ichiban soup, "Canadian truffles" (maple-flavoured chocolates), "Canadian Delight" tea (your basic bags of ceylon in a box with a picture of Niagara Falls and a mountie on it), and "Moose Droppings" (chocolate-covered almonds).



This tells me that a) my Mom has made note of all the North American foods I stocked up on last time I was home and b) all the weird Canadian stuff she sent me indicates that she must be going insane. For some bizarre reason, my Mom keeps sending me Canadian things ever since I moved to the UK - like I need to keep reminding myself that I'm Canadian. We're not really a very patriotic flag-waving people; we're rather quiet about our Canadianness. It's rather odd to have a houseful of things with the word "Canada" and maple leafs on them. I've got so much Roots clothing I could open up my own outlet, I have a baseball cap and a t-shirt that says "I am Canadian", I have a beaver dressed up as a mountie mousepad, I had a wall calendar of Canada last year, and every care package always contains some sort of Canadian chocolate (not really complaining there, though).



Don't get me wrong - I love these packages from home. It warms my heart to open my kitchen cupboards and see food products with French and English writing on them. I think it's really sweet that my Mom sends me a parcel every few months (my ex-workmates at Convergys used to love her for all the chocolate she'd send). I'm just worried about the state of her mental health. Do other ex-pats go through this as well? I wonder if my mate Mark in Montreal gets jars of Branston pickle and packets of Bisto from his mother.

the psychology of food



Standing in a queue in Tesco and the guy in front of me has the following in his trolley: one chicken madras ready meal, naan bread, lager, and three packages of Pot Noodles. Ah. I'm guessing a single man. I love looking at what people buy at the grocery store. It's like going through people's medicine cabinets (not like I do that, mind you) - you can learn so much. I saw a woman with the following in her trolley: Healthy Eating ready meals (Tesco's brand of low fat dinners), Diet Coke, Mueller Light yogurt, bags of salad, and a package of chocolate croissants. I'm guessing that this woman is perpetually on a diet and can't figure out why she's not losing weight. Has someone written a book or article about this? Or am I on to something here?

arse!



Well, dammit. I so wanted to see this Matisse/Picasso exhibition, and now it's gone. :( Poo.

ch-ch-ch-changes



Okey doke, now using Blogger to post stuff again. Not that Notepad wasn't lovely - 'cos it was. Mmmm. Anyway, this should allow me to post (during those well-earned breaks from work, of course) during the day if necessary.



Please refer to the archives link in the left menu to read previous (pre-Blogger) posts for the month of August.

alrighty then



Ah. My attempt to not get too personal has got...too personal. Let's try this again.



We had sunshine this weekend. No, really we did! It was the balloon festival in Northampton (you'd never get me in one of those, thanks), so they really lucked out with the weather. We celebrated by sitting in a nice air conditioned cinema to see "Sum of all Fears", which was a fantastic film if you can suspend your disbelief (there's just been a nuclear blast and yet Ben Affleck's mobile still works). I was completely spoiled by having not one, but two fabulous meals cooked for me (grilled salmon filets, salad, and bruschetta on Friday, and chicken stuffed with olives, sundried tomatoes, and basil with salad and asparagus on Saturday). I can hear all my blokey type friends laughing, but I am telling you - there is nothing sexier than watching your man cook. Okay, that's a bit dramatic...but it's definitely high up in the Top 5 Sexiest Things My Boyfriend Does (I should write a Cosmo article on this). We went out to a lovely pub called The Greyhound last night, which has an enormous beer garden out front (sat there for lunch on Saturday) and cosy tables inside.



Oh, and for some bizarre reason, I can no longer view this site from work nor can I FTP updates from the office. Trust me - this entry was written in the late morning/early afternoon, even if it is only showing up in the evening when I can get home and post it. Hmmm maybe I should switch back to Blogger...