I have too many books now, perhaps.
I just placed an order for the third and final free book from Amazon.co.uk/Kellogg's recent offer - buy four boxes of cereal, get a book free. When it arrives, I'll be adding it to the stack of books I haven't been able to touch yet - a pile that is at this point it is deemed a potential crush hazard to anyone staying in the guest bedroom.
I can't believe I shipped so many books from the States. Actually I haven't bought that many books since I arrived; I've made judicious use of the libraries here, and in fact after watching To Kill a King I was inspired to read more about Cromwell and the Restoration. Instead of dropping a tenner at Waterstone's or on eBay, I'll be checking out a couple from the library. Now to find the time....
5/31/2005 11:15:00 PM
I’ll show you a Beating
Two months ago, I bought tickets from TicketMaster so that CM and I could attend Beating Retreat next month, as a birthday treat for her. It is “a magnificent pageant of military music, precision drill and colour in the beautiful setting of Horse Guards Parade in the heart of London.”
I might have mentioned this was a Plan B after I discovered there is a lottery in January for tickets for Trooping the Colour (June’s other big royal pageantry event).
The show is held twice over two nights in June. I picked the first show, the 14th, as I thought it more likely that HRH Prince Phillip, whose 85th birthday is being honoured, would attend.
The week before last, my line manager called an urgent meeting to let a group of us know that a critical audit of the unit, scheduled for later in June, had been moved up to ... June 14th. There is no way CM and I could get in to London in rush hour traffic without leaving an hour or so early from work. When I asked if the audit would prevent such an early departure, I was told there was no way I would be allowed to leave early. Fair enough, I suppose; I don’t have the right to leave early, and it was my bad luck.
I found out today however, that one of the others in this group has asked for (and been granted) the entire day of the 14th as annual leave to attend a show in London; she has tickets, of course, for Beating Retreat.
Friday was the hottest day in May in over 50 years, with temps reaching 90 in London and almost as high as that here in Oxford. Thankfully my office has AC ... and I had quite a few visitors during the day, stopping by to say hi and pass the time. It's settled down into the 70s since then, but I still haven't been inspired to cut the grass or tend to the garden. I've felt lethargic all week, and May seems to be going on far past its sell-by date. I had tried to get off my meds but that hasn't worked out. Good thing I don't have to pay for them, at least.
This is a three day weekend, and though May was chocka I don't have anything planned for June which is just fine by me. I've been spending the weekend watching shows I'd Tivo'd up to a year ago, to make space, and digitising some to DVD. All the real news is on the other side of the Atlantic.
5/29/2005 08:48:00 PM
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Complaints Department. Can I help?
Lloyds TSB: We hire the incompetent people, so you don't have to.
They've effed up my money transfer. Again.
Also, announced last week:
The Royal Mail has announced record annual profits of �537m on a turnover of �8.96bn, meaning workers are to receive a bonus of �1,074 each after hitting the targets set by chairman Allan Leighton and chief executive Adam Crozier.
Over the past year Royal Mail has made profits of �2m a day, as against losses of more than �1.5m a day three years ago.
(Emphasis mine). And what sort of compensation are the customers who had to suffer through six weeks of the Royal Mail strike last year to get? Zilch.
5/26/2005 10:24:00 PM
Monday, May 23, 2005
Buzy Bee
Thursday:
After work I had a bite to eat out then stood in line to get in to see Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith at the George St. cinema. I was there an hour before show time and there was already a queue out the door to get in to the show. The movie itself was pretty good; about what I'd expected. The strange thing is that you already know how it's going to turn out, who is going to die and live, etc., as you're watching it. Wooden acting and dialogue (the audience laughed out loud many times in spots that weren't meant to be purposefully humorous), but amazing CGI effects. Home around midnight.
Friday:
An easy day at the office. I got soaked walking up to Headington, where I took the bus into London to meet up with ST to see Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith (yes, again) on Tottenham Ct. Rd. Again the cinema was packed, but I actually enjoyed the film better the second time around. Lucas had a very difficult job to do, taking care of all the lose ends, but he did it in the end. Home around 2a.m.
Saturday:
Up relatively early when Gran rang to make sure I was going out to see her, which I was. Bought her some groceries and had a meal in Banbury before making it to her place early afternoon. You know the drill: lashings of tea, bread & butter, a chat, and some chores, to get ready for my Dad's visit. Home around 7, in time to start cleaning up my own house.
Sunday: Up around noon (sue me) to finish tidying up. Dad arrived around 3 and we had a late lunch at the Head of the River before taking a walk down to the University Boat Houses where some of the colleges had their boats out on the river for practice. We walked through Christ Church Meadow, avoiding most of the sprinkles and showers, then went to Evensong at Christ Church. For dinner I'd booked us in to the Turkish restaurant we'd visited last November, Bar Meze, in Headingon.
Today: A lazy morning, then a quick trip up to my work place for a tour around, the lunch outdoors at The Brittania in Headington. Oddly, we both had a burger and fries. I've just seen Dad off at the station where he'll be making his way to Gran's for two nights before heading back to the US. I'm off to bed.
5/23/2005 03:53:00 PM
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Ask and ye shall receive
I forgot to mention that I received a letter from Lloyds, my bank, yesterday. They finished their investigation into the errors that were made when processing my money transfers, and found in my favour; they have apologised and have put measures in place to try to prevent it happening again, and they have refunded me for all the service fees I was charged, both by Lloyds and by my US bank as a result of the errors.
All's well and all that. Now I might be able to afford to take my Dad out for fish 'n chips on Monday.
5/19/2005 11:26:00 PM
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Time, it travels through the air on wings, no?
Today marks the two year anniversary of my departure from the U.S. Having quit my job, sold almost all my belongings, and said goodbye to my family, friends and cats, I was on my way to fulfilling plans I'd been thinking about for three years and had seriously pursued for almost two.
P has a theory that it takes at least this long to settle after a move, and I think she's close to being right. I've definitely found a level of comfort with my routine here in Oxford, and as I may have said earlier my last trip to the U.S. felt very much like a vacation away from home.
I've been asked when or whether I'll consider moving back to the States. The short answer is that I don't have any plans to in the short term. I like it here, and there's still an awful lot of travel and exploring I want to do here. The corollary to that is I probably couldn't even think of leaving while Gran is still puttering around. Not that I wish her ill will, but I think she has become rather dependent upon my being here for her. And that's OK; she's a cool chick to hang out with most of the time.
5/18/2005 07:58:00 PM
Come again?
Can you imagine what I thought the story behind this headline on Washingtonpost.com was about?
Prince William to Require Parent in Driver's Ed
Turns out it wasn't about the future King of England's attempt to get a drivers license.
5/18/2005 04:07:00 PM
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Worth it, in the end
I had bought a ticket to my company's sponsored Guided tour of the Colleges which took place yesterday, but really had a hard time motivating myself to attend; the weather had been forecast as iffy, and I've seen Christ Church a few times already and know I'll be seeing it again in a few weeks when out of town guests arrive.
I'm glad I went, in the end, as there were four different guides and about fifty tourists. Each guide was visiting different colleges, so I was able to pick a group that was going to Colleges I hadn't yet seen; I chose Jesus, Merton and Oriel, some of the oldest in the University. My group only had eight tourists, and our guide was a very articulate older woman, Laura, who offered many interesting tidbits along the way. The weather turned out to be sunny, breezy and fine.
I hadn't realized that there are almost 4300 teaching staff for the 17,000 students at the University, and that about 1000 of those students are from the US (the largest foreign block, out of 30% foreigners).
After, all the groups met up at a hall behind The Boar for a cup of tea & scones or cake. A very nice afternoon out.
5/15/2005 02:14:00 PM
Friday, May 13, 2005
wait for it...
During P's visit, I didn't cook any meals; P is not a huge breakfast fan. As a result, I had not been to a grocery store for a few days.
I decided to stop in Marks & Spencers after work last night to get some milk, bread, and some frozen entrees. Their flowers also always look nice and are relatively good value.
I was wearing my navy blue windbreaker, the same one I wore when P and I visited the store on Tuesday. I'd been in the store for only few minutes when a short woman in a pale green suit approached me. "Excuse me, sir, would you like to come this way?" I noticed then that she had a M&S badge on her lapel. "What for?" I asked. "If you would just come with me, sir," she replied, and almost took me by the elbow. "What's going on?" I asked. "We'd just like to ask you a few questions. It shouldn't take long."
I followed her into an office near the back. There was a desk with two chairs and several b&w monitors, apparently to keep watch on the store.
"Just have a seat. We'd like to show you something and then ask you some questions, please." The woman took the opposite chair and started a VCR or something so that a video appeared on one of the monitors. It looked like the view from a security camera in the store. There were shoppers milling about. The date and time in the corner was 10/5/05 4:57pm. Hey! I could see me in the video! I was holding a packet of biscuits and a plush toy, wandering purposefully along the ends of the aisles, obviously not looking at the food on the shelves (I'd been searching for P).
"Do you recognize the man in the video?" the woman asked. "Yes, that is me. What's this all about?"
"We have reasons to suspect that you may have been in the process of removing goods from the store without properly purchasing them," she said. "What, do you mean shoplifting?" I couldn't believe it. All sorts of thoughts were running through my head. How was I going to get out of this? Who could I call? Did I even have the right to make a phone call?
At that point an M&S security officer, in uniform, entered the room, just as I was exclaiming "but I didn't take anything! In fact I left the things I was carrying at the back exit of the store when I left!" Of course, P was no longer in town so I couldn't use her as a witness. What would work say if they found out?
After about fifteen minutes and a few more questions, the two let me out with a warning and have banned me from the store. If that's the least of what could have happened, I'm happy with that.
The account described in this blog entry is entirely fictional. One person on the planet knows why.
5/13/2005 12:53:00 PM
Thursday, May 12, 2005
'bout time
Everyone must stop what he or she is doing and go say hello to my little brother.
Apparently, he likes to use his tongue alot.
5/12/2005 08:58:00 PM
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Sweet Pea
P left this a.m. after a very short but sweet visit. I'd left work a little early Monday to meet up with her at my house. We had a walk around University Parks and a nice meal at the Head of the River before retiring.
Tuesday I took off work and we walked around town, doing a little shopping and meeting up with some of her ex-colleagues for coffee, lunch and tea. We also went to see The Interpreter, which, while not being entirely believable, was still a good yarn and had great cinematography. (I'd had free coupons from my Sainsbury's club card, so it was no skin off my back.)
She'll be jetting back to NZ this weekend, MD in tow, so it really was a short trip.
5/11/2005 08:13:00 PM
I hear there's a bit of fuss
Thank you for your booking with Odeon. This email is your
confirmation.
Number of Tickets: 1
Film Title: STAR WARS EP III: REVENGE OF THE SITH
Cinema: OXFORD GEORGE STREET
Date of Performance: Thursday 19th May 2005 20:30
5/11/2005 12:00:00 PM
Sunday, May 08, 2005
I *love* carpet. I love lamp.
I've watched a few more of the DVDs I've rented through my monthly subscription.
Anchorman. WHY was this film made? I'll admit I'd heard no details about it other than that it had done well at the US box office and starred Will Ferrell, whom I'd liked on SNL and who did OK in Elf.
This, however, was just pure and utter junk, with "no redeeming qualities" as my 9th grade English teacher used to say. Pre-teen, potty humour. I'm worried about the US. And I'm worried about the Bewitched remake, which will star Will as Darren.
On the other hand, Something's Gotta Give was delightful. It was Funny and Charming, with a great script and stars two great actors (Diane Keaton was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe).
Strangely, IMDB reviewers have rated these films just about equally.
5/08/2005 07:35:00 PM
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Blue, yellow ... or red again?
Today is election day in the UK. I'm eligible to vote both in local and Parliamentary elections by virtue of my Irish citizenship.
I'll be glad to have it over, as I've had nothing but rubbish campaign literature through my letterbox for the last four weeks. (In fact, I'm really not happy with Royal Mail's service, as they delivered nothing on Tuesday, the day after the Bank holiday weekend (and I can't believe I didn't get anything over three days) and they only just delivered a packet that was sent to me last Wednesday by 2nd class mail.)
I voted during lunch time. The polling station is a parish centre about a half mile from my house. I was the only one voting at that time.
I surprised myself last week by changing my mind about for whom I'd cast my ballot. Though polls don't close until 10, it looks as if it's a foregone conclusion.
5/05/2005 09:01:00 PM
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Gran, you'll have to start wearing sunglasses
As it was the Bank holiday weekend, and as I hadn't seen Gran since before my US holiday, I'd planned to go up to see her on Saturday.
Unfortunately, in RailTrack's infinite wisdom, the Bank Holiday weekend is the best time to do track improvements (why would anyone want to travel on a sunny three day weekend?) and there were no trains traveling north of Oxford. There was a replacement bus service. Via Birmingham. That would take 4 hours. No thank you.
By yesterday they'd whittled the bus journey down to an hour, so I braved it. Gran was pleased to see me, and in spite of most shops being closed I was able to pick up some of her groceries. We had some tea and bread with homemade Loganberry jam. She also got out the Vegemite. "Have you had this before?" she asked. I assured her I had, and just the once, when I was younger, as I'd thought it tasted awful. "Just try a little on your bread; spread it very thinly, and tell me what you think. You might like it now." Grimacing, I did as I was told. Ugh, god, it was still awful. "If you don't like it you don't have to finish it." I offered the rest of mine to her. "Oh, gosh, no, I think the stuff's revolting. Only, it's supposed to be good for you." Thanks, Gran.
After, she had chores for me to do. She wanted some curtains taken down and some lamp shades for the ceiling lights washed down. She had a bucket of soapy water and a rag, which she handed to me as I stood on a step stool. Each time I passed the grimy, black rag back to her, she'd peer at it and study it closely, groaning with revulsion and embarrassment. "Where does all the dirt come from?" she'd ask. I think she might have half been expecting to see an imprint of Jesus' hand or something.
5/03/2005 09:26:00 PM
I've got a job for George Bush
I can't effing believe it.
My bank, Lloyds, have cocked it up again -- the very same thing they did two months ago. How can any one Bank hire so many incompetent staff??
I know what I'll do: I'll write a very stern letter. That'll show 'em.
5/03/2005 09:22:00 PM
Monday, May 02, 2005
Precipitation during the fourth month of the Calendar year leads to...
April was probably one of the slowest months on the blog, in part because I was on holiday but also because it's just been generally slow.
This past weekend, however, was the May Bank Holiday weekend & I filled all three days with non-stop activities and excitement.
Even before my USA holiday, but perhaps inspired by the visit to the Botanic Gardens, I asked CM if should would help in picking out some colourful but sturdy flowers that I could attempt to keep alive for a few weeks in my garden. Sunday (the warmest day of the year so far) she picked me up and we went to Yarnton's garden centre. The place was packed but the prices were fair. Oddly, it had a cafeteria and a bookstore too. CM guided my choices and I bought some flowers for planting in the ground and some for potting.
After a lunch of lamb, roast potatoes, green beans and onion sauce (with chocolate raspberry cake for pudding) at CM's, we drove to Bicester garden centre, to get a few more items, including some PANSIES and some orchids for CM.
Since the day had cooled down by then, we took her dog Spot for a walk in the field & threw the ball for him a couple dozen times. When he'd had enough, he unfortunately decided to cool down by paddling in what used to be the moat of the hunting lodge, where Edward the Confessor was born in 1005. Spot (usually white with a black spot) was black all over and smelled of sewage despite a thorough hosing by CM at home later.
I was busy during most of the day today but this evening tackled some of the pots. I'll get to the rest tomorrow or Wednesday.
Friday:
An easy day at the office. I got soaked walking up to Headington, where I took the bus into London to meet up with ST to see 
