Things are good

Hello all.

Well, I'm happy to report that this has been a largely uneventful week. The car is still in the shop (owing to now needing a gearbox refurbishment) but that's been alright because the weather up to Saturday was actually quite lovely. I didn't, as promised, put up any pictures which makes me a neglectful blogger, but we're moving on, right? Here is a picture that Mike took of Alberta when we were leaving it. I like looking at it because it reminds me of home. I've been missing Edmonton's August something fierce as it already feels like Fall here. The temperature at night has been hovering around the single digits.



Erika and Lester's visit, which Mike alluded to, did result in some pics but I didn't at the time get a chance to upload them as my phone was being strange. Now is as good a time as any to share them though. Here they are standing in front of the Hereford Library looking very cute. Awww. They're going to be flying off to Japan on Tuesday to continue developing their reputation as International People of Mystery.


Work was good this week. There were some stresses and annoyances, but another Case Manager (Colleen) joined the team, and that's excellent. Mike and I were supposed to be going out for lunch with her and her partner but the plans were contingent on whether or not the weather was good enough for them to go walking in and around the Black Mountains. Since it's not pouring today like it was yesterday it looks like we need to postpone for a couple weeks. So, we will visit the Spread Eagle for Sunday Lunch (the pub Mike's pictured in) another time. Mike's back to work aat Wyevale on Monday, which makes me sad in my heart. I really enjoyed the convenience of having one of us at home--no heading to the grocery store at 5:20 and waiting in 'queues' for 30 minutes just to buy pasta and sauce. All good things must come to an end, I suppose.

For those of you who don't know, The Book came out and I've taken a picture of it to post. I have had a couple copies on hand at work and am getting some of my colleagues to look it over and see what they think. So far the reaction has been good, which makes me feel happy.




On Tuesday I made my first ever trek to Birmingham, the seat of the Industrial Revolution. It's got a reputation for being a dirty and working class urban environment which, from what I saw, is largely deserved. I had to go to a suburb called Acocks Green and the trip was somewhat disastrous, but I came back feeling that if I can survive that I can survive most things. We're flying out of Birmingham next Saturday to go and see Claire, so it was good to get a glimpse of the metro rail map and get a sense of how to get to and from the airport.

We've heard some vague rumors about a group of Americans relocating to Hereford, which is interesting. The woman at the checkout in Morrisons felt that Mike had a right to know, or something. There have been long and convoluted arguments in the papers this week about North Americans Being Evil. I actually find myself kind of annoyed by the ferocity of some of these litanies about How England Is Good. In a Sports article today in The Guardian a writer used his musings on David Beckham as an excuse for,

The difference between here and there is the charmingly naive willingness Americans have for believing in miracles. They have a considerable hunger for grade A baloney. They buy bogus religion on TV, eat gross amounts of awful food, give credence to a president who makes Dan Quayle look like Stephen Hawking--and they buy tickets to football matches to see just one man.

I wouldn't necessarily consider myself a great defender of our south of the border neighbors but I have grown more aware of how frustrating this kind of gross generalization must be for them. Yet I find myself guilty at times of making same or similar statements about The English.

When we were in Heathrow en route back to Canada I had an encounter with an American soldier who was heading home from a tour in Iraq and Germany. He desperately wanted something to drink but only had Euro and Iraqi Dinars and the currency exchange booth was in another Terminal, which at Heathrow is like a 25-minute walk in either direction. So we traded Sterling for Euro and we stood in line together for a few minutes while we waited for the Baristas to do their magic. Nothing amazing happened--we chatted about going home and how exciting that is as a foreigner, and then we parted ways with our respective drinks in hand. He was a normal guy excited about seeing his girlfriend and family. He certainly wasn't deserving of the vitriol spewed by Kevin Mitchell today.

I guess this is me talking about missing my Nationality. I don't know. I do know that I don't like reading garbage like what Kevin Mitchell wrote and I guess I need to hold myself accountable to that. My identity is in crisis or something...I'll get over it.

I hope everyone back home is well and that you're all considering how you're going to protect the Arctic from the Russians and the Danish. Hahahaha.

((hugs)) and y'all will be getting postcards Holland in the coming weeks. Isn't that weird?