Today my husband looked around the living room and commented, "We could have had a Christmas tree in here".
Err, yes, I only mentioned it and suggested it a few hundred times since we moved to the new place last February. He admitted he probably wasn't listening to me. Probably.

Lol! Next year we will have a gorgeous tree here. We will start collecting ornaments now.

Not a bad day at all and a rare roast beef dinner to cap it all off.

9/11

9/11 again and the memories roll in and circle, everpresent.
I went into this blog today and discovered that all my posts pre-2003 have disappeared. All my comments about  the day the Earth stood still for me in NYC.  The day I arrived early as usual at work (AboveNet) and the security girl at the front desk said to me - a plane just crashed into the WTC. I said, "What??" and she turned and pointed at the vast window wall of my office - and there it was, one of the WTC towers a towering inferno.
I stood frozen and stared - just slightly south of our building, a couple minutes walk away, the top floors of one of the WTC were a roiling mass of bright orange flame and gray black smoke clouds. I stepped over to my desk by the window wall and stared - not particularly alarmed but fascinated. This sort of thing had happened before. Planes had accidentally hit the Empire State Building in the past, this was just a terrible accident happening again. I assumed it was relatively small plane and accidents happen.  I sipped my coffee and idlely wondered how they'd put it out - I assumed they had the mother of all fire suppressant systems and sprinklers in the WTC. Standing at my desk, looking out the window, I dialled Alan in London for our daily morning call. I told him - plane hit WTC this mornng, I'm watching it as we speak. He scoffed. (I hate when people don't believe me when I'm stating something simple and factual. It just so insulting it wrings me out and leaves a bit of anger at them that never ever goes away.) I told him, turn on your radio - nothing - so I said, get CNN up on your computer.
As I stared out the window, waiting for Alan to pull up the CNN news site, a second plane - large, obviously a commercial jet - wheeled in the air and came straight at the other WTC tower at top speed and smashed! into the building. I remember shouting into the phone - another plane! Just hit the other tower! We're under attack - this might be war. I have to go... and I put the phone down and ran to find Marty (our Facilities Manager) and Alan (our Security Manager).

And the day went on from there. All day and into the night.
All my posts about it and all the photos I posted - all gone.
But my memories will be with me long time.

Years ago I used to dream about a particular house; walking through it noting the details. I could remember it when awake and described it - and then one day driving through Spring Valley, NY I stopped at a red light and ...there was The House and it was for sale. Just did not have any way to buy it, parents thought it was impractical and too expensive for us. But it was The House.

Ikea part 2

Sofa arrived and Alan assembled it remarkably quickly and easily. It looks even better than it did at the store. I really like it now! OK, so I was wrong grumbling about it. However, that only makes it worse because as I predicted it sticks out like a horrible sore thumb.

The contrast between the beauty of the sofa and the ridiculous awkwardness of it sticking out into the room and partially blocking my desk and the general idiocy of having a big bookcase behind it quickly seeped into Alan's conciousness and after a couple of measurements he admitted that he could move the bookcase into a  corner of the bedroom so the sofa can sit directly against the wall. Problem solved. (What a surprise ;)

Alan and I are both amazed at how nice the sofa is. I never expected this from just looking at it at Ikea and sitting on it at the store. It really looks so different, so much better. Yay!

FWIW, we bought the Ektorp 2-seater sofa in white. The living room walls are painted a soft dove gray and the woodwork and shelving is white.

Ikea

We went to Ikea last night after Alan got home from work. Turns out it was the opening day of Ikea's big summer sale. You can just imagine.

So after weeks of talking about what sofa -I- wanted for the living room and how it was my choice, we agree on a specific model and color Ikea sofa from the online catalogue. We get to Ikea and trek our way to the sofa section and yes! They have my choice sofa in stock, in the colour I wanted, and on sale....and then.....Alan makes unhappy noises and says I'm not so keen on it and takes me to look at a different sofa that he now claims he prefers. It's quite different and one fast glance at it would tell anyone who knows me that Barb did NOT make that choice. But, hey, that's what being married means - compromise. Phooey!

Anyway we agreed to get the sofa Alan liked so I didn't have to spend the rest of my life with him being a thundercloud every time he looked at it. Please don't think I am a pushover about this issue because I'm not, I'm a quiet, devious passive aggressive on this. The trick here is that the sofa Alan chose is deeper than the one I picked. So when it is delivered today he will discover that in order to get it to fit in the Living Room in the only available space - he will have to remove the bookcase he snuck in there (it was part of my allocated wall space) to hold his CD collection. Ka-ching!

Anyway, we also bought 2 new dining chairs for the kitchen and a new lamp for me. They were all on sale 50% off which was delightful since I had planned on buying them anyway but the sale was an unexpected extra.

Just waiting for the sofa delivery today.

Stuffed Dormouse

While looking through my Recipe folder for a cheesy potato and bacon recipe, I just noticed I had one for "Stuffed Dormouse".

Facepalm moment! Why? Why? Perhaps in my Culture/History folder but in my active Recipe folder?

Sexual harassment in the world of video gaming

News article from the BBC website:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18280000

I have mixed feelings about this. Partly it's the free choice of someone to walk into a game - and if it's a violent aggressive game, what did you really expect? The Politeness Pirates? If on the other hand, it's a (for example) role playing game of a non-violent sort, I totally object to sexual harassment or any sort of abusive behaviour - different deal there.

Some of the examples given are in line with my feelings ie you walk into a strip joint or a rough guys bar, it was your choice so if you don't like it, walk away.

I think the real problem is the shield of anonymity - people act amazingly better when their identity is known and they may have to face the consequences of their behaviour. No need to have IDs hanging on people's necks but verified IDs with a working good email address should be held by the company running the games. If you then choose to go into grey market non-ID games, again, you get what it says on the label.

What's with all the monkeys?

Recently my ex Tom posted (without my permission) a set of misc. old family photos including some from before we'd met. Among those were several of a squirrel monkey. One of the responses to that posting was a query from Tavie asking what's with the monkeys.

It's a long story. Ask me about it next time I am in NYC and I'll tell you the whole story, Tavie.

In the meantime, here's the quick answer - as a teen I did volunteer work for the ASPCA's Education Dept.  They sent me to professional animal care and management classes and sponsored my certification as a Lab Animal Technician. During those years I was often asked to care for/rehabilitate monkeys and other small exotic animals they'd rescued until a suitable placement was made. The monkey in the photos Tom posted was named Peter; he was very well socialised (as much as any wild animal can be.) Originally there were a lot of photos of all the various monkeys and apes I took care of over the years including squirrels, spiders, capuchins, woolly, macaques, orangutans, etc. I also cared for ferrets, kinkajoos, otters, and infant tigers. I guess only the photos of Peter survived.

How sad, how depressing, facing Easter and not a peep to be had.
How can a nation survive without peeps?
Especially stale peeps, just turning slightly crisp and crunchy.
That's what's wrong with the UK, no peeps.

Alan's accepted a job offer today and starts at the new company on Monday. Yay! Looks to be much more interesting, and even exciting, work. The daily commute will be a bit of a change, he'll be driving out of London into the suburbs rather than fighting the mobs on to Tube into Central London.

On the home front, we've finished all the unpacking and life is starting to take on a comfortable, pleasant rhythm at the new flat. We still need to buy kitchen chairs, 1 more bookcase at Ikea, and a sofa for the living room but those are all icing and just make life a bit nicer, not critical to everyday.

I really love the neighborhood - the restaurants, the little shops, the green fields our living room and bedroom overlook - and the relaxed cafe culture of the high street.

Life in Chiswick

The move is actually just about complete. Tomorrow Alan returns to the old flat to read the water meter and to pass on our old bookcases to a neighbour. Meanwhile, at the new flat in Chiswick W4, I continue to unpack boxes and attempt to  bring order out of chaos.

We bought new bookcases from Ikea; enough to fill an entire long wall in the living room and they're all assembled now, ready for us to unpack all the books tomorrow. We also bought a modular wardrobe system and its managed to swallow most of our clothes in neat and organised manner. Amazing!

I love our new kitchen; large enough for a proper table. As soon as we pick up a sofabed, there will be crash space for visitors.

Anyway, we finally have achieved Internet! I feel like we've rejoined the living. I'll take some photos and post them here tomorrow. And yes, we did manage to survive the move with both of us alive and still married to each other.

After a week of packing boxes and making phone calls to trace missing deliveries and organize utility transfers - we're back to packing boxes again today. Tomorrow (Sunday) we plan to make 2 trips to the new apartment with glassware and boxes of other small or delicate objects. We'll also start painting - the bedroom first in a duck egg blue. In the next few days we'll go over to Ikea for new bookcases.

I'm hoping to move the furniture and boxes over early this week and be able to hand over the old apt's keys before the end of the week.

Moving house

Moving house makes Death & Taxes look pleasant by comparison. Soul destroying and hideously expensive.