Boulogne

Finally made it to Vicomtesse Jeanne's home town!

The end of week 1 at my new job. What a relief to successfully complete the first week. My timesheet is signed and ready to be sent to the agency and hopefully produce a salary deposited into my checking account next Friday. I really like this job and I think I'm settling in and producing some value for them already.

Well, Happy New Year! I didn't realize I hadn't posted here in a month. Main reason is, my contract at work wasn't renewed and I think I sort of freaked. Thing is, it wasn't renewed for the worst of reasons. It was due to some nebulous corporate push-back in Houston. Nothing to do with me, gov. I got work ratings of "superb" from my manager and director. My manager was actually in tears when she told me. They even managed to get me an extra week to run my work up till Xmas by sheer balls and deceit. I know, I know, that's what contracting is all about. But, I was still shocked. Everyone I worked with sent me emails at my personal address asking to keep in touch, inviting me to meet them for drinks, etc. But still, I went off to my Xmas hols feeling miserable.

So, a week in Vienna at Xmas - Alan's idea, not mine believe me. I like to be home for Xmas but if I had to be away it would be someplace warm and sunny. We managed to have a good time in Vienna and I'll eventually post some photos.

So the new year starts and I started job-hunting. If you know me, you know how soul-destroying I find job hunting, Hence the absolute silence here.

But, voila, the silence is over. I have found a new job. Bigger and better! And I start on Monday. The people rejoice. Solvent again. The proverbial wolf chased away from the door.

It can't be 23 degrees - It never gets cold in England

There's a widely held belief here among the natives that it never gets hot or cold, hence there's no need for air conditioning in the summer nor any need for central heating in winter or heating on public transport. There's absolutely no shaking the locals from this belief, even as they slowly turn blue from the cold, shivering and frost forming on their noses.

So this morning I had the joy of commuting in to work, at 23F, on buses with no heating. Not just not turned on or broken, but non-existent. Two hours, three buses, no heat.

The joy.

If It's Friday, This Must Be Bruges

Today is my birthday. To celebrate, Asti took me on a day trip to Calais on Friday. At least that was the original plan. On the channel ferry from Dover to Calais, we decided to drive through to Belgium for cheaper cigarettes. Once in Belgium, the friendly cafe owner recommended Bruges' Christmas market as only a short 30 minute drive away ... so it was on to Bruges for the day! And what a lovely city it is. We shopped and strolled and looked and ate Chateaubriand with Bearnaise sauce and drank beautiful Bruges Blond beer. We bought gorgeous Christmas presents at really low prices and had an absolute ball.

Thanksgiving!

I'm off to Asti's house for a massive joint family Thanksgiving dinner. Stayed up late last night baking homemade apple pie and pumpkin pie and making chopped liver and other savory bits. Now off to Asti's where the real cooking begins.

Rumour has it that Katz's deli is for sale/about to be sold. This is too cruel to contemplate.

The sad truth is that excellence makes people nervous.
- Shana Alexander

Left Luggage

from the reviews - A beautiful, warm picture filled with compassion and humanism.

This is true but the film is so much more. It's exquisite. It's worth watching. Please just watch this film.

As far as I am concerned, today is the first day of winter here. It dropped below freezing last night and this morning my car's windows all needed serious scraping. It took the car a noticeable 5 min to really warm up well - at 10 minutes before 6am.

Tonight, I made myself matzah brei for supper. A little drizzle of honey over the steaming plate and it was perfect comfort food. OK, it wasn't the Virginia Slims, coffee, and a bagel I heard Andrew order from the cart while we chatted on the phone, but then, I'm in a 3rd world country.

We have a brand new bus on the route to my office but no heat because the transport company hasn't enough mechanics to turn the mechanism on. They decided to save money on the buses by ordering them without standard turn mechanisms (a little handle!) to switch from heat to fresh air (forget about air-conditioning!). So now they need to have a mechanic dig into the bus innards and turn the heat on or off with a spanner. Charming, eh?

The matzah brei is fabulous.

Wagons East

I just watched a theretofor unknown to me film starring John Candy. What a little gem, a delight. No, nothing world shaking, but a classic warped comedy that had me snickering for almost 2 hours. I understand that John Candy died just before they completed the film. What a loss, I love his films, all of them including the serious dramas as well as the hilarious comedies.

Anyway, watch this film. Especially if you are a New Yorker or other Big City Slicker.

In Civilized Countries they have traffic lights. In Third World UK, they have traffic circles and pedestrians cross any road at their own risk. The joy.

The Shoulds

You know what they are. They're all the gratuitous, unhelpful, obvious, passive-aggressively hostile comments people make under the guise of helpful advice.

You should lose weight
You should stop smoking
You should get more exercise
You shouldn't spend money on that
You should buy a house
You shouldn't take drugs for that
You should ask for a pay raise
You should get a new job
You should cut your hair
You shouldn't take a pram on a crowded bus at rush hour
You shouldn't take 2 or more children by yourself on an airplane

You should. You shouldn't. You should have this, you shouldn't have that.

Yeah, well, woah! Let me write that advice down. Why didn't someone tell me this sooner. I'd never thought of that myself.

What sort of unsolicited advice is more unwelcome than "you should believe what I believe" or "you should act as I would act?"

John Ferriby - passed away Tuesday, October 2nd

I am sorry to report that John has passed away after fighting a Glioblastoma Brain Tumor for almost one year.  At the end, he was very peaceful and I was able to be with him.

Barbara Ferriby

Thank heaven for aspirin and codeine. The pain and swelling in my hand got so bad last night that I woke up about midnight with pain shooting up to my elbow and the finger swollen to immobility. The bandaging the hospital put on my hand became too tight and exacerbated the problem, so I cut that off and took 3 aspirin and codeine tablets. It's not just a matter of pain control, the aspirin brings down inflammation which is almost as important and gives great relief.

Anyway, what a miserable thing this broken finger is.

I'm working from home today because - drum roll - I sort of broke or fractured some tiny bone in the base of my pinky finger. It's in the joint where the finger connects so it effects the entire hand. Of course, the timing is perfect because Monday is my UK drivers license road test - and with this broken finger it's almost impossible to move the gear shift lever without excruciating pain. Assuming I can get it to move at all - sometimes I simply can't. Gonna be a fun test.

Anyway, my thought for the day - some simple obvious rules for life:

Do not touch a hot stove.
Do not to reply to an email message from the wife of a deposed Nigerian ruler.

(Note: no stoves or deposed Nigerian rulers were involved in breaking my finger.)

What do you say to a friend who is dying? A friend and professional colleague of mine just went into hospice with end-stage brain cancer. He and his wife decided not to do the desperate-crazy-witchdoctor-alternate therapy route, thank goodness. Part of John's immense charm was his intelligence and rationality.

But what do you say, what do you think, what do you feel when you must face that you are losing a friend? (I won't even try to get into what John is facing)

Damn! Damn!

Goodrich Castle

I'm still alive. But I never quite regained the level of well-being I was at prior ro falling ill in May. Perhaps it's exhaustion. Once I have my driver's license here I will save over 4 hours commuting time a day which may be the factor to regain my life.

I'm taking this new medication my doctor suggested I trial and see if it worked for me. So I've been taking it for about 6 weeks now and wondering every day - does it really work, does it really do anything for me? I feel perfectly normal, feel like my usual self, what can it be doing for me if I don't notice anything different?

Well, it certainly must be doing something because yesterday morning I forgot to take my tablet and by mid-morning I could feel the difference. As the day went by I felt worse and worse and it was made very clear to me that this was what my life was like before I started the medication. Amazing how fast one forgets.

Oh yes! First thing this morning when I got up I took today's tablet. Not going to let that repeat again.