it's been awhile
i really wanted to write about the weekend, i did. but as soon as we got back, we went out to celebrate Lee's 24th birthday, and i put out all the Advent sweets for my corridormates, mmm. then on Monday i was busy with tonnes of Christmas shopping, present wrapping, and parcel preparing. (guys... i am so broke.) i also had to study some Auden poems for my tutorial on Tuesday. Tuesday i had an interesting lecture on Salman Rushdie (whose books sound a lot like most Canadian ones: oOoh national identity crisis!!) and then the tutorial which raced along. posted the parcel ($100 just to send it, can you believe it?!) and got back in time to enjoy some of Ngaio's macaroni and cheese, mmm. forget what happened for the next few hours, all i can remember is passively participating in an awkward-as-hell conversation with Anthony and Alex about post-sex pheremones. that's right. oh, speaking of Alex, i was talking to Mom and Dad briefly on Monday afternoon, and he burst in my room to thank me for all the stollen i left him. he had a right proper chat with Mom, ahaha. "I love Canadians!" he said as he strolled out. he's an excellent neighbour.
anyway. weekend. what an experience. i wouldn't say it was "good" really, but "decent". it was basically one disaster after another and Chris agrees with me. we were so exhausted by the time we got home. we were actually looking forward to returning to Cell Block C! the whole corridor was unabashedly curious about how it went, and we had to retell our story over and over. they agreed as well: craziness! of course, the sheer insanity of it all seemed less awful, more funny in retrospect. but really kids - at times it was just not fun. i don't have the time/patience to write down all the details, but i can give you highlights:
- because i don't like meetig important strangers empty-handed, i decided to bake. my "simple" banana bread took 1h40mins (40mins longer than it should have) to make in our stupid oven. we missed the first train because of this. and then, after waiting 45mins at the bus stop (when the sign said only 18) we missed our second train. more than being empty-handed, i hate being late.
- boiler uninstalled/broken, so throughout the weekend - no heating, no hot water. this means that i - of all people - was without a shower. i'm vain, i'll openly admit it. so when i can't shower for a day and feel my hair going all greasy (even if it's all psychological) i'm pissed off. especially when there are important people to be met. (not to mention, i had to run around looking all gross in front of my boyfriend, who'd never seen me this way.)
- the whole reason for me coming up this particular weekend (when they were doing construction on the kitchen/boiler) was because i was supposed to meet Kath's parents and brother and sister-in-law. because of the mist and "awful" (in British terms) weather, they didn't make the drive up on Sunday. therefore, i could've indeed come up any weekend, specifically one when they had running water
- Bo Diddley and Sasha and all the horses are adorable. especially Bo, oh my gods i want that dog.
- Chris's dad and i have nothing in common except a love of Doctor Who, and no - in case you wondered - this was not enough to sustain any conversation
- there was a 60's/70's love song crooner in her 60's-70's (hair like Sharon Osborne, chubby body packed into a purple spandex dress, painted on eyebrows) at the Chinese restuarant i picked. i was ridiculed all weekend for this awful choice.
- the radiators burst because they couldn't handle the new boiler (for the 12hrs it was installed Saturday night), one of them in our room - soaking my bag, pyjamas, etc. and our bed.
- it was effing freezing the whole time. northern England? not cool
- the locals who i met at the local were true sweethearts
- i ate bacon butties (bacon, buttered buns) for a meal three times, had pork at the Chinese on Friday, and a pig roast on Saturday night at a birthday party - effectively eating all the pork in North Yorkshire
- the town was very cute and picturesque and British, but i promised to take photos next time. (because there will be a next time, i've got to see the place when everything's been built up, haha)
- Shan, this "mad as a box of toads" woman made my life. she called me "that Canadian bird", embarassed the hell out of Chris, and was just adorable. of course, i have a feeling Mom will be just like her in 20years, haha
- i fell over into the mud while walking the dogs Sunday morning
- watched way more tv than is good for me, as there wasn't much else to do, and the only room with minor heating (gas fireplace) was the living room
- got massively dirty looks from Chris and his dad when i sided with Kath in choosing to watch Oliver! instead of rugby. they saw the last half hour, that's what counts, right?
- ate a ridiculously good lunch on Sunday before they shipped us off that almost made up for the general bad-ness of the weekend: goat's cheese and nut wellington, with fried parsnip, roast potatoe, Yorkshire pudding, and cranberry sauce. gods love the English pub.
- aaaand, i think that's it for now.
it may not sound like it now, but trust me - at the time, we were so not amused. Chris felt really bad the whole time, and couldn't believe i was handling it so well, with a grin on my face. (ohh, was i ever faking it!) what else would i do though? i love him, and i realize that his family are nice people and it's not all their fault.
whatever, we got it over with and survived. Sunday evening and Monday were fun. as was Tuesday. yesterday was the best though. i finished up a lot of little chores around campus, including laundry and stopping by the library to pick up some godawful Beckett plays. i made Chris some hearty Bolognese pasta with meat, after his American football practice. around 7:30 he left for the American football social. it was fancy-dress, and the theme was Antarctica/Arctic. since the boys are so creative, they mostly dressed as penguins. Chris looked so laughable, yet so adorable. i didn't snag any photos but he promises me that some'll be on Facebook soon. shortly thereafter i decided to bake chocolate chip cookies. this made me popular with Ellen, Anthony, and Lee in the kitchen. Lee brought some classical Christmas music and we had a rousing good time. i knocked door to door with my bowl of cookie dough and my corridormates thought me a goddess. i then did the same with my first batch of cookies, but left the rest in the kitchen. eventually more people came in, and i think Alex alone ate a dozen and a half. Katie and Welsh Ellen came in too, oh my.
eventually a drunken Mark and Jack came in from their "shopping" venture. a few angry games of Frustration ensued as they all scarfed down my cookies. ohh, it was a long night. something happened to anger Ellen and i, so we went and switched all the name signs (CDs with our names on them) around in the corridor, and confiscated Jack and Mark's. they then switched one of the showers on and threw Ellen in, which didn't help matter. Anna came out to help (back from her caroling, haha) and we had a rousing good fight in the hallway. i don't quite remember the order in which incidents happened, but somehow we three girls ended up on Mark's bed with Jack, beating him up. Mark tried to stop us, no such luck. then he and Jack decided to invade Anna's room, and she ran out to protect it. Ellen and i locked his door, which was around the same time Aaron (our block tutor/don) came by and asked us to hush. poor confused man. Mark was still trying to get back in, and using all sorts of tactics. "The penguin's back, the penguin's back!" he cried. this didn't work, at least - not until we realized he was telling the truth and i saw Chris through the spyhole. some more fighting ensued, somehow. only the guys were drunk, which gave us quite the upper hand in tickling, goodness. anyway, they went into the kitchen, and that's when Ellen decided she'd exact her revenge by getting Anna and i to help her put Mark's bedding, pillow, and mattress into Chris's room. they're so oblivious they didn't even see us sliding the thing down the corridor. about 10mins later, Mark noticed he had no bed. it took him another 20mins to even think to look into Chris's room. he'd made us open all ours, haha. it was fun because - poor drunk man - Chris opened his door saying, "Listen, mate, I don't have your stupid mattress." only to turn around and see that he did! Mark then blamed Chris and tackled him.
goodness, well, i finally crawled into bed around 2am, and about half an hour later things quieted down. i was really frightened of Jack at some points, he looked drunk/mad/crazy enough to actually tear me limb from limb. lucky Chris got all "overprotective and scary" and made him back down, eek.
anyway, this morning it all went back to normal. there was a good 4cm of fresh snow on the ground! went to the doctor's for another eyedrop prescription, fack. the boys went for a hunt to find their name signs, and were well amused. Chris was hungover as hell so i made him toast and poured him juice and water (with paracetemol) and gave him cookies. Mark made me a ham sandwich for lunch, and Jack still gives me the evil eye. and i'm grumpy because i have to get groceries in the slush. all is as it should be. photos and maybe videos to come!
anyway. weekend. what an experience. i wouldn't say it was "good" really, but "decent". it was basically one disaster after another and Chris agrees with me. we were so exhausted by the time we got home. we were actually looking forward to returning to Cell Block C! the whole corridor was unabashedly curious about how it went, and we had to retell our story over and over. they agreed as well: craziness! of course, the sheer insanity of it all seemed less awful, more funny in retrospect. but really kids - at times it was just not fun. i don't have the time/patience to write down all the details, but i can give you highlights:
- because i don't like meetig important strangers empty-handed, i decided to bake. my "simple" banana bread took 1h40mins (40mins longer than it should have) to make in our stupid oven. we missed the first train because of this. and then, after waiting 45mins at the bus stop (when the sign said only 18) we missed our second train. more than being empty-handed, i hate being late.
- boiler uninstalled/broken, so throughout the weekend - no heating, no hot water. this means that i - of all people - was without a shower. i'm vain, i'll openly admit it. so when i can't shower for a day and feel my hair going all greasy (even if it's all psychological) i'm pissed off. especially when there are important people to be met. (not to mention, i had to run around looking all gross in front of my boyfriend, who'd never seen me this way.)
- the whole reason for me coming up this particular weekend (when they were doing construction on the kitchen/boiler) was because i was supposed to meet Kath's parents and brother and sister-in-law. because of the mist and "awful" (in British terms) weather, they didn't make the drive up on Sunday. therefore, i could've indeed come up any weekend, specifically one when they had running water
- Bo Diddley and Sasha and all the horses are adorable. especially Bo, oh my gods i want that dog.
- Chris's dad and i have nothing in common except a love of Doctor Who, and no - in case you wondered - this was not enough to sustain any conversation
- there was a 60's/70's love song crooner in her 60's-70's (hair like Sharon Osborne, chubby body packed into a purple spandex dress, painted on eyebrows) at the Chinese restuarant i picked. i was ridiculed all weekend for this awful choice.
- the radiators burst because they couldn't handle the new boiler (for the 12hrs it was installed Saturday night), one of them in our room - soaking my bag, pyjamas, etc. and our bed.
- it was effing freezing the whole time. northern England? not cool
- the locals who i met at the local were true sweethearts
- i ate bacon butties (bacon, buttered buns) for a meal three times, had pork at the Chinese on Friday, and a pig roast on Saturday night at a birthday party - effectively eating all the pork in North Yorkshire
- the town was very cute and picturesque and British, but i promised to take photos next time. (because there will be a next time, i've got to see the place when everything's been built up, haha)
- Shan, this "mad as a box of toads" woman made my life. she called me "that Canadian bird", embarassed the hell out of Chris, and was just adorable. of course, i have a feeling Mom will be just like her in 20years, haha
- i fell over into the mud while walking the dogs Sunday morning
- watched way more tv than is good for me, as there wasn't much else to do, and the only room with minor heating (gas fireplace) was the living room
- got massively dirty looks from Chris and his dad when i sided with Kath in choosing to watch Oliver! instead of rugby. they saw the last half hour, that's what counts, right?
- ate a ridiculously good lunch on Sunday before they shipped us off that almost made up for the general bad-ness of the weekend: goat's cheese and nut wellington, with fried parsnip, roast potatoe, Yorkshire pudding, and cranberry sauce. gods love the English pub.
- aaaand, i think that's it for now.
it may not sound like it now, but trust me - at the time, we were so not amused. Chris felt really bad the whole time, and couldn't believe i was handling it so well, with a grin on my face. (ohh, was i ever faking it!) what else would i do though? i love him, and i realize that his family are nice people and it's not all their fault.
whatever, we got it over with and survived. Sunday evening and Monday were fun. as was Tuesday. yesterday was the best though. i finished up a lot of little chores around campus, including laundry and stopping by the library to pick up some godawful Beckett plays. i made Chris some hearty Bolognese pasta with meat, after his American football practice. around 7:30 he left for the American football social. it was fancy-dress, and the theme was Antarctica/Arctic. since the boys are so creative, they mostly dressed as penguins. Chris looked so laughable, yet so adorable. i didn't snag any photos but he promises me that some'll be on Facebook soon. shortly thereafter i decided to bake chocolate chip cookies. this made me popular with Ellen, Anthony, and Lee in the kitchen. Lee brought some classical Christmas music and we had a rousing good time. i knocked door to door with my bowl of cookie dough and my corridormates thought me a goddess. i then did the same with my first batch of cookies, but left the rest in the kitchen. eventually more people came in, and i think Alex alone ate a dozen and a half. Katie and Welsh Ellen came in too, oh my.
eventually a drunken Mark and Jack came in from their "shopping" venture. a few angry games of Frustration ensued as they all scarfed down my cookies. ohh, it was a long night. something happened to anger Ellen and i, so we went and switched all the name signs (CDs with our names on them) around in the corridor, and confiscated Jack and Mark's. they then switched one of the showers on and threw Ellen in, which didn't help matter. Anna came out to help (back from her caroling, haha) and we had a rousing good fight in the hallway. i don't quite remember the order in which incidents happened, but somehow we three girls ended up on Mark's bed with Jack, beating him up. Mark tried to stop us, no such luck. then he and Jack decided to invade Anna's room, and she ran out to protect it. Ellen and i locked his door, which was around the same time Aaron (our block tutor/don) came by and asked us to hush. poor confused man. Mark was still trying to get back in, and using all sorts of tactics. "The penguin's back, the penguin's back!" he cried. this didn't work, at least - not until we realized he was telling the truth and i saw Chris through the spyhole. some more fighting ensued, somehow. only the guys were drunk, which gave us quite the upper hand in tickling, goodness. anyway, they went into the kitchen, and that's when Ellen decided she'd exact her revenge by getting Anna and i to help her put Mark's bedding, pillow, and mattress into Chris's room. they're so oblivious they didn't even see us sliding the thing down the corridor. about 10mins later, Mark noticed he had no bed. it took him another 20mins to even think to look into Chris's room. he'd made us open all ours, haha. it was fun because - poor drunk man - Chris opened his door saying, "Listen, mate, I don't have your stupid mattress." only to turn around and see that he did! Mark then blamed Chris and tackled him.
goodness, well, i finally crawled into bed around 2am, and about half an hour later things quieted down. i was really frightened of Jack at some points, he looked drunk/mad/crazy enough to actually tear me limb from limb. lucky Chris got all "overprotective and scary" and made him back down, eek.
anyway, this morning it all went back to normal. there was a good 4cm of fresh snow on the ground! went to the doctor's for another eyedrop prescription, fack. the boys went for a hunt to find their name signs, and were well amused. Chris was hungover as hell so i made him toast and poured him juice and water (with paracetemol) and gave him cookies. Mark made me a ham sandwich for lunch, and Jack still gives me the evil eye. and i'm grumpy because i have to get groceries in the slush. all is as it should be. photos and maybe videos to come!