Long, Random Post

It is the day before Hallowe'en. I should buy a bag of candy in case we get any trick or treaters, though I suspect we won't. Oh, well. More candy for us. ^_^

Things have been puttering along over here. I have signed up for National Novel Writing Month. I have no idea why it's called "National," since it has a very obvious internation focus. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this, it is an event where, during the month of November, you write a 50'000-word novel. According to the welcome e-mail they sent me, I'm supposed to tell everybody that I signed up for this so that the fear of public humiliation will keep me from quitting in the second week. I have a rough idea of what I'm going to write about--who knows, I may even put it up for download if it ever reaches the stage of "readable."

I went and bought a toque today. I couldn't find gloves that I liked for a reasonable price, though, so I think I'll go to other places next week and poke around. I also bought a new mouse for my computer because the one I add was finally starting to give up the ghost after more than three years. The new one is rather small (though not the smallest the store had, by far), and has a rather short cord, but all that really means for me is that there's no long cord to get tangled in, so yay for that. ^_^

Peter had his first big presentation on Tuesday. He says it went well. I don't particularly want to know what it was about. It seems that his introduction to Economic History is very heavily weighted towards the Economics end of things, and everything he's talked about reading so far has been horrifically boring to me, so I kind of try to avoid it when I can.

I found my watch today, much to my surprise. I thought I'd left it at an internet cafe, but I found it under the cushions of the couch. Figures. ^_^

I think we finally have more or less everything we need in terms of housewares. There are a coouple of things that we could use, like another pot and some more dishes, but the basics are covered. This is partly due to the trip I took to Ikea on Saturday. That trip was quite an adventure, but many things were accomplished, so I'm okay with getting lost repeatedly and walking a rather long ways lugging a big bag full of rather heavy stuff.

I called to set up online banking yesterday. I set it up maybe two years ago and then never used it, so I had to set it up again. It was an 800 number, but you pay for those the same as any long distance number from the UK, so the phone call cost me a small fortune. :-( The end result was that I realized just how much money I've spent in the last two months. Initial expenses suck. I have enough money to cover past Christmas, but, after that, I really need to get a job. That was the plan, though, so it's not like I'm shocked or disappointed or anything.

I continue to discover things about London/Britain that I find odd. Of course, now that I'm writing a blog entry, I can't think of any, but I assure you they exist. >.< Okay, here's one: Every shop has a security guard. Like, I walked past The Body Shop today, and the security guard (who looked very bored) was straightening one of the displays a bit. I've accidentally asked security guards for help finding an item in the store. I don't get why they're all over the place. I remember once, when I was working at A&B Sound, a co-worker paged security. I knew the procedure ("Mr. Black to [department]."), but I'd never actually seen it done before. I was floored to see a security guard come upstairs. I'd worked there for months and had never seen a security guard in the building. I wondered where he hid. I still have no idea. But, yeah, security guards in every shop make me vaguely uncomfortable. At least they're unarmed (or they appear to be) unlike some I've seen in South America. :-S

I'm waiting for Peter to get home. He should be home any minute. He has a seminar at 5 (or is it 6?) in the evening every Thursday, and they'll often go out afterwards, so he's usually home around 8 or 8:30. He doesn't have classes on Fridays, though, so maybe I'll get him to go out for lunch with me or something similarly fun and financially irresponsible. ^_^

It's started getting cold overe here. There was sleet/snow on Tuesday night. Hence why I bought the toque today. It's a good toque, from H&M, and it very closely resembles one that Joyce tried to get me to buy (also from H&M) a year or two ago, except it has a more solid knit and no sparkles. ^_^ Peter and Chris both got caught in the bad weather on Tuesday. I was out earlier in the day, and while it was raining, it wasn't nearly as bad as it got later that evening. Peter had to wait for a stalled train to get cleared off the tracks for half an hour in the nasty weather.

Peter and I are going to buy an esspresso machine machine soon, courtesy of his very generous father. I was joking yesterday that owning such a machine would give me one less reason to leave the house, but I greatly look forward to having easy access to caffeine that isn't ludicrously expensive. For example, they sell refrigeratable lattes and mochas at the supermarket, but they're very pricey. Same with the chillable drinks from Starbucks or other cafes. Speaking of cafes, I've discovered a place that I like better than Starbucks. It's called Caffe Nero. For some reason, the British spell it "caffe," with two fs and a downward-pointing accent (accent grave, for those of us who speak French) over the e. It looks so... wrong. But, anyway, Caffe Nero does superlative espresso. I go there when I want a treat, because they don't have the option anywhere on their menu for anything but whole milk. ^_^ I assume you could ask for low-fat milk, but they'd probably give you a disappointed look if you did.

Oh! That's another thing I find odd over here. There's no such thing as 1% milk. You can either get 2% or skimmed. Or whole, of course. And cream comes in containers like yogurt. The milk thing had Peter and I at odds for a while, but I relented and now we buy 2%. Which we need more of, come to think of it. And jam. I should write this down on an actual piece of paper. ^_^

We finally sorted out all of the money stuff from our initial expenses and groceries and stuff, so Peter and I are square, except for the fact that rent is due today. It's direct debit from his account, but I still have to pay him my share, of course. My third of the rent is 404 pounds per month, roughly $800 Canadian. Despite the fact that this place is within the budget we decided on, that number seems high to me. London is expensive. :-(

Another thing I find odd: Counsel tax (basically municipal tax, paid to the borough you live in for infrastructure) is assessed for six-month periods, and you pay for those six months with four monthly payments. So, basically, you pay every month for four months, then they leave you alone for two months. Rinse, repeat. *shakes head* Only the British...

I think I've rambled enough for now. Peter still isn't home, so I think I'll go read. Hope everybody at home is doing well. I miss you guys!