Sven-troversy

Rant 5 - This probably won't mean much to anyone not living in the UK or Sweden but I need to get this off my chest.  Who gives a **** (insert your own four letter word here depending on how much you care) who Sven Goran Eriksson sleeps with?  Not me but apparently everyone in the UK or so the tabloids would have you think.  Does it really matter that he may nor may have not slept with some lady from the FA, FIFA, FBI, FYI or whatever.  Last time I checked, you used you brain not your penis (insert your own men's brain joke here) to coach a football/soccer team.  If he was sleeping with the players then maybe I could understand.  But then the players such a naive lot - they have only been accused of cheating on their wives, raping women, beating up their wives/girlfriends, and none of them ever sleep with fans or date 'glamour' models.   Actually, the more I think about it, it does make sense - I bet Sven was off having a quickie during Euro 2004 - if only he had used his penis to coach the team!

Keeping with the theme - maybe I should find a footballer to sleep with and then tell all and then hire Max Clifford.  Rebecca Loos (one of the girls claiming to have slept with David Beckham) has just gotten a record deal and is now a minor 'celebrity'.  In total, she has earned almost £1,000,000.   What sort of country am I living in?  If a girl in Canada tried to sell an 'I slept with -insert famous hockey player here-' story to the press, she would be lucky to get $20 in Canadian Tire money.

Weekend Away

Spent the weekend relaxing on the Isle of Wight at Sal's parents house.  It is a fantastic old cottage built in the mid 17th century with a real Aga (had to take the ashes out and everything)  The place is really cool - you have to climb a little ladder to get to one of the bedrooms, there are stone floors and a great garden.  Sal, Chris, Dave and I spent the weekend walking the dogs, drinking wine and figuring out how to cook in the Aga.  It was wonderful.  We even got to bring the dogs back here for a couple of days.  They are a pair of black labs called Folly and Echo.  Folly is 11 and very laid back, Echo is 3 and very naughty. 

Also, went to see Spiderman 2.  Everyone is raving about it so I thought I had better jump on the bandwagon.  It was fantastic.  I thought I would be disappointed as everyone is talking about it so much but I was not.  Better than the first one.

Rant 4 - Kids in movie theatres.  Love kids, love movies don't love kids at movies.  There oughta be a law or a kids only show or something.  I am definitely getting old but the last thing I need is some kid screaming I'm scared in the middle of the movie or him, his brother, his sister, his mother and his grandmother trooping to the bathroom 10 minutes after the movie starts.  My toes are still throbbing.   Suppose that's what I get for going to a matinee.

Madde's made it.

Well, Madde has landed safely in the land of gravadlax, Nobel Prizes, and ABBA.  The last time I spoke to her, she was sipping pink champagne while waiting for her favourite dinner be cooked.  Fine for some isn't it?  Shouldn't she be prostrate with grief, rending her clothes and unable to face the world?   
 
It seemed a strange and slightly anti-climactic ending to an era.  There was no traffic on the way to the airport, the nice check in man didn't charge for excess baggage even though she was double the limit (note to self and Angela - travel Maersk Air!), comfortable seat, uneventful flight.   Shouldn't there have been some sort of sign to mark the occasion - torrential downpour, stock market plunge, hurricane?
 
Everyone now needs to check out her blog at http://www.maddesmadness.blogspot.com/ to keep up to date on her travels and studies.   Good Luck Girl! 

It oughta be regulated.

A colleague of mine recently visited Toronto and had a great time (thanks for the great tips Troy).  My only advice before he left was to  make sure he had a Moosehead, a Keith's and some Crown Royal.  All very good suggestions which met with high praise.  When I asked what he thought of Crown Royal, he sheepishly informed me that he had brought a bottle back.  What I really was impressed by, though, was the fact that he managed to become addicted to Tim's all on his own!  He advised that he passed Starbucks after Starbucks after Starbucks to get his fix!  What will he do over here?  I am sure a Cafe Americano will no longer suffice.

Rant Free Christine

Made it through the weekend without major incident.  All shopping trips completed successfully without hassle. 
 
Friday evening we went to Kew for another picnic concert.  This one was a tribute to the Rat Pack and was very good.   Frank, Sammy and Dean, Big Band, lots of banter.
 
Saturday we had a leaving BBQ and party for Madde.  We set the BBQ up on the front doorstep as we don't have a backyard.  One neighbour did stop by and ask if BBQing on the doorstep was a new trend.  We said hopefully as it is the only way we can do it.  She thought it was a great way to meet the neighbours.  We agreed and hoped it would not be while they ran towards us screaming and brandishing fire extinguishers and buckets of water.
 
Fortunately there were no incidents, but if anyone is coming to visit - please bring Duty Free Liquor as we put a real dent in our stock.  As I am still recovering, I am too tired to rant (there is a first time for everything) so this will be a rant free blog.

Chicken and egg

Nothing interesting to report but I have realised that if I tell everything that has happened here, I won't have anything to talk about on the phone. And, all you know how much I like talking on the phone.

Yesterday while driving back from Cheltenham, I encountered a few Mercedes (not sure how to pluralise this - Steve? Pete?).

Rant 3 - If I bought a Mercedes would I start to drive like a wanker? Do you have to be predisposed to driving like idiot to buy a Mercedes or do you drive like an idiot because you have purchased one? Chicken and egg I guess.

If any of you are planning on buying a Mercedes, here are a few things you should practice;
1. Driving to the head of the line and cutting in.
2. Changing lanes without looking out for other cars - apparently signalling means that everyone else must get out of your way.
3. Hanging on the tail of the car ahead of you until they get out of the way then taking 20 minutes to pass.
4. Smoking, drinking, talking on the phone, reading a map and eating a sandwich while driving 120mph down the motorway.

Good luck. In the meantime, I will stick to my Golf and promise to only cut in if it is an emergency and limit myself to only talking on the phone, drinking and putting on makeup while driving down the motorway.

Rain, rain and more rain.

OK - sofas delivered on Tuesday. The nice delivery guys put them in the correct rooms for me - upside down and backwards but in the right rooms. Took the 'easy assemble' sofas out of their packaging and two trips to Ikea and lots of help from Ferdinand later, we have places to sit - even a place for guests to sleep. I will not go off on Ikea again but I definitely need a break before going back. Although, there was a really cute chair that would look so good in the living room and those plant stands would make great phone tables......

The flat is beginning to shape up - as I said, we now have places to sit and a phone and broadband and cable. It feels so much better to be attached to the outside world. Now I can watch American Chopper until my heart is content!

Last night we went to Kew Gardens to see Jools Holland. A bit of pate, some cheese, free wine, free chocolate, good music and fireworks - not a bad way to spend a Tuesday evening. Especially when your flatmate organises free tickets. Go Sal! Luckily, Mother Nature held off until this morning with the rain so it was more pleasant than Hootie.

Rant 2 - What is up with Mother Nature this 'summer'? It may not be an issue for the likes of Dell, Caz, Scotty and Nina in South Africa and Australia probably enjoying the warm, sunny 'winters' as usual. But for us poor people in the UK and Eastern Canada it is not nice. What have we done to deserve this? Why is she picking on us? PEI has a great waste watch program, there are a couple of places with the same thing in the UK, Sal and I have moved back to an area with curbside recycling. We are trying to do our part. Is it a hint? Maybe, it is me?

Me Too!

Well, I have decided to succomb to the pressure and jump on the Blog-wagon. I guess we really are all sheep in the end! How is that for mixing metaphors? I plan to use this as a way to satisfy everyone who complains that I never mail them (Angela especially) and to keep up with all my dispersed friends. How do I manage to chase people to the four corners of the earth? Do PEI, NB, Vancouver, Ontario, Copenhagen, Canberra, Johannesburg and Pietermaritzburg actually qualify as the four corners of the earth? Pretty Close - I just need to send someone to Siberia and I am sorted. Any volunteers?

Here we go - Rant 1. Went to Ikea this weekend and spent a fortune. Love Ikea, hate Ikea. Great stuff, throbbing headache. You would think a trip to buy a few shelves and a sofa or two would be a fine way to spend Sunday afternoon. Well apparently it is not a good idea to do this on the last Sunday of the sale at the only Ikea store in London. Can't think why? Sal and I only spent 4 hours there. Picked out everything we 'needed' (only had to backtrack against traffic 5 times), filled a shopping cart, went into the bowels of the warehouse, picked up two trolleys - loaded bookshelves into the cart (fake wood should not weigh so much), put 2 sofas on trolleys only to discover that one sofa needs a cover that is kept upstairs in the display area! Won't even bother to describe the trip to get the cover (suffice to say a machete would have come in handy). Pay - after battle with person who pushed in line ahead of us. Sit down with head between knees and breathe slowly and deeply after signing credit card receipt. Push 2 trolleys and shopping cart out side (yeah that was easy). Desert Sal to go get car. Come back to a lady 'saving' a loading bay for her friend! She actually stood in the middle of it while I was backing in my car. Funnily enough she moved when the car didn't stop. Load most of the stuff. Then go back in to arrange delivery home delivery of the sofas. Ahhhhhhhhh, time for a drink? No - drive home, unload the car and put the crap together. What a way to spend a Sunday.