tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37590752012-02-16T06:48:54.883ZLife with an accentThe trials and tribulations of a Canadian Expat in London, England. Comments? Find me at Izabel_blue at Yahoo dot com.Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.comBlogger2081100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-3373225889805066432011-08-12T18:56:00.009Z2011-08-12T21:18:42.558ZNotes on a riot....
In case you haven't guessed yet, I lead a comfortable, pleasant middle-class life (for evidence, see my 10 best things about London below). For the most part, my choice of where to live, work, and spend time is, knowingly, what N and I call in the "Guardian bubble". There is another, less safe, less pleasant London out there, but it's mainly in my best interest to stay they Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-26868411918804762572011-07-18T20:20:00.008Z2011-07-22T08:50:09.769Z10 years in London...and here are the 10 best things about living here. Totally subjective. And true - in no particular order until we get to the last, most important, one. 1. The weatherThis is controversial as I am writing this on a very wet and windy July evening, after a day of being blustered about in a raincoat. However, as someone who has lived places both very hot (Houston, Texas, when I Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-14259096163025137652011-01-11T22:00:00.001Z2011-01-11T22:06:45.999Z2010 in review - 12 days too late! Why hello there - I'm impressed that you're still reading. 2010 was in many ways a great year because nothing happened. Life was the same and it was fine: London as interesting as ever, work OK, all of that. No big upsets, no drama. The best moment was somewhere in the Swiss Alps on a train. The worst was becoming completely disillusioned by a political party, Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-11432647555125070182010-05-06T17:55:00.002Z2010-05-06T18:21:48.828ZMay 6 2010It's been a while. Don't worry, I've still got an accent.I've brought the blog out of semi-retirement tonight because it's a big occasion here in the UK - election night. As of July I will have lived in the UK for 9 years. I'm lucky enough to be a citizen, thanks to dear old dad, and it's been a great place to live for the past most of a decade. You can say what you like about New Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-65886547932292667202009-12-19T11:35:00.010Z2009-12-19T18:38:10.260ZEnd of decade part II -my top 10 albumsI must guiltily confess that this was the decade which started off with being a girl music geek obsessive...and as the years have passed this aspect of me, has, somewhat sadly diminished. Is it getting older? Is it being happier? Is it having a long-term stable relationship? For whatever reason, only a few albums (and to be honest, only a few songs) really Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-89596625143667358562009-12-11T13:50:00.003Z2009-12-11T14:17:39.971ZEnd of decade part I - my top 10 filmsCompletely subjective and I'm sure I've left lots out. But anyways...in no particular order:Little Miss Sunshine.Loved it, and not just because I kind of look like a 30 something version of Abagail Breslin. Sweet, charming, kooky, all that. And we saw it at the Little Theatre Cinema in Bath, which added to the cosy experienceXmen 2The thinking woman's Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-15454086568046309612009-09-02T22:11:00.004Z2009-09-02T22:21:15.141ZRandom cats...Oh gosh after a rather exhausting year it looks like I am slowly learning to enjoy the web again, thanks to a very silly side project that N and I have been mucking around with. If you too follow cats around in the street, please join us at www.randomcatproject.com.Other than that no big updates. I've broken my finger in a hotel room incident, I've been back and forth from London Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-57817524512848475852009-07-23T16:53:00.002Z2009-07-23T17:28:35.719ZStill here, don't worry. I know, it's been rather a long time. Blogs tend to go very quiet or very very noisy when big life issues crop up. I guess I'm one of the quiet ones.In short, things seem to be getting better now. Work is calming down a bit after a very very frantic few months. And I've just gotten back after 3 weeks of visiting my parents in Canada - my dad's been quite ill with cancer.Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-65141697730016448312009-05-13T16:59:00.003Z2009-05-13T17:50:37.414ZThe claustrophobic's guide to Tube travelAs much as I love taking the boat to work, or walking to work or taking the bus (I have a particular love of 'pole position' on the top of a double decker) it's the good old London Underground that gets me around for the most part.Which is fine, aside from the fact that I suffer from more than a little bit of claustrophobia. I don't know whether it comes Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-89589007844400277912009-04-07T17:44:00.002Z2009-04-07T18:00:12.480ZHoustonI've always wondered - how much of who we are is formed in the earliest of days?I was born in Houston, Texas. A poorly kid who needed a lot of surgery, which kept me out of trouble for a while, I guess. We left when I was nearly four - and I've often wondered what sort of imprint Houston has had on my life. It's always been a great unknown.The rest of my life, barring holidays and the Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-33381267754822107712009-03-10T13:39:00.003Z2009-03-10T14:07:33.376ZI want to see inside your flat. Please!One of the big differences I find between living in Canada and living in London is my obsession with wanting to see inside peoples' living spaces. In Canada, there isn't a tremendous amount of variation between the sort of places that people live - it's either a house in the burbs (50s, 70s, or 80s/90s), an apartment block (red brick from the early 1900s, orElizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-6483566378657414792009-02-17T17:53:00.005Z2009-02-17T18:49:23.399ZAll citizens are equal - but some citizens are more equal than others One of the more disappointing days of my 20s was the day I became a Canadian citizen. At that point I had been living in Canada for 18 out of my 22 years and I was really happy to be making a commitment to becoming a signed-up full-on citizen of the Great White North. Woo! My English father and I both passed the citizenship Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-37431088643706421472009-02-01T22:43:00.002Z2009-02-01T23:05:46.597Z10 years later....Back in the proto days of the Internet, when the only people writing on here were the serious geeks and freaks (myself included), I wrote the occasional blog-style article on my personal website. One of them was about turning 26, and how weird and old it made me feel.Of course reading this article having just turned 36 makes me feel even weirder and older. And embarrassed. (and Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-44855176654928057302009-01-15T18:27:00.002Z2009-01-15T18:35:52.290ZMy three countries vs the credit crunch.....USA: What the f**k is going on here?? We're supposed to be the rich ones!!! C'mon TEAM USA let's sort this out. But first I need to default on my mortgage.Canada: Oh this kind of sucks, eh? I guess people might still want to buy this oil and these minerals and all of this timber though, eh? I don't think this knowledge economy thing is going to work Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-27944718141868310292009-01-01T10:58:00.000Z2009-01-01T11:56:31.308ZBye bye 2008!My year: lots of thinking, talking and travelling. And I enjoyed all of these things...Best music: Band of Horses, Goldfrapp, Fleet Foxes - good things happening with the nu-folk scene. Other than that everything new sounded like it was from the 80s (see Ladyhawke for a good example)Best films: Iron Man, The Dark Knight, Summer Hours- I know it's confusing to combine both comic-book Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-29069576622534861782008-12-14T19:49:00.002Z2008-12-14T20:08:19.551ZMousey.Right - the Western economy is going down the toilet. House prices are tumbling like crazy. There is no end to the climate change crisis, and the credit crunch is diminishing everyone's hopes and dreams.And what am I obsessing about?My bloody hair.I wish it didn't have to be like this. I feel like such an idiot being so obsessed with something so inconsequential. But it took a bad colour Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-51271391925647032732008-11-24T18:15:00.002Z2008-11-24T18:29:26.918ZGoing to the mallIt's not an exaggeration to say that I pretty much grew up in shopping malls. It was the 80s, I was in the the northern most city with a population nearing 1 million. So what did we do during the winter? We went to the mall. The mall was more than just shopping - it was where you socialised, where you met friends, and even (for some) where you got your exercise. Supposedly some Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-12893662492683239952008-11-07T17:37:00.004Z2008-11-07T23:21:03.416ZThe inevitable (and late) US election post... I think I've told you before that even though I'm an American citizen the way, say, John Singer Sargent was an American citizen, I vote in US elections in my birth state of Texas.I can't remember a time when I wasn't obsessed with US elections. I think I was probably the only 11 year old rabid supporter of Walter Mondale in Canada in 1984. I was so Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-67275421377914003032008-10-29T18:00:00.004Z2008-10-29T18:24:12.622ZThings I hope the credit crunch will kill Just off the top of my head....- Botox available at every drugstore/chemist/corner store- Designer baby clothes- The idea that spending half your monthly salary on a handbag is an "investment"- Boutiques and delicatessens for pets- restaurant desserts that cost more than £5/$10- expensive hen-dos- BMWs in general (but especially in Chelsea)- massive Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-21045115755543312102008-10-20T17:05:00.005Z2008-10-20T17:41:46.338ZMy hometown Right - I blather on in this blog a lot about my three citizenships and being a child of three countries etc but if you were to force me to choose one of the three, I'd have to tell you that in my hearts of hearts I'm mainly Canadian...not American or British. You see, I've spent most of my life in Canada and even though I live in the UK now I've got, um, another 21 years to go beforeElizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-5873716694509876222008-09-25T16:54:00.002Z2008-09-25T17:10:58.442ZGym quest part IIOK I got a bit distracted there - sorry bout the delay. Still can't quite face changing my watch back from Italian time but oh well!Anyways, gyms again....So, the next time I joined a big ol chain of gyms called 'Holmes Place'. This was a lovely old-skool country club kinda operation where the member lounge was just as important as the exercise machines, and the clientele was Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-27038172319416984842008-09-04T12:33:00.004Z2008-09-04T12:57:55.861ZThe (ongoing) great London gym-quest (part I)Being originally from a place where -32 c is a normal occurrence over the years my body learnt how to keep warm. Irritatingly the way it chose to do this is to store fat, which means that in order to stay healthy I've been to the gym. A lot.When I originally came to London in 2001 the gym seemed to be a very marginal activity for Britons - the only Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-76486284557988511932008-08-05T16:47:00.003Z2008-08-05T17:03:41.992ZConfessions of a Boden-loving leftie... I remember about 6 years ago I was reading a boring women's magazine when a supplement dropped out. It was a mini-catalog for a new mail order clothing company called Boden. Oooh, and weren't the clothes great! Lacy twinsets, long cardies, swirly skirts and tall boots. Great colours and lots of sizes.The catalogue featured real women (friends of the Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-46175505550880817052008-07-28T13:31:00.003Z2008-07-28T13:36:03.283ZVauxhall Bridge detailOriginally uploaded by Izabel_BlueTaking the boat to workOne of the nice things about London is the river. I love it. Sometimes on hot sunny days I forget about the stinky sweaty tube and instead pop on the boat at Putney Pier for the hour long journey to Blackfriars.This photos is of one of the lovely bronze figures depicting the arts which are on the side of the Vauxhall Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-69049386367043603662008-06-27T10:17:00.004Z2008-06-27T10:28:21.916ZWe can talk about the weather...After recommending this book for years to other expats I've finally gotten around to reading it. The first chapter revealed that even though I've been living in the UK for nearly 7 years I have spent that 7 years committing a major, major social faux pas.It turns out that weather conversations are meant to be about agreement, not dissent! Now I'm good at agreeing Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-43267747967323303642008-06-09T21:20:00.003Z2008-06-09T21:58:02.534ZLondon's secret gardens....one weekend only! One of the fabulous things about living here is the amount of green space on offer for such a big city. I think only the occasional Scandinavian city does better than London on this front. We've got it all - from small patches of grassy embankment, to urban fields, to commons and heaths. But the best of them all are London's gorgeous garden squares, Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-35984169676522837142008-05-20T21:44:00.003Z2008-05-20T21:47:44.770ZBit of a new look....still working on it though.....meanwhile here's a photo of what it's like where I live in the early summertime. This view of the Thames is a 5 minute walk from our flat!Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-13288609680042778692008-05-15T17:35:00.004Z2008-05-15T17:42:24.474ZBusy times...Right - finally I'm back here in London as per usual life - it's been a bit frantic recently. In March and April I went to:- Boston- Toronto- California- The Lake District (almost wrote that as 'the Cake District' - Freudian slip methinks!)- PooleOK the last two aren't as impressive but needless to say I've been taking lots of taxis, drinking lots of (not great) coffee and dealing Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-27596868778525755592008-04-02T17:09:00.003Z2008-04-02T17:32:13.052ZThinking about stuffSo it's months later and I still haven't blogged for a while. I don't know quite why I'm even worse than usual about this medium. I guess it's a combination of a few things.Firstly, have you noticed that blogging seems to be dying a death? Or at least a particular kind of the form of which this very blog is an example - the sort of self-obsessed 'experiential' blog about the Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-78824063711484800952008-02-05T22:09:00.001Z2008-02-05T22:14:27.949ZComing out of semi-retirement to ask you....Is this the worst montage ever??? And from the usually lovely BBC beta site no less! Tee hee. I love how McCain seems to have one huge hand and one little one...Oh yeah, did I mention that I voted for Obama today? I'm actually a registered 'democrat abroad'....now I just hope I can do the same thing in November. Let's see. I keep telling N that he's Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-67442922472451654492008-01-14T18:26:00.000Z2008-01-14T18:27:50.631ZUr happy 08Yes I'm still here. Waving at you now. Back with something to say later this year! xxxElizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-46260263550806250952007-11-30T17:02:00.000Z2007-11-30T17:13:07.278ZAttention: the powers that beSent: to the CEO of Macmillan and the head of communicationsHello. It’s Izabel here. I’m a Canadian expat web designer who has been living in London for over 6 years now. During these 6 years one of the things which I’ve really loved about living in this fabulous city has been the wide range of independent bookshops peppered throughout town – and my very favouriteElizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-74871330273208229252007-11-02T18:26:00.000Z2007-11-05T13:32:29.563ZMy lazy secretThis time last year I was an (almost) GYMBUNNY if you can believe that. The gym was just down the road from work and I was there every lunch hour, body balancing, and in the evenings doing weights and body combat. It was fun but pretty all consuming. Then my office moved. And I had something bad happen to my foot which meant that serious exercise was out of bounds, and instead I Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-55612861229217449832007-10-09T12:31:00.000Z2007-10-09T13:03:33.849ZThe future of everything (sort of)Hello out there! I have returned from my momentous life changes and am settling back in to dark rainy London normal life. But, just so you know the wedding was amazing and the honeymoon was lovely too. Thanks for asking..!So anyways, as part of the back to normal life thing I am attempting to get a bit more up to speed on what's going on in the old geek industry.Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-70146463458272880432007-08-29T09:44:00.000Z2007-08-29T09:49:59.826ZOfficial hiatus (don't tell me you didn't know it was coming)Hi readers who are left- thanks for sticking with me. Now I'm going to be really awful and tell you to come back in October when my accentful life will be approximating some sort of normalacy.Don't worry- all is good. Just a little hectic - work very crazy, no Internet access at home for a while (we've just moved- at last!), still Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-72765722344763703822007-07-23T17:26:00.000Z2007-07-23T17:30:56.501ZHeyAm I happy to see you! I'm glad you're still here amongst all this chaos. As of writing I still don't have a place to live but I can walk again (that foot infection last month was awful!) and I'm still employed and all that. Oh, and I've not been flooded. Yet.So while I'm still living in Zone 1 I've started walking home. I bought some pink Puma trainers and suddenly four and a half miles Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-51182343558011735722007-06-27T13:34:00.000Z2007-06-27T13:35:44.289ZS is for setback... I know I'm quiet. No home yet and a major infection which has taken me out for a while. Will be back when I'm feeling up to it....though just so you know I am on the road to recovery now. But I still need a nap!Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-65414881898289936272007-05-23T16:38:00.000Z2007-05-23T16:47:38.885ZA month later…and no news….Hmmm. I expected to return to the blog here all happy and content having finally left the studio flat for a lovely new place full of character. But it was not to be. I don’t know if you’ve read anything recently about the London property market, but it’s a dog eat dog world out there – our vendor pulled out at the 11th hour. Very frustrating indeed! There is another Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1476518349702183672007-04-23T16:53:00.000Z2007-04-23T17:06:05.774ZBye bye zone 1Ok so I've been quiet for a while and I'll probably be quiet for a while longer until everything begins to resemble some sort of normal. But in short it's not that I don't love you all- it's just that it's hard at the moment to stay on top of everything and still feel passionate enough about the minutiae of life to blog eloquently about it.But in short it looks like we're on the Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-14820507855048270132007-03-20T18:04:00.000Z2007-03-20T18:16:34.288ZCoffee and cake reportThe snow is back in London and sadly, the brief springtime dazzle has passed. I’ve dragged my old black coat (with the torn brocade lining) out from under the bed and gone off with my fella to hibernate with a slice of cake, a good cup of coffee and a newspaper.Admittedly it’s not the most exciting of past-times but nary a weekend goes by without a few hours passed in a caféElizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-25991672996931456412007-02-25T20:17:00.000Z2007-02-26T07:42:54.641ZLondon, relaxing? It can be done....Right, as you probably know, if you see me in real life, or as you can even surmise from this blog, I've been feeling a bit stressed recently. Work has been bonkers (but in a good way, don't worry!), and I've got no home aside from a rented studio flat in SW7, which is advertised as an idea place for locals to house their domestic staff -sigh. A few weeks ago Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-25977139080898400592007-02-09T17:09:00.000Z2007-01-23T15:47:32.918ZLost in translationRight. So I've lived here in London for five and a half years now. And I've been an anglophile pretty much my entire life. I feel like I know all the different nuances of the language, how I shouldn't say 'pants' here when I mean 'trousers' and how I *plait* my hair instead of braid it, and how what I call cookies are 'biscuits' and all that, blah blah. Oh, and have I mentionedElizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-80076828767839155242007-01-23T15:46:00.001Z2007-01-23T15:47:32.957ZThe birthday postRight, OK, so I’m now 34 years old. I don’t know quite what I envisioned from my life at this age when I was younger. My 12 year old self imagined the year 2000 (age 27/28) to be a time when I would have professional, shortish hair rather than an unruly mane. That hasn’t happened. I also thought that at 30 I should be living a life where I had a closet full of black cocktail Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-73426815255734054872007-01-10T17:54:00.000Z2007-01-10T18:17:50.023ZMemories of 06Right guys, I am here and I will try to post a bit more. That entire move-over-christmas thing was rather absorbing. I knew I should've done a hiatus from the blog but couldn't quite bring myself to do so. So thanks for checking up on me. I'm fine, aside from that general being homeless thing! Oh well. The rental flat is actually in one of the loveliest neighbourhoods in London (Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-14323915688663917812006-12-29T15:10:00.000Z2006-12-29T15:25:07.016ZHappy New Year and all that. Yes, I'm still out here. I've just had a rather unusual Christmas- one day, dinner with family, the next up to our ears in boxes. Note to self: don't try to move over Christmas again!So right now N and I are holed up in a tiny rental flat in South Kensington for a bit while we start househunting for a new London pad. We're thinking Parsons Green mainly, but Kew or Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1165267564083060312006-12-04T21:11:00.000Z2006-12-04T21:26:55.496ZDecember worries and gloriesWell, this is definitely not going to be a boring month. Two weddings, one move, one major holiday which means that we can’t move when we actually want to (sigh!) , and lots of other stuff to do and think about too. So if I’m quiet you know why, K?Anyways, there has been the occasional snatch of time for cultural stuff- most notably Andreas Scholl at the Barbican- an Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1163527001045943862006-11-14T17:50:00.000Z2006-11-14T17:56:41.086ZHelloI'm here, don't worry. I'm gonna try to keep you posted on stuff in the next few months but please forgive me if I fall behind.Washington D.C. was awesome. So much to see and do.Back in London, we've sold N's flat and are soon to be shacked up in a rental before Christmas. We've got 14 years of his stuff to sort through and 5 years of mine. It's all pretty distracting.Meanwhile, the Hockney Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1161951491016887252006-10-27T12:07:00.000Z2006-10-27T12:18:11.030ZHeels, planes, twilightDon’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about you. It’s just been busy, you know, and I’m off to the USA tomorrow for a while. According to the rules I can now take lipstick on the plane but not a bloody bottle of water. Sigh.Anyways, we’re going to Washington D.C. for a few days (my sis, the archaeologist wants to go to the Museum of the American Indian, my mother, the history Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1160586901693586772006-10-11T17:01:00.000Z2006-10-11T17:15:01.713ZAutumnal picks for the quirky girlNot that any of these things are that exciting, but just thought I’d share with you some autumn trends that I like.- 60s and 70s style dresses, from my favourite UK high street shops, Kew and Jigsaw (which, coincidentally are part of the same company!). So far I’ve got these two (illustrated!).Cheap and cheerful pink pampering Soap and Glory stuff from Boots. Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1159807445136393482006-10-02T16:28:00.000Z2006-10-02T16:44:05.156ZBonkers and conkers OK so I just put the reference to conkers in there because suddenly, after an endless low-grade Indian summer, it's Autumn here in the UK. This means flash thundershowers, followed by bursts of brightness followed by torrential downpours followed by glowing sunshine. You need boots, a brolly, a raincoat and patience.(Oh, and for those who aren't in the know, a conker is the Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1159220141714566592006-09-25T21:19:00.000Z2006-09-25T21:38:34.350ZAquae SulisGosh, Bath was beautiful! The huge blue sky, the soft yellow limestone regency buildings, the rolling hills, the acres of greenery and flowers. Oh, and the food. It was a very pleasant surprise to find a thriving foodie culture as well. Too bad about that leaving and returning to work thing! So, what did we do?The Roman Baths – awe-inspiring and magnificent. The entire complex still Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1158331218711264102006-09-15T14:22:00.000Z2006-09-15T14:40:18.846ZLeaving on a trainRight-- I'm off to the lovely Roman city of Bath in Somerset for a few days and am going to be away from computers, which is bonkers really. I've getting a bit owly when I've been disconnected from the Internet for anything over 4 hours so let's see how I get on...Anyways, when we booked the trip a few months ago I was full of enthusiasm for trying the new Thermae spa, but it's Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1158165557135803542006-09-12T16:28:00.000Z2006-09-13T16:42:25.716ZThe path to censorship?First a bit of background—I joined an organisation called Democrats Abroad two years ago when I thought that B**h would still be defeated and that all would be well with the country of my birth. Hah. But anyways….Like 2 million other Britons, I dedicated a good part of Sunday and Monday night to watching The Path to 9/11, the $40 million docudrama from ABC. Over here it wasElizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1157644680328637382006-09-07T15:47:00.000Z2006-09-07T15:58:00.430ZLeaving on a jet plane I was originally going to write this week about the endless proliferation of free newspapers that assume that all tube commuters are vacuous yet hip single 20-somethings who are easily swayed by advertising, but both Annie Mole and City Slicker have done a great job of dissecting these freebies already. So, instead, something about airplanes…OK so I’ve now booked my third (Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1156959122249096832006-08-30T17:19:00.000Z2006-08-30T17:32:02.503ZGoodbye cool chicksI know that they were probably past their sell-by date and that their last album was rather impenetrable, but reading about the last Sleater-Kinney gig on Pitchfork made me a bit misty in the eyes.You see, in the heady days of 98-99 there were two girl groups that I was obsessed with—SK themselves and new Yorkers Luscious Jackson. I can’t really compare the two music-wise, as Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1156524324905119032006-08-25T16:31:00.000Z2006-08-25T16:47:30.213ZNotes to self for long weekendUpdate blog with something, anything. Tell people that I saw two great theatre pieces last week, one physical and moving, one thought-provoking and philosophical.Confess that I've had my eyebrows tinted. I think I look more grown-up. I think N is scared of them though.Figure out if my new shoes will do anything for my awful posture.Start novel. (Or at least talk Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1155662560794287212006-08-15T17:08:00.000Z2006-08-15T21:18:00.076ZAvant-garde and kitsch(or my first essay about art in over 10 years—be gentle!) Right—so last weekend started with me reading an excellent article in the Independent by their art critic, Tom Lubbock. Sadly, the gods of the Internet have decided not to archive this piece, so I can’t link to it here, but the basic gist of it was that Lubbock was stating his criteria for deciding what art is Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1155143559337791852006-08-09T16:54:00.000Z2006-08-09T17:12:39.476ZIn the DenOk so yet another one of my guilty pleasures has reappeared on the BBC….it’s series 3 of ‘Dragons’ Den’, a show in which mad inventors and kooky small businesspeople try to coax investment money out of five scary investors (the aforementioned dragons, of course.) It’s a sweaty palmed rollercoaster ride, and that’s just for us viewers – I can’t imagine what it would feel like to be Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1154104721867185272006-07-28T16:28:00.000Z2006-07-28T16:40:25.290ZUpdatesWell, that TV appearance was OK I guess. I think I was on screen for all of 45 seconds, flailing my arms about. Fortunately I was appearing with Rob from Londonist, who was a bit more even tempered. It was fun and the best part was that I got to go home in an air conditioned car, paid for me by the BBC. You have no idea what a luxury that was in 32 degree heat...no tube for once!Anyways, Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1153493559738998182006-07-21T14:49:00.000Z2006-07-25T09:40:20.913ZMe on TV tonightIt's the second hottest day of the year. I've got no makeup with me in the office and I'm wearing a small sundress that is in the brightest most glaring colours ever (aubergine, hot pink and orange, if you must know). Just the perfect day for appearing on TV...But if you can handle it check out the BBC London news tonight at 6:30 (BBC1 in the London region), where I'll be talking Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1153328992830126882006-07-19T17:00:00.000Z2006-07-19T17:14:58.866ZFive years, five thingsAs of today, July the 19th, I have lived in London for five years, which seems both believable and insane at the same time. In some ways I still feel like I’m just a prairie girl who’s just off the boat, and but at other times I feel like a jaded, streetwise city chick. One thing for sure though, I’ve been a Londoner since I landed at Heathrow- this is a very good city for Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1152892316542799402006-07-14T15:36:00.000Z2006-07-17T10:01:43.006ZMemory....It's been a busy warm and pretty week, bustling and lively. Sometimes it seems that nothing will ever calm down here. I've been to countless meetings and gym classes and the like, but one thing I will remember most about this week is two moments of quietness.The first was at Tate Britain's current Howard Hodgkin exibition. I was blown away by this show. As he's not well known outside ofElizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1152451372753126882006-07-08T10:13:00.000Z2006-07-11T19:43:28.336ZEvery emotion in one dayWhat a strange day yesterday was! I feel emotionally exhausted just thinking about it. Two things were significant to me about July 7th, 2006. The first one I'm sure you know about - the anniversary of the terrorist attacks in London last year. However, it was also the day when my one unfufilled ambition as a Londoner and a tennis fan came true - I lucked into Centre CourtElizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1151683059939430182006-06-30T15:53:00.000Z2006-06-30T15:57:39.953ZThe living is easySummer is now definitively here in London. You can tell from the pollen in the air, the water bottles on the tube and the general shy happiness that the English have at this time of year. It’s sweet how happy the sun makes them. If I turn on the television or go down to the park right now the summer also brings me one of my favourite sounds – the sound of tennis balls bouncing Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1150820154167992252006-06-20T16:12:00.000Z2006-06-20T16:17:18.460ZMore Albertabird_boxOriginally uploaded by Izabel_Blue. Yet another trip across the pond to see my parents and friends...and at last the weather was at least (passably) good. I did all the sort of things you can't do so easily in central London- bike riding, hiking, birdwatching, llama spotting, being chased by unleashed country dogs, hockey game watching (oh, how sad how game 7 turned out!) and driving Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1149264069920027782006-06-02T15:50:00.000Z2006-06-20T16:16:53.940ZA decade of twistingI’ve been doing yoga for about 10 years now. I know that conjures up images of me being a super bendy pretzel chick, but, alas, no. 10 years of yoga has merely managed to keep me somewhere on the ‘normal to bad flexibility’ scale rather than falling into the ‘flexible as a piece of furniture’ category. For the most part I like it…I’m fond of sun salutations and the triangle Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1148056250613551222006-05-19T16:13:00.000Z2006-05-19T16:30:50.666ZWhat quarter do I belong in? So right now I'm reading Rupert Thomson's excellent new book, Divided Kingdom. N turned me on to Thomson, who apparently used to be spotted all around our hood (Earls Court), though, like Brian Sewell before him, he's since relocated to somewhere less manic). Anyways, the entire concept behind 'Divided Kingdom' is basically, "what if Britain was reorganised based on Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1146846930433992252006-05-05T16:30:00.000Z2006-05-05T16:35:30.446ZBetter late than neverSo after 4.5 years on the job I finally got a business trip – yay! And I was lucky enough that the business trip was to lovely Cambridge Massachusetts, a college town where I immediately felt at home amongst the coffee shops, record stores, and funky cafes. It helped that I enjoyed my time in the office, and that I was staying in the middle of town at the Mary Prentiss Inn,Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1146155836222182782006-04-27T16:35:00.000Z2006-04-27T16:39:03.440ZI'm still here....but a little tired out after a whirlwind visit to the USA (Cambridge MA-- what a fine city!) and Canada (a quick stop in Toronto to catch up with everybody). I'll tell you about it all next week.Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1143817441375267682006-03-31T14:57:00.000Z2006-03-31T15:04:01.386ZCanada and America are not the same—or are they? It was the box of Old Dutch potato chips that gave it away. There they were, stacked on the grocery shelf in the Kansas of ‘Capote’, the Philip Seymour Hoffman movie (which incidentally was rather boring for a good film). Anyways, so I saw that familiar Old Dutch box (a design which has hardly varied since the 60s) and realised that there was no Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1142961853329735352006-03-21T17:01:00.000Z2006-03-22T17:39:23.113ZWhat to do next? Gosh I have been a crappy blogger recently. And it’s not like I’ve been doing nothing but instead it’s the usual excuse, snowed under at work, yadda yadda yadda. But last week we launched the new redesign and now my major task of the past year and a half is over. At last our company has a decent logo, something which I have been sadly fantasising about for the entire 4+ years I’Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1141922363273812772006-03-09T16:32:00.000Z2006-03-09T16:40:50.666ZWhat-a-MessI am at the moment, alas. Too much hair, too much nose, too much work, too many things to do in the evening, and no time to blog, alas. I woke up the other morning thinking 'oh gosh, I'm a mess', and looked in the mirror....and suddenly my haphazard gold-ish locks reminded me of What-A-Mess, the Afghan hound of the kids books, which I remember enjoying so many years ago. So here's a Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1140624113277867382006-02-22T15:56:00.000Z2006-02-22T16:02:59.423ZLWAA goes Awol- yet again!Ur, uh...work really crazy at the moment (redesigning the site, no less!) and lovely sister coming for a visit all the way from Canada to see Ryan Adams, and supposedly hang out with me. I've still been doing stuff but am too busy to blog about them (alas alas).But hey, if you're in London you've gotta check out the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize at the Photographer'sElizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1138988479195391232006-02-03T16:36:00.000Z2006-02-03T17:43:19.563ZWhere to stay in the big smoke...One thing that I get asked constantly from Canadian friends and the like is 'where the heck should I stay when I'm in London?' Normally when the answer is something other than 'on the futon in our front room' I don't know quite how to respond. You see, London, though fabulous, is, ahem, not cheap, and sometimes it's hard to make recommendations that don't sound Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1138212578982493932006-01-25T17:53:00.000Z2006-02-03T17:43:51.346Z33 RPMOK so it's that time of year and it seems that I have gotten a bit older, yet again. I still can't quite get my head around the fact that I'm getting close to the mid-30s now (or rather, I'm now on the last year of the early 30s!). I look in the mirror and it's the same old thing-- long hair, long dresses, lots of purple and pink with the occasional splash of black, green or blue. I always Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1136914550022246042006-01-10T17:15:00.000Z2006-01-10T17:35:50.036ZThe rest of 2005 (in brief)Ok so I dropped the ball again….rather than some more lovely thematic posts about what I liked last year I’ve updated, ahem, nothing and now it’s January the 10th! And I’m doing other stuff which I want to write about….so, in the interest of brevity, here’s a quick list (inspired by Mike S’s 05 roundup).Fab art exhibitions from 05: Matisse, His Art and His Textiles atElizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1136311838629771692006-01-03T17:49:00.000Z2006-01-03T18:10:38.646ZReview of the year part I: The Music Bit… Ok I’m going to do this in a few different posts so that I don’t go mad writing and so that you don’t get too bored with my ramblings!I’m going to start with music, and man this was a really good year. I will admit that my relationship with music changed a bit in 2005, thanks to a great birthday present from my mom, the infamous iPod. I know that they’re Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1134151215990674482005-12-09T17:26:00.000Z2005-12-09T18:00:16.020ZFantasy Strictly Come Dancing!!!Yeah, it’s that time of year and I’m obsessed again. It’s strange—both of my favourite UK show are on at the moment—Peep Show over on Channel 4 and SCD on BBC1. If you live here you’ve probably heard of it, but if you’re reading this from non-UK points, well, what it is is a show where a bunch of minor celebs hook up with professional dance partners, and have to Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1133215550241456972005-11-28T21:45:00.000Z2005-11-29T14:04:45.510ZBruxelles Every once in a while I feel like embarrassing myself with my horrible French, and so N and I headed off on the lovely Eurostar to Brussels the other weekend, in order to maximize my blushing opportunties (and to have a belated anniversary celebration.) It was a very characterful place-- cold, foggy, ethereal, and jam packed with the sort of Art Nouveau architecture that I had only Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1131976132920391372005-11-14T13:34:00.000Z2005-11-14T13:55:31.503ZToo old for gigs, too young for vegetable deliverySo the other week I was all excited about finally seeing one of my favourite Canadian bands in action – the New Pornographers. While I was away last month N, bless him, bought us tickets for their 2nd London gig, at a relatively new venue off of Brick Lane called 93 Feet East. Before long the gig was sold out (strangely, considering that the band Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1130867434850034972005-11-01T17:45:00.000Z2005-11-01T17:50:34.863ZBack in the swing of things…Ah, London. My Canadian idyll almost made me forget how much I love this crazy city, but it’s all coming back to me now. October was a funny old month though—one week I was standing in a glacial cave on the top of Mount Edith Cavell with my parents and sister….the next I was at the Odeon West End with N, seeing the premiere of the latest Michael Winterbottom film, CockElizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1129740399302025602005-10-19T16:46:00.000Z2005-10-19T16:56:49.603ZSweet home AlbertaSo I’ve been quiet on this blog again, but this time for a good reason. A little over two weeks ago I took a long walk down past St Paul’s cathedral and along the Thames and said goodbye to London for a while. Before I knew it I was on a plane to Calgary, making my way back to my parents’ place, outside of lovely Devon, Alberta, Canada.Though it was early autumn here in the UK, Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1127926038593585262005-09-28T16:33:00.000Z2005-09-28T16:47:18.600ZHyde Park on a Saturday afternoonIn order to maximize my tramping around in the outdoors while it’s still nice and crisp I dragged N off for yet another long walk last weekend. We started in Kensington Gardens and then walked around Hyde Park for a while. The big HP was choc-a-block with tourists as expected, and as we strolled N turned to me and said ‘Blimey, I think we’re the only English Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1127147969902273622005-09-19T16:25:00.000Z2005-09-19T16:57:38.473ZRambling...Autumn at last has arrived in London...the temperatures have dropped, it’s darker longer, and I feel happier. I’m just not really a summer person—I overheat too easily and have this inner core of prudishness (thanks Mom) which keeps me from enjoying wearing skimpy clothes. N is the exact opposite—a real sunworshipper who lives to soak up the rays in the park. It’s always a weird time Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1126026609824996502005-09-06T17:02:00.000Z2005-09-15T18:13:08.486ZThe last few days of summer now...And all I’ve been doing is sitting in the park, reading— various newspapers, the special food edition of the New Yorker, the latest Word Magazine and two novels touching on WWII—Isabel Bolton’s ‘Do I Wake or Sleep’ and Elizabeth Bowen’s ‘The Heat of the Day’. Both excellent, BTW— and two completely different views of the time from the two sides of the Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1124192368077746072005-08-16T11:27:00.000Z2005-08-16T11:40:39.080ZLate Summer RamblingHmmm….you will note after a few weeks of constant updates I am now back to my bad blogging habits. Ah well. I guess it means I can save up stuff to tell you.So it’s been a weird, busy summer. Work has been especially bonkers, which is a shame because August is traditionally a bit more relaxing that the rest of the year. I guess I should be happy about this seeming as we are a Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1122656667803094382005-07-29T16:37:00.000Z2005-08-01T16:29:39.076ZArkham AsylumAs you may know the King’s Cross area of London is undergoing a massive transformation at the moment. Apparently by 2007 it will no longer be the seediest area in Zone 1, but instead will be the hood of ‘Kings Cross/St Pancras International’, the new Eurostar terminal. Whenever you walk around KC these days all you see is big pits of mud and cranes, which is a good thing for the areaElizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1121967317141770992005-07-21T17:30:00.000Z2005-07-25T14:17:58.553ZMeowJust to make the blog a bit more upbeat, here's my first photo... it's the lovely F! Isn't she just the cutest thing you've ever seen? Ahhhh....Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1121966504994956692005-07-21T17:14:00.000Z2005-07-21T17:21:45.000ZNever a dull moment… Ha! I had originally intended to post today about how things seem to be returning to normal for me after ‘7/7’ but that was before lunchtime today, when I heard about yet more bombs from the friendly Thai ladies dishing up my veggie noodles in the Whitecross street market. Oh dear. Back in the office we’re happy that no one was hurt in this latest incident, but wondering Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1120776560215644312005-07-07T22:48:00.000Z2005-07-07T22:49:20.223ZA very strange day indeed….Yesterday at 12:46 pm we put the radio on at work. We were all trying to be blasé about the Olympic bid—various murmurs of ‘oh, it’s sure to be Paris’ and the like were going through the office. So when the moment came, we all cheered and pumped our little fists in the air. For once it seemed OK to be proud of London, and to be happy that we had actually won something, Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1120732766865698572005-07-07T10:36:00.000Z2005-07-22T16:10:09.700ZI've made it to work and I'm OK. Just so you know. More later...Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1120669296098498872005-07-06T16:40:00.000Z2005-07-22T16:16:25.056ZI know it's over... June passes in a blur and I find myself now at the beginning of a damp and cold July. There is no more tennis on the telly and I’m back at work. I’ve been to the posh wedding (I wore a hat and heels, and I didn’t fall over! And being at a reception at the Savoy made me feel like I was in a movie!) , I’ve shown some Canadian friends around town a bit. All these things that I Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1118938982957981132005-06-16T16:12:00.000Z2005-07-22T16:14:52.000ZRain in June Well, I guess it is nearly time for the tennis, isn’t it? We couldn’t expect it to be sunny, really. I guess my money is on Roddick yet again, because he was pretty damn good at Queens last weekend, and did a great job adapting to Karlovic’s style (‘like being served by a tree’). Once again, however, I will not be anywhere near >Centre Courtcoz I just keep on losing in that Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1117123652655143132005-05-26T15:41:00.000Z2005-05-26T16:11:30.083ZEarly summer ramblings, And it’s that weird kinda time where I’m waiting for things to start happening…a kind of pleasant stasis between all sorts of summer events upcoming—my friend’s posh wedding, two visits from much-missed Canadians, etc. Meanwhile, I’m just lounging about, waiting for the weather to stabilize so I can fully access my library of sundresses and summery skirts, Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1115226727167557312005-05-04T17:01:00.000Z2005-05-04T17:12:07.216ZTony, Matisse, Election et alHah, it’s been weeks, and as usual I’ve been a bad blogger. All this time I could be blogging I’ve just been hanging around the house, watching The Apprentice, and sniffling with hay fever…it’s that time of year.Anyways, tomorrow is the general election here in the UK—another chance for me to vote (this three citizenships thing does have its advantages). I’m leaning Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1113322224418664392005-04-12T16:02:00.000Z2005-04-12T16:17:10.860ZMy Kinda TownThe usual apologies for not posting for aeons, but at least I have the excuse that I escaped the country for a few days. I had a lovely time in Chicago swanning about with my mother and sister and then we headed off to small town Indiana to visit my grandma, who is 87 and living on her own and still driving. Which is pretty much something to hope for, really.Anyways, it had been Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1111168388200148552005-03-18T17:38:00.000Z2005-03-18T17:53:08.203ZAh, springtime reading…And at last the chance to do one of my favourite things ever—sitting outside reading, which is just, like, the meaning of life, dontcha think? It’s the perfect synthesis of the intellectual, human-made world (the book) and the natural one (the outdoors bit).Anyways, I just finished reading A Farewell to Arms for the first time, which was genuinely moving and heartbreaking. Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1109633414076117602005-02-28T23:26:00.000Z2005-02-28T23:30:14.080ZThe REM postI’m writing this on a rainy Saturday evening and I feel kind of sad because this time last week I was at one of the most moving and impressive gigs I’ve ever attended, in, um, something like 17 years of seeing live music on a semi-regular basis. And, the even better thing was the fact that it was the first time I had seen a band that has meant so much to me throughout the years live. Elizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1107524622552337822005-02-04T13:32:00.000Z2005-02-04T13:43:42.553ZBoring is my middle name
It’s February. It’s dull. And I guess I’ve taken the feeling of the month to heart. You see, according to N I have now become an ‘iPod/Pedometer bore’. Though, for this I can blame both of our lovely mothers. Mine sent over the iPod (thanks mom!) and the lovely D provided me with a pedometer for my birthday which was a few weeks ago. And I have soon discovered that theseElizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759075.post-1105983596520145692005-01-17T17:34:00.000Z2005-01-17T17:39:56.520ZAt last some relaxation
It all passed too quickly. And now I’m back at work, rather than in ‘The Retreat’ with my book. But I must write and recommend Ragdale Hall to you, despite the fact that it seems now like a pleasant dream. Me and my and friend Nic (N’s sister) headed off last Sunday, not quite knowing what to expect. We had booked three nights in which to supposedly relax, exercise a bitElizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09377542427918396119noreply@blogger.com0