here be @ewiller's tweets...www.thiswebsitewillchangeyourlife.com is like my diary where the toe stuff comes from
Last night we went to a London Racers hockey game! It was very funny. You know it’s not the greatest hockey when the score is 6-4. Over half the team is Canadian NHL rejects. They take it all very seriously and there was loads of brawls and swearing. FIGHT!! We were sitting just to the left of the team bench and the crap coming out of the Canadian captains’ mouth was rather amusing. Also funny was hearing fans with British accents cheering on the wrong sport. It was all rather bizarre actually! Not a very big arena. I got nostalgic for home when the Zamboni came out.
And we saw the Aviator yesterday, which was good. Mark was just paying attention to the airplanes, but I did enjoy the rest of it. Except Leonardo DiCaprio still looks like he is 17 so hard to imagine him as Howard Hughes actually.
Brrr it actually snowed here today. For about 5 minutes and it’s all gone. I wish I could get Piper to frolic in the snow but I don’t ever think we are going to have enough of it. Not that I am complaining!! It’s going down to 0 tonight and that’s the coldest it ever gets. Okay I feel it more here as it’s damp but it ain’t no minus 50.
On the BBC website today it listed 10 reasons to be cheerful as Monday 24th January is considered a really crap for weather + holiday debt + various other factors. Number 5:
Canada’s worse. Carla, in Ottawa told us: “Here, we are expecting a
heatwave on Monday: it’s predicted to rise to -9 C. Folks will be out in shorts,
dancing in the streets.”
“You know its cold, when you go into a fridge to
warm up,” said Tony from Toronto.
“The worst part is that the snow doesn’t
go away here until May,” said James in Winnipeg, Canada.
Jeff Connolly in London, Ontario summed it up: “I am from Canada, and you don’t need a Monday to feel crummy. Up here, all you need is winter.”
Oh Canada. We need some help with our reputation. Hmm time to go make some dinner.
I can’t seem to get a profile photo to stick. My fault – keep using free file storage sites to hold it. Can’t link a photo from Tripod, which is where my original website is hosted, so what can I do.
Anyway.
I don’t think I have shared this with anyone yet but my dog farts like a human. A little precious female puppy that farts like a beer swilling old man – loud and smelly. Lovely.
So unplanned we are going to Barbados to see my grandparents in 2 weeks. I’ve been having a hellish time at work in the past couple of weeks, it has been exceptionally stressful and busy, and so I was already looking forward to taking days off in February for half term break. Starting thinking about Barbados when I heard my great-aunt died while my grandparents were down there, which must have been awful for them. Auntie Undine stayed with them every year that they’ve been down there too. She was great, I have some vague memories of sliding down the stairs in my grandparents’ house in Ottawa with her – on our bums. When I was like 3 or something. Anyway – so I thought they might need cheering up, and I needed cheering up. But then I couldn’t find any decently cheap flights. So I started thinking about Toronto, cause there was an Air Canada sale and it would have been cheap. Even cheaper than the charters. But then the thought of Ontario in February…. brrrrr…. So a few days ago I looked at my diary, decided exactly which week I wanted to go, went on the computer and checked cheapflights.co.uk and lo and behold there was a spate of cheap flights the week I wanted. I booked one. Mark was going to stay home with the dog. Then he decided what the hell he was coming too. I was fretting about being a bad parent leaving the dog behind already. But it’s not going to be too bad – one of Mark’s tenants has agreed to take care of her and the cat for a week’s free rent, and it means she won’t have to be disrupted with a change in location. So we get some sea and sun, and I get out of work for 6 days. And the week I am back is half term when most people will be off, which means it will be quiet and I can catch up properly and slowly.
Also when we get back I think we are going to do a 6 mile charity walk for an animal home with her. I have to look into that today but it should be cool. We’ve taken her to Stanmore Common which is our local dog hot bed of walkers, and all the other dog owners are ooohing and ahhing over her, but she is terrified of all the dogs!! Even ones littler than her!! We were meant to be starting puppy classes the week we go away, so I think we’ll have to delay those a bit. She’s going to need them just at least for the socialisation with other dogs. No fear of humans or cats (she’s so bold with Piggie now, chasing him all over the place!) but at dogs, she hides behind us.
I have a book called This Diary Will Change Your Life 2005, and it is very amusing. I’ve left it at work, and haven’t been at my desk all week so have missed loads of it, but today I am meant to test the power of prayer.
E.g.:
Dear God,I pray that the television channels I receive may prove
entertaining enough this week to fill the black hole that is my social
life. (how accurate is that!!)I think mine today is:Hello any greater power in the universe,Please let us sell the house quickly and at a good price later this year so that Mark feels rich enough in Canadian dollars to warrant a move across the Atlantic sometime in 2006.
Piper, sit! Good dog 
This is on the hill behind our house, in the conservation area
She is loving all these walks we are taking her on (like 3x per day)
Who’s more afraid? The dog or the horse? (I vote for the dog)
I’m still at work and it’s 6:22pm and I will be working tonight until about 8:45! UGH! I have to go to a tenant’s association meeting on a housing estate near here tonight and it doesn’t start till 8. Oh how crappy. Anyway I convinced Mark to come and pick me up and I should be home in time for the start of the new season of ER. Yes the season that started in North America in September or October. But what the hell. Better late than never.
The dog has recently discovered how to walk up the stairs and that life upstairs is exciting and new – so this week we have to buy a baby gate! She doesn’t know how to get down again, and it’s not actually good for her limb development to be doing the stairs. In fact we may be messing her up a bit as she is finally allowed to go for walks – and so we are taking her for LOADS of them to tire her out. She loves them though. But we may need to scale back a bit.
Maria and Joel were in town last week, and they came over for dinner, had a good night gabbing. Seems like they were just around yesterday – but they moved to America back in March. I hope they will be back in August though! They got me a maple leaf muffin tin just like this and it is so cool! I hope to use it soon. Well, at least for Canada Day.
Mark’s nan’s birthday (her 93rd) was last week, so we had a bunch of his family over for lunch on the 8th. We have WAY too much food left over but at least we don’t have to go food shopping again anytime soon. I made Nigella Lawson’s brownies as a birthday cake and we are still enjoying them. Simple and delicious. Also made some wholegrain bread that disappeared, a roast chicken served cold and some goat’s cheese/mozzarella and tomato tarts for the veggies in the house. Other than that, a bunch of prepackaged stuff to keep it easy!
We’ve just booked our next holiday (thank god – I am getting itchy feet myself now) and we are off to Ireland in March for the Easter break. We are taking the ferry over, staying the night in Rosslare, and then staying at week in a little cottage on the south west coast near Kenmare. Then another night back in Rosslare, and the ferry home again. We picked Ireland as Piper can come with us; no travel restrictions. In fact we’re going to get her a pet passport so we can take her anywhere. We were talking about Italy (Sorrento region) in September or October for a honeymoon with her but to be honest, it might also be nice to have a holiday without her!
Ugh my head hurts and I want to go home……………………………………
