and after two years, it still rains on

yes, it is true that some stereotypes are there for a reason...like the one about british weather, canadian tendencies towards peacekeeping, and blondes having more fun. truth be told, we did experience a few rays of sunshine last week, which were much welcomed and celebrated through the act of merely sitting out of doors.

today marks my two year anniversary of landing on british soil. not quite as momentous as the vikings discovering the new world or man landing on the moon, but it's pretty important in my little world. some days it feels like it's only been six months, but lately it has felt more like forever. it is only fairly recently, in the whole scope of things, that i've decided i need to move home; that the other side of the ocean is where i feel happiest. but that is certainly not to say that i haven't relished every minute that i've been here. i am extremely fortunate and i count my blessings every single day even if i'm not aware of it.

i've met some incredible people and seen amazing things like turquoise water in scotland and the top of a mountain that certainly did feel like walking on the moon. there is still purpose to being here like being in love and enjoying my work. i have started preparing everyone for when i plan to move home and they are all probably sick to death of hearing my detailed two-year plan of working one more year at the gallery (yes my manager already knows, so it's okay to blog about it) then hopefully getting into a masters programme at warwick university near coventry and, not to mention, davoud. these things are important to me and in the bigger picture, two years isn't really that long. i certainly don't want to regret not having 3 solid years gallery experience and a masters under my belt before i try to run the canada council for the arts whose annual budget has now increased to $130 million.

oh canada, how i long to meet people and not have to explain why my accent is different and why i moved to this god forsaken country (their words, not mine). how i miss sitting and having a drink with those who know me best and changed my diapers once upon a time. how i can still taste food from some of my favourite restaurants in montreal and can hear friends laughter in my ears.

the grass is always greener on the other side i know. it's most definitely greener here than in canada, but i hear they have some pretty good astroturf.

i've been spending today by myself catching up on much needed sleep, uploading my albums to my external hard drive so that i can then put them onto my ipod, and watching the rain outside my window. but to celebrate, i am wearing the roots canada t-shirt janine and carole brought me in october, a cbc button/badge, and my toronto maple leaf socks. it's going to be their year next season...i can feel it in my toes. literally.

if only it were all lies

i'd really like to say that the weather is glorious and summer has finally hit the british isle i currently call home, but i'd be lying. it's still raining. in fact, it's been thundering, lightning and storming here all day.

i've been in coventry since friday night for nick's birthday, which was one of the best nights out of the year and i wasn't even drunk! must be getting old...

since i had a training course in birmingham yesterday and a trip down to london for work on thursday, i decided to take my weekend a little early and stay with davoud for the whole week. so today i got stuck in and cleaned out the junk room, painted the radiator that's needed a final coat since january and the window sill that i primed six months ago. i had planned on weeding the garden, but everytime i put my boots on the sky begins to rumble.

heading back up to liverpool on thursday to go see feist with sam - and i'm *extremely* excited, no amount of rain can get me down for that one!

what's that word again? the opposite of wet...

it is still raining.

for the past two mornings, it has decided to complete chuck it down in buckets about 5 minutes before i leave the house. this is despite the fact that i left at completely different times both mornings leading me to believe that the world is against me. so i've decided that praying in front of apollo is not going to work. although i have encouraged several school groups to do it. they have to practice school prayer anyway, they might as well be praying for sun!

camping on the weekend was very wet, but we managed to have a good time. val and paul led us on a very wet and windy walk down to hell's mouth - literally - near abersoch and then back through the rolling hills. i highly recommend checking out val's blog (there is a link on the right hand side of this page) for some incredibly funny pictures of davoud.

work has been insanely busy, but i'm managing to survive. i'm off this friday, which is much needed.

the country has gone a wee bit batty with armed guards in train stations and some good old fashioned racial profiling on the random bag searches. i'm happy to see that here at the gallery we have to search every bag. a few coppers here and there rummaging through trash bins, but other than that everything is just fine.

had to book a short break in barcelona for september just in case this weather happens to continue and i've completely lost my mind by then ;)