it's been lovely and sunny

...until this morning. but it has been quite a treat to have the weather getting colder and bright sunny days. i've been kicking the leaves in the street whilst walking around.

there was great disappointment on the weekend when davoud and i visited our favourite little village in the cotswolds: broadway. the many, many kitchen shops were still open for me to drool in and a new deli had opened up selling local produce, all varieties of jam and chutney, and serving very scrumptious sandwiches, but the things are now gone from swings n things!

you may remember a few videos appearing a bit more than a year ago and right after our road trip up north with nick that featured me going for it on this cool zip line thing they used to have in broadway. well it's gone now, probably thanks to the local councils health and safety officer. nevermind.

the kids are on school holidays (again) so it's been a busy week at work, but i don't mind getting my hands dusty with chalk pastels and covered in pencil shavings. beats sitting at my desk ;)

hooray!!!

9 minutes ago the bbc reported that the liverpool posties voted to go back to work tonight! yes, that's how obsessed i've been with the postal strike. so with any luck my cards and package will arrive before christmas ;) but i guess that means i'll have to stop ranting about it...

i'm also on day one of four days off after working nine days straight. a bit of a blessing really as just yesterday the industrial action of the pcs union - the gallery attendants at national museums liverpool - will be closing all of the art galleries on saturday. militant liverpool indeed.

going to laze around the house today calling plumbers to try and sort out the bathroom floor at davoud's house, which has been an ongoing saga for about 4 months. i also need to finish the sweater i starting knitting for my sean and christelle's daughter months ago. need to get it done so i can start on christmas presents!

went to see rufus wainwright and scott matthews at the liverpool philharmonic last night, which was good, but the gig the night before in manchester - my favourite band: broken social scene - was way too much fun. i love them, i really do.

get back to work ya posties!

so there has been a series of royal mail strikes over the past week. around the country posties went back to work on saturday after a deal was reached with the union, but in liverpool? oh no, not in liverpool the glorious land of industrial action.

the postal workers in liverpool are staging what the press is calling "wildcat" strikes meaning that the backlog is getting even bigger. i can't stand it, it's driving me mad. the likelihood of my stepmum's 60th birthday package getting to her on time is incredibly unlikely now despite me sending it a month in advance. my grandpa probably won't get his birthday card, nor will my grandma receive her get well card anytime soon.

but i'm also more concerned about the effect it's having on local businesses and hospitals unable to get letters to patients, bill payments to suppliers, and heaven forbid not receiving concert tickets in the post.

stop living up to your reputation to being lazy scousers who can't be bothered to work the hours you're being paid for and get back on the job.

ranty lauren done for the day and off to work day 6 of 9 days working straight. after that i'm going to start tackling the back log of mail sitting in the copperas hill sorting office.

3rd annual thanksgiving dinner

it was easier this year. i think i might be getting the hang of this whole turkey, gravy, two kinds of mash, carrots, parsnips and green beans feast. although it has to be said there was a serious lack of stuffing in this year's bird.

eleven of my nearest and dearest on this side of the pond devoured the spread and then went through the very pleasing round robin about what everyone was thankful for in the last year before anyone could have their dessert. it was interesting to note that this year most of my friends gave thanks for meeting the love of their life, moving house, advancing professionally or for good news about family health. the funniest moment had to be when peter - harriet's now fiancee - gave thanks first, for the internet, and second, for meeting someone who actually laughed at all his jokes and agreed to marry him. now everyone knows that they met through the guardian dating website so when harriet said, "but why are you thankful for the internet?" we all had a bit of a chuckle.

i had a really wretched day on friday due to a combination of work, my grandma going into hospital, and coming home from work at the end of the day to a very wet apartment because my idiotic neighbour who lives above me had fallen asleep whist running a bath causing gallons of water to flood their place and a good bucket full or two to seep into my apartment.

after my loooong weekend, i'm now buckling down to tackle working nine days straight. i just hope the weather becomes sunny so my spirits stay high!

....10 weeks till i come home for christmas!!!

even i have my limits

i'm usually a great advocate for public transport, support hikes in taxes for owning gas guzzling cars, and generally quite *green* when it comes to getting from point a to point b. but there are times when the commuter transport just doesn't do what it's supposed to.

i left work at 4:15 pm yesterday in order to get to a mobile phone shop so i could replace my charger that mysteriously died when davoud plugged his possessed phone into it on sunday. i had great intentions of catching the train at 4:25 pm, but this train was cancelled for no apparent reason and the next one wasn't for 20 minutes...then 23 minutes...then 18 minutes. needless to say i was a bit paranoid about not getting to the shop on time - which i did - as i wasn't going to be able to leave work early any other night this week and that would mean no mobile phone. we can see how attached i've become to the darn thing.

so fine, got my charger and made my way to the bus stop to make the last leg of my journey. i love the bus route to my house. it goes through the georgian quarter, past all of the old merchant houses on princes park road and croxteth drive, but some of the people who board this bus have no apparent respect for their fellow passengers.

this poor woman with a buggy was trying to get on the bus and *no one* was letting her get on! i was getting to the point where i was about to ask everyone where their unique british sense of the queuing system was, but she finally made it on.

another woman with a pram gets on after i've sat near the back and does this one able-bodied lady move so that the mother can sit down next to the pram? no, she just stays there desperately looking away.

last i checked, there were signs up without words...only pictures folks...so that people understood who got priority: the elderly, physically disabled, mothers and pregnant women. definitely one of my pet peeves.

normality

last week felt very *normal*. i didn't do anything special, but there were quite a few notable things...especially movies.

if you haven't done so yet, go and see a mighty heart the movie about daniel pearl, the american journalist who was kidnapped and killed in pakistan. it's extremely emotive and angelina jolie is nothing like she normally is.

and if you have an independent cinema nearby you *must* go see two days in paris. it is absolutely hilarious and perfect, tells all the bits about relationships that no one ever wants to see or talk about except for with their partner, and is an amazing directorial/writing debut for julie delphy whom i've loved for years for the before sunrise/sunset films.

i did do things other than sit in dark rooms and watch moving pictures though. went to a retirement party for one of the staff members at the gallery who worked here for 27 years - yes, longer than i've been alive - which was great fun. there was a wine club *meeting* on saturday night, this time choosing italy, so davoud and i made tiramisu for the occasion. can't remember the name of the winning wine, but i'll try and post it once the list is sent out to us.

on sunday we found ourselves in ikea because i was having the my-apartment-is-too-small-and-no-longer-functional-or-personal breakdown so invested in a bit more storage and some fabric for cushions and placemats.

looking forward to another normal week and thanksgiving dinner this coming weekend! get yer vegetable peelers at the ready...