now ruz in pictures

davoud, massey and amir

the bit of snow that we did get

davoud, massey and me...in a dress, shocked everyone

my secret talent

...is apparently iranian dancing. no doubt at some point davoud will get hold of the video and post it on you tube, but in the meantime you'll just have to take my word for it. i should point out that davoud doesn't normally get involved in the *official* celebrations and was dreading going. truth be told he actually had a fantastic time.

the food, as usual, was excellent. we all had a good laugh when amir - davoud's brother - was brought out a specially prepared plate of food whilst all of the peasants in line for the buffet stared him down for this special treatment.

but what i was going for was the dancing and there was a lot of it. i can now pass on this knowledge when i come home next. basically it follows the pattern of *changing the lightbulb* and *shaking the shoulders.* i got myself into trouble when i was telling davoud how much my friend linda would be loving the tunes and decide to mimic the way she dances - whilst seated of course - when i was dragged up with only about three other people. very scary, but i apparently gained the *respect of the community.* these are davoud's words, not mine. he also claims his mum is head of the iranian mafia in coventry ;)

yesterday we walked off our meals along the coventry canal before eating up some of the leftovers at davoud's mum's house. today, i must try and get some school work done and try and keep my mind off of the fact that this time last year we were all getting ready to surprise my dad for his 60th birthday. wish i could be home every year.

let it snow!

i realise that probably just made every single member of my family cringe, but it actually snowed today in coventry! not for very long, but itwas kind of nice to see snow clouds and smell it in the air.

i made my way down on thursday night for the long easter weekend after 11 days straight of school and work, so it felt like i needed a break yet again. it's also iranian new year - celebrated in other countries in that part of the world as well - and much food and good cheer has been shared. we're off to the iranian restaurant in coventry tonight for the *official* celebrations; a full report will follow.

you can read more about it on wikipedia here

hopefully everyone else is gorging themselves on chocolate and hunting for eggs around the house. i do love a good easter egg hunt.

cov city

i am back in liverpool now and last week seems like worlds away. after a 70 minute train delay on my way down to cov on 1 march, i finally made it down. saturday night generally involved intoxication so i could stay in bed all day on sunday, which is exactly what i did. but the rest of the week it feels like i barely sat still.

painting, cleaning, sorting, clearing, arranging, more cleaning, trips to the dump in my recycling t-shirt rolled into some visits with friends and family rounded out a busy week. i finally got to see spaces that davoud and i had been sorting through for over a year get cleared out; the garage and the office to name two.

it was really nice to get away from work - not to mention speak the week with davoud - and be physically busy. work has been frustrating of late for a variety of reasons so it was nice to have some space from it all.

we did get away for a day to oxford on friday. it is one of the most bizarre places i've ever been to. exactly like the postcards, tweed and all. we bought our newspaper at a news agent called *wendy news* and marvelled at all the bicycles that hadn't been locked up...and weren't being stolen! i've been in liverpool too long.

i'm back at school this weekend and my friends harriet and peter are getting married on saturday! very exciting and also means i get to cut class for an afternoon ;)