home

i've been thinking a lot about this word lately. partly because i know i'm not going *home* to canada for a visit until this time next year. partly because i'm reading this book that val lent me called 'writing home' which is a collection of canadian writers sharing their thoughts about home. partly because i'm moving into a new home with davoud in a week and a half.

but to be honest, what spurred all of these thoughts on was the book. there are a few essays and short stories in it that have either reminded me of my spiritual home - the cottage - or have kicked me in the butt saying home is wherever you hang your hat. for me, it's wherever my teddy bear snowflake that i've had since i was about 3 years old lays his grey, worn, button-eyed self.

am i homesick? yes, constantly if you think about it in terms of canadian wilderness, family and my so-called spiritual home. am i happy? yes, because i'm so blessed in life and there are so many good things happening, so many more things to see in europe, and i'm about to make a new house into a home with someone; something i've never done before.

one of the essays i read by sharon riis talks about her friends all over the world lighting up the dark sky just for her. that's how i'd like to think of it too...all across canada, england, australia, my friend rebecca who i travelled around spain with who i just found out is in iran...all those little lights guiding my way to all my separate homes. because as christian morganstern said:

home is not where you live but where they understand you

neglect, again

yes, i've been neglecting the adoring public again. sorry guys.

many, many things to report on. as you know, davoud is in the process of completing the sale on his house so i've been flat hunting. i finally found the perfect one and we filled out the credit check forms and paid our dues so now we're just waiting to see whether or not we're worthy. it's a really lovely place and i'll be gutted if we don't get it, but i don't see any reason why we won't!

my mum and ron came to visit last week after exploring scotland on their own. davoud and i toured them around liverpool and vicinity for a few days and took in such sites as snooty tatton park, the lady lever, st. george's hall, the cavern quarter and a tour on the yellow duckmarine. it was great to see and spend time with them and really bizarre to be thinking that i won't be making a visit home for about a year.

because of school, work and my holiday time being eaten up by going to school, i'm not going to making the trip across the pond until at least next year when all of my school work will be handed in. but i'm focussing now on all the things i still want to do before we move to canada. it's a fairly lenghty list so i better get started soon!

the weather here has been extremely lovely of late and my fingers and toes are crossed that it stays this way for the rest of the summer. it's now that i start missing home, especially going up to the cottage in the summer months. hopefully there will be lots of camping weekends this year to keep me happy and evenings in the park tossing the frisbee around.

heading down to coventry this weekend to help davoud pack. not the most exciting of weekends, but it must be done!

a bit of clarity

so i guess i didn't make too much sense in my last posting. i had found a flat but once i'd put in the offer it had already been rented. i'm really not worried as i have two more viewings lined up for tomorrow afternoon and its not even may yet!

anyway, just thought i'd clear that up ;)

it's been busy

so yes, many moons since the last post but it has been a busy couple of weeks! i was down in coventry last weekend and davoud sold his house, which is awesome. although in the uk you don't actually *sell* your house until the keys are handed over. it's very complicated and, not to put too fine a point on it, stupid.

i've spent every evening this week except for tuesday looking at flats. the new one has been found, but there is one more i want to take a look at tuesday if it doesn't get taken over the weekend. a little thing called school is getting in my way this weekend unfortunately so i can't go view it when *normal* people do.

my first module for my masters is officially finished and i'll be handing it in tomorrow. now to start thinking about the dissertation and it is admittedly already stressing me out. nevermind, davoud just might have to get a well-paying job so i can quit mine and go to school ;)

mum and ron are arriving in liverpool on wednesday so i'm taking a few days off next week to show them the sights and sounds of scouseland. although i'm putting the football out of my mind on wednesday, can't handle another stressful night like this past tuesday!

oh yeah, and we were also blessed with a greenpeace protest in peaceful port sunlight village (where the gallery is) this week. for more details check it out here. so for the time being, don't buy anymore unilever products! you can read all about it on the greenpeace website.

like the weekends of days gone by

This weekend reminded me of weekends I used to have when I first moved in with Sam and we both remarked on this walking down from the Blackburne Arms this past sunny Saturday afternoon. Friday night Davoud, Nick and Dipak arrived for some one-pot spaghetti supper before we picked Sam up at her place and headed to Room bar for some old fashioneds. On a bit of a nostalgia kick, we headed over to Bumper for a bit of a dance before realised how old we were in comparison to the rest of the crowd. It was one of those great nights though where you all get back to the house and want to stay up until 4 am.

Saturday morning we all woke up feeling slightly fuzzy headed and thanks to my hot water tank it took longer than normal to make it out of the house. We all met up in town, with Sam and Andrew as well, for a bit of food. Craving the Victoria sponge at Green Days cafe we all made our way back to Lark Lane before the boys played a bit of frisbee in the park and I went home to frost Val's birthday carrot cake.

It was wine club last night and we were exploring the tastes of France. We did, however, have a guest bottle this time around. A Parry Sound Vintage courtesy of the Gould & Green winery that was 100% California Syrah, not just 75% as was originally thought. We crowned it the wine of the night and our carefully selected French wines had nothing on their Canadian counterpart. It was the label that really did it.

So we got to spend the night in Oxton Village staying at Val & Paul's fabulous house; my favourite house in the world in fact. A scrumptious breakfast was enjoyed at the Moose Cafe before everyone dispersed. Davoud, Nick and I did take in some culture this afternoon at the National Conservation Centre, which is currently hosting an exhibition of photographs by Stuart Bale from the NML archive. Well worth having a look at by clicking here. We even made it over to St. George's Hall, considered one of the most impressive buildings in Liverpool that I'd never made the time to visit myself before.

After everyone left, I treated myself to a little nap and then a very big salad. Time to restore the nutrients, but it was really nice to have a free weekend. No working, no schoolwork and no worrying about the nutrient content of my food after our very healthy dinner on Friday night. Every once and a while, I suppose that's okay, right?

By the way, you may be wondering why there is so much attention paid to capitalisation, grammer and spelling in this week's posting. Well, apparently Davoud has now joined the cult of Facebook and has been policing people's writing efforts. Just wanted to make sure I didn't invite any criticisms myself ;) I'm sure he's looking for more friends to add to his astronomical 84, so have a look for him next time you log-in.

the day the canadians took over

the kids are still on holiday over here, so i've been running some workshops at the gallery this week. on tuesday it was a storytelling session that an actress was coming into facilitate and as luck would have it the girl who was covering for our normal freelancer was canadian! from none other than london, ontario.

we had a good little chat about home, the fact that the lake district in the uk should really be renamed the *pond* district, and how we missed proper summers in northern ontario...mosquitos and all.

anway, this got me thinking a bit more about coming home in the summer so i started looking at flights. it turns out that it's going to cost the same, if not more, as it did when davoud and i visited at christmastime!!! outrageous. so might need to think a bit more about that one. i should never have returned to student life.

nothing else to report really. i'm working tomorrow so will spend sunday and monday doing school work as my assignment is due towards the end of the month. it's the grand national this weekend in liverpool and i don't get horse racing, so i will be steering clear of the city centre. although going to slag off all of the fashion disasters would be quite amusing...

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 ;)

ready for a break

i know christmas wasn't that long ago, but it seems like everything has been moving slightly slower than normal in the last two months. it's not that i haven't been busy. there has only been one weekend that i haven't been working or at school.

i think i'm pretty much recovered from the sinus cold now. i ended up taking thursday off as well and leaving a little early on friday. school was really, really good this weekend. i never really thought i would *enjoy* it so much and i probably won't be saying that when i have to write my dissertation.

so four more days of work - running a workshop saturday - and then i'm off to coventry for a week. i'm feeling quite guiltly for not having been down there since november, but i'll make up for it by painting the living room and getting davoud's house ready for viewings.

dripping

i've got a cold. it's a sinus cold so my eyes are watering, my nose is dripping and my head is aching. so, dear blog readers you're getting the brunt of my moaning because there is no one here to moan to! don't despair, i have lemons, oj, gingerale, sugar-free cherry halls, my quilt and some olbass oil to hand. there's a selection of dvd's on the shelf and a couple of books to get through so hopefully i won't get too bored.

there is this fabulous thing called the bbc iplayer that allows you to watch television without having a television. well, not all television just the select shows the bbc decides to upload. i just got through watching kd lang in session on bbc four with the orchestra and all playing at st. luke's church in london. she's pretty phenomenal live and i had the pleasure once in montreal, but this was just as good. i'm not sure that folk in canada can download it, but if you can it's worth watching. i love her cover of helpless, always makes me feel like going straight to the cottage.

do you remember that debacle more than a year again that i had with bt over my phone line? after all was said and done they owed me £50, but apparently weren't going to pay me back until a year of my contract had passed. i never really expected that to happen and was rather surprised yesterday when i opened my quarterly statement to discover that they had in fact credited my account. happy days.

when i used to be home sick as a kid, i remember watching television series like anne of green gables or pride and prejudice to pass the time. so anne may need to go on a bit later today, that's sure to stop the dripping.

recent snaps

the place davoud and i journeyed to earlier in january

davoud will give you all the details on these!

inside the victorian palm house in sefton park; where it's always guaranteed to be green

harriet in her *hen* gear

harriet keeping her sister and bridesmaid, emily, in control! too funny

hen nights

so tonight i'm going on my first official hen do aka a bachelorette party for those on the other side of the atlantic. stag and hen nights are a really big deal in the uk and i'd probably be looking forward to it a lot more if i wasn't working tomorrow.

unfortunately there won't be the usual 'L' plates, boas and balloons because the comedy club we're going to has a ban on all stag/hen nights. they can get really rowdy and even some hotels in the uk don't allow them. crazy i know, but that's how it goes. most people end up going to eastern europe for cheap beer.

i do have sunday and monday off this week before gearing up for the hectic half term holiday, so with any luck that will give me enough time to recover from the cold i've picked up. feels like spring here already, but i still wish i was back in all the snow in ontario.

oh yeah, the jackpot for the euro lottery is £97 million and all the staff at the lady lever - including myself - have put in a pound. so if we win the jackpot, i'll be home before you know it!

weekend round-up

it feels like i had a weekend, which is nice for a change. it didn't involve any work or school, but did involve indulgent things like haircuts, movies in the afternoon and big cafetiere's of coffee.

davoud and i met in manchester on thursday night to see one of my favourite canadian bands, stars, which was really great. i took friday off as i'd built up too many hours at work and they needed to be taken! i got to sleep in before heading into town for a haircut, movie and a mission to find peanut butter that was just peanuts. it's not exactly the bread spread of choice in these parts, but i was able to find one without dreaded palm oil in it.

friday night davoud, val and i went to dinner and a play, 3 sisters of hope street at the everyman theatre. it was good, but a little overacted and dramatic. davoud and i topped the night off at our favourite bar in liverpool. it's always quiet, classy and they make the best old fashioneds in town. i was getting a bit peckish by this point and even though the kitchen was closed they brought out some humus, guacamole and bread. god bless 'em.

it was actually sunny on saturday even though there were "severe weather warnings" in effect, so we walked to sudley house through sefton park. a lovely saturday constitutional. had some friends over for dinner on saturday and spent much of sunday lazing around the house.

and now back to work, 6 days on the trot, and next week's half term holiday to look forward to...

the queen is dead

What was supposed to be a relatively happy, easy day isn't exactly going to plan. I decided to walk in today because it wasn't horrible out, just a light shower that looked like it was moving quickly away. It started raining a little as I was walking down Croxteth rd, but I had my trusty queen umbrella to keep me dry. As I rounded the corner at Princes Park it started hailing. And not just straight down little hail, but sideways straight across your face hail...so out came the queen again. We made it through the hail storm, which eventually subsided, and it was just the wind holding me back, ruining my hair and generally making me feel like I'd just gone for a dose of botox.

I got onto Catharine St and it started raining again. The wind was still pretty strong, but I knew the queen could take it. She did not. One of the spokes bent in half so down she came and I put my head down. It was at this point that I decided the only thing to save the day would be a coffee and a pit stop to see if I could bend her back into shape. As I turned down Bold st the wind and the rain started again, more powerful than before, so to save myself from the appearance of a drowned rat I gingerly put the queen up to protect me and was instantly greeted by about five of her precious arms being mutilated. Almost in tears by this point after coming to the conclusion in front of the Anglican cathedral that my queen umbrella was the only thing keeping my life together at this moment in time, the only thing that made the rain bearable, I walked into Coffee Union, threw my wet things down on a table and went to order my coffee.

The guy that looks like a mini version of Terran looked at me quite meekly and brought me my coffee. It's not a good morning. My brown boots are a mess and will now remain so for the rest of the day, I was an inch away from stepping in horse poop in front of Lime St. station and all I really want to do is go back home. I'm this close to giving up, but hopefully at some point today I'll see the humour in it all.

Oh, and did I mention that as soon as I walked out of the cafe the sky was blue?

So the queen is now sitting, quite blatantly dead, next to the rubbish bin in the kitchen at the Walker.

Hope your day has started better than mine...

it stopped raining

thankfully yesterday, i was greeted with a gorgeous sunrise and was able to walk to work. i know that probably doesn't seem too important, but it increased my happiness level ten-fold. even this morning it wasn't raining and quite strong, warm winds were blowing last night's rain clouds towards wales and inland.

i was finally able to pay my fees yesterday at the university, although i have very little faith at the moment in their administrative abilities and departmental communication. not that it's too surprising...i think it was the same when i worked at concordia.

davoud and i drove out to llangollen in north wales on sunday cause we needed to get out of the city for an afternoon. i'm sure he'll delight you with all the facts and figures, but it is very cool. i do have pictures, but they're on my digital camera at home so you'll just have to wait for those ;)

so i think i might get a goldfish

i've been debating getting a goldfish for about a week. after re-watching the west wing - yet again - i remembered cj's goldfish and just how much fun it is. yes, i know, goldfish can be perceived as boring, but i need something to brighten up these long dark days.

it's darker for longer in england, it rains more and is generally very grey. soooo...i thought that a goldfish would brighten things up and keep me company. there isn't anything wrong with talking to a fish right?

in other news, i had my first master's lecture on monday night and am already entrenched in the student life of invites for beers on a week night, which i declined. although i did go today to pay my fees and they weren't sure quite what to do with me. hmm, going to see if i can get out of that one completely.

davoud and i are going to go to one of our favourite restaurants for dinner tonight, elif, as another effort to brighten the dark days. i'm working tomorrow and would love to do something fun on sunday, so we'll see what i can come up with.

occupy every minute

well, i've been back a week now and have slowly adjusted to leaving home again and the jet lag is subsiding. admittedly i have been going into work just a teeny bit later than normal, but no harm done. but i have been trying to keep myself busy for every possible moment in order to distract myself from the post-holiday let down and it seems to be working!

i spent monday at home just hanging out, tuesday was book club, wednesday i went to the movies with sam (saw paranoid park which should be renamed *boring* park), and last night went round to my friend jessica's for dinner. tonight is the people's opening of liverpool's year as european capital of culture, so i think i'll have to pop down to st. george's hall and see what all the fuss is about. i'm not sure how i feel about them theming it around shipping crates, cranes and people playing air guitar, but ringo starr is going to be performing on a roof so it's bound to be a spectacle.

christmas in colour

darryl and brian and grandma and grandpa's place. brian is the *biggest* daddy's boy ever

melissa and little amy. davoud is madly in love with amy ;)

the invitation for davoud's 30th birthday party

davoud at the bottom of the toboganning hill

davoud in action - wipe out man.

i know that davoud will have some more photos on his flickr website soon (see links on the right) as he was the official photographer on this trip.