Hunting for a . . .

. . .flatmate is truly a sick cross between recruiting for a job and finding a date. It has become a second job, and I quite honestly think moving-out-housemate should pay me for all the work...

One guy has provided 21 bullet-points of his 'Flatshare Specific Attributes', even including his list of top ten films - no surprise that I like all the details, and he's coming round this evening. Forget the flat, perhaps I'll get him to take me out...

So far there has been only one nutter, but I've been looking for over 4 weeks now and it's really not much fun.

Think my standards might be a bit too high? No wonder I can't find a nice young man to take me away from it all...what's so wrong with settling, anyway?

eek, i'm a tourist . . .

. . . or it felt that way this morning, anyway

of course i'd seen the signs for the past few weeks, advising customers that the interchange between over and underground lines would be changing from 28th may and that signage would accompany duly

but i wasn't prepared for a whole new station (ish) ! they've been working on it for ages, but when there are barricade thingies all round - behind which you assume there is simply a little corner for the builders to have their tea - it is truly amazing to discover they've been building a whole new everything back there

suddenly i was a tourist in my own city/station - wandering about aimlessly without a clue as to where i was, needed to go, how to get there and why

once i found the platform, of course i realised it was the same one as usual, but just a bloody long way round to get there. typical. they renovate the full lot, but make it more difficult for me to get from here to there, rather than simpler

i'm additionally saddened by the completion of this work because sometimes when coming home late at night, the guys were working on the area through which i needed to walk, so they would open a short cut, through which it took about 30secs to cross the distance rather than 3mins(ish). damn

by the way, what's with ken using a photo that's decades (ok, maybe years) old . . . we all know he has no hair now, so he may as well give us a current pic

Currently reading: Global Finance by Leo Gough
Current mood: mischevious/uncertain/a bit giddy

another fantastic quote from . . .

. . . Auntie Abigail (a code name which I have only just selected byway of a funny little word association that just happened in my head):

' "fellow traveler" used to be code for pinko commies who were trying to bring down the establishment.'

I had not heard this before, but have now also found it here.

I do love it, especially given the context in which it was used regarding a friend who working somewhere with someone who is pure Hell...

really, i was going for wonder woman

shame

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

so on my way home tonight . . .

. . . there were about...guessing...20?ish coppers at the station I always pass through. they were sort of spread out as well, so not sure if maybe something happened. too tired to ask

though I did notice that they have installed a airport-stylely detector thing, which is new since yesterday! I had heard they were going to trial one of these at a random station that is a bit off the path, which seemed pointless. glad to see they are also doing this in this other station, which is a perfect place to have one (largest and busiest station in london - and where the bomber boys arrived/disseminated)

bit unsettling with all the coppers, though - it's not them I mind, but whoever they're looking for . . .

just a wee bit . . .

(this post is a work in progress)

. . . more on this topic, since it seems to not be going anywhere

so it seems that even the people who tell us not to let people in have let people in not only to the country, but to their offices to given them a little sparkle and shine

passports for food?

'But the home secretary stressed that 3,500 had been going missing every year before a more secure mailing system was introduced in February 2004...More than 300 passports were stolen or lost in delivery and others simply went missing and were never recovered. They introduced a secure delivery mechanism and even that is failing.'
this is a cracker, the alleged secure mailing system; when they had to return my passport in september 2004 (hmmm, 7mths after this revoluntionary system came into use), it was sent in a non-descript puffy brown envelope with no return address. i was very reluctant to open it at the time, for fear someone had sent some errant porn or perhaps a severed finger


with regards to legal immigrants, check out how wonderfully prepared we were for them - amazing!

'A government report estimated 5,000 to 13,000 workers from the 10 new EU countries would want to stay in the UK. In fact 293,000 immigrants have applied for work permits since May 2004.'
(this post is a work in progress)

are you ok for a little rant?

this began as a short email to a friend, but grew along with my annoyance . . .

for those who might enjoy a good debate over those people who come into our country, take our food, education, housing, medical, etc and give nothing in return (oh wait, that's asylum seekers)

with ref to:

Illegal immigrants 'not hunted'; Wednesday, 17 May 2006, 07:40 GMT

'He said the UK's illegal immigration problem, which according to one estimate was about 0.7% of the population, was small compared to the United States, where they made up "7 or 8%" of the population. '

how ridiculous is this quote, considering the vast differences of:

usa:
9,631,420 sq km
298,444,215 total pop
23,875,537 illegal

california alone:
158,302 sq. mi.
33,871,648 total pop
2,201,657 illegal
(for a bit of pedantesque comparison)

uk:
149,757 sq km
60,609,153 total pop
424,265 illegal

which doesn't quite add up to their delusional figure of 25,000/yr x 10yrs, now does it; especially when last July there were allegedly 570,000, and today they say they are expelling 1,000 per month. so 1,000 x 10mths = 10,000. which means there are roughly 470,000 at the moment and not 424,265 nor 310,000

and if in 2002, mr blunkett (also see point5 below about our leaders) supported the idea that 'there are as many as 500,000 illegal immigrants in the EU', does that not mean we are the biggest offenders? but how is this figure possibly feasible anyhow, in a population of 379,000,000; for those keeping track, that's only 0.14%.

eu:
3,976,372 sq km
456,953,258 total pop
639,734 illegal based upon figures above

so are we to believe that in today's figures, there are only 640k illegal immigrants out of 457mil and upwards of 500k of those are in the uk alone? if so, the problem is even bigger than we realise.

making comparisons to the problems in the us simply infuses the notion those of 'authority' in the uk are trivialising what is in fact a very big problem. how is there even a comparison?

and obviously don't even get me started on the '1,023 foreign prisoners who were released without being considered for deportation', encompassing: 'three convicted murderers, nine rapists and five of sex offences against children'. this may seem a small number, but not when they might be living down the road from me, working for the local taxi service or behind the till selling sweeties to kiddies. another demonstration of how this country's shamefully pathetic legal system adds further detriment to the safety and wellbeing of every one of us.

it is interesting how often i seem to get into a conversation with someone about my feelings on how unbelievable it is that in this country, a man can rob, assault, rape, murder, chop up a woman whilst driving ten times over the limit in car full of child pornography and probably get 2 years, then reduced to 6mths- or perhaps a £20 fine. really, he is better off carrying out all of this than getting caught selling illegal cigarettes down in nag's head or ambling from pub to pub with a bag full of dodgy dvd's

this guy was before my time, but let's get him back

but on the upside, our local politicians are sound, since they:

-are not racists, speaking on behalf of this lovely city, who do not know the difference between iran/muslim and israel/jewish - and could care not
-do not have sex with their secretaries in rooms paid for by taxpayers
-do not engage in dodgy dealings with aussie businessmen and italian prime ministers
-do not reduce kind, clever men consumed with guilt for hiding secrets about their incompetence to such despondence that he goes out into the woods to shoot himself
-do not publicly tout their personal problems and mistakes to the press, lose their place in the cabinet, get another one, lose it, get another, repeat repeat
-do not regularly commit any other 'serious errors of judgement', shaming their colleagues and the country as a whole

. . . yet . . . i still love it here - go figure . . .

but reckon anything's better than george bush (except maybe mugabe)

currently reading: The Women Who Knew Too Much by Tania Modleski

signs, symbols and semiotics . . .

. . . as if my current mood and outlook was not bleak enough, a quick look at the 10day local weather forecast solidifed any hope of pulling out of the grey funk (just like mother nature)

happy summer, london - bah humbug

i need a title for this one . . .

in an effort to even further avoid what i should be doing at the moment, i decided to clear out the spam folder in an inbox i never use (not sure why i don't just get rid of it altogether then)

only 2036 spams since april - or since either 1938/2038 if you want to count the clever date-amender-senders

but there were a few whose subject titles i loved to bits and thought too good to delete (i didn't open the actual messages, of course)

so i thought i might start a list of top spam subject headers - it may be a list for today only, it may carry on, who's to say...

today's top prize is a draw:

preconceived bell pepper
paralyzed frosting

honourable mention:

i thought he was going to kill me
(one might find dialling 999 a more efficient means to cry for help)
flasher scavenger
(do people go looking for these?)
cardigan sedentary
(i think my vintage green cardy would like this special moniker, whereas sad neglected navy blue would be jealous)

eritrean formula . . .

am just loving this too much:

'When I was younger I used to read the "Let's Visit..." series of books in the local library, and became particularly enthralled with "Let's Visit Albania". This led me to try and find out more, but seeing as this was the early nineties and there was no internet, there was little I could find. So I wrote to the Albanian ambassador. He wrote back and invited me to the embassy for tea. It was lovely. I was very excited, I was only about twelve and I went with my mother to a bedsit on Eccleston Square in Pimlico where I met his wife and his son and was given a can of coca-cola and a copy of Ismail Kadare's "General of the Dead Army". It was wonderful, and I think that ambassador (I can't remember his name) was a lovely man. I think it was the most succesful (in terms of fully winning over one heart and one mind) PR stunt of his career! '
Dan Bidewell, London

to see what brought this on, go here

reading the coolest book ever . . .

. . . tbd

a list of things i do and places i go. . .

. . . really should be started, before i forget what i do or where i go. must come up with some categories, etc. . .

i'll start now, off the top of my head and nearby pinboard:

bbc taping - the write stuff - waterstone's (yes, there is a secret room on the 6th floor) - 27 april 2006 (inc guest john o'farrell, whose book i loved so much, i read it twice - and some other people i didn't know; nb: comments tbd re the female reader with 'the voice')

theatre - period of adjustment - almeida theatre - 25 april 2006 (more tbd - for now, i saw this guy there in the audience)

theatre - resurrection blues - the old vic - xx april 2006 (featuring matthew modine and neve campbell (yes, julia from party of five - or, to any male readers - yes, the one who snogged denise richards in wild things) and others whom i can't remember at the moment)

bbc taping - counterpoint (music quiz radio show - special 20thyr anniversary edition) - drill hall - xx april 2006 (inc guest julian lloyd-webber (who i have always thought was andrew's son until this very moment, when searching for this link - they are brothers!)

bbc taping - never mind the full stops x2 (new bbc4 telly programme - channel 4 - xx march 2006 (presented by the (surprisingly) ever so impish julian fellows; inc guests carol thatcher, janet street-porter and a few others i'd never heard of (like ned sherrin, who was terribly english...so i went to see him record counterpoint, as above!))

music - classic concert with motoki hirai and john pearce - st cyprian's church - 18 march 2006

theatre - the producers - theatre royal drury lane - 23 november 2005

theatre - romance - almeida theatre - 28 september 2005 (featuring the top mancunian, john mahoney)

theatre - a life in the theatre - apollo theatre - 3 march 2005 (featuring patrick stewart and josh jackson (yes, pacey from dawson's creek - he's all grown up now!) - we saw them both in their knickers)

you know what those sirens mean, don't you . . .

. . . it means the gooners may well be at it all night

but hey - we won ! a few down, one to go . . . phew

it was one of those moments i'd dreaded . . .

tbd, re cornstarch

konichiwa hirigana!

tbd - arigato

carlsberg and the crucifixtion

coming soon!

alliteration and meeting matthew modine

coming soon!

full metal jacket is truly . . .

. . . one of the best films ever

some people seem to find it odd that i - little, tiny, innocent and defenceless female - could love it so. but i do

and of the things that's great about it is matthew modine. c'mon, you know matthew! you think you don't, but you do. if consumed with uncertainty, go here and here

well, i got to meet mr modine this evening! yes, it's true, and not at all the way i would have envisioned my day going, at the point i left the house in the morning

. . . to be continued . . .

i have just read this . . .

. . . and am a bit fired up

this began as a short comment i was going to make on the bbc website article which you can read here (if you wish)

i agree completely with tom watson’s comment as above: ‘however, i think americans need to be educated in such a way that equips them better to travel without appearing to treat to rest of the world like an extension of disneyland. i frequently hear patronising, insensitive comments made by american tourists who are tarnishing the reputation of their compatriots.’

having been born and raised in the US, i have lived here for nearly four years, and have never experienced any of the behaviour ms cox indicates. although i did anticipate it initially and have discussed it with my british friends and colleagues at various times over the course of the years, they too are unaware of this sentiment being thought of and/or used on us-types living or visiting here.

when i hear these stories, i tend to think they are embellishing as a means of drawing attention. i once heard a student here on exchange from small town america say that a woman on the til at a shop said to her 'you sound just like george bush - you must support the war and killing innocent people', leaving those in the room to whom she said this to tut-tut incredulously. puh-leeze, i would like to hear from a witness to this actually happening, because i do find it quite unbelievable


that said, i too lower my voice when in public and/or meeting new people - but that comes more from the belief that americans speak in a loud, uneducated and crass manner. i tend to agree with that, and am fairly embarrassed when hearing others in public. but the same can surely be said of, say, australians who are here to get away from oz, or the brits in ireland, who are there to get away from here, or anyone wanting to get away from ‘their own’ people, yet finding there is no escape, no matter how far you go

as steveo said: ‘i honestly think its all about the tone and volume. americans are always wah wah wah on the train, in the restaurants. you can hear them a mile off. its as irritating as when someone is talking on their mobile loudly in a train. it gives the impression they are better than everyone else. what i would advise americans to do is to talk less, listen more, and talk more softly.’

indeed, there was a noticeable difference around a year or so ago when people automatically assumed and asked me if i was canadian, rather than american. that had never happened before, but is rampant now. and though this could have more to do with this funky 'transatlantic madonna-esque' accent i seem to have acquired, i believe it is more to do with not wanting to cause offence with a general assumption i am american. this has always struck me as amusing, bearing in mind the generalisation in america of canadians being 'dumb, uneducated, rubbish' (see south park, et al); (although those such as john candy who were happy to play along with the stereotype in things like canadian bacon were brilliant. but i digress)

supporting emilie dingler-meek's comment of: ‘as a seattleite living in london i often find that i can get away with pretending to be canadian as well. and i do. i am ashamed to be american. i didn't vote for bush and i don't support the iraq war and i feel american foreign policy is abhorrent. but i also find that people will assume i'm a thick headed, right-wing, mcdonald's loving, anti-islamic, fundamentalist christian, intolerant, homophobic idiot. that couldn't be further from the truth, but i never get a chance to show people who i really am.’

i am grateful for the rare opportunities in which i do not have to say aloud the words 'i am american' or 'i am from america'. gain ire at the words, if you will, but i would rather than not be classified by where i was born but rather who i am

besides, the thing about london is that one is hard-pressed to even find a true anglo-saxon through-and-through brit (is there such a thing?) - a brilliant facet of the multi-culturalism of this city is that when taking stock of your tube carriage, you are likely to run out of fingers rather quickly when counting the nationalities/backgrounds of those sitting amongst you

if ms cox felt she needed to 'go back to 'the states' (another term i despise because it sounds quite selfish to me - there are other countries in the world that use the term 'state' - it is just further evidence of americans having no cognisance of there being a world outside their own country. but i digress. again.) where she felt loved, then perhaps she should go back there full stop. i mean, really, if people don't like it here, make no efforts to ingratiate themselves into the local life/culture/knowledge and simply prefer to moan about all things london/english, then by all means, go back to from wherenst you came. she is possibly too of the ilk of those who, when the bombings happened in july, greatly contemplated the idea of 'going home'. whereas there are those of us who feel this is our home, and felt more connected to this country, london and londoners than ever before

someone clever once said something to the effect of 'you can't choose where you were born, but you can choose where you die'. indeed. although i hopefully have at least another 50-60yrs until reaching death, i know i would rather it be where i am happy and around those to whom i feel i can relate

-an expat with no desire to ever 're-patriotise' to the us (canada, maybe - the anglo/euro-cised parts...)

now that's what i call . . .

. . . melodrama

how excellent was eastenders last night? truly, if you must know - it's not often one can say that these days. the one when leo died was probably the last time it was to this standard. even when dennis was stabbed/johnny beaten up on new years eve, it seemed rather contrived and up to par of the previous year when dirty den was killed (again)

i wonder if tony jordan is back - there was rumour he'd be returning, and i think he did for a short while; but i don't recall seeing his name in the credits of late. must investigate . . .

am loving our newish teleport replay, which seems to be used solely for 'tenders catch ups these days. although in my procrastination two evenings ago, i picked a show at random, and ended up thinking it was absolutely brilliant

it was called 'you need a dog' (i know, don't let the title put you off), which is a new series, presumably. in the one i saw, there was this beautiful, vibrant, intelligent single mother - sam - who was lacking in 'companionship'. so the pet experts decided that having a dog for 3 weeks would help her to meet people and feel better about herself. i thought this woman (age 30ish?) was so amazing - she had what sounded to be a terrible childhood (leaving home and being on her own since the age of 13), and she also had a daughter aged around 9-10 who was deaf, having contracted meningitis at the age of 2, from which she lost her voice and hearing. sad. but sam just pushed on, learned sign language and lived a happy little life

but there was something missing...cue arrival of bob the dog. he was a black cocker spaniel and the sweetest thing ever (says she who does not like dogs). with the assistance of various pet therapy types, sam and bob went to obedience school (for bob, not sam), made a little room for him in a storage cupboard, took lots of walks and - the culmination - attended 'puppy love' - a singles night for dog owners

it all sounds so completely ridiculous, but really, it was superb. sam was feeling loved (by both herself and bob), getting out into the fresh air and meeting other dog walkers, as well as getting cuddles on the sofa (from bob, not the other dog walkers)

at puppy love, she met a few nice young men. one was deaf, and i thought it was brilliant the way she was able to not skip a beat and start signing to him. impressive. she eventually met adrian, owner of two dogs. they had a couple of drinks, exchanged no.'s, and met up a couple of days later to walk their dogs together. adrian asked her for dinner and sam was a happy clam

but then disaster struck - the 3 weeks were up!! bob had to go away. people who aren't pet people have no idea how easy it is to get attached to an animal, even in a short time - they're like your children, really, but they don't cry or throw their food at you (although they have been known to leave a mess on the floor when being potty-trained)

so bob left, and sam and i were both gutted, but knew bob was off to conquer his next mission of bringing love and cuddles to the next deserving person

adrian and sam went on their date, he asked her out again, sam and daughter got a hamster, the end

there is a lesson to be learnt whilst watching other people turn themselves round. i, for one, have been thinking a lot lately how desperately i want a cat again, because they can really make all the difference in the world. i can't really have one where i live, but i'm thinking about asking. what's the worse the landlord can say - no. so i move on and continue to hunt for ones to pet along the road

i had also been thinking mildly about learning to sign, and it seems to suddenly be a recurring theme in conversations that should otherwise have nothing to do with it. someone was telling me last night (bringing it up voluntarily - i had not mentioned it at all) that there is some ridiculous statistic like for every 60,000 people who are deaf, there is one speaking/signing interpreter. how depressing is that (nb: i'm not actually sure if that was for here or america, as she is clued up on the topic in both countries)

i remember looking into learning this a couple of years ago, but it seemed a lengthy and expensive process. how on earth can they charge people to learn this amazing thing that is rewarding for all involved? i understand there used to be a government scheme in britain where it was free. it should be again. i must investigate . . .


Current mood: pensive