Just a quickie!

I realise it's been ages... and I've been meaning to upload photos from Tenerife (the good part) and my recent work trip to Austria, but my iPhoto is acting up (or my computer is dying, which is more likely at five years old) so have been having trouble with photos.

So, I thought I'd go old fashioned and just write a quick update. We are moving on Friday!!! After what feels like an eternity looking for a new flatshare we've found one that hopefully will be good. It's in a house, which is nice because we'll live on a regular street and not a dodgy apartment block and also great because it has a GARDEN!!! Well, more of a yard, but with a little work it could be really nice. We've got a large double bedroom on the first floor and a huge bay window. There are four other bedrooms (one single) but they haven't been let yet, so we don't know who will be living with us. Hopefully nice, considerate and clean people.

The woman who is renting the rooms is part owner of the house and lives in the loft conversion, so hopefully she'll get decent people in. I'm pretty sure she will anyway. There's also a small living/dining area and obviously a kitchen! One of the double rooms has an en-suite bathroom and there are two other bathrooms so we won't have any problems getting in the shower... oh, there's no bath, which kind of sucks, but I dealt with it in Korea and will just have to do it again.

Anyway, it's also next door to a super huge Tesco (grocery store) and about a 7 minute walk from the tube. On paper it's pretty ideal... we'll see how it works out, and if we're not happy then the search will start again!

Things art work are going ok, aside from the announcement of more lay-offs. Several of my colleagues have left in the last week and two more of us will be going soon... fingers crossed it isn't me! I feel pretty secure, but you never know. Last week I went to the Prime Minister's house on Downing Street and actually went inside for a two crew interview with him (myself being one of them), a highlight of my career so far, I suppose. A lot of people probably think this is pretty cool and crazy, but it's just part of the job really... suppose I'm a little blase about it...

Anyway, not much else in the way of news... just looking forward to the move, really. Coming up photos of the house, Tenerife, and Austria!

route mapper

So, I've done week three of my podrunner twice now... It's not easy, but it's getting easier! I decided to try and find out how far I actually go so I found this nifty website called Map My Fitness where you can create a map of your route and it will tell you how far it is, among other things. I thought I'd share it here...


I know it doesn't look very far, but the map assures me it's 2.82 KM. I'll need to step up things if I'm ever going to do a 5k! But let's give it some time, eh!?

The start and finish are at my house and the route takes me to (and through) Vauxhall Park and back again. Sometimes I deviate a little, but not by much. I imaging that once I'm actually running more (as opposed to walking part of the time) I'll have to go further afield, I'll probably end up going to Kennington Park (which you can see on the far right corner of the map). That's also down the road, but I hate going down the main road so for now I'm sticking to side streets.

I'm also thinking of looking into getting some new shoes. The ones I have are still in OK condition (well they look ok anyway) but I know that every pair of shoes has a life to them, and I've had these for a few years now. I actually bought them in Korea when I started exercising, so it probably is time for some new ones.

I'm hoping to go to one of those stores wherethey assess how you run and help you find the right shoe for your foot. Since I'm flat footed, I probably walk (and run) funny... Will let you know when the time comes!

For now, keep on runnin'!

2009 photo-retro

2009 has been a year of ups and downs - as are most years - here's a photo retrospective of my year... something on the decade to come some time in January...

Snow... there was lots of snow this year - starting in January, loads of it in February and then again in December...

February saw flowers arrive at the office for me! First time I've ever had that happen!

February also saw my first professional football match - Liverpool vs Real Madrid - in Madrid, Spain.

While there I managed to take in some of the sights... including this art exhibit in the 'crystal palace'.

...and the cow parade that was all over the city...

In March I went on holiday with my love, Tom, to Edinburgh... this is on the way up to Arthur's Seat.

A view of the city with the castle in the distance...

Tom and I at Edinburgh Castle

Tom and I on the Royal Yacht Britannia

In May I happened upon a fun fair in Hampstead Heath with a few friends after we went there for a picnic

In June I went on a weekend away with my love to Brighton - went to the pier and rode the rides...

We also went on an afternoon fishing trip where a nice man took this fab photo of us!

In August we went to Thorpe Park where we rode the (better than Brighton) rides

We had an amazing day!

In August I celebrated yet another birthday with great friends!

In October I went to Ukraine for my second professional football match - England vs Ukraine World Cup Qualifier - this is St Michael's Cathedral in Kiev - see previous post for more on that...

And finally I celebrated Christmas afternoon with my love and his family in North London.

By evening I had a fever of 102.5F, was told I had swine flu and spent the last week of the year in bed. Now here is New Year's Eve and I'm still not well enough to go to work - or go out :( So it'll be a night in with the telly... Here's to a great year gone and a better one to come!

Happy New Year to you and yours!

'tis the season

Time for an update! I know I promised to write more, and this is me trying!

The past few weeks have been pretty stressful for numerous reasons, the least of which, Christmas is coming.

I'll start with the worst news first. At the age of 99 11/12, my amazing grandmother passed away. That's right, a month shy of her 100th birthday. Many of you who know me well, know that I was really close to her and it hit me harder than I thought it would. I mean, really at that age I should have been expecting it, and I was, but nothing can really prepare you for it.

The last time I saw her was October 2008 when I was in Canada to renew my visa. I drove to Barrie (about 7 hours) and stayed at my uncles house. The next day I picked her up and we went for lunch at Tim Hortons (her idea) and then for a drive in the country. We stopped at a local farm and bought the last of the seasons strawberries and some apples.

Then we drove north to Midland to visit one of her good friends who had been placed in a care home up there. She didn't get to see much of her as it was about an hour's drive. We sat out on the patio and ate some strawberries and chatted for a while. They were both so happy to have an impromptu visit. The next morning I brought her some Timmy's for breakfast and had to get back to Ottawa to return my rental car.

I knew then, as she likely did, that it was probably the last time we would see each other. And it was. There are so many things that you think of after the fact that you wish you had said or done. I have those regrets, just as anyone does, but I know that I had a great relationship with her and that we both took full advantage of that relationship while we could. I hope wherever she is, she knows how grateful I am for having had the time I did with her, and even more so for the hundreds of letters I got from her in my life. At least I have those to keep her close to me now and always.

I wouldn't be who or where I am without her influence in my life... May she rest in peace.

Winifred Jane Mavor (Briggs) January 7, 1910-December 4, 2009

I feel like I should start a new post for the rest... but here it is...

About six weeks ago we (my department at work) were told that two of the eight people in my position would likely be made redundant before the end of the year (or very soon after). We were told there was going to be a 'consultation period' where we would have the opportunity to try and come up with other ways to save money and to discuss the reasons behind the redundancies in depth. After two weeks of stressing and coming up with ideas, we were told that we were safe for now. Apparently there is a very big new contract that has come up and they feel that if they lose us they may not get it. What happens if we don't get it anyway? I don't know. There is still a feeling in the department that this is little more than a stay of execution. We'll see. There are still a few other people (not doing the same job as me) who will likely be out of a job in January regardless. And one of our editors has already left. We were all very sad to see him go and his presence was missed from the moment he left.

With unemployment at an all time high in the UK, it isn't a good time to be out of a job. I think a lot of us are looking for work elsewhere now just in case.

With Christmas fast approaching money is always tight, and even more so this year for some reason. Maybe because I have so many people to get pressies for... It's like I have two families now, with Tom's side and Lisa's family (who I have traditionally had Christmas with, and old habits die hard). Then there are friends that I feel I have to get something for as well. I hate all this about the holidays... buying shit that people don't want for people who don't care one way or the other. Everyone keeps asking me what I want, but I don't know... There isn't anything that I really need and anything I do actually want is too expensive or hard to get... I kind of just want to say screw the whole season and f*!k off somewhere hot. Oh well, maybe next year.

Well, this hasn't been the most positive post ever, has it? There are some things to be thankful for... my health, my loving wonderful partner in crime Tom, the fact that I still have a job, that my awesome friend Kim is moving to London as I write this, I'm sure there's more, and I promise to try harder to get into the Christmas spirit, I'm just not feeling it this year... maybe it's the lack of snow or (real) cold? (ha! had to get the weather in there somewhere!)

Happy Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanza...etc... to you all and a very Merry New Year!

Home sweet home?

It seems I have been searching for a home since I left mine in 2006, a few months before I left for Korea. I had been living in the same apartment for seven years (!) and was so comfortable in my life there that I had to move to the other side of the world to pull myself out of the rut I was in.

Mission accomplished. Right?

I suppose. Since then, I have become a very different person, some new good qualities have emerged and there are probably some new bad qualities that I may not recognise in myself (any help on that one is appreciated), but I think for the most part I am a better person than I was when I 'left home'.

I think my desire (back then) to stay in one place, and not move, came from the fact that I had been moving all my life. Every two years when I was a kid and my parents were together, and then I left my mom's house as soon as I hit 18 and was able to. I guess I never really felt like I had a home. So, throughout most of my twenties, I lived in this wonderful (if a big dingy and old) apartment with some great (and some terrible) people, until I decided I was far too young to be so comfortable in life.

So, here I am, two and a half years later, living in yet another foreign country and I've decided to make this country/city/culture my new home. Not like Korea, which was always going to be short-term, but like that apartment that I found in my twenties, London will be home, for quite some time.

Now I just need to find that physical place, a space all my own, somewhere in this vast city that I can actually call home and not 'my room'.

I've been on the hunt for about a week and a half. I've given notice to my current flatties that I'll be out by the 1st of February. It's not easy here, though, to find somewhere that lives up to (or even comes close) to that feeling of home that I had in my apartment in Montreal. I know it always takes time for these things, I know I didn't feel 100% at home in the first year I lived there, so maybe I just need to give it time? The problem is, I haven't even seen anywhere that has the potential of being "home"...

I'll just keep looking. I know it's got to be out there somewhere. Everything else in London has fallen so perfectly into place and all I'm missing is a good home... so I know I'll find it... I'm just so tired of searching.

where has the time gone?

Well, I'm not sure where to begin. I DO know it's time I had a little word with this blog though... so here I am, in the last moments of 2008 trying to make up for four months of ignorance.

In a nutshell... the big moments of my life for the last four months, would be... in mostly chronological order...

My new job as a video journalist. Love it. Simple as. Not going to say more as don't want to get in trouble for writing about work on a blog... it's been known to happen.

I went to Canada to get a new visa so I can stay here for the awesome job and at the least the next five years. It was easier than they make it out to be (thanks to my grandma being born in Scotland almost a hundred years ago).

I've been living in a new flat since August... but am now on the hunt again, for reasons which I can't get into without being here til next year!

I have a new man in my life. It's still very new so am not going to say much other than he's really sweet, makes me laugh like no one else and puts up with my non-stop whinging! We'll see where 2009 takes it.

I know there were a lot of little things here and there, but really I've just been living life to the most. It doesn't leave much time for writing here. I know that's a bit of a cop out, but really... I haven't even been keeping up with my emails. (sorry guys!)

SO. If I actually still have anyone out there that reads this, I promise to get better with this in the new year... new year, new start all that jazz... and I hope that 2008 was as great for you all as it was for me.

Here's to 2009 being just as fab!

time flies...

I have A LOT of catching up to do... I just can't do it right now. Coming up:

The adventures of Liz in Greece.

The adventures of moving house.

The adventures of acute muscle spasms.

The adventures of Kat n Liz in London.

AND

The adventures of Zoom airlines going belly-up.

These are all things that have affected my life of late... with a lot of other little stuff in between. I promise a full account with photos coming shortly... life has just been nuts over here...

For those of you paying attention enough to write in on your calendars, I will no longer be landing in Montreal on the 19th of September... you'll have to wait until the 22nd now. More details soon. I promise.

knees are important.

I've been to hospital in three countries on three continents. Not something to be really proud about... but I'm what they call a "klutz".

Last Friday I went out to do an interview for work. Upon my return to the office I decided to take the stairs despite the 25 kilos of gear I was carrying. I always take the stairs and it's only one level...

On the first step I took, I slipped and fell forward. My knee cap cracked directly into the edge of the step. It hurt like a bitch. Being the strong person I am, I got up, thinking that not much more than my pride would be hurt, and besides, there were no witnesses. But it really hurt. I got up to my desk and sat down, almost in tears and my boss looked at me and asked if I was ok. "No," I replied, "I just broke my knee!!!"

After sitting for a half hour and being busy with work, I forgot about it, and it didn't really hurt much anymore so chalked it up to another "stupid Liz moment". I went out Friday night, Saturday I packed up for my flat move, Saturday night I went to a house party (where I was standing most of the night) and Sunday I finished packing... I didn't go the gym all weekend, but not because my knee hurt, but because I was being lazy, but it's a good thing I didn't.

I woke up Sunday night/Monday morning at around 4AM and couldn't get back to sleep because of the excruciating pain I was in. I couldn't move my leg, well, my knee. I don't think I've ever felt pain like that in my life, well, maybe when I herniated the disc in my back... (but that's pretty serious...) I thought it was really strange that it hadn't really hurt all weekend and then all of a sudden it was a 15 on 10.

I went to the hobble-in clinic in the morning and the doctor told me I should get x-rays, so I went Monday afternoon (there was work to be done in between). I got the x-rays and was told that (thankfully) nothing was broken and that I'd probably just bruised my knee cap. He told me that I probably should have been resting it over the weekend and that's why it started hurting all of a sudden...

This, in the week I'm moving and going on holiday to the cobblestone capital of the world! It's feeling a little better today but I'm still walking like a gimp and have to carry my ruck sack to work and then the airport tomorrow... I moved yesterday with the help of my lovely L, well, half moved, as it's all gone to her house. I'll be moving to my new flat when I get home from Greece on the 13th.

More than anything now, my calf and thigh muscles along with my hips are killing because of the gimpy way I've been walking. Whatevs, I'm off to Greece tomorrow, and nothing, not even a broken knee would have stopped me!

ghosts

I was a tourist for an evening this week. We have a sort of social group at work, where everyone pays £2 a month and you get discounts on massages, gyms, and free Christmas and summer parties. The summer party was last week, and this week they had organised a London Walk for whoever wanted to come. We only paid £4 instead of £7... the monthly payment has already paid for itself...

Anyway, on Thursday after work a bunch of us headed down to Embankment tube station to meet out guide, Russell, who would be taking us on the 'Apparitions, Alleyways and Ale' ghost walk.

The work group...

Russell, our 'scary' guide

The first stop, home of Samuel Pepys who haunts the office workers in this building.

The sign on the building.

One of the thousands of gas (yes they still use GAS) lamps that light the alleyways in the West End.

The sign outside the Adelphi Theatre where William Terriss was murdered.

The ALE part of the walk. Tom Cribb still lives in his pub... apparently pulling pints for himself in the middle of the night...

The gravestone of a dog whose ghost supposedly caused hundreds of car crashes by running in the street.

It was an interesting fact learning evening walking around the West End theater district. It wasn't too scary, but he did make a disclaimer at the beginning that it would be up to us what we got out of it. I think it would be a better tour later in the year when it's actually dark at 7:30 PM... It only got dark at the very end when we got to St James's Park.

Anyway, I learned a lot about the area and had a nice long walk, so it was £4 well spent. I would recommend these walks anywhere for a fun evening out... I did one in Edinburgh a few years ago that was amazing... next on my list is the 'Jack the Ripper' walk...

***

In other news, I am moving out of this pit that has been home for the last 7 months, on Wednesday. Thursday I am flying to Greece for R's wedding... SO I won't be posting for a few weeks... but promise a BIG FAT GREEK UPDATE when I get home... that's be somewhere around the 15th of August.

Also, for those of you who don't know (and still read this) I'll be home for a week or two in September... I have to present myself at the British High Commission in Ottawa on the 15th... so keep the weekend of the 19th free for me!!!

flat hunting.

I've had enough of this house. I need to move. I've been looking at rooms for the last four days. Hence not posting yesterday out of utter exhaustion. I still haven't found the perfect place, but have seen some decent flats.

Most of the nice ones are a lot more expensive and at the upper levels of my budget, but might be worth the extra money.

A few of the places felt like going back in time 150 years.

One of them had a loo that was covered wall to wall, ceiling to floor in pictures of Jesus. Another had showers in each of the rooms and wallpaper reminiscent of a time when Victoria was in power.

A couple had promise, but the flat mates would be ten years younger than me and I don't need to play mommy to anyone.

Finding a flat in London is tiring and difficult. That's all I can say right now. Hopefully I'll find something soon... More on all of this to come, right now I'm catching up on my Sunday post. Apologies if you came looking and found nothing...

Reverse psychology

I didn't have any plans on Saturday, which was somewhat of a relief after the week I've had. I went out three out of four nights in a row and didn't get more than five or six hours of sleep a night, so having a night off to catch up was nice. I figured I'd putter around the house and get some chores done, then hunker down with a movie and a bottle of wine...

But I got bored by 2 PM and decided to wander down to Soho and check out the Pride events. I haven't been to Pride in years, but there was a time when I went every year, mostly because so many of my friends back home are gay, but also because the atmosphere at Pride is always so welcoming and happy. I knew a couple of people who would be down that way and thought I might meet up with them. I wandered around for about an hour just taking in the festive feeling and snapping photos of the characters that were celebrating. Here's a sample of the best that I got.










It was nice to feel the vibe, but I didn't end up sticking around. I was so tired that I wouldn't have made it much longer. Instead I headed to the Korean shop that was not too far away and loaded up on some deok bokki and other Korean delights like kimchi. Then I came home and had a mini Korean feast! It was good. I watched Sex and the City: the movie and hit the hay at a reasonable hour - for the first time all week!

It's been a hectic week for me, and this, after I told myself I would be good and go home every night and go to the gym and generally be healthy - I only have 25 days before I'm virtually living in a bikini for two weeks - but it seems like by telling myself to be healthy, I played a little reverse psychology on myself. So, this week I'm telling myself that I'm going out every night and not going to the gym at all and I'll eat pizza for dinner every night!

(If you haven't already, scroll down and watch the two videos I've posted... good stuff, especially the Happy Day one!)

Canada Day!

July 1st is Canada Day.

There was a BIG party in Trafalgar Square in central London. We went, we drank Moosehead and Sleemans; we ate hot dogs with RELISH and Bicks™ Dill Pickles; we missed out on the "poutine"; we ate bison burgers; we drank Kronenburg (because they ran out of Moosehead and Sleemans); we talked Canadian; we wore RED; we waved flags; we sang Oh Canada; we went to the Maple Leaf but it was closed; we went home.

Waking up this morning wasn't nearly so much fun. At all. I hope wherever you are, you all had as happy a Canada Day as we did.

Canada in Trafalgar Square... that's Canada House in the background.

the lone piper

they would have won the prize for the most made up... if there had been one!

the crowd... not enough red if you ask me.

because we eat BISON ALL THE TIME!?

eh?

not so happy Canada day?

been celebrating with this one for a loooooooong time!

my version of the flag

the Kraft Dinner™ Krew

a little freaky

a new FB profile pic?

all Canadian

the aLLL Canadians

and finally... some knickers... hee hee... how cheeky ;)