Wow, Blogger tells me that the last time I published was about 2 months ago. I'm very sorry. I wish I had an excuse, but I don't. We were without internet for about 3 days once we lost our free WiFi connection, but that doesn't excuse the huge delay.

The really crazy thing about not posting is that we have done some really cool stuff! We went to Prague, and explored a lot of the city. So where to begin . . .

March 25th, we hopped on a plane, and about 2 hours later were in the Czech Republic! This was very strange for Canadian me, who thinks it takes far longer than a 2 hour flight to get to a new country where people speak a different language! I was very anxious about being somewhere where I didn't speak the language, as I have only traveled to English or French speaking countries. We had figured out how to get from the airport to our hostel. We found the transportation counter, and bought our tickets from someone who helped us wonderfully in English. This same trend continued (everyone helping us in English) for nearly the whole trip.

Our hostel was close to the centre of the city, and we lost no time exploring. We dropped our bags at the hostel, then headed for St. Wensenlas Square. We wandered around the square with no idea where we were going. We decided to avoid all the restaurants that promised "authentic Czech cuisine" as they were trying to lure in the tourists and were priced accordingly. We found a small restaurant off the main path, and enjoyed a delightful meal for a fraction of the cost of the "authentic" meals.

The next day, we took a tour of the city. Our tour guide was not the best guide ever, but we did get a chance to get a good overview of the city. My favourite part was going through Prague Castle, and St. Vitus Cathedral, specifically. The stained glass was beautiful, as was the workmanship both on the exterior and the interior.

Okay, this is still not the whole write-up of our trip to Prague, but our internet is extremely slow, and uploading pictures is painful. I will do my best to add some more in the very near future.

Conversion problems

A few weeks ago, James and I had a friend come visit. In order to see the broader area, we rented a car. James hadn't driven in over 6 months, and I hoped he wasn't too rusty. As we were leaving the city, we were getting passed by everyone.

"James, the speed limit is 50."
"I'm going 45."
"Miles."
"Oh."

Halloween

Last Halloween we had Davy and Steph visit us from Canada. Here is a little animated gif that I made from some webcam photos I found on my computer, enjoy!



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Snow Day 2 - Day of the Looners

Well, it happened again. Bristol was hammered again last night and we awoke to another coating of snow. Buses were non-existent until 2pm so I once again had a day at home, such a shame. Of course nearly every school in the district was closed so Heather didn't get any work either. We busied ourselves with walking around the neighbourhood and just soaking up the chaos that was surrounding us. Just up the hill on Wells Rd there was a convoy of truck and trailer units basically abandoned in the middle of the road.


Well, I say abandoned but really I think most of the drivers were chilling out having a cuppa in the local cafes waiting for the snow and ice to melt a bit so they could continue with their deliveries.
One of the trucks was even left on the wrong side of the road...


The majority of these trucks had absolutely no chance of any traction in the conditions. There was even the odd car that had been abandoned. The only person that seemed to be going anywhere was this guy:



For those of you that didn't catch what the old fella just out of the frame said, it was: "He's not a learner, he a fookin' looner!"

Much of the rest of my day was spent staring out our front window at the monkeys that thought it was a good idea to go for a drive. Our flat is on quite a steep hill so I was very amused every time a car went crawling past our place at full revs, trying to get up the hill. The majority of the cars made it to the top, but it probably cost them 5 quids worth of gas in doing so. And a few others just ended up reversing all the way back down to the bottom of the hill.

p.s. All our photos on the blog are uploaded at full resolution, so if you want to see any of them in more detail, just click on them.

Snow Day!

Since Monday, Bristol had received amazing amounts of snow, the like of which have not been seen for the past 18 years. Tuesday, I was teaching a year 2 class (6 & 7 year olds) and they all got SOAKED from the snow. I didn't care in the least, as I felt it was a very important experience for them to have. It had not snowed and stayed in Bristol in their lifetimes.

Last night, we were hit with another huge dump, about 5 cm. I know that this doesn't seem like much to Saskatchewanians and Manitobans, but we have the budget and infrastructure in place to deal with it. Bristol, on the other hand, is running out of grit for the roads. I was slated to work today, as was James. He left bright and early, and struggled up the hill to catch the bus. He catches the bus at on a busy road, and after waiting for 10 minutes without seeing a bus at all, he knew something was amiss. He tried to call the bus company, but couldn't get through. He came home to let me know that buses weren't running. This was confirmed by BBC, but no mention was made of it on the bus company's website. Stupid bus company.

At first I as really surprised that the buses were canceled, but I am very used to Regina and Saskatoon, both of which are reasonably flat, both of which have snow plows running 24 hours a day, and both of which have residents who own snow tires. Here, not so much. James and I watched a car try to drive up the street in front of our house. It was going at a crawling pace, with very little purchase, sliding sideways as much as moving forward. I can't imagine that the buses would have fared much better.

I knew that I had to try to still get to work, 30 five- and six-year-olds can't be left to their own devices all day. I tried to book a taxi to no avail. Calling at 7:45, the earliest I would possibly get picked up was 9:30. I book the cab, and called my agency to let them know what was going on. They asked that I try to get to the school as soon as I could. About an hour later, I got a call back, advising me to stay at home, as not many children made it into school either. SNOW DAY!

We took full advantage of the snow, and went to play in the park. Sadly, we don't own a sled, but we did build a snowman. We got many complements, and had one of the best looking snowmen in the park, because I am a snowman pro, and had the foresight bring a scarf and a carrot for the nose.

These are the people in my neighbourhood

I love family owned stores where I am a regular. There is a fruit and vegitable store just up the street from our flat. James and I are regulars there. We probably go in at least 3 times a week. I went in today to buy some broccoli, carrots and eggs. The total was £2.44, but I only had a £20 note. The cashier asked if I had anything smaller, and when I replied that I didn't, she asked if I was going to the Tesco (a convenience/grocery store across the street). I was, and she asked that I go get change their first. I walked out the the fruit and veg with my food, without paying. Because the cashier knew that I'd come back across the street and pay after.

The one where I talk about shoes (and reference Friends indirectly)

I had a chance to wear my beautiful new red shoes at my staff "Christmas party" which happened the 8th of January. Christmas is busy drinking time, so we couldn't all get the night off during the holiday season. As my shoes are a peep toe, I heard Tamara in the back of my mind, screaming at me that I need to paint my toenails. So I did, and just for her, here is a picture to prove it!
Everyone in Britain is talking about the "credit crunch" or economic downturn. I know that in the big picture, this is a bad thing, and it will affect loads of people. In the small picture, as long as James and I still have jobs, we like it. With stores dropping prices, I got an Umbro bunnyhug just to wear around the house and to nurseries that can get wrecked and I won't feel bad about it for £6. I also got a really cute pair of shoes for £10!In un-shoe related news, an entertainment store called Zavvi just went into receivership. This means that all of their stock is on clear out. This means that we got LEGO Batman for PC for only £11.99!! In most stores, this game retails for at least twice that. It RULES!

Footpath Rage!!

Recently, early one morning, I was riding my bicycle to work. I was approaching a set of traffic lights and the cars were backed up a bit so I decided to jump up onto the footpath (sidewalk, pavement, depending on where you're from). Now I realise that this is against the law, but I'm no idiot and I did so very carefully, watching where I was going. As I came closer to the intersection an old woman came walking around the corner, I politely moved to the far right of the footpath as the cars were lined up on the road right up to the curb, so no room for me on the road. The footpath was at least 2 metres wide, so there was plenty of room for the old duck (somwhere in her 80s I would assume) to walk past on the left hand side of the path. As I passed her I heard her muttering angrily under her breath. At this point I had reached the intersection and pulled back onto the road in front of the cars to wait for the green light. I briefly turned my head and glanced behind me at the old Betty, only to find her turned around and walking back towards me. She had a menacing look in her eye and I could tell she was looking for trouble. 'That's illegal, you know!' she cried. I was speechless, I just stared at her. 'It's illegal! I'll call the police, you hear!' she said as she approached me quickly (well, as quickly as she could), whilst waving a finger high in the air. The first thing to find it's way out of my mouth was: 'Then call them'. She didn't take kindly to this, although I don't think it mattered to her what I had to say, she was angry, and was looking for a fight. She came even closer, waving her finger only inches from my face and screaming 'The police are right over there! You think you can do whatever you like!? That's illegal!'. I got really pissed off, very fast as she waved her finger in my face. 'Get your fucking finger out of my face lady' I said. Now this may not have been the best choice of words, but if you've ever had a complete stranger get in your face like she was then you will hopefully understand. She backed off slightly but kept paying me out, and I got to a point where the whole thing was just a joke, so I laughed, and then turned back to the traffic lights to wait for my green light. Obviously me laughing at her only served to antagonise her, because the next thing you know I felt a twack on my shoulder, I was startled and turned to find her waving her cane in the air, she had hit me with her cane! I couldn't contain myself, I was grinning like an idiot and mouthing the words 'what the fuck?' as she screamed: 'I'll smash you! And your bike!' and swung her cane in my general direction. I saw the light turn green, so I was on my way, I thought it best not to stick around, just in case she collapsed due to her rage. It really was an entertaining start to the day.

Couch!

We didn't have a couch for the first 3 months that we were here. We just sat on our bed or on our kitchen table chairs. part of the problem is that we have a very narrow staircase that leads up to our second floor flat, and we weren't sure that we could get an average couch up the stairs. We had looked at a few at second hand stores, but they always seemed a bit too big. On top of that, we would have to get it back to our flat, and didn't want to pay for delivery.

Earlier in the month, James saw a listing on a local website for a small couch. It was only £10, and it was right around the corner. When we went to pick it up, we were delighted to see how low the back of it is, and thought we could probably get it up the stairs. Even better, the legs come off to make it even smaller! We had planned to each grab an end, and carry it back to the flat. There were four huge cushions that I took off, and was about to bring back to the flat, then run back to help James with the actual couch. Instead, he just picked the couch up and put it on his shoulders. We carried the couch back to our flat, and struggled it up the stairs.

2009

I had to work at the pub on New Year's Eve. No surprise there. The surprise was that it wasn't really busy. And the best part was that the manager let off the rules a little bit, and let us drink after 9:00, providing we didn't get too drunk. Also, we did not serve drinks from 11:50 - 12:10, so we all got to get out from behind the bar for the countdown. All this combined to a really enjoyable evening. I had a great time dancing behind the bar with my co-workers, and singing along to the music. I had regulars buying me drinks, and got many a New Year's kiss on the cheek. James came to the pub about 11:40, so we rang in the New Year together. Since we weren't super busy, we closed down about 1:00 and I was home before 1:30.