This morning when we were having our usual Sunday "Ritual" (an extended breakfast with the newspaper and mellow music), K made a quite hilarious slip of the tongue. With some reservations about possibly offending our British readers, I just had to share it.
She was reading an article about different films that may or may not have changed the world. Pointing at a still from Brokeback Mountain, she said "I really love that film. It was so beautiful and I'm sure that kind of thing happens. I'm sure there are British cowboys." I said, "British?" Then she turned bright red and started cracking up... "Gay cowboys! I meant gay cowboys!" We were in tears.
Sunday, April 27
Friday, April 25
Sunday, April 20
The Return of the Drip
Despite having been vindicated from responsibility for the leaking pipe and stain on the exterior of the building (see previous blog entry: The Old People Won't Leave Us Alone), we have recently found out that there is indeed a leak from our flat.
When we got back from Florida several weeks ago, we discovered a funky, cheesy smell from the utility closet where the boiler lives. We weren't sure where it came from for a few days, but then K noticed that the carpet in the closet was wet. A small pipe at the bottom of the boiler had been dripping since sometime while we were gone. She put a bowl under it to catch the leak while we waited for the plumber (a process that, as you know, can take a very long time). We finally managed to secure an appointment with him for this past Wednesday. However, last weekend we discovered a second leak; this one from a small pipe leading into the reservoir of our toilet. Another thing for the plumber to look into.
The leak from the boiler was just due to a valve that needed to be tightened. No biggie. The toilet, however, was actually the cause of the dripping pipe outside the building and the stain on the exterior. For some inexplicable reason (at least to a practical-minded person) there is an overflow pipe from the toilet which connects to the drain pipe from the boiler (the one that drips outside). And because there is a part missing from the guts of the toilet, it has basically been running continuously for the entire time we've been living here. Since the overflow was going into the pipe, we never noticed it. And being practical-minded, we didn't make the connection that the drip from the exterior pipe that is about four feet above the toilet was coming from this very same commode. British plumbing is indeed strange. And here we thought the water-heating system in our Winchester apartment was peculiar!
The plumber is coming back on Tuesday to install the missing part in the toilet. To stave off the dripping, he re-routed the overflow pipe temporarily so that it drains into the toilet basin instead. Consequently, it sounds like we have a small waterfall installation in the bathroom. You know, one of those little Japanese water garden things.
Brilliant!
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212 Days, 20 Hours, 20 Minutes
When we got back from Florida several weeks ago, we discovered a funky, cheesy smell from the utility closet where the boiler lives. We weren't sure where it came from for a few days, but then K noticed that the carpet in the closet was wet. A small pipe at the bottom of the boiler had been dripping since sometime while we were gone. She put a bowl under it to catch the leak while we waited for the plumber (a process that, as you know, can take a very long time). We finally managed to secure an appointment with him for this past Wednesday. However, last weekend we discovered a second leak; this one from a small pipe leading into the reservoir of our toilet. Another thing for the plumber to look into.
The leak from the boiler was just due to a valve that needed to be tightened. No biggie. The toilet, however, was actually the cause of the dripping pipe outside the building and the stain on the exterior. For some inexplicable reason (at least to a practical-minded person) there is an overflow pipe from the toilet which connects to the drain pipe from the boiler (the one that drips outside). And because there is a part missing from the guts of the toilet, it has basically been running continuously for the entire time we've been living here. Since the overflow was going into the pipe, we never noticed it. And being practical-minded, we didn't make the connection that the drip from the exterior pipe that is about four feet above the toilet was coming from this very same commode. British plumbing is indeed strange. And here we thought the water-heating system in our Winchester apartment was peculiar!
The plumber is coming back on Tuesday to install the missing part in the toilet. To stave off the dripping, he re-routed the overflow pipe temporarily so that it drains into the toilet basin instead. Consequently, it sounds like we have a small waterfall installation in the bathroom. You know, one of those little Japanese water garden things.
Brilliant!
---
212 Days, 20 Hours, 20 Minutes
Saturday, April 12
Another Political Message
From MoveOn.Org:
"No matter what happens in Iraq, the Bush administration and John McCain always have an answer: 6 more months.
"No matter what happens in Iraq, the Bush administration and John McCain always have an answer: 6 more months.
When the "surge" began a year ago, they told America things would get better by September. In September, they said we'd know more by spring. And this week, General Petraeus is on Capitol Hill asking for—you guessed it—6 more months. Senator McCain and President Bush couldn't agree more.
They don't have a plan for getting us out of Iraq. So they're trying to sell endless war on an installment plan.
Six more months won't change anything—except the body count and the price tag. It's critical that the news media and voters know that the Bush-McCain strategy in Iraq is to keep us there indefinitely—6 months at a time. So we've put together a video exposing their "6 month" gambit. Please check it out and pass it on:
What exactly are they saying?
Yesterday John McCain said the same thing he's been saying for the last 5 years: We have to stay in Iraq, but "success is in reach."
And General Petraeus told the Senate that it would be fall before he could say whether, or when, to draw down troops below the "pre-surge" levels. (Specifically, he recommended a 45-day period for "evaluation" starting in the summer, followed by an open-ended "assessment" process to decide what to do next).1
It all boils down to this: Demand more time and promise that victory is just over the horizon. Unfortunately, according to experts from the Iraq Study Group, the "surge" has gotten us "no closer to being able to leave Iraq than [we were] a year ago."2
More than 4,000 Americans are dead. We've spent almost $500 billion on this war. A year after the "surge" began, Americans are no safer, and there is no end in sight.
With the Bush-McCain wait-and-see strategy, we can expect to hear "6 more months" for years and years to come.
We can't just sit by. We've got to speak out now—please help spread the word."
Sunday, April 6
Snowy Sunday
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| From Life In England |
We woke up this morning to a mini snow storm. The fact that it has been sunny and somewhat warm all week (from the Florida sunshine we brought with us) made the April snow even more surprising. It snowed for a good 30 minutes, but it pretty much melted when it hit the ground. There were some sea gulls flying around in the flurry, almost flying in place because it was so windy. Four hours later, it's sunny again, the snow a mere footnote.
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K has started going to MKG now, too. Mainly for kickboxing. We went together on Thursday and Saturday. Though she is a sporty gal, she was a bit taken aback by the workout. I guess taking kicks from people (on Thai pads) and throwing kicks is a lot different than running or doing yoga. She really enjoyed it though, despite a few bruises. We are going to continue with it and I am going to increase the number of classes that I go to.
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| From Life In England |
Another new practice is to make a "complicated" dinner on the weekends. This came about because of K's newfound freedom from the PhD (she has handed her first fully completed draft to her supervisors). This weekend we made braised lamb shanks and chocolate almond cakes with chocolate sauce. Very tasty.
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PS - The Heathrow Terminal 5 debacle is still ongoing! At one point, they were sending the luggage backlog to Italy for sorting. As of yesterday, there were still 9,000 bags to be sorted and returned.
PS - The Heathrow Terminal 5 debacle is still ongoing! At one point, they were sending the luggage backlog to Italy for sorting. As of yesterday, there were still 9,000 bags to be sorted and returned.
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