January Blues

The weather has been atrocious this month. K has been feeling quite low because of it. I'm normally not affected by weather, but I must admit, this soggy, cold atmosphere is starting to piss me off! Both of us are really looking forward to go to Florida in March. Some sunshine and warmth looks mighty good right about now.

Anyway, we just renewed the lease on our apartment here. It was surprisingly fast and easy to do. The landlord even let us keep the same rent, which is a relief because we were expecting him to raise it. He would only renew it as a 12-month contract, but he let us put in a "get-out clause" which means we can get out of the contract after 6 months if we provide two months notice.

Things are pretty hectic at work. The term got really busy right away, pretty much on the first day the students came back. We'll be going full-steam ahead all the way through May -- another reason it's going to be good to get away in March. The term has been good so far, though. I've been doing a bit more teaching and have gotten involved with more of the academic side of things. They are also planning to hire another technician a bit later in the year. That will alleviate some of the stress in the technical department. Next school year, the course has to take in 80 students. That's 20-25 more than we have in each year level right now, so we're definitely going to need some more staff!

Next weekend, I'm going to a Dan Inosanto seminar. He's a 71-year-old Guru of Filipino martial arts. He trained with Bruce Lee. Should be a lot of fun, despite the fact that my head will probably be spinning.

News: Ambulance service receives emergency call every 8 seconds as Binge Britain welcomes in 2008

A funny article about New Years Eve in Britain. Click the title link to see the article with photos (some really great ones of REALLY drunk people having a "great time" in the British tradition).

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Ambulance service receives emergency call every 8 seconds as Binge Britain welcomes in 2008
By BETH HALE

Binge-drinking revellers fuelled a chaotic start to 2008 as over-stretched ambulance workers battled to cope with emergency calls flooding in at a peak of one every eight seconds.

In the capital alone the London Ambulance Service had to deal with its highest number of emergency calls since the Millennium - the majority related to excess alcohol.

As midnight came and went there was mayhem as scores of drunken partygoers around the country tumbled into the streets, some wearing little more than their underwear.

Fights erupted and a string of dishevelled young men and women collapsed on benches and in doorways, too inebriated to remember or care that the night was supposed to be a celebration.

There to mop up the mess were thousands of emergency workers drafted in to provide cover on the busiest night of the year.

In the first four hours of 2008, London Ambulance Service (LAS) dealt with an astonishing 1,825 calls alone, peaking at over 500 calls an hour between 2am and 4am. The volume of 999 calls was up 17 per cent on last year' and four times worse than a normal night.

Meanwhile in the West Midlands the ambulance service fielded 1,400 calls in just five hours - a rate of one every 12 seconds. It was mirrored by the North East Ambulance Service which received 1,860 calls between 11pm and 5am.

Last night the astonishing number of calls to deal with booze-fuelled illness of injury prompted accusations that lives of those in real emergencies were being put at risk and demands for partygoers to wake up the costs of binge-drinking.

LAS spokeswoman Gemma Gidley said: "These calls put the Service under increased pressure to manage demand when we have to ensure we respond quickly to other patients with potentially life-threatening emergencies.

"People need to think about the real consequences of drinking so much that they require treatment."

In the south, the South Central Ambulance Service dealt with three times more incidents that normal.

Control room duty manager Michele Foot said: "I think we should start charging people for the drink related stuff - it's most self inflicted."

In some areas special temporary treatment sites were set up to cope, paramedics set out on foot in busy city centres and volunteers from the St John Ambulance Service and Red Cross were drafted in.

Alternative transport was arranged for drunken revellers to take the strain of ambulances.

Hundreds of arrests were made by police for public order offences, as well as violence and sex and drug-related crime.

Riot vans parked in city centres prepared to deal with the inevitable fall out of a night of excess.

While thousands of people celebrated the New Year peacefully - enjoying the visual spectacles of fireworks and live music - for others the temptation to over-indulge in what have become an all-too common scenes of drunkenness was too great.

In Birmingham a group of friend bragged they would be "crawling" by the end of the night.

In Newcastle, in scenes mirrored everywhere, a young woman - shoeless and seemingly very much the worse for wear - had to be aided by paramedics while nearby a well-built man lay face down in the street after being set upon by four other men.

"This is going to be a long night," said one weary paramedic, confiding: "We will spend all night picking up people who are too drunk to walk and people who got into fights."

Everywhere revellers who had lost all their inhibitions were happy to brag about their drinking exploits.

Sisters Sarah and Teri Crame, both dancers, wore burlesque outfits better-suited to the boudoir as they strutted through the rain-soaked street.

"We've been drinking since about seven," said Teri. "We're both wrecked and loving it. Mixing our drinks always leads to trouble - we've had wine, lager and vodka tonight."

In Cardiff a group of young women, who would have been well-advised to cover up, tottered along in nothing more than heels and white underwear.

Among those happy to boast about far exceeding the Government recommended weekly safe limit for drinking in just one night were a group of teachers.

Bearing the brunt of the chaos, Paramedic Martyn Sullivan said: "We've had a lot of drunken calls and a lot of assault. I've been threatened myself tonight."

In Bristol, a young woman wearing a tiny black dress despite the elements slumped on the floor as a friend, laughing, spent five minutes trying to lift her.

Meanwhile a semi-naked man argued with police and other partygoers vomited over railings into the river.

Fights broke out long before midnight and continued into the small hours.

In Slough, Berkshire a crowd of drunken teenagers was involved in a punch up which ended with a 17-year-old boy being stabbed in the chest. Another person was stabbed in Woking, Surrey after a mass brawl.

In Hampshire every custody centre in the county was full.

For anyone not used to the less than sober face of a British New Year the night was something of an eye-opener. Belgian Florence Meganck, 25, was out in Bristol and summed up the evening.

"At 9pm I saw people throwing up - England is totally different to Belgium.

"The whole evening I have been watching English girls wearing dresses that only just cover their underwear. They zig-zag through the streets in their tiny skirts.

"I saw a girl who looked like she wasn't older than 12 buy alcohol from a shop and then give it to even younger girls waiting outside.

"Even though I haven't drunk tonight I have had such fun laughing at all the drunken English people.

"But these drunks won't enjoy New Year's Eve, most of them won't even remember it."

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Find this story at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=505497&in_page_id=1770
©2008 Associated New Media

Happy New Year, folks!

"Same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie?"

Our end-of-year blog tradition: the year that was.

2007 was a year of…

Relocation, Relocation – It was a bumpy start to the year when we found out that we had to move out of our apartment due to the landlady needing to take it over. We were given two months to find somewhere else. After K’s arduous search and one failed attempt at an apartment in Canford Cliffs (due to the death of the landlord and an ensuing legal case), we ended up getting the top floor apartment in the same building, which we moved into on February 26^th. It’s a nicer apartment in many respects, the various gripes we have with the plumbing, heating, and garage, notwithstanding. The view is its one saving grace.

Professional Development – In January, K transitioned from a full-time staff position to full-time doctoral researcher (researching/writing her PhD on post-9/11 American media and culture). In doing this, she took over the post (and accompanying bursary) vacated by another researcher. As soon as this transition took place, the speed of her PhD research trebled. She has progressed at lightning speed and will have a finished draft by March with the following draft for submission done by July.

There was also considerable improvement in R’s new career in the educational sector. After a year as a Technician Demonstrator for the film school down here, he was promoted to Teacher Technician, a similar role but involving more contact time with students and also moving onto the academic ladder (faculty, as opposed to staff).

Additionally, both K and R presented papers at the ACA/PCA Annual Conference in April, held in Boston, MA.

Travel – Quite a few trips ‘abroad’ throughout the year. After the conference in April, we continued west to Oregon for a two-week vacation in Eugene and Baker City. Then in June, K and R hopped on a cheap flight to Dublin for a long weekend celebrating their 3-year wedding anniversary. In July, K flew back to Oregon to spend time with her sister in Portland and to sniff around for a potential investment property. During this time, R spent five days in London volunteering for the Great British Beer Festival. The final trip of the year was to Denmark to “hygge” the Christmas and New Year season with R’s aunt, cousins, and grandmother.

Whinging – Was it at all obvious that our patience with England was wearing thin? Though Project: Expatriated only touched the surface, we spent a fairly large portion of our time complaining (whinging) about living here. We are foreigners and we are grateful for the opportunities and the quite comfortable life we have been having here, but the cultural differences sometimes drove us to exasperated, angry outbursts. Sometimes one just can’t help oneself! It has been a cathartic process, despite a fair amount of guilt from criticising the country that we are currently calling home. We will try to be less grumpy this year.

Weak US Dollar – The steady decline in value of the $ during the past couple of years has been a boon for us, particularly this year because the British £ has steadily been worth about two times as much as the dollar.

Fitness – R continued with his Filipino martial arts classes (and yoga at home on Sundays) at the Minnesota Kali Group gym in Parkstone, upgrading to an “unlimited” membership so he was able to go 3-4 times per week. As a lark, he made a successful attempt at attaining a 1^st degree level in Kali/Panantukan, just barely passing with a 70%.

K continues to run and do yoga at home and at the yoga studio around the corner.

Less Blogging - We haven't been as prolific here this year as we have in the past. This is mainly because the pace of our lives has picked up a bit. K is looking at her computer all day, so she doesn't want to look at it to write a blog, too. R has a very busy job that makes him just want to relax when he gets home. So, you get lazy about writing blog entries. Can't promise it will be much better this year, but we'll do our best. There will very likely be a lot of things to talk about.

Belgian (Liège) Waffles - One of our favorite treats when living in Belgium were the Belgian waffles. When we were in Dublin, there was a stall at a market selling them. We each had one, which invogarted our lust for these golden beauties. When we got back to England, we bought a Belgian waffle iron and I started testing recipes. We've made several batches this past year and I'm getting pretty damn close. The main thing holding me back is the difficulty in finding pearl sugar here.

The West Wing – We had started watching this show at the end of 2006 on Sundays when they started airing it from Episode 1, Season 1 on More4. We were immediately hooked, but when we missed a couple of episodes over that Christmas, we got started getting the DVDs from Lovefilm (like Netflix in the US). One of the best shows on television! We finally got to the end (Season 7) this past November, a sad day indeed. If only we could have Jed Bartlett for president (and then his successor)! We learned a lot about US politics and elections (very convenient at the moment). What we didn’t quite expect (or at least R didn’t) was that it would ignite a newfound sense of civic duty, something we hope to begin by November.

Making Plans – Towards the close of 2007, we started really thinking about our future. Our future careers. Our future in England/Europe. Just last week, we set in motion our new plan. A plan that we don’t quite want to make public yet for various reasons, but will do so in due course. It will not be the same procedure as last year, James!* Stay tuned!

*This line and the title of this blog entry are a reference to a short film that is traditionally aired in Denmark and Sweden (probably other countries, too) on New Year's Eve at twenty to midnight.