The beaver is a proud and noble animal
Notes from a bemused canuck
Oh dear, Reen-pig has a mouse. Keep an eye on her.
Well, it’s still alive and it’s currently in your shoe.
*laugh* somehow that doesn’t surprise me.
Now it’s alive and in my boot.
/cut to picture of cat madly trying to stuff her whole head into a hiking boot/
In the end, the mouse was still in good enough shape to be chucked out of my boot into the front yard.
Last night, as we were watching television, Katy does a double-take and proceeds to ask me: “Are you aware that there’s a live mouse in the living room?”. Apparently, in a house with two cats that regularly bring in mice and the occasional robin (we’re still finding feathers all over the place), a tiny field mouse had managed to come in undetected and spend a large portion of the afternoon hiding in some newspapers that live right next to the cats food bowls!
.
Katy managed to trap it in a glass and I chucked it out on the front lawn. That was dose of excitement for the evening.
We were in Leicester this past weekend and we had a pootle in the town center. The High Street is a magnet for God-botherers. There’s always a gaggle of Krishnas, and generally more than one dude-with-a-megaphone vying for your attention (and your money). It’s fairly innocuous. I overheard a reggae band singing a “remixed” version of Don’t worry, be happy. These guys though caught my attention:
I know they were probably going for the shock value to start a discussion, but something tells me that – by the looks they were getting – a lot of people were thinking of letting their fingers (or fists) do the talking.
I have recently discovered Motivated Photos, a mash-up site where people can submit demotivational posters. This is not good :)
As a side note, for those reading this on LJ, there’s a syndicated feed here: http://syndicated.livejournal.com/motivatedposter/profile
I recently went to see an exhibit of ukiyo-e woodblock prints at the V&A Museum in London. It reinforces to me the fact that I love Japanese design and art. We’re going to try and incorporate touches of it when we decorate the house. I’ve seen some lovely noren on Ebay that I have my eye on for the patio doors.
Interestingly, he’s wearing a 3-6 month undervest, 0-3 month jogging pants and t-shirt, and a newborn hooded jacket. Baby clothing sizes make absolutely no sense to me.
More new pictures online: http://www.flubu.com/various_pics/ben/
So, a few things have happened since last I blogged. Our personal loan has – finally – been approved so we’ll be able to buy some new furnitire when we move. The house purchase is ticking along. We’ve had a valuation survey and a home-buyer survey done on the house. The HB survey didn’t find any major gremlins, though they do recommend that we have the electrics inspected because they’re a bit dated and might not be up to code. I’ve contacted a certified electrical contractor and they’re going to do a Periodic Maintenance Inspection report some time this coming week.
The solicitors have been informed of our preferred completion date, though I’m less than sure that we’ll be able to make it. Ideally, we’d like to complete on the 1st of April. That way, we could give Bidwells our month’s notice and still have the whole of April to do the necessary DIY in the new house and then move in without having to pay rent and mortgage in the same month. Right now, we’re still in the middle of the searches and our mortgage app is still in progress. We’re keeping our fingerrs crossed. Sadly, there’s still a whole lot of things that could still go wrong.
We’re trying to keep a positive attitude and, in a mad spree of optimism, we’ve started packing stuff this weekend and breaking down the bigger bits of furniture that need it (or won’t fit in the doorways or the stairwell otherwise). We’ve gotten some removals quotes as my folks have kindly offered to finance our movers :)
My citizenship application is with the UK Border Agency and the solicitors tell me that the waiting time has come down from 6-7 months to 2-3, so I could be a bloke come May.
In other news, we have the world’s first Siberian coodle. Tolstoy got so matted in the last few weeks and hated being brushed so his backside turned into one giant mat. We decided that enough was enough and took him to the vet to get sedated and brushed thoroughly. We expected that he’d lose a lot of fur, but not to the extend of having his entire hind quarters shaved. He has, and a kid you not, a poodle fur cut. And those legs! SKINNY! We burst out laughing the first time we saw him. He, on the other hand, seems to feel a lot better and has been more like himself since his make over.
On a final note, we have moved BenBen into his own room at night. We bit the bullet on Friday night and it went rather well. Same again for last night. He falls asleep like a rock and will wake up grumbling a few times during the night but settles himself back down after a while. He tends to wake up and stay awake around 6-ish but is happy to stay in his cotbed until 6:30 or so when we manage to drag ourselves out of bed. And he’s getting big. And vocal. And he giggles a lot. This makes us happy. The ladies at the nursery are amazed at how vocal he is.
I know that the PM lives in Downing Street and that Scottish bank notes can be used anywhere in the UK. I know that you can get a national insurance number at a JobCenter Plus and at a social security office. I know that kids in England must attend school between the ages of 5 and 16, generally work in a supermarket or a newsagent as their first job and that women make on average 20% less than men. I can tell you that about 80% of the total population of the UK lives in England, that its patron saint is St-George and that the UK is one of 5 permanent members of the UN security council. I can enlighten you on the fact that 10% of UK Christians are Roman Catholic and that Indians make up the largest minority group. I know that the reigning monarch can only advise, warn and encourage the PM and that civil servants need to be politically neutral and professional. Did you know that you need to be on the electoral register if you want to vote and that you can use a mediation service to sort out disputes with your neighbours? How about the fact that the NHS will treat every UK resident for free but if multiple people are living in shared accommodations, they each need to buy a TV license? I can tell you that you can be dismissed immediately for serious misconduct and that trade unions aim to improve pay and working conditions for their members. I can also tell you that you need to be 21 to drive an HGV, that you can be arrested if you refuse to have a roadside sobriety test and that a non-EU driving license is valid for 12 months in the UK (but then you need to obtain a UK one).
I can tell you all these things because I passed my life in the UK test last Friday. I can also tell you that it took me longer to write this blog post than it did to actually pass the damn test (which took the whole of 3 minutes).
My citizenship paperwork is now on its way to London where my solicitor will look it over and forward it to the Home Office. In the meantime, we had a bonfire last night and to mark the occasion, I ceremonially burned the study materials that had bored me senseless for the past two weeks. This made me happy.
I don’t regret moving to the UK. It was the right decision to do and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I’m applying for citizenship because I can see myself living here for a while longer. But for all of that, I’ve just come to the realization that one thing I really miss – aside from my family, of course – are the boys.
We used to see each other on a weekly basis. I miss the board game nights. I miss the gossip. I miss the general insanity that came along with having a close-knit group of friends that have known each other for years. This is something that I don’t have here, and I find I’m missing it.