Toby's turn
Hello everyone -
Not much exciting has happened since we last filled you in on life in Oxford. It seems as though we are settling in nicely to our new home - too nicely perhaps, as we are starting to enjoy staying home! Perhaps it is the darkness that settles in here with the onset of winter (as of today sunset was at 4:03 p.m.). Or perhaps we are being our normally lazy selves - a distinct possibility. Either way, come January I'm determined to do more sightseeing - still so much to see as we approach our first anniversary here. Hard to believe how quickly time has passed!
So what have we been doing? Well, I've been working a lot which doesn't always please my husband. I'm not sure how I ended up where I did, or doing what I do, but my job here sometimes seems to be more of an adventure than the whole trip to England! I couldn't even begin to describe it to you. Suffice it to say that despite all the issues (and there are issues!), I really like my job. It's a nice environment with great people and they make all the job/staff (or lack there of) frustrations bearable. Plus I get to come home and spill my day out to Tom. When said out loud it is all really pretty funny. If I had taken notes from when I started I might come home and start working on a soap opera! It really is that unbelievable.
There. Now you really know nothing more about my job than when you signed on, but I feel like I've written about it. If you want to know more, email me. Email me anyway, I want to know who's out there.
Although I admit to not having seen the inside of our gym in a while, I have been taking Yoga on Monday nights for 8 weeks now. It's really great. Good way to relax and tone the muscles. My teacher is 80 and you should see her! I'd be pleased if I were half as flexible as she is when I'm half her age. (Hmmm, that's not so far away any more, is it?) Maybe she'll let me take her picture for another web page.
My cousin Mark came to London on business last week (he works for a British telecom company) and we got to meet him in London for dinner. We went to a small but really good Burmese restaurant that someone had recommended to him. We basically said 'bring us anything' and they did. All delicious. Also it is always a treat to have friends or family over here. Here's a picture (that's him on the right, paying the bill. Thanks Mark!!).
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Big news here is that we finally got our washer/dryer fixed! Tom is so happy about it he does laundry almost every night! It's small, but it dries. Haven't been to the laudrette in 2 weeks. Yahoo!
Do you all know about Guy Fawkes (or Bonfire) night? He's the guy who supposedly tried to blow up Parliament (click here for a history lesson). Well, it came and went, (November 5th), but there were fireworks here for about 3 weeks straight. Everywhere, every night. You could buy them in the supermarket - 2 for 1 in the last days before the big event. We thought we were going to miss seeing a Bonfire night celebration (too much rain and not good advertising) but then on the actual night, it turns out there was a bonfire / bbq right next door at our local pub, The Plough. I just happened to see it - couldn't really miss it - on my way home from work - it's about 50 yards from our flat. So we went, and it was great. It was a beautiful night, and it seemed like most of the village came out for it. Had a very nice, community feel to it. Wish we had been there for the lighting of the bonfire so we could have seen the effigy of Guy Fawkes burn. Next year.
We saw the new Harry Potter movie - and it rocks! Saw it the week before it was released, and it wasn't hard to get tickets. Go figure. Really, it's much better than the first. Two thumbs up from us. Go, go, go.
Tom got his new car last week - man, am I jealous. Never mind the turbo thing, he also has a 6 CD player/changer in his car. No more crap radio for Tom. No sir. But here, I'll let him tell you all about it.
(Tom)
I won't bore you with too much detail. Truly any new car would put the 3-year old Nissan Primera that I had to shame. The Nissan was tired, and well worn before I got it. Coincidentally, I loaned it to some colleagues (Neil and Pete) at lunch about two weeks ago (their cars were blocked in at the car park at work) and while it was parked in town a big truck put a nice big scrape down the side. And then drove off. Some shopkeepers saw it happen and wrote down the license number and then Pete and Neil found the guy around the corner. He offered no excuses. At least it was the old car and not the new one! Anyway, goodbye to the Nissan, hello to the VW Bora (called a Jetta in the USA). It's a turbo diesel and has a pleasant rumble to it, and has plenty of power when you ask for it. And 6 gears - I don't exactly know when to use that 6th gear but I'll figure it out. As Toby mentioned, the CD changer is a godsend given the terrible radio around here - makes the commute 100x more pleasant. Anyway, I'm really pleased to have it.
We're off tomorrow evening, heading back to the States for 8 days. 4 days in Boston with a busy schedule of visits (sorry if we missed you!) and then down to Philadelphia for turkey with Tom's parents. (And an extra trip for Toby to DC to see more of her family, including her 2 nieces!) Looking forward to it.
Bits & Bobs:
And there you have it for this report.
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