Repair Sagas and Taking a Break

Hello there! I'm sitting here at the dining table as I tap away at my alive and kicking laptop again. Yay! :) As I look across the room I'm getting an interesting view...it looks like October outside. LOL. It's a kind of odd scene...we have a couple of pretty pink roses that are peeking into the window and most of the backyard is green, but it's all being battered by fierce wind and rain. It's been like this off and on for days and days and days. I know that it's scorching back home and I know how that grueling summer heat can be, but right about now I'd take a tiny bit because wearing wool coats and sweaters in June is just so wrong!!! LOL. It's all good though ;-)

Anyway, as I mentioned, I'm back in possession of my laptop and I'm finished with my exams. Yay again! So now my attention has been turned back to the business of running this house and giving some quality time to blogging. The latter is much easier because I'm here back in the blogging saddle, but the former is a mess! As I mentioned in my previous post, I was expecting a visit from a repairman the next day. Well, he and his assistant showed up after a month of wrangling with our landlord. Our landlord loves to NOT get things fixed and some may say, well that's just the way some landlords, not all are, but I say it's still not acceptable when we pay our rent for service and don't get it. The repairmen came to fix our hot water heater and to fix a faucet that was past the point of dripping and just running in a trickle that we couldn't fix.

So after explaining the situation to the middle men on a regular basis for a month, whilst I was trying to study for exams, we FINALLY got these two things fixed this week. In addition to this, we've also been trying to get our washing machine fixed and that is still broken a month later. Arghhhhh! Here's the craziness that is our landlord. These repair guys were sent out to assess things a couple of weeks ago and they were also asked to check to see if the lack of hot water was affecting our washing machine. So these repair guys reported back and told the landlord that the washing machine is a cold water intake and it has nothing to do with the hot water heater. However, our landlord didn't believe them!!!! What? So they sent out yet another repair guy and he goes back to report exactly what the other guys said...that the hot water heater had nothing to do with the washing machine. But the landlord was still not believing!!!! From experience with the landlord I can tell you that this was not truly due to his disbelief...this was good old-fashioned cheapness. We've been down this road before and I'll tell you, God willing, this is the end of the road for us at the end of our lease in several months. We are grateful to have somewhere to live, but we are past tired of dealing with this every time. No two day repair should take 4, 6, or 8 weeks! But don't worry...this won't be the end of the Yellow House by any stretch of the imagination, because the Yellow House for us is a state of mind and it's not about the structure. We will carry the Yellow House with us always!  :-) Plus, even though our experiences have been messed up, we will always have a soft spot in our hearts for the first house that we shared as a married couple...and that is something more powerful than any physical structure because it's about LOVE! And anyway, we've already decided that when we build our house in the future, it's gonna have to be yellow in some way...the Yellow House is just us...me and Brit Boy! :-)

So the middle men/property managers saw our side in this and have told the landlord that they are not upholding their end of our contract. This got the ball rolling...ever so slowly. But as I said we are still waiting on our washing machine to be repaired and I'm still breaking my back trying to wash everything by hand...not fun! I'm just glad that the hot water and faucet are finally fixed. Maybe by the time of the Olympics we will have a washing machine again ;-)

And that's my mini vent about our ever continuing repair saga...the condensed version! Thanks for indulging me! I'm going to do my best to relax some this weekend and just forget about the washing machine. I also want to relish in not having to study this weekend after this long while. Woo Hoo!

Next time, I'll be back to happier topics. I'm going to share this great book that I've read recently. It was a fun read! And I hope that everyone has a great weekend! :-)

Short Post

Hello there! :-) I just wanted to stop by and say hi. I finally have my computer back and I'm finished with exams...Yay! I'll be writing a normal post in the next couple of days. I'm a bit behind with everything, so I'm gonna do some catching up today. Also I'm preparing for a repairman to come tomorrow, so I have to move some things around...long story. I'll share details of our repair saga in my next post...you know it's gonna be a marathon of a story...what else? LOL.

Anyway, have a great Monday and a great week and I'll be back with a regular post. I'm so glad to be free to blog again! :-) Thanks for visiting me!

Cranky Computers and Hitting the Books

Hi there! I just wanted to check in and say hello. I'm currently in the middle of studying for my exams, so I'm not able to post here like I wish I could. I'll get my other photos up that I promised to share very soon. By June 15th I will be finished with my exams and then I will be a posting fool :-) Of course there's also something else keeping me from posting, even if I didn't have exams. You see, my laptop has decided to stop working, so I can't get to my photos and things. So please wish me luck that we can get my laptop fixed and that all will be well. I'm using Brit Boy's laptop right now, so I have a small bit of internet access. Yay!

Anyway, I look forward to getting back here soon with my laptop and photos all in tact. Now it's back to studying. Thanks for continuing to visit me here!

Until next time...

A Bit of Rearranging

As many of you know, there have been some problems with Internet Explorer and the Followers widget on several blogspot blogs of late. This issue has caused an "operation aborted" message to pop up every time a visitor comes to the site when using Internet Explorer. When it first started to happen when I visited my own blog, I thought it was just a fluke. Then I started to hear about it at other blogs. There is an outstanding issue ticket for it in known issues on Blogger, but it is still being worked out. I had heard that removing the Followers widget might help and then some have said that if you move the widget to the bottom of the page it works things out.

This has all left me scratching my head about what to do (smile). I mean, I love the connections that I've made with all of the readers/friends that come to read my blog, so I don't want to remove my widget. There is the other option that I didn't mention, and that is to just view my blog with Firefox and I do that some too. However, everyone doesn't use Firefox all the time, so I wanted to make the best decision all around about what to do. Therefore, I've taken the path of moving the Followers widget further down the page and this has seemingly done the trick, so we shall see. I'm hoping that the issue is sorted out soon so that I can move the Followers widget back up top where it belongs. Until then, I'll look on the bright side, at least with the widget at the bottom, I can see everyone's face. That's cool to me! :-)

King Tut and St Paul

Brit Boy and I have had our bit of Fourth of July today. We just put out our two little American flags on the table. In the interest of fairness, we also have tiny England flags that we put out on St George's Day. (smile) We had cheeseburgers, potato salad, and beans. It was reminiscent of the picnic food that my mom would make for the Fourth of July when I was back home. We would have even more sometimes…hotdogs, ribs, chicken, deviled eggs, and sometimes some homemade ice cream. Then there were usually fireworks in the evening in town. Those were good times. (smile) Anyway, we did our own little version of a picnic and it turned out great. And I have to say, that my potato salad was incredible if I do say so myself. (smile) I got really into it and it turned out great. The secret I think was the bit of dijon mustard that gave it a slight kick. My mom would be proud and my brother Tim would have loved it too. He LOVED potato salad and was known to get up in the wee hours of the morning to make it, because he had a taste for it as he awoke from sleep. (smile)

Just an update, we finally got our broadband sorted out. Basically our old router went kaput and we had to get another one. Doesn’t it seem that there is always something to spend money on? (smile) Oh well, both Brit Boy and I need it for work, so it’s all good. We are just glad that it is working.

So I will pick up now with my story of our trip to London last week. I left off last time with my story of our Wimbledon experience. Well, the next day we headed to the O2 Arena to see the King Tut exhibit and we took a trip to St Paul’s Cathedral.

We started out the day early-ish. Thankfully they fixed our shower, so we could do the cleaning thing. We had tickets to the King Tut exhibit that were for a certain window of entry. Our window was from 10:30-11:00am. We had a bit of a trip on the tube to the O2, but we made it in plenty of time.

The exhibit was interesting and the pieces were intriguing. I did learn quite a bit about King Tutankhamen. Some experts had once thought that he may have had a curvature of his spine, but now they think that he may have not had this at all. But his body was possibly slightly twisted when he was being mummified and prepared for burial.

Here are photos of the outside of the exhibition.





After we came out of the exhibit, we decided that we would have something to eat at the O2 complex since it was getting along to lunch time and we hadn’t eaten. They have lots of restaurants there in the complex, so there was quite a lot to choose from. But as ever, we were trying to eat on a budget. (smile) We settled on eating at Pizza Express which has lovely, authentic, fresh pizza as well as many other tasty things. I wanted to try everything and so did Brit Boy. (smile) We both had two slices of pepperoni pizza, and we shared a big green salad. Brit Boy had a Sprite and I had a Sicilian lemonade and I will just say, it was like being back home. (laugh) I’ve written here before about my search for lemonade. Well, who knew that the southern lemonade that I had back home is a close cousin to Sicilian lemonade. (smile) It was very slightly sweet and tart and just right…smooth.

There is a structure in the lobby area of the O2 that I always find intriguing. It looks like strands of huge pearls suspended. Here is a photo of it.



Once we were back outside again, we headed for the tube station. I had to take a photo of the O2. I love it. It is very unusual looking from the outside. Here is a photo as I walked backwards to the tube station.



Then we headed off to see St Paul’s Cathedral. I have been to London many times now and I have seen a lot of it, but not all of it by any stretch of the imagination. One place neither I, nor Brit Boy had visited, was the cathedral. It was a very breezy day and so as we rounded the corner to the cathedral, I got grit in my eyes that blew up from the street. This seemed to be a recurring theme most days. (laugh) So it was murder on my eye makeup. Anyway, the cathedral is magnificent. They don’t allow photography inside, but I got a photo of the outside. Here it is.



I will just say that the inside is glorious. (smile) Truly divine. Everywhere you look it is just awe-inspiring. The stonework, the carvings, the decoration, the ceilings…just amazing! Visitors are allowed to go up into the rotunda, but you have to brave hundreds of steps. It is so worth the effort. (smile) We walked 257 steps to the Whispering Gallery. When you get up there, there is a railing that you can walk along and look down to the cathedral floor. The cool thing is that you can whisper up there on one side and it can be heard on the other side of the rotunda. It is cool. You are also allowed to go further up to the next level. The view from there is amazing.

When we came back downstairs, they were doing The Lord’s Prayer and invited visitors to join in. So Brit Boy and I participated. After that, we walked around and looked at all of the dedications and such. Over in one corner, there is the American Chapel which is to honor the help of the US during WWII. This caused a bit of a lump in my throat, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, just on a simple level it was good to see cooperation between people for the common good and this memorial was about Britain and America and Brit Boy and I come from across that divide. So I don’t know…it was just deep. But also, my dad was a WWII veteran, and thankfully he made it home. As I have mentioned before, I am the last of a long line of kids and there is a gap between me and the others in years. I was a late comer. (smile) Also, my dad was quite a few years older than my mother, so that is why I have a dad who was a WWII vet and not a grandfather who was one. (smile) So I had a moment there in that chapel.

Then we went down into the tombs of the cathedral. We saw dedications to and tombs of: the Duke of Wellington, William Blake, J.M.W. Turner, Florence Nightingale, Horatio Nelson, Alexander Fleming, and of course…"The Guy They Call Sir", Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of St Paul’s that I mentioned in an earlier post. There were many, many dedications and tombs and I was intrigued by them all, but I had to see Sir Christopher’s. (smile) I live nearby where he was born, so I had to pay my respects. He did beautiful work on the cathedral also. And I thought this was a nice touch that his tomb is right next to a radiator in a corner. I like to think that it’s there to keep him warm. (smile) Well he deserves it for designing such a beautiful place.

When we came back outside, we noticed the Temple Bar. It is a barrier arch that marks the westernmost extent of the City of London. Here is a photo.



After this we took a lengthy walk in search of The Monument, which marks the spot where the Great Fire started. When we eventually found it, it was covered with scaffolding for work to be done.

After that, we were tired and it had been a long day. So we headed for the tube to go back to our hotel. On the short walk from the tube station to our hotel, we stopped at McDonald’s and had a bite to eat.

Later that night, we were lying around in bed watching a bit of television. I got up and looked outside and saw some teenagers in fancy gowns coming to the hotel. Brit Boy and I watched the scene unfold. Apparently they were having their school prom. I did think that it was unusual that they were having their prom on a Wednesday night, but perhaps they had already finished school. I don't know. It didn't go on too late I don't think. It was nice to see the teens having fun. (smile) Proms have been a part of American high school culture for decades and in the last few years they have become more popular here in England. I was surprised to read some things lately in the news media here about some people saying that proms aren't a good tradition because it costs too much and seems to be all about money or having the fancy gowns or fancy cars and such and it is consumerism gone wild. Some media even went so far as to call it a tacky tradition. Well I don’t agree with that at all.

Proms back in the day in America were more low-key and were usually held in high school gyms and not in hotels like they are now. And from what I hear from my older sisters a lot of the time the gowns were homemade or bought cheap. It was just a wonderful rite of passage to signify the end of your high school days. A first formal affair as kids went out into the adult world. So proms were simply fun. Nowadays, kids want proms at hotels and yes they get fancy gowns and tuxedos and limos and all of that, but these newer ways of doing things are just symptoms of our times. It can get over the top sometimes now, but people should look at our world now…it is just different in good ways and bad. Still, I think that I would rather that kids do get dressed up and go to proms, even in limos, if it will keep them from skipping out on school altogether and the prom, in favor of falling down drunk in the street and puking in the gutters like you see on the news. Yeah, the prom nowadays is a bit splashier, but it is a gentle thing compared to a lot of the evil out there. So I say, lighten up to the media, and let the kids have their proms if they want, here and back home. (smile)And at the end of the day, sometimes some things are just to have fun. What is wrong with that? You are only young once.

When Brit Boy and I were watching the kids arriving, we saw this family…a mom, dad, little sister, and teenage girl dressed in a flowing dress. She was lovely. The golden sheen of her dress was set off by her beautiful brown skin. It was so sweet. She didn’t arrive in a limo. Mom and Dad and sis dropped her off. They parked along the street and took a series of photos of the girl, and then of her with various members of her family. It was a sweet scene and is really what the prom and special occasions in our lives are all about…the memories that we make. (smile) I told Brit Boy that it was just like watching kids back home. It was one of those universal moments we all share whether this girl and her family were here or back home in my Georgia town. It is like that saying goes; we are all alike more than we are different sometimes. I'm not saying that everyone has to do what America does, because I believe in cultures having their own thing going,but after all, it's just a fancy dance for teenagers. (smile) I love individuality like the next person, but sometimes there is a tug from within when I see shared experiences reflected between people. I think it is important for Britain to have its traditions and America and everywhere else to have their traditions, but I don’t think it hurts a thing or encroaches on anybody’s turf to see ourselves in each other sometimes. (smile)There is so much bad in the world that we all have to share, so why not share a fun thing. I know it may sound simplistic, but sometimes things are debated too much and it is much ado about nothing.

After all of the photo-taking, the family all hugged…even little sis and big sis and then this lovely young lady’s parents waved her off and she walked into her prom. They will never forget that moment within their family, and neither will I.

First Day in London

Brit Boy and I are still having broadband problems, but we have pieced together things enough for us to get back into the internet world until we can get things worked out permanently on that front. I am so glad, because I don’t want too much time to pass and then I will forget bits of the absolutely great time we had in London this time around. This was the longest stretch that we have spent in London and it was fab. We went from the storied courts of Wimbledon to the truly sublime experience of seeing Mr. Nelson Mandela speak and pass the torch to the rest of us in taking care of our world. It is a week that Brit Boy and I will never forget. (smile)

I will begin today with our first day there and continue onward in the next few entries. So Brit Boy and I set off on our trip, on Monday, June 23rd. This time we didn’t take the train due to some scheduling and money-saving considerations, although in the end, we didn’t really save any money, but anyway we took the coach/bus into London. Let me say, Brit Boy and I remembered why we love the train so much after two hours on the coach. (laugh) It was hot and grubby. We have had better coach rides, so it isn’t always like that, but this time it was icky. Still, we are going to stick to the train when we can because it is a more comfortable way to travel and it takes half the time. In the end though, we were too excited to really care. We were just glad to be going on this cool journey together.

We arrived at the Victoria coach station in London at about 1pm. We were hungry, so we wheeled our bags down the street and across the way to a little shopping complex there at the Victoria Station, which houses a grocery store and various shops, as well as restaurants. We set out on our trip with the idea in mind that we would eat cheaply as much as we could to save money in these times that we live in. (smile) Well everyone else had the same idea and all of the fast food places were packed, so we had to go over to the Italian place across the plaza. Luckily, it was sort of Italian-esque fast food, so it was reasonably priced. The food was really good. Brit Boy and I both had a slice of pizza and a platter of finger food that we shared. The platter had chicken strips, nachos, and various vegetables and was served with two sauces. It was nice and filling. Here are a couple of photos of our platter and my glass of drink.





In yet another cost-cutting measure, we decided to stay outside of central London this time since we were staying several nights. We stayed in the Wembley area of London. Our hotel was virtually a stone’s throw from Wembley Stadium. Here is a photo.



They are doing lots of revitalization and construction around that area. My guess is that on top of rejuvenating things, they are sprucing up things in time for the Olympics in 2012. They are building lots of housing and workspace around there. Here is a photo of some of the change going on out there.




By the time that we got to our hotel in Wembley it was well after 3pm which was check-in time. So when we got there we thought that we could go in and dump our stuff and lounge a bit in preparation for our early start the next day. But when we turned up, things were in all-out chaos in the lobby. (laugh) There were about 100 teenagers milling around who were either on their way in or out, we couldn’t figure out which. And then there were about eight others there waiting for their rooms. So we were “checked in”, but then we had to go along with the others and wait in the bar for our rooms to be ready. It was cool though. In the end, they gave us free drinks, so all was not lost. (smile)

After almost two hours, we all were finally shown to our rooms. They couldn’t give us our keys at that point because things were still chaotic, but we were able to get it later. As another consolation, they offered us all free breakfast the next day, but Brit Boy and I didn’t hang around the next day for that…we were off to Wimbledon and we didn’t want to miss a minute. (smile)

That evening, as we were settled into our room, I took this photo of the sunset out of our window. It was lovely.



From our window you could see for miles. This photo makes me calm because it makes me remember the sense that I had at that moment that we were on the eve of a wondrous journey over the next few days and I was right. This sunset was a perfect close to the day before some of the best days of my life.
My next entry….our day at Wimbledon.

Back Home From London

I just wanted to check in and say that Brit Boy and I arrived home safely this afternoon from our London trip. Wimbledon and the Mandela concert were just extraordinary. I was planning on posting a bit about it this evening and then writing more in the next few entries, but alas, Brit Boy and I arrived home to find that our broadband has gone totally bonkers and we have been tinkering with it for hours now to no avail. Needless to say, we are baffled about what is going on with it. Right now I am connected up via wire and this has been going dodgy on us too, so please bear with me. The last time I posted, I promised to share with whomever is reading out there, what Brit Boy and I did over our swell trip to London and I feel bad that I can't deliver at this point. We are going to try to tinker with the broadband again tomorrow and then if that doesn't work, we will be seeking out a bit of help on Monday. So I just wanted to be forthcoming and to let you know that I value any readers of my blog that are out there, and that I am being sidelined for a bit here and not backing out on what I said that I would do. I will certainly be posting this week if we can get our current computer hassles worked out. But if not, please know that I will be sharing as soon as I can. Thanks for bearing with me. :-)