Oh, yeah... one more thing

A fellow expat pal has reminded me that I am well chuffed to be done with grad school. Handed in my "thesis" (aka long essay) on Tuesday. Now all I gotta do is find a job!

No hat, no reflection, no pee.

So last night Steven & I decided to actually go to our local Indian takeaway. Because it was supposed to be air conditioned. It wasn't. But it was full, which is highly unusual. There was a large table of large ladies, one of whom — Sally — was celebrating her birthday. They seemed like they all came from one of the nearby housing estates (glamorous name they use here for the projects) to enjoy a special night out. At another table was a black (well, they're not African American here, are they?) family, and I think it might have been the little girl's birthday too. Very jealous of her ice cream dessert in a little paper cylinder with a plastic toucan head. When they left their table was taken by a couple of "blokes" who sat diagonally from each other. At first I thought they were expecting the wives or girlfriends. Nope. Steven says if I read "Watching the English" I'll understand. In any case it's feeling very diverse. We get seated next to a table of three white dudes. As soon as we settle in, I notice that the guy closest to me is talking about the film industry. He's got an irish accent. He's Gabriel Byrne.

Oliver Hardy?

Alice's English cousin? Or...
Moustache cat

Vive la France!

If for nothing more than their crazy outfits...

Dam! Dam! Dam!

So Steven & I went to Amsterdam for the weekend. You know how you think living in Europe would make that kind of thing no big deal? Run of the mill? Par for the course? Well, it took us 9 hours to get there. It's 200 miles away. Part of our trip was down the M-something-or-other on a bus from Gatwick to Heathrow. In rush hour traffic. I HATE British Airways! Why are they the world's favoUrite airline? My guess: most of the world doesn't have a choice. Anyhow, we finally arrived and it was fun.

There's more, but I just thought I'd share these for now, since I'm supposed to be writing a 5,000 word "thesis" that's due in 10 days.

Across the street from 2 lesbian bars...


A couple of Alice's Dutch cousins???