Happy New Year!!!

A little late...but whatever.  I'm sure it's not like you've been checking my blog every 15 minutes to see if I've posted anything new...Because I never do that.  I never spend entire afternoons reloading pages just to see if anything is different.  Why would that be a productive, fulfilling, edifying thing to do with my time???

Whatever.  I totally do it.  All weekend.  And then I complain at you all when you haven't been productively blogging for my entertainment.  But it's totally cool when I take 3 weeks off.  Is off a preposition?  I think it is.  And I just ended another sentence with a preposition.  My favorite grammatical error!

Well, anyway.  Today is Monday and in the U.K. it's a Bank Holiday.  The day the banks and post offices and other random places get to close because New Year's Day was on a Saturday.  It's Tony's last day of vacation before heading back to work.  And I'm pretending that it's my last day of vacation too, even though I don't have  a job.  But I refuse to do anything work-y.  Like laundry.  Or folding laundry.  Or taking down the tree.  Until I and the rest of the Untied Kingdom go back to work tomorrow.

I would like to take a moment to thank The Queen, Paul McCartney, and Stephen Fry for making this Bank Holiday possible...............................................................thank you.

Totally a Big Deal to Me

They know my name at Perkins Cleaners.  I walked in this morning and they said, "Hi, Jenny!" 

I'm pretty sure I'm their favorite American out of all the Americans in my neighborhood. 

Thanks, guys!

Also, Morgan Freeman

I am going to complain about you...

Why didn't you tell me that baby penguins died in your movie???  You sit there, all calm, talking about the Marching Penguins, and then spend the last 15 minutes of the movie - killing the babies!!! 

Why didn't you do something?  Surely the crazy predator bird would have listened to YOU!  With your crazy smooth, sympathetic voice???

Ugh.

The One Where I Complain About the Blogs I Read

After a stressful morning, I like to sit around for THE REST OF THE DAY poking around on line.  And if the people who write the blogs I read haven't updated their blogs...then, tell me, what am I supposed to do?  Even perezhilton was having a slow day.  And nothing was happening on Facebook.  And then my sister-in-law stopped emailing me - because "she had to work."   

Come on, people.  Entertain me.  Fill my mind with useless trivia and cat videos.  I want to see cute pictures of your dogs!  Haven't your kids done anything sweet/dangerous/aggravating all weekend?  That's two whole days...

Ugh.

My cat is disappointed in you.

Carpet Cleaning and Starbucks Snoring

We had our carpets cleaned yesterday.  Not that they were super bad or anything, but after having the movers come up and down the stairs with all our dirty boxes that had been shipped on the HMS Mudbox - we thought it might be nice to start with a clean slate.  And since we have a boat load of stairs (today's blog apparently has a naval theme) I didn't want to rent a machine and do it myself.  We paid someone else to do it and they did a great job - thank you Ethos Carpet Cleaners!

Anyway...carpet was cleaned.  I had some lunch and then opened a bunch of windows to help dry the carpet/clear the air.  Except it's cold out.  We've actually got some snow here in London...so - open windows didn't last very long.  

Time for hot chocolate at Starbucks.  Took my book (BIRDSONG, good stuff) and set out. 

I was soon joined by some other guy who promptly fell asleep in one of the really comfy chairs there.  And this man WAS OUT.  WAY ASLEEP.  A Snoring Machine!  Super loud.  And the rest of us in Starbucks basically found it amusing.  It's not as if he was sitting at my table or anything. 

Cut to about 40 minutes later and a new guy comes in.  Snore Machine starts up again - and New Guy gets up and walks over and says, "Wake up.  You're snoring very loudly."

I found New Guy's behavior more disturbing and disruptive than the snoring.  I don't know why, but it really irked me.  The Snoring Machine's only crime was that he got too comfortable in his armchair while reading a book, and fell asleep after a warm mug of something.

If the guy was snoring like this at the movies or a play I can see saying something...I don't know - would you wake someone at Starbucks?  Like, get up from your seat and walk across the place to tell someone they were snoring?

I think it was weird. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

At least in America. Where they do it right:)

I am thankful that I got up early enough to make it down and over to St. Paul's Cathedral for the...
THANKSGIVING DAY SERVICE for the AMERICAN COMMUNITY in LONDON

It was really spectacular.  First of all, because I've never been to a church service in an actual cathedral.  You can really feel the size, spectacle, and the mass of the crowd.  And the cold.  I can't imagine how expensive heating a space like that must be.  I imagine it to be a lot and that's probably why it was cold.  I certainly regretted taking off my jacket.  (I couldn't put it back on because it was too crowded.)

Secondly, it was really overwhelming to be in a place with so many Americans (not that Hampstead isn't crawling with them).  So many other Americans who were far from home and possibly missing their families and their traditions as well.

It was a really beautiful service celebrating America and it's special relationship with England.   And I'm thankful for that relationship this year.  How kind of them to offer us a place, this beautiful and grand place, to gather and celebrate our holiday.  It's so nice to be in a country that is at once so familiar and welcoming and yet different enough to surprise me. 

Which, when I think about it - is a lot like family.  At least my family.  And I'm thankful for all of them. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'll Tumble For Ya!

So...you may remember that I saw BOY GEORGE my very first weekend here in London. If you don't remember, it probably means that you don't like me. But you can read that post here. It's super short and won't take you long; it basically says that I saw BOY GEORGE.

Anyway...jumping to November. Today. At Lunch. And this guy walks into The Rosslyn Arms where I was having lunch with a super cute dog. Well, I was having lunch with Tony, who is not a super cute dog. Let's try this again...stupid grammatical clarity.

While I was having lunch at Rosslyn Arms with Tony, a guy walked in with a super cute dog. And since I miss my cat soooo much, I was pretty obsessed with looking at this dog. Well, the dog's person looks at us (me and Tony), smiles, and says, "Hi!" We said hi back and that his dog was cute. And then it hit me. I was talking to Jon Moss. ANOTHER member of The Culture Club! And then he asked if he could have the pepper and Tabasco. Sure, Jon! Help yourself!

So, now I've seen 2 out of 4 of them. 2 more and I'll have a complete set of Culture Club! AND...Mr. Moss was voted Hampstead's Friendliest Celebrity by the Hampstead Village Voice. I agree. He seemed very nice.

I'm borrowing this picture from The Daily Mail.
It might be subject to copyright.
They'll let me know, right?