Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Owwwnnnn

Few weeks ago, Marcia and Wolfie invited us for lunch in their new home. We finally met Brian and Elisa, the two poodles they brought all the way from Brazil. They are very cute and - most important of all - they don't have dog's smell! :-)


Cipri was in love with the dogs and left their house asking when we would get our own dog.


I really love dogs, but feel sorry to leave them on their own during the day. And I wouldn't be very happy to leave the poor soul behind wehn going on holidays - but I wouldn't be happy to cancel my holidays because of the dog.


Tough one but we decided that it's not really time to increase the family.

Just dates

May 25 - 3 years after the car accident
June 6 - 1 year at my current job
June 12 - Valentine's Day in Brazil
June 14 - Father's day in the UK
June 22 - My birthday
September 8 - 3 years in the UK
September 10 - 3 years since I met Cipri, Mari, and a bunch of others
September 22 - 2 years since I've graduated (errr... not sure about the date)
September 30 - 1 year in this house
October 15 - 3 years with Cipri
October 27ish - 2 years without a haircut (and proper manicure)
October 27ish - 2 years since the last time I've been to Brazil
October/November - 1 year since I became Portuguese
(...) loads to celebrate, huh?

Monday, May 26, 2008

Visiting the UK "countryside"

Friday we took the day off and headed to the Midlands. The original plan was to go to Bournemouth - one of the nicest beaches in England I was told. But St Peter was feeling energetic and decided to work the whole weekend.

In theory the weather up north was better than in the South, but still it was chilly and windy. Anyway, we had sun and that's what matters in the end.

We went to Robin Hood's Sherwood forest, and to a nice place called Peak District not too far from Manchester. Didn't take my camera, but as soon as Cipri downloads his photos, I'll post some.

Long time no write!

Shit, over a month without coming here. At least I gave you the time and chance to comment on (very) old posts.

No excuses, apart from... lazyness. My trademark by now.

Today is bank holiday in the UK - unlike in Brazil and in the USA, here you don't need to have a reason to be holiday. It is and that's it. No Saint's Day (shocking: St George is the patron of England and is the people in Rio de Janeiro who celebrate the date!), no Independence Day (of course), no The Day We Invade that Country Day...

Cipri is working, so I'm home alone. I'm happy coz the weather outside is really bad. Raining since before 7am - I know because I woke up with him to take him to the train station - and didn't stop until now, 1.15pm. I'm going to Mariana's house to help with the boxes. She is moving West - and now we are the last of the Moicans here in the SouthEast.

There's Lelei and Gu in the South East too! And Meytal and Zac's in the (far)East! And Maryam and Marco in the... city? (where's Islington/Angel?), so yeah, there's a healthy balance now. We just need to do more stuff together, eh? We always tend to meet around our work place, so it's not too bad. Just weekends that used to be more around our area because we have a free tennis court nearby.

But, hey, here are the news: we bought a (very old) car and we can go wherever - engineering works are no longer a problem! It's a Nissan Micra green(ish). Have I ever mentioned that I am totally crap driving?? If not, I am saying this now. I am the reason why comments such as "go back to the kitchen, woman - you are better driving the hob" exist. A couple of reasons for this: I was never interested in driving and never needed to drive; when I decided to take driving lessons to get my license, I realized that didn't like to drive at all; and finally, after the car accident - a car ran over me in 2005, 3 months before moving to London - I got also very scared of cars in general. A car is a leathal weapon. Full stop.

OK, this said, I am slowly (very slowly, loosing my nerves quite often) "learning" to drive - and learning to drive my car - and getting used to the idea. We ordered a GPS yesterday, it will arrive in a couple of days. At least my lack of sense of direction won't be a big obstacle. I'll keep you posted!