Well, today I took my big 2 hour trip to Fareham.If I need to go to the grocery store or don't want to walk home all the way from over by quarantine,I only have a 2 hour window.
They had a big street fair going with little kids dancing and a D.J. , he was playing the macaraina. I kind of wanted to stay , just sit around and watch the life going on around me. Then I thought of how ,if I don't take the 13:25 bus home.....then I'll have to walk the long way home and then walk all the way to the grocery store, after that.
I pulled my baggy,falling off, pants up (again) and decided to catch the 13:25 home.
Here's something you may not be aware of, in England public bathrooms....err ....I mean "toilets", as they call them, are few and far between.
We grew up being told "Don't say toilet! Call it a rest room.You dirty girl!" Well , get to England and the sign says "Toilet". Every time I have to say "Excuse me, do you have a toilet?" I feel like my mom's gonna rise from the grave and give me an ass whoopin' !" (you dirty girl!)
But, I digress....As I was listening to the music, watching the dancing and wishing to stay.....I was also thinking " Oh lovely, I have to go to the bathroom." Toilet...WTFE.
As my Alli still hasn't f'n arrived, I was forced to buy some generic looking exlax type product, which I o.d.'d on last night....just to make sure it worked. Well, now, here I am in the middle of town ...oops, City centre.....and my guts are gonna blow! (2 weeks worth ,if the pills work)
The nearest toilet is at the END of my 35 minute bus ride ,when I land at the grocery store.
My stomach churned the entire ride and I made it to the err toilet . Thank God :)
Your welcome for the TMI. LOL
I've been trying to write this post for 3 days now. Ok, where was I?
Oh yeah, I had an encounter with some British blokes the other day. I was on the walking trail on my way home from the grocery store. Ahead of me are 4 guys standing on the grass. As I'm walking towards them ,I think "they look like they're bored and looking for trouble." I start mentally trying to guess their ages as I'm walking.
I get a little closer and I hear one of them say"hey it's that girl again."
One of them yells out to me "You always have a suitcase don't you?"
I say" Actually, it's a backpack."
"Are you from America?"
I'm passing by them as I yell back "Yes."
"You look just like Peggy so and so." One yells .
"Who's that? " I say
" She's a really buff mod el" He says with a British accent, while doing a muscle pose.
Hmmm... I must look up this Peggy when I get home. LOL
I keep walking and then they start singing "She's an American girl ....she'll come into your town ...she'll help you party down...she's an American girl."
I was chuckling to myself the rest of the way home.
Oh and I guessed their ages to be about 9 or10 years old.
Naturally ,by the time I got home I had totally forgotten the last name of this buff Peggy. Damn you, senility!
Well it's Friday ,my spouse is on his way to the airport right now to come home.
My big plan is to get caught up on my chores before he gets here. Exciting ,I know.
Happy Friday peeps!
***********************************************************Oh , and ..here's a P.S.
My darling friend Brad sent me this email :
I google-ed "peggy british model"
This must be what they meant.
Peggy Ashcroft - dead at 83! - come on - update and post it !
You must be right ,the resemblance is uncanny.
I 'm feelin' the love brutha' :)
Oh, p.s. 2 I meant to also say that if the little boys had been closer to me, they would have really been embarrassed to see that I was old enough to be their grandma .
I am sitting here eating some rather repulsive, leftover spaghetti .I thought I would freshen it up with this jarred curry sauce that I bought.Well, nope. Didn't freshen it up, it made it too tomatoey and also tastes NOTHING like curry. bleah
My spouse left today for Helsinki. I have done hardly anything all day long. I know, shocking. He didn't leave until noon. You know I can't clean "around " someone, nor can I clean without my cleaning music blaring. So, entire day...wasted.
I didn't feel too great either. Remember my "Alli" problem? Well, I ordered that stuff online 2 weeks ago. It still hasn't come. I remember it like it was yesterday, it was a Tuesday.
2 damn weeks ago!!I had my spouse check our credit card statement , YEP ,they charged us 40 pounds for it.
For the love of God people, where are my POO pills???
I can't stand the sight of my bloated self in the mirror.
Yesterday, I took the bus to Fareham. YES! It was babyboy's day off. Imagine my relief when I saw a grizzled old man driving the bus.
It was nice and warm out when I left the house. By 2:00 ,it was freezing ,sunless and windy. I was just about to go catch a bus home and then have to freeze to death,walking all the way home when hubby called from work and said "I need you to sign the taxes, want me to come pick you up?"
(Thank you God!) Yes!
He came and got me then had to go back to work. i read some books about victorian living conditions and woman during world war 2 ,and I waited and waited and waited. Hubby finally got home about 7 p.m. (I still had to cook dinner ) gah! Being poor sucks. We used to be able to order some chinese food.
Anyhow, while I was waiting , Booger (O'Reilly) demanded to play fetch . So here's daddy's rotten boy ,playing fetch. (As you watch the first one, note the splendor of our lovely British home) NOT! LOLOLOOL
There's 2 more videos after this. Some of you have seen them. If so, I apologize. Believe it or not, I actually have some new readers :)
Well yesterday we took a drive to a town called Hayling Island. It was a cute area but not too easy to get in and out of for an every day commute.
So far , we haven't found any town that would be any better than the one we're in. ack!
We did not stop and get out anywhere so presenting the hideous pictures I took from inside the moving car.
Downtown hayling Island.
Oh, I mean city centre.
Half of that house on the left is "for let" probably pretty pricey too.
The Terror:
This is where the saying "hedged in" must have come from.
Homes on the seafront in Hayling Island.
Vegitation tunnel.
The seafront over in the distance.
Thatched roof. These are a common sight over here. Close up, it seems pretty incredible .So I looked it up....so I could quit asking myself "How do they do that?"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thatching
British trailer park.
ugh..caravan park.
British cat, hanging around loose .
That's is all :)
I'm waiting for my husband to get the heck out of here and go to work, allready, so I can do my chores.
Then ,it's off to Fareham for my big trip to town . Woo hoo!
I hope it's babyboys day off from driving the freakin' bus.
I think I may have mentioned this before, but my husband is a horrifically scary driver.
Every time you get in the car with him, after much "white knuckle" action , you feel relieved and lucky to be alive if you've made it to your destination.
Well, THIS is in America. So, trust me, here in England.....OMG, wrong side of the road, freakin' stick shift with the left hand, and steering wheel ...wrong side of the car.
I don't even DO the thrill rides at the theme parks . I'm scared to death on a plain old roller coaster.
Every time my husband drives here, I am really terrified. There are times when I am on the verge of dry heaves. There are (many) times when I slap my hand over my eyes , because I just KNOW that he will never stop in time,before we crash right into that tiny car in front of us. ANDDD they seem to have no speed limit here. He's usually going about 90 miles an hour.
Remember we're on the WRONG side of the road.The road is very skinny. Over on he left side of the car, huge hedges are mere inches away from my face as we speed by. If I dare to look the other direction, speeding cars are mere inches from hitting us, HEAD ON.
The entire experience...TERRIFYING!
Well, if HIS driving isn't bad enough..... ha! welcome to my NEW nightmare.
Picture it, Whiteley ,Uk. last week. I'm standing there waiting for my bus, which BTW , is like waiting for a watched pot to boil. Bleh.
The bus finally shows up and it is a mere child driving the bus. A dark haired child with spiked hair. he has the face of an infant. There is a "grown" man in a suit and a neon vest standing behind him.
I think (horrified) "Oh crap, we have a trainee driving the bus."
I was scared to death! The hedges are whizzing by, my heart is beating out of my chest. I mean , that guy WAS standing behind him, but he would probably wreck the damn bus before he could do anything about it.
The next time I take the bus , baby boy drives right by and misses a stop. Suit man says "didn't you see those people?"
So, even though I had just paid him with 20 pounds , he short changed me 5 pounds, by then I was too full of pity for him to say any thing.
I take the bus , maybe one more time and "suit man " was driving , babyboy was sitting on one of the seats, so I figure he got in trouble for missing people , short changing people etc..
OK, so picture it , today ..... I am endlessly waiting for the bus. It is 5 minutes late.
As it nearly whizzes right by me, I'm frantically waving my arm.
I see that the driver is looking down instead of looking at the BUS STOP. He sees me right in the nick of time, comes screeching to a halt opens the door and then...what to my horrified eyes do I see?
Oh SHIT! Baby boy is now driving the bus SOLO.
"Don't be forgetting me." I said .
He said something, which I could not understand.
"They're letting you drive by yourself now? I'm scared!"
He said something , which I could not understand.
Then the terror ensued.
I was probably the only one on the bus that knew that we were being driven by an infant bus driver.
OMG! I was sooo terrified, every turn that he made , I felt as if the bus was going to turn over. Every time he stopped to pick someone up, I was afraid he was going to pull right out in front of someone. Every round about ,my guts were about to come up.
As I watched him while he was, whistling, drumming on the wheel , looking at his papers......I just knew I was at deaths door.
I saw the hedges rush by me, closer than ever, scraping the sides of the bus. It finally reached a point where I thought to myself "Holy crap, if I had balls, they would be shriveled up to my neck by now."
Miraculously, we made it to town and when it came time for MY stop, they had the street all blocked off for construction. He didn't know where to stop. He finally found a place to stop and as I ran off the bus I said "Thank you!"
Cavuto, the great white hunter...he can smell them or something.
He gets up every morning and goes on the hunt for bugs.
Monkey and O'Reilly after her harrowing ordeal today... Cavuto went ape shit on her, after she growled at him for 10 minutes ...for NO reason.
He sat there and looked at her ,growling at him for about 5 minutes, then he talked back...his tail swished and next thing ya know , SHE was trapped behind the file cabinet , screaming like she was being killed.
And last but not least..the actual spoiled ass brats on the British counter.
No one wants to drink "old water" around here.
I can't say as I blame them because the water here really is AWFUL.
Cavuto sits there by the faucet ...just waiting for water to magically appear . And O'reilly covets the water ...but he won't drink out of the faucet...he has to have a fresh glass of water, preferably crystal.
***************************************************** Cat betrays his girlfriend:
I am supposed to pass this on to 6 other blogs that I find to be 'over the top' - hmmm... I'm never good at doin this ........... I don't want to get people who have already recieved the award......I think I am going to pass it on to blogs you all may not be aware of. These are on my "everyday reading list"
1.Big cute beach girl. This girl is funny!
http://bigcutebeachgirl.blogspot.com/
2 . Star simplified.She is a great writer and always has something interesting to say.
http://starsimplified.wordpress.com/
3.Betty over at Best posts of the week. She is running a great list EVERY week of YOUR best posts!All you have to do is send it to her.
Yesterday we took a little trip to a really cool town called Arundel. We went to see the Arundel castle. It was unbelievable. The mere fact the they managed to build it as long ago as they did....boggles the mind. We were not allowed to take pictures of the inside due to all the priceless things inside.The opulence was indescribable.Here are a few inside pics I found (mostly on Government sites)
The drawing room.
The library
One of many bedrooms
Chapel. the ceiling was unbelievable.
The billiard room
Another bedroom.
I can't find a pic of the dining room that will allow me to download it. (dang it!)
Everything was enormous , tables, fireplaces, fixtures. I can not imagine how they got that stuff in there in the first place. It had to have all been built on site ,somehow.
www.arundelcastle.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arundel_Castle
I had to re-do this movie because at first it was over 12 minutes long. I had a camera and so did my spouse. Here are our pictures ,in no particular order (nor do I know who took what,at this point) Enjoy this spectacular castle!
oh joy, what could be crappier than waking up in a foreign country with ONE cigarette and NO car? Oh believe me...there are even crappier things :)
Such as......
WHY ,WHY ,WHY???did I only bring ONE pair of glasses?
Picture it, Fareham, the library.
I'm standing there ,hurriedly looking for decent books when all of a sudden my glasses fall right off my face onto the floor.
When I blurrily look down onto the library carpet I see the glasses in one spot and one of the arms of the glasses was half way accross the room.
Oh great....now I'm frekin' blind! I scotch taped them together and have spent HOURS on the Internet looking for new ones...but noooooo ! All they have are those little ,skinny old lady "half" glasses.
I REFUSE to wear that shit!!!
I refuse to look THAT old!!
And then there's this one......(note TMI coming ,you may want to skip this part)
Some of you know this, most probably don't but..hey we're all adults here....I have a paralyzed colon. (Don't know why or how and naturally the doctors never did anything to correct it)
I can literally go weeks without pooping. Not pleasant, let me tell you.
Well, about 2 years ago I once took some Alli to try and lose a few pounds......and what miracle should occur? I didn't lose any weight, but I was suddenly able to go potty like a normal person! Woo hoo!!
Well ,before I came to England I read that Alli was now available here. great, I'm all good.
Not! Picture it...Fareham, the Boots pharmacy,a few days ago.....I stand in the line forever ....I finally get up to the counter and say "I'd like some Alli"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I haven't been trained to sell that, she'll have to help you"
Points at clerk next to her.
I get over to HER line and then I am told that I am "not allowed to buy Alli because I am not fat enough"
Lovely. I guess I don't need to tell anyone who hasn't gone potty in 2 weeks now, do I?
Yeah, so I'm tired, ugly ,blind and full of crap.
What's new with you?
***********************************************************************
The few thrift store finds I've made........
cat statue
cat carving
flesh eating flower and candle holder
hideous lamp (they're ALL hideous) like this
When my spouse first came here he bought ONE curtain panel for each window. WHY?WHY? WHY? would he do it? I don't know.
But trust me, it is butt ugly!
ahhhh...a complete set of ugly curtains :)
from the thrift store
Also...speaking of that son and those room mates....they'll be looking for a new one soon. Out in Jacksonville Florida......tell your non crazy kids or friends.
Wesley BlackIf anybody is going to be looking for a new home February 1st, please let me know. We will have a spot opening up. Contact me for details.
Our house is spacious, we have a fenced in back yard, dishwasher, garage and hot tub.
Requirements are pretty basic: must be gainfully employed, must not be hopelessly addicted to any drugs, must not have thieving or vandalizing tendencies, must be willing to either lock yourself in your room at all times or do you part in keeping the house clean.
We are located near NASJax. 2 minutes from I-295. ...
1/3 of the rent is $400 - Plus 1/3 of the electric and cable.
Let me know if you or somebody you know may be interested.
Well, let me see....what's new? I think I am finally getting over my mystery flu. Thank God!
Saturday my spouse dropped me off in Southampton. It was a really happening shopping district .I actually needed a whole day there, not just a few hours. If I had had more time I could have seen the huge mall and the waterfront. We saw huge cruise ships docked down there on the way into town. They had the street markets set up and there were thousands of people walking around ,shopping.
I had been dropped off right by a huge Debbinhams store.A snazzy department store ,they also had them in Sweden. (and this is where I would be picked up ) So while I was waiting for hubby I went in there and looked around ,man would I like to have about a million bucks to spend in there. It was soo expensive I couldn't even buy a pair of socks in that place.
I would have started with a nice pair of boots......
like these. Oh shut up, I have to walk everywhere, remember?
These are only 175 pounds. (ha! )
(that is about 280.00 Us dollars)
I would have thrown in this nice little dining room table and chairs.
Speaking of crappy,if you walked into our house back in Arkansas you would never say " jeez, what do you have ,a whole herd of cats up in here?" You could not tell by the smell that we had any cats.
Here, in this cracker box, ugh, it's a different story. I can smell the poo, I can even smell their cat food. Sometimes it reminds me of the ferret cages at Petco. I feel like I'm IN the ferret cages at Petco!
I need a nose plug.
Good thing we don't have any friends coming over. EVER. ha ha .
Yesterday we went to two furniture stores to look at dining room tables . Right next door they had a "boot sale" which means a yard sale. But this was a huge warehouse full of several yardsales . Not one thing had a price on it. So I bought nothing.
The oak furniture DID have prices.....so we left empty handed there as well.
Today my spouse is off to Sweden again. My big plan is to go into Fareham .woo hoo.
Ok, I'll shut up now. here is the slideshow of Southampton.
Ok, it's official....I'm starting a support group for "people like me" It's called "S.O.W.'s
spouses of workaholics .....and also "friends of the friendless " comes to mind . Like on I love Lucy.
let me know if you want to join. :)
Since I got nuthin' ,as usual.....here's a reallly big meme I stole from Big cute beach girl.
http://bigcutebeachgirl.blogspot.com/
she's pretty funny . check out her blog. (after you read mine, of course) lol
1. If you could uninvent one thing in the world so that it would no longer exist, what would you choose?High heels
2. Do you find it easy to ask for help?Usually.
3. If you lived a hundred years ago, what job would you have had?Hopefully housewife to a rich cattle baron.
4. What are some of the most persistent and challenging obstacles in your everyday life?Not having a dryer , being unable to drive and this damn cold.
5. If you met your clone, someone with your exact personality traits, likes and dislikes, etc. Would you want to be friends with him/her?Heck yes!
6. What is your biggest challenge in life right now?Being far ,far away from my kids and my friends.
7. If you had to be famous for something, what would you choose?I’d be that woman who won a huge lottery ,even though she never plays.
8. What surprises you most about your life so far?Everything has surprised me so much that nothing surprises me any more. Anything really is possible.
9. How would people who knew you in high school describe you?That short girl with the big hair and the big boobs?
10. What’s your favorite meal of the day, and why?Whichever one is served to me in a restaurant. Because I didn’t have to cook it or clean up after it.
11. What is the one thing you would really regret not doing at some point in your life?I would really regret never having any grandkids
12. If you had to, how would you describe yourself in a personal ad?Semi old, semi good looking, dirt poor, yet fun woman seeks Mr. Right (this is assuming I wouldn’t HAVE to unless something happened to current husband)
13. What is the one thing that you “know for sure”?Nothing is free and nothing is fair.
14. When is the last time you got lost and what happened?I don’t usually get lost. I have a pretty good sense of direction, but if I ever do, I try to enjoy the ride and see the sights as I find my way back.
15. Have you planned your funeral and/or written your will? No. I used to always have a hand written will when my kids were younger but now I got nuthin’ Oh! I did separate all the kids’ childhood stuff into their own boxes. That counts for something, right?
16. Do you carry an umbrella when rain is forecast or do you just risk it?I usually have one close by.
17. How bad is traffic in your town?It seems to be horrible in ALL my towns.
18. What is your most despised household chore?Right now, it would have to be the dreaded laundry.
19. Pick out the most important item in your wallet/purse and tell why it’s important to you.My ATM card baby! I think that needs no explanation
20. What was your first car?A 1965 Oldsmobile, it was teal green and in perfect condition, had electric seats, electric windows. And 5 brand new Goodyear tires. I got it for a whopping 250 bucks.
21. When listening to music, do you tend to focus more on the lyrics or the melody? Depends on the song. But I kind of do have a weird phobia about music I don’t “know”
22. If you had to pick a theme song to sum up your life right now, what would it be?Wanted by Jessee James
23. What celebrity crushes did you have when you were growing up?Ugh..why was everyone so nerdy back then? Donny Osmond, David Cassidy, Davey Jones,
24. What cartoon character best describes you?The sea hag . LOL
25. Complete this statement: “I recommend…..”that someone who loves me sends me some David’s sunflower seeds
26. How do you learn best? With flashcards and memory. Then as soon as I ace the test I soon forget everything I learned.
27. Is one of your senses more highly developed than another?I guess it would have to be taste. Cuz’ I can’t see, & I can barely hear or smell.
28. What says summer to you? Warm weather, the lake and the boat!
29. What’s your favorite food item in your refrigerator right now?Cheese
30. What one item in your kitchen best describes your personality?That weird oven, that no one understands how to operate.
31. What is the best thing about the city in which you currently live?So far, the store is close enough to walk to.
32. What do you love most about yourself?I guess my hair. And my niceness
33. Is it easier for you to forgive or forget?Forgive. I NEVER forget.
34. Do you believe people can change?Not totally. Usually what you see is what you get.
35. Have you ever attended a high school or college reunion?Not my own. I have been to hubby’s and I can sum it up in a few words “boring geriatric fest”
36. Do you keep in regular contact with anyone from high school and/or college?No, but I am still friends with my GF Kim, we go back to Jr. high. And Audrey, I’ve known since she was 5.
37. What new course would you like to see added to the nation’s school curriculum?Common sense
38. Where is your favorite place to sit when at home?It would be the dining room table..if I had one. Ha ha ha . Our leather couch is cold and uncomfortable. Oh how ‘bout the kitchen counter. I sit there a lot.
39. If you could spend a year in perfect happiness but afterward remember nothing of the experience, would you do it?Sure , why not. I’ve spent a year doing worse things.
40. If your house was burning and you only had time to rescue three non living things, what would they be?How about that, I just realized there’s no non living thing in here that I care about. My purse, my computer and a coat
41. What or who encourages the child in you to come out and play? My fun girlfriends and my fun kids.
42. What flavor of ice cream best describes your personality?Iced mocha
43. Which of the seven dwarf’s best personifies you? Dopey
44. If you had to describe your disposition with meteorological terms, what would a typical forecast be like?Sunny all morning, grey and dreary by afternoon,.
.
45. What breakfast cereal best describes your personality?Fruity pebbles
.46. What do you think is the biggest waste of time?Relaxing and doing nothing. I don’t see how anyone can stand it.
47. Complete this statement: “If I knew then what I know now, I….”I’d have thought I was prettier and had more fun when I was young.
49. Do you generally take the high road or the low road?If this is what the question means… then I usually take the high road
"take the high road" means to do the right thing. Don't sink to low behavior even if your enemies do.
50. If you had to name the worst song to wake up to in the morning, what would it be?Anything by the Beatles.
![Peggy Ashcroft.[Credits : Sasha—Hulton Archive/Getty Images]](http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/91/67991-003-3835DF1E.gif "Peggy Ashcroft.[Credits : Sasha—Hulton Archive/Getty Images]")
