happiness is...

...having a lovely place to live.

i've all moved in but i have no internet acess at the minute which makes things a bit difficult.

that's all really.

Minuscule - The ladybug

i think i'm getting an ulcer from stress. to avoid thinking about my house fiasco i find amusement any way i can. there's a commercial around at the moment that uses the old school sesame street song ladybug's picnic. since the topic at school is minibeasts i thought it'd be fun to teach it to my kids. they love it.

but as i was searching for the song i came across the most wonderful little animations called minuscule. if you have 10 minutes watch some of them. the insect race has my kids gripped in delight. they've wanted to watch it every day for 2 weeks and still cheer at the end for the winner. i think snails dream and zzzelpin are my favourites but picnic is pretty great too. they are complete amusement for young and old.

oh the drama

i've not a had a pleasant few days. saturday alex and i decided it was time to move. our landlady is crazy and has been illegally subletting the house. she gave notice to the letting agency but didn't tell the house. so we're out....we could cause a hoo-haw for the illegal eviction but the house is not worth the time or effort.

we found the greatest place saturday night but then on sunday night the flat fell through. so we searched again today and found a mostly suitable flat. the bonus? it's a studio! and it's all ours. but it's not in the most central location. the down side, i have to give deposit tomorrow and they can't promise to hold the flat until after school. so i'm hoping my school caretaker will take my money to the bank as soon as it opens and deposit it the letting agency's account.

the best part of my weekend was when a car was broken into right under our window. thank christ it wasn't my car. some strung out, junkie looking man smashed a car window at 11:30 to try and steal the radio. he didn't succeed. i called the police while a guy across the street chased him off. could i sleep after that? between the paranoia for my car and alex jumping up to the window with every sound there wasn't much rest.

buda and pest

so i've finally gotten around to editing and uploading some of the budapest pictures to flickr and 23. have a little looksie.

hever castle is next on the list...

traveling doesn't leave much time for blogging

budapest was lovely, although after a week of nothing but delicious goulash and ragout and potato/pasta/gnocchi i was feeling a bit sickly (and exuding a distinctive paprika smell) with the lack of vitamins and minerals you can only get from vegetables.


alex my mum and i went to hever castle yesterday and we're off to canterbury today. i'll eventually get around to a proper blog and photo update.

bu-bye

i'm off to budapest with my mummy.

check back next weekend for a picture update.

the domino effect

i was going to blog about the curious incident in the pound shop on sunday...but alex beat me to it and i don't think i could have typed it any better.

happy st patrick's day

damn the irish make good cheese.


there was an irish market in covent garden today with many a cheese stall. i had to limit myself to 2 varieties of cheese as i really could have gone overboard. why is irish cheese so creamy, flavourful and delicious?

i also had some great irish pie and mash. YUM!

i like al gore

i was listening to my regular radio station the other morning and to my surprise the special phone in guest was al gore. i like him even more because of this interview. he was chatty and entertaining while being concise and political. he also laughed (what i interpreted as genuinely) quite a bit which made me smile.

he was plugging a new tv network, i unfortunately do not have fancy pants cable as 5 channels does me fine, so i can't watch it...but there is a pretty good website. current tv.

have a listen to his interview with lauren laverne

vancouver island is annexed!

there's a show called 'monster moves' on channel 5. big things are moved a variety of distances; last week a grain silo was transferred to the next town over. on this week's show...

a victorian villa is shipped from canada to vancouver island.

blood red moon

the weather could not have been more perfect for last night's lunar eclipse; there was not a cloud in the sky. alex and i took a drive out into the kent countryside where the only light was that of the full moon. ever so slowly the moonlight faded into a red glow. magical.


i unfortunately have lost my tripod, as the moonlight faded so did my picture quality. i just can't stand still enough in comparison. but as fuzzy as my red moon is...it's still evidence that i was present.

cuteness

look what i stumbled upon! who doesn't love a whole web page of kittens?

i get to see an eclipse!

the next total lunar eclipse is a little over a week away. it's my favourite sort of eclipse as you can look directly at the action without going blind.

unfortunately for you lot over on the west coast of canada, i don't think you'll see much. but i am smack in the middle of the goodness! now i just need to find somewhere dark to set up camp and camera.

kung hei fat choi...

...which actually is closer to meaning 'congratulations and be prosperous' rather than happy new year.


bring on the year of the pig!

Set The Fire To The 3rd Bar

i fell in love with this song weeks ago when i first came back to london, there was something about the woman's voice that drew me in. and i just found out a couple days back that it's martha wainwright and snow patrol. i have no great feelings towards snow patrol, but i really enjoy the whole wainwright clan. i unfortunately have no albums by martha, but i think i need to pick one up.