Smells like Pax Lodge

You know how you can smell a smell and it immediately takes you to some other place or time? I know I've written about the Pax Lodge smell before and how it's one of the things I really like. I don't think I've ever smelled Pax Lodge outside of Pax Lodge before. I have smelled London outside of London, but not Pax Lodge.

Until today. Today I was in the little coffee area at work boiling some water and washing out a mug to make hot chocolate (because it's WINTER here again...what's up with THAT?) and the dish soap fairies bought a new brand of dish soap. It's some environmentally friendly something or other. And it did a nice job of cleaning out my mug.

And then, well then, I felt like I should be running Tilly and cleaning out Oscar and ironing to Classic FM and making endless beds and hoovering at 7:00 am and putting the flag up before breakfast and after putting in an hour and a half of work already and drinking wine on the Heath and vodka and tonic in the pubs and buying huge cans of beer, 3L bottles of Strongbow or individual Archers cooler drink things at the off license after last call. Yeah, if you lived or worked with me at Pax Lodge, you'll know what I mean.

Turns out, it was all because of that new dish soap.

Crazy.

And yes, yes I am procrastinating.

Memory Lane

Alex called me a work this morning with news that he had secured two tickets for us to go back to our early teens. In November we're off to GM Place for an evening of late eighties boy band nostalgia with New Kids on the Block. I don't know if you can consider them "kids" still, but I'm sure it will be an entertaining evening.

End of an era

London has a new mayor, Boris Johnson, and he has decided to ban alcohol on public transit - trains, tubes, buses, etc. The ban doesn't really bug me since I don't live in London anymore and I'm used to Canada's more restrictive alcohol laws anyway, but in true London style, some people got together and organized one last party on the underground before the ban came into effect this morning. It sounded like a super idea, but apparently it ended in a less than positive manner. Why? Why do people do stupid things and wreck a great idea/time for everyone else? Oh and apparently it's Mayor Johnson's fault too!

Why?

For more, just Google london underground last party or visit the facebook group.

Tuesdays With Morrie

I don't remember the first time I read Tuesdays with Morrie, but I know I read it standing in Mosaic Books. When I was off work last year, it was one of the books I picked up at the library and I know I read it a couple of times.


Alex and I just got home from Granville Island where we spent a pleasant afternoon hanging out with family and then at the Arts Club Theatre where we saw Tuesday with Morrie.


I don't know the last time I went to a play that held my attention so completely. Or a play where people laughed so hard and then by the end most of the theatre was sniffling and wiping away tears. I'd say go see it, but tomorrow is the last night, so go see if you can!

PS Thanks Stacey for the super night out!

To the people on the bus

Dear people on the bus who sit at the front and don't need to,

Pretending not to see the little old lady who was super stooped get on the bus is pretty lame. Pretending not to see her once she's on the bus (ie looking the other way, at the ground, closing your eyes, fiddling with your MP3 player/cellphone) is even more lame.

Dear people on the bus standing at the front,

Not getting out of the way of the little old lady mentioned above when she's trying to sit down, after the bus driver asked you to move, you're lame too. It wouldn't hurt you to squish up for a minute or give her hand as support.

Dear both groups of people,

You never know when you might be the one that needs the courtesy seats. I figured it would be years before I would need to sit there, but last year I spent a good number of months needing to sit up there because I walked slower than a snail who had molasses for breakfast, I carried a cane and for a good amount of time, I was sore. I know it can be a long way from where you get on to where you get off and standing for that long can be uncomfortable, but if you're able, get up...those people who are injured, frail, sick, dependent on a cane or other device to get around often also might not have the strength or the stability to ride the bus standing up, even for a couple of stops.

Four Things

You know it's a slowish day at the office when she-who-never-posts-anymore posts twice in one day!

Four things I did 10 years ago (1998):
1. Survived third year
2. Found out I was going to Pax Lodge after graduation
3. Spent the hottest week of the summer at Camp Arbuckle
4. Went to Victoria for the first time (and the second time too)

Four things I did 5 years ago (2003)
1. Worked for Sammy
2. Lost a lot of sleep because of the Kelowna firestorm and worrying about it and my family
3. Moved into the Hobbit Hole
4. Painted many walls with Fiona

Four things I did yesterday
1. Saw pictures of our baby
2. Invaded six people's homes (legally!)
3. Celebrated a co-worker's birthday
4. Cleaned...lots...nice sparkly apartment for the weekend

Four TV shows I like to watch
1. The News
2. Hockey Night in Canada
3. Bones
4. House

Four things I love to do
1. Read
2. Knit
3. Hang out with Alex
4. Hang out with my family and friends

Four places I want to visit
1. London
2. Kelowna
3. New York City
4. Ireland

Four books I love (and will reread)
1. The English Patient
2. Harry Potter, all seven
3. Maisie Middleton
4. Little Women

Four things to do this weekend
1. Celebrate Alex's birthday
2. Hang out with my Mom and Alex's family
3. Get some warm weather clothes that fit
4. Continue the hunt!

Four things to do before my next birthday (which gives me not quite six weeks)
1. Swim two - four times a week
2. Catch up on my emails and letter writing
3. Reduce the pile of books that are half read to one
4. Reduce the number of knitting projects in progress from about six to two

Four things about you?

Inappropriate tiling

Oh my...we looked at an apartment yesterday that looked okay in the pictures...but we got there and the entire thing was tiled. Even the bedrooms. Brrrr...way too cold for my liking. The lady asked me if I liked the tiles and I said I found them too cold and she got all defensive about how warm the building is!

Sigh...

What's in your bag?

I have this bag that goes everywhere with me...it's not too big, not too small, just about perfect except on days when I go swimming. And it holds lots in its seven pockets.


When we went to Europe in the fall, we often took only these shoulder bags and nothing else when we'd go out for the day. Sometimes just one bag. With two cameras, two water bottles, fruit, pens, paper, gloves, hats, scarves, maps, guide books and whatever else we thought we needed that day plus whatever stuff we picked up in the many shops and markets we visited. Now they make good work/lunch bags.


Contents from the top left:

• Bus pass
• Business cards
• Apple sauce
• Sunglasses
• Keys
• Grapefruit
• THE coffee mug (for hot chocolate these days)
• 1GB USB key
• Case for camera (usually with camera in it, but something had to take the picture)
• Cough drops (both packaged and loose)
• Girl Guide crest
• Agenda/calendar
• Cheque book (yes, some people still use those occasionally...I'm not sure why I'm carrying it around though, I don't use it very often)
• Key chain thingy that fell off the keys up there
• Two receipts...only...the rest must be stuffed in the granny wallet, because, well there has to be more than two!
• Appointment card from the doctor's office (for an appointment that already happened)
• Mail that hasn't quite made it to the mailbox (but at least I just put them in there today!)
• Cloth for cleaning glasses
• Cell phone
• Sad looking package of tissues
• Pregnancy friendly Tylenol
• Random coupon for Steeps Tea (tea date anyone?)
• Eiffel Tower key chain (for no apparent reason)
• Local-seattle-based-soccer-mom-mega-coffee-shop coffee sleeve with a grocery list on it
• Another grocery list
• The grandma wallet

Things that I often have in my bag but for some reason are missing today:

• A book
• A notebook
• Something (or things) to write with
• Address book
• MP3 player
• The rest of my lunch
• More receipts
• A reusable bag for grocery stops on the way home from work
• Lip gloss (I wonder where all my Burt's Bees is!)

I have been carrying my back pack a lot lately because of the swimming gear, so some of that stuff could be in there...and maybe I'm getting better at getting rid of receipts? HA! I doubt it.

So, I got rid of the receipts and the grocery lists and the appointment card, but the rest is there to stay until I get home tonight (unless I eat the grapefruit and apple sauce before I leave the office)

What's in your bag?!?!?!

Vermin funeral

The vermin is gone. Yes, that says is, as in one vermin not multiple vermin.

The poor people across the hall had a bad smell in their apartment for a few weeks.

Yesterday the building manager went in to help them find the source of the bad smell. And it was a dead rodent.

We're pretty sure there was only ever one, so hopefully this is the end of the uninvited visitor saga!

Adventures with the crazy lady

or why the advice your mom gave you as a kid is still good advice.

This little adventure has been popping into my head lately...not sure why. Maybe I'm hoping my kid will listen to me and not hang out with the crazy lady!

A few years ago, when I still worked for the corporate office and went out after work many nights of the week, I went out one night for sushi, then a movie and then beer with some coworkers. At least that was the plan. We got the sushi, we saw the movie (the oh-so-brilliant movie ahem...sarcasm...The Grudge) and we kind of got the beer after.

The movie freaked us out, so we figured a pub was a good way to get unfreaked out. The first place we went had dramatically increased the cost of a pint so we had our one drink and decided to go somewhere else. By now our group had dwindled to three...me, TC and his roommate H. And we were by far the most freaked out of all the people we were out with. Since they only lived a block and a bit from my place, we figured we'd go back to our neighbourhood, have some less expensive beer and then they'd walk me home, make sure I was locked in and then they could go home together and both sleep in the living room with all the lights on that night.

So we hopped on the bus, only to get about two blocks down Granville street to discover the next two blocks were blocked off because of a major police incident involving lots of police cars, some ambulances and chaos. We hopped off the bus wandered past the incident, which looked like nothing and didn't make it in to the papers the next day, and decided the fastest way to get out of downtown was to catch the bus on Burrard Street. So as we waited to cross Burrard, stamping our feet and blowing on our hands, the lady standing next to us remarks on how cold it is. Something inside my head screamed IGNORE HER...something inside all our heads screamed IGNORE HER, but she was irresistable.

Not that way.

And so we proceeded to break the parental rule number #1 - Don't talk to strangers.

And in conversation with her, we discover that she is going to YukYuk's, won four tickets and her friends bailed, so did we want to use her extra three tickets. In later discussions, we concluded this lady reminded us in a gnome-like way of Bette Middler (kind of) with a super squeaky voice.

So, since we already broke parental rule number #1, why not have a go at parental rule #2 - Don't go places with strangers.

Off we traipsed to YukYuks.

At some point, the crazy lady bought us a round of drinks, but when TC and H tried to buy the next round to thank her for the tickets, she insisted she was done drinking for the evening. Her one diet Sprite was more than enough for her. Ooops, just broke rule #3 - Don't accept candy/food (alcohol also applies) from strangers.

After the show ended, we were tired and still bent on getting to the pub in our neighbourhood. So we walked out with her and were saying goodbye when some interesting people came up and started talking to her. Seems she was a party organizer with a balloon business, but she also arranged strippers so if we wanted strippers ever, call her, here's her card. At that point we just wanted to leave, but somehow she discovered we were heading her direction and on the bus so she offered us a ride.

Broken rule #4 - Don't get into cars with strangers.

When we got to the car, well, we realized it wasn't a car at all, it was a big white van with no windows and a CAGE in the back. A cage. Where she put TC and H. Who didn't have a phone between them. I had to sit next to her in the front seat. With my dead phone clutched in my hand. We told her we wanted to go to Broadway and Granville, but she insisted we couldn't live there, so H told her we lived near Broadway and Macdonald. Off we go, down Broadway, all the while she is "entertaining" us with her stand up routine. Which we all said was great...just so she wouldn't keep going. But at Broadway and Macdonald, well, she doesn't stop. She turn up Macdonald. Somehow, ever so silently, without actually speaking, we manage to agree to jump out at the next light. And lucky for us, the light at Macdonald and 16th was red. And we all manage to get out. She of course was put out that she couldn't drop us on our doorsteps, which we'd already passed, but got us to promise we'd be back at YukYuks in three months time to hear her super polished routine.

TC and H walked me home as planned and we all agreed we were no longer scared of the movie, real life was certainly a bit more frightening.

And that those parental rules, well, they're all good ones and we were in no hurry to break them again anytime soon.

And that was that.

Or not.

Just over a year later, a good friend from Hawaii was staying with me and we were playing tourist. We'd taken the Hop-on Hop-off bus to the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen gardens and spent a very pleasant morning wandering through there. When it was time to go on to our next tourist stop, R needed to use the washroom and I wanted to take a peek in the gift shop. And then I heard the voice.

Her voice.

And the only way I could escape was to walk right past her out of the gardens or go back to bathroom and wait for R. Who was most surprised to find me loitering outside the men's bathroom. He'd already looked at the gift shop and was done, so he escorted me through the gift shop, away from the lady...

And now, now I keep thinking every time I go into a shop, she'll be there.

And from now on I'll listen to my mom! Because all that advice? It's good advice.