Funny Photo Friday

Philharmonic Pub, Liverpool

Enter: The Car

So, we've now reached another milestone in our marriage... we own a car. This post has been long in coming, seeing as how our car isn't that new in any sense of word, but still is worth while. We've known that we would need a car to drive our Europe trip (get it? Clever eh?) and have been passively looking for a while. We figured that we would just break down and actively look to buy one after Christmas when suddenly a friend asked if we were still looking and gave me a number.

Read more about el coche!!!

Turns out a friend of his was going back to Canada (in particular Saskatchewan; who's from Saskatchewan?), and they were going to scrap their car. I talked to the guy and was told it runs fine, just needs some work to pass its MOT (a road readiness test), and we could have it. So, shortly before Christmas, we bought a car for 20 quid.

Look at that massive 1.1 Liter engine! I left my glove on the block for reference

After Christmas, we finally picked it up from the shop and have been happily using it since. It does have some quirks, and it is 14 years old, but it runs just fine! It actually must have been a pretty decent car back in the day, as its state of the art tape deck and theft deterrent (in order for the engine to start you need to enter numbers into a keypad that is mounted in the car!) demonstrate. That being said, it also comes with a sunroof, which I'm sure is great for those many and oppressive hot English days...

Ahhh, the glorious sunroof. Took me three days of owning the car to realise that it existed; needless to say I was quite excited when I saw it, a little less excited when I realised it only opened 2/3 of the way.

In general though, it's a great little thing. So what if the temperature light kicks on when we drive any length of time of 75 (or at 70 going up a hill) or that occasionally all the lights on the dash (of which there are a total of FOUR) turn on? I'm sure it'll be fine. So far it's gotten us down to Chester and Liverpool, not to mention trips around the area, so in comparison, what's a little jaunt down to Greece and back?

The family we bought it from even threw in a child seat and a frisbee. Glad to know that Canadians still conform to their national law of 'Canadians abroad must have a Canadian emblem on display at all times.'

And I'll end with my favorite bit of the car, the dash. You can see from the photo below all the gauges and indicators we have, but my favorite gauge (of our two) is the one to the right of the speedometer. At first I couldn't figure out what it was, and then it dawned on me: it's a clock.

Typos

I'm looking for work back in the states at present and so far both schools I have applied to (as of yet) have had typos in their job descriptions.

I love when other people, and especially institutions, make those simple mistakes as well. It reinforces the idea that, despite what my wife thinks, we are all flawed and most of us don't excel at grammar.

Every now and then

Every now and then, my co-workers remind me that they are European, through talk of a stag do (bachelor party) in Leipzig or mention of an EU regulation in an uncharacteristically positive tone, and I feel a thrill of amazement at them and at me. Often Europe is regarded as an other here, a summer holiday destination or an intrusive regulatory body, and I forget our inclusion. It's charming enough that they are British, but then suddenly my co-workers are something else- they're European. I, American. Not of the United States, but of the Americas. They, of the 'mother land'. We are a world apart!

Funny Photo Friday (Revised after not having a photo to upload!)

Funny what you put up with when you know you're leaving soon...

Email of Josh's posted below.



from: jjfw
to: megan feenstra wall
date: 29 January 2009 17:32

I officially hate our measuring cup. I was just measuring some
sticky rice (yum) for tea and held the thing up to see where the level
was at when it split in two, sending rice everyewhere.

I pause.

I looked at 1/2 a cup of rice on the floor.

I then laughed... and sighed.

I decided to write this email, enroute to the vaccum cleaner, still smiling.

Tomorrow I may just buy a new damn measuring cup if I see one around. :)

Sun starved

A few weeks ago I read an article that told me that I was probably a stronger baby than Josh because I was born in the summer to his autumn, and my mother had probably absorbed more sunlight and, as a result, converted more vitamin D for me, her unborn baby, than Josh's mother, but that's not too shocking; we already knew who would win in a brawl. This was the line that dropped my jaw for a minute there:

In winter months at latitudes of 52 degrees north (above Birmingham), there is no ultraviolet light of the appropriate wavelength for the body to make vitamin D in the skin, research shows.

Oh dear, oh dear. Birmingham is a long way SOUTH of here! Makes me feel like this lovely flower I got from a friend for Christmas. Photo one- taken at 10pm. Photo two- taken the next morning at 7:30 am as the sun is barely beginning to peak through our window. That is one desperate plant. I'm with you, Paperwhite; oh, how I'm with you.

Quiz Results: What's wrong with this picture?

Let's be honest. The quantity of quiz responders was a bit dissapointing this time round, although I must admit the quality was quiz-tacular. (Megan made me write that.) In fact, your answers were so creative, albeit farfetched, that I deam the quiz a draw. You may all claim your prizes* in person within the next 12 days.

Our answer lies in the squirrel. Almost upon arrival to this country, we have been bombarded by squirrel-news here in Britain. Squirrels are apparently a British national treasure under threat. In the 1870's grey American squirrels were introduced to Cheshire, and it's all been downhill from there. The native red squirrel just couldn't compete with the larger, more ferocious grey, and for reasons of competition, reproduction or disease (reports vary), the red squirrel has become increasingly rare. Rare enough, in fact, to warrant signs in some areas in the North warning motor vehicles of their presence in the area. Those darn Americans; always trying to push their way into the British consciousness. (I will admit... the red squirrel is a tad bit cuter.)

Thus, we were taken aback that Kew Gardens, a national treasure itself, would be so vile as to show a GREY squirrel on their sign!



On a squirrel-related side note, a recent news story reported that a traveling nurse in County Durham was attacked by two squirrels, and nurses are now warned not to walk alone in the woods. Funny enough. But this sentence in the online article takes the cake:

'Last year, inventor Mike Madden ended up with whiplash after a squirrel leapt on him as he tested a head-mounted bird feeding tray in Huddersfield.'

Now that would be a funny photo.


*Prize is a caramel shortbread slice from Vennels in Durham. Worth the trip, you three...

Funny Photo Friday: OK. OK. Wait, what?

In Liverpool.

Quiz: What's wrong with this picture?

Taken at Kew Gardens.

The answer will be posted on Sunday and as always a the winner will get a prize!

Good luck and we look forward to your answers.

P.S. extra points awarded to creativity and humor.

Sometimes

Sometimes I feel like I am living a fake life. This is my co-workers real life, the train guard's too. I'm just here temporarily to make things interesting. For them, not me. For I am in transit, moving along, entering someone else's world for a few days, months, even years, and then leaving again. Eventually I will stop and make my own life, and other people will move through that instead, coming, staying, leaving, but I am not sure when that one will begin. This one is so much more interesting.

Funny Photo Friday: When NO really doesn't mean NO...

Liverpool

Wordle

Oh dear. I'm afraid I've discovered a wonderful, er, um, terrible time waster. Paste text into www.wordle.net and here's what comes out:


This is my post "A Letter from Newcastle." The more common the word, the larger it is, so guess what was on my mind that day...

I thought I'd try something more substantial, so here is Josh's 14,998-word dissertation (thesis, you Americans)! Go ahead, find a love email from your partner, a funny article from an online newspaper, change the colors, the shapes, the font, and see how addictive it can be...
I even tried it with the top 2000 words (5000 was just too much)...

Liverpudlians are from Liverpool.

So are Scousers.

We went to Liverpool with one a weekend ago. A friend here in Durham was kind enough to offer her tour guide services, along with her parents' house and food. Although I think we all had trouble understanding each others' accents all weekend, their hospitality was wonderful!

We made the three hour drive in no time, about three hours, in fact, and spent a speedy Saturday along the River Mersey. Although we were short on time, we made a lovely loop through the city, visiting the fantastic Meritime Museum, the Tate (modern art), the Albert Dock, the Anglican cathedral, the Catholic cathedral, the Bombed Out Church (which appears to be its official name), the club where the Beetles played... and past a whole bunch of fantastic street art including some trees that were supposed to slowly twirl around but didn't happen to be twirling that day (by diller scofidio + renfro, you columbia friends. They were going to do the Blur building again but no money or something). Liverpool was the European Capitol of Culture 2008, a title it supposedly just barely stole from Newcastle, and although we missed the whole 2008 bit, I'd like to say we are now more cultured than before our visit. At least I think that's what that means.

Anyway, we got some great photos, so check them out...

See los fotos...

Remember I mentioned street art? Here's a crazy one. Artist Richard Wilson cut this big oval out of an abandoned building. It rotates around, although I am not inclined to post our videos right now. Too much work.



The new Museum of Liverpool. Meant to open for the Culture 2008 thing, but funding went awry. To open in 2010 instead. I made Josh and Hannah wait while I did some standing there watching the construction workers and wishing it was open.

Here be Hannah and Josh in front of Albert Dock:

And the docks themselves. Full of restaurants, shops, flats and museums. Very cool urban space. Also walked through the Maritime Museum here. Having mostly been on the other side of things, it was interesting to read about immigrants leaving a place...



The Anglican cathedral is HUGE. Although Durham's still wins. (How's this pre-captioning working for everyone? Understandable and all that?)


More street art. Luggage from all those immigrants in concrete...

The Catholic cathedral is weird. And surprisingly successful. The inside is fantastic, especially the stained glass.

The Bombed Out Church. We couldn't go inside because they were setting up for a Chinese New Years thing, but you could see what was missing. Pretty amazing for two people from a country not touched directly/physically by war, that it's just there, in the middle of the city...


And in case you forgot our post earlier... the SUPER LAMBANANA. Ah, yes. If Liverpudlians are known for their sense of humour... what is this saying about them?

Idiots and snow

Sunday night there was a Newcastle v. Sunderland match (two local teams) and their fans tend to like to fight. So as the serious news reader was recounting the fights (50 Newcastle fans attacked police and Sunderland supporters) he quoted the official statement from the police where the police called the troublesome fans 'idiots.' Funny.


Also it's been snowing here over the past day, proper snow, not tons of the stuff but actual snow and it's sticking. Consequently, the country (including some of the news readers) is mildly freaking out. We aren't at a sheer panic but just a continual sense of concern and the worry about the snow, at least on the news. The highlight thus far was the weather woman who exclaimed that there was 'nearly 6 inches and more to come!' or when we were warned about the 'immininent blizzards.' All of this has caused public services to close down or be delayed, most public transport websites have crashed and, my personal favorite there are NO BUSES in London this morning. Also funny.