Typical....day off...it's raining :-(

Bought some new pots and pans....exciting, huh? Well, after the exploding egg incident I decided I needed to treat myself. Had the previous set for years...about, hmmm,....well over 10....so I guess they lasted pretty well. Anyway, nice new shiny ones, all non-stick and fabulous.

Neglected Blog

I know....been busy:

Dance lesson with Gleb
Dance lesson with Chris
Pilates class
Spanish class
Meditation class
Anchor Bar for wings and beer
Dance lesson with Chris
Freds Party last night
Spanish fiesta today

Up to date now! LOL

The British invasion of Western New York is continuing.

Not as exciting as it might seem. Turned out to be a story about Citizens Financial Group, subsidiary of Royal Bank of Scotland Group (the Group that took over the bank I used to work for in England), was are buying Charter One.

Raining still. Suppose it's given me a chance to catch up on movies (Adaptation, Calendar Girls and Girl with a Pearl Earring), laundry, cleaning, meditation and stuff like that. Got a very pretty Patriot Violet geranium this morning...a freebie from the meditation class. Sweet :-)

Not slept properly for about two weeks now. Screwed up my neck in the process. Been waking up scrawled horizontally across the bed with the covers all over the place. Normally a pretty tidy sleeper so a clear indication that something's up. Woke up at 4.30 this morning after a dream that ended with a huge cockroach walking towards me. All I can think is that was triggered by listening to an ad for an extermination company on the radio before I feel asleep. Bit freaky though.

Dance Lesson

Finally went in for a lesson. It's been months....in fact probably close to a year. Yelena was hyper-excited about it all. Not too bad considering it's been so long although Chris was clearly expecting nothing to have changed and admitted that maybe he should give me a few minutes to warm up before pushing me. Good to be back :-)

Back East!

Home again. The low point of the trip was watching the Marijuana Cafe in Vancouver burn down on my first night there! Got some photos of the firemen putting out the fire (which I can't get at cos, true to form, my camera batteries died about 5 minutes ago). Damn!!!!! All that was left was the ton of Cuban cigar shops...Rob was insisting that I bring some (cigars, not shops) back for him. Nearly did but decided it wasn't worth the hassle. Although, this morning, I found out from a half-Cuban that, there is a loophole that does allow you to bring them back into the country. Hmmmm. Maybe next time. Probably not so bad if I'd flown back into the country but driving over the bridge can be a bit iffy...as demonstrated by the very cute customs guy that stopped me yesterday. Cute but thick as two short planks. The driver was highly amused when cute officer guy asked me three times where I was born. Same answer every time....London......still London.....yes...London! Thought we were going to get pulled over when he hesitated in giving me back my passport but we survived!!!

High point of the trip, other than 70 degrees of beautiful sunshine and blue sky every day, was walking through the Virgin Megastore and spotting a copy of "Finest" by Ultravox and Midge Ure. The first band I ever saw. They split up but this album is dated 2004 (import) so I wonder if they're back together again or just short of cash???

Got home last night just in time to jump in the shower and run out to the Fred's Tax Season party (red, white. blue and green attire required). Another wonderful evening. Cute guy's birthday was being celebrated so I finally found out how old he is.....21....baby.....oh dear......that makes him...errrr...let's not go there...let's just say far too young for me. Totally devastating. Would have said he was at least 5 years older than that but would have been wrong! :-( Oh well, at least I can get to call him "baby" officially.....seems to embarass him so we'll have to keep that up for a little while. Only one cute guy in Vancouver.....French Canadian...must be the accent.

Big plan for next year...Costa Rica. Well, doesn't hurt to dream does it? Spanish class this morning and someone asked me if I wanted to go. Hell, yeah!!! Course I do. Not til next Easter but it's a nice thought. Encouraged me to buy a text book so I can practice at home. Today we were reading about la familia Lopez, interspersed with negative words (nunca, ni.......). There's a war going on between Carlos, the teacher, and El Buen Amigo (the store over the road). He used to teach there but they had some falling out so now he has a place opposite. Carlos is fully certified and teaches at UB (or maybe Buff State). EBA have non-certified instructors so it'll be interesting to see how many people migrate across the road. He's a tiny guy but he's so sweet and the classes are still pretty small (4 of us today) so we get lots of attention. Just have to see how long I keep motivated to study.......