Grocery shopping
I went grocery shopping today.

Yeah, yeah, I can hear you all now... "That's great Kate... but lots of people go grocery shopping... it's the sort of thing MOST people do, in fact..."

Ah, but today, I went grocery shopping WITH A CAR!

If you've ever been vehicle-less, you'll know what a pain in the arse grocery shopping is. You can't really get as much stuff as you might like, because you're going to have to carry it all home with you, whether that means walking or taking public transport or biking of what have you. It's probably going to be heavy, and you don't want to take up too much room. Not only that, but you're confined to whatever is close and/or convenient. I don't know about you, but I've never found it particularly fun to have to switch buses whilst carrying two armloads of groceries.

But today, I got a text message from Nicola "Going grocery shopping this afternoon. Meet in the car park at 2:15?".

Yes, ladies and gentlemen. Nicola has a car.

Which means that not only was I able to get a LOT of groceries... but we were able to go to a decent grocery store to get them. The ones nearest me, are, quite frankly, tiny and crap. We went to the Sainsbury's - the BIG Sainsbury's out by Monks Cross. It's, like, a real North American grocery store, folks! It's amazing! It's probably about the size of what I'm used to from back home in Canada - like Save-On... which is a huge treat after being treated to boutique-store sized grocery stores. I spent a lot, but I'm not going to get another similar opportunity for a while now. It was fantastic!

I NEVER suspected I could get this excited about grocery shopping.
The day out

The Shambles.
Arguably York's most famous street, Shambles is a derivation of the medieval "Fleshambles". It was the butcher's street (Flesh...ambles... hahaha! They were punny, those medieval Yorkshiremen). There are still all sorts of meat hooks outside the buildings and the upper storeys are notoriously close together - they say you can shake hands across the street... although you'd have to be dangling out the window with someone holding onto your ankles and would need really impressive muscle tone in your abs and back muscles...

Merchant Adventurer's Hall. It's a 14th-century timber-framed building, the largest still in existence in the general geographical area of York. It's the quintessential medieval guildhall with all sorts of meeting areas, dining hall, undercroft, chapel...

18th Century Shoes
At the York Castle Museum, they actually have a really lovely fashion collection, for a museum that's pretty tiny and not particularly impressive. These shoes are my favourite ones there.

1890s bathing suit

Feel like going swimming? One of the museum's fashion acquisitions is a bathing suit from the 1890s. I'm so impressed with the sheer lengths they went to to keep people covered, although with the short sleeves and just-below-the-knee length of the pants bit, it's definitely bordering on the 1890s definition of risque.

Viking dude at the York Dungeon

Went to the York Dungeon. I'm afraid that you can't actually creep me out or gross me out any more. I seem to have managed to desensitise myself to that. As such, the Dungeon was fairly disappointing. The only way to scare me is to startle me, apparently, and there wasn't much of that going on. I felt like I was getting a 9th-grade English history lesson whilst there. Ah well.

Residents First
The lake is icing over, the ducks are swimming/icebreaking, the sun is shining... there is the potential for this to be a great day. And not just 'cuz the scenery outside my window looks good.

No, ladies and gentlemen, it is because the weather's great AND it's York Resident's 1st weekend. What is this, you might ask? Well. Let me tell you.

On production of one's library card (which was totally free, btw) you can get into tons of the city's tourist attractions for free/reduced admission.

So some classmates of mine, C and N, are hading into town today to go be geeky tourists in our own backyard.

I think the Lonely Planet Guide to experimental travel would be pleased. It's not necessarily particularly adventurous, but hey, we're on student budgets here.

Ciao for now
Abide with me
The scene: Montreal. I've never been there, except in flights of fancy. But today it's foremost in my thoughts. Mostly because it's foremost on CTV Newsnet at the moment as well. Last weekend a firefighter was killed there whilst battling a blaze in an apartment building. CTV is showing the thousands of firefighters and emergency response personnel making their way into the Basilica of Notre Dame. And for some reason I'm bawling. Nope. It's not some sense of public responsibility and loss on a general level. It's not that I know some firefighters and feel like it could have been them.

It was the music.

It was nothing special, particularly. Just some marching band. Not a particularly good marching band. Playing "Abide with me", a hymn I've whined about over and over and over, having had to sing it pretty much every Sunday all summer.

But somehow, on this occasion, it was really beautiful. And when the band went into the church and the bells began to ring, I just about lost it.

I think it proves that my music is about as close to religion as I get. I go to English Cathedral church services not becuase I'm Anglican, but because the music (not to mention the setting) is beautiful. I play handbells because they're such an amazing and unique experience. Most of my clearest memories are associated with a song of some sort. I don't know that I believe in any sort of God, but I do believe in the power of music.
Itch update
Ah yes.

The itch.

Seems, after a visit to the doctor, that I'm allergic to something. Go fucking figure. But what? Lord only knows.

May be that a long standing intolerance for pine nuts decided to explode. I did, after all, have pesto the night I began to itch like a... well, we just won't go there. But more likely it's my penchant for having delayed reactions to things. Yup. My brain might be smart, but my body's stupid. Examples:

The year: 1996. The place: Cuernavaca, Mexico.
Kate is tidying up the room in which she is staying. There are things strewn all over. She goes to pick up a towel that's hanging on the back of a chair and feels a sharp pain in her left ring finger. The towel falls to the floor and Kate turns to her roommate in fear. "I think..." she says, "I've been stung by something. Can you check the towel?". Some poking and prodding later, a scorpion has been discovered and Kate is whisked off to the Red Cross Centre for observation. "It's like being stung by a bee," they say about this particular variety of scorpion. "You're either allergic or not. We'll know in about an hour." An hour passes, Kate goes back to the room, goes to sleep. Two hours later, Kate wakes up, throat tingling, hand swollen to an incomparable degree. Turns out I WAS in fact allergic.

The year: ? (I was in my early to mid teens). The place: church.
Kate mentions that she's been itching to a friend of the family who also happens to be a nurse. Nurse takes one look at her and seems convinced. It's an allergic reaction. To what? Oh, that's right, to those antibiotics Kate started taking 2.5 weeks ago that the doctor told her would show any side effects within a week.

So the only thing I can think of that would be causing me to scratch like a dog with fleas would be this: Instead of doing laundry MORE THAN A WEEK AGO with 'biological washing powder', I used the cheaper 'non-biological'. And really, that's all I can think of that would be causing the problem. It's either that or the fabric 'conditioner' (translation: softener). So I've tried switching soap and re-washing most of my stuff without softener. We'll see how this goes.
Apolitical
You may have noticed a distinct lack of political analysis on my blog. Especially compared to a lot of blogs out there that tend to focus on nothing more than the foibles and flaws of various nations and their leaders.

Quite simple, really. I don't care.

Well... ok... perhaps I care in some vague "oh, wow, that leader of a really powerful country is a bloody idiot" way, but that's about it.

But today, I'm taking a slight moment out to talk politics. Canada had a general election yesterday. The results came in whilst I was sleeping blissfully away over on this side of the ocean. And I have only 2 words for the result.

Thank God.

Not in any religious sense, really.

I mean, we all figured the Conservatives would win. I'm just really bloody grateful that they've only managed a minority. Means they have to watch every bloody step they make. And for someone like me who leans a little to the left, that's a good thing.
Itchy!
Holy crap I itch. I have no idea what the hell is going on.

I woke up with little bumps on my thighs. Not really an issue - I assumed it was a shaving thing.

But about an hour ago, they started to itch. Along with my shoulders. And most of the rest of my body. And I have little bumps all over. ALL FLIPPING OVER! And do you think I have any anti-itchy sort of stuff here? Hell no. No drugs, no lotions, nothing. I think I might go nuts.

And I have no idea what caused all of this.

UPDATE: It's now 12 hours later... and while I'm less bumpy, I'm still itchy. Off to the drugstore for something antihistimine-y and/or calamine-lotion-y.
The Minster Ball
So the Minster Ball was last night. And for your enjoyment, here are the highlights.

You walk into the Minster, and it looks rather like this:

Yes, I know the photo is blurry, but I was attempting to use the Night Scene setting on my digital camera. Which, it turns out, is really only useful if you have a tripod. But if you ever want to make ghosts on film, just keep that shutter open a little longer and get people to move in front of your camera. There were candles on the tables, everyone was dressed in their finest... The food was decent (not the best ever, but good...).

I must say, though, that as part of the deal (this thing was thrown by the University's Christian Union) there was an "after dinner message" about the joys of Jesus that I found rather objectionable, especially since the crowd was NOT entirely Christian in faith - a lot of polemic on how Jesus is the ONLY correct way to go. Don't get me wrong, I have absolutely nothing against Christians whose faith is strong. I do, however, have something against strong-faithed Christians who are extremely intolerant of the other religions around them. I'm sure the Muslim girl that was at the ball last night was THRILLED to hear the guy say that she's wrong and that Mohammed had nothing to do with God. Or that the many Asians, doubtless some of whom were NOT Christian, were thrilled to hear that Buddha had nothing to do with God either.

But then that was over and it was on to the dancing. The band was advertised as a funk band, which... I don't know what I was expecting... but it turned out to be more your 30s and 40s Big Band Swing sort of thing as revived by Brian Setzer and his orchestra not that long ago (with such hits as the Zoot Suit Riot - which was not played last night, thank god). But the music was good in spite of the fact that the Minster's acoustics are completely crap for anything louder than an organ and choir.

There was no alcohol involved (licensing something like this would have been a nightmare, not to mention that they're all good Christians and don't need alcohol to have fun). We left shortly after midnight, but didn't miss much as the thing ended at 12:30. Fine by me. I still managed to sleep for 12 hours straight. It was a good night out - lots of fun. And as we headed out the doors we got loot bags. With Christian literature in them. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the Christian literature. I'm not going to read it, but I feel a little bad about throwing it out. We'll see. But now I need to get groceries and such. Oh joy!

Ouch
I had to get up this morning.

Yup. This MORNING. Earlier than 11 a.m.

It hurts. I'm still living somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic.

Oy.

And now off to class. Ouch.
Question
So, ladies and gentlemen, I am a geek, and I subscribe to CTV Newsnet's online live stream. Keeps me in touch with the current events back home. But as I went to their website to log in today, there was this question as the poll of the day.

Would you take a pill designed to fade traumatic memories?

It got me thinking - would I? God knows I don't have any particularly traumatic memories. God knows I'm in favour of medication for mental illnesses (Tom Cruise can go do anatomically impossible things to himself). ButI still don't know how I feel about this.

What do YOU think?
I hate shopping
As mentioned previously, I'm going to a Ball in the Minster on Friday. Yup.

Ball. In the Minster. How cool is that, Kate thinks to herself. And then I keep thinking and realize that I don't have anything in my teensy closet here that's even SEMI-formal, much less TOTALLY formal. Oops. And Adele's not here for me to beg her to make me something fun that would actually fit and look good, nor would I ever ask her to do it on less than a week's notice - that's just cruel. So I had to go shopping today.

In this, I am the anti-female. I hate shopping. I particularly hate shopping on weekends, since it's so busy, but when else was I going to do it? Ok, actually, now that I think about it, I probably could have gone on Monday or Tuesday. When everyone from Yorkshire was NOT actually in York shopping (or at least that's sort of how it felt). The shops were FULL like you wouldn't believe. They're small at the best of times, compared to North American shops, and when they're crammed full of every single person within a 100 mile radius, it gets even worse. I don't do well in crowds to begin with, so crowded stores just make me itch. And shudder. And itch some more. And LONG for some space. A Steeps Tea shop would not go amiss at the end of a day of shopping - tea, a good book, in a comfy atmosphere... but alas, no such thing here.

Even worse is the unhelpfulness of the staff in the stores here. Customer service is a foreign, North American concept. In Canada, store staff will jump on you with a "can I help you at all today" within 2 minutes of walking in the door. There's actually some rhyming thing that some companies have for their staff that helps them remember to make contact with each person that walks into their store. I'll have to ask my friend who worked at HomeSense or whatever what it was. But I digress. In Canada, I've had store staff fit me out with a personal-stylist-type service when I said that "I need something professional-looking" and keep bringing me items to the dressing room to try on, until I was drowning in clothing. Granted, part of this is because of the desire of the commissioned salesperson to upsell, but when I have no idea what the hell I want, this actually comes in handy. Hell, the dude at the camera shop where we got my digital camera convinced me not to buy a particular more expensive model because a cheaper one would be more use to me. Here, you have to practically drag them away from the intense personal conversation they're having with their coworkers to get some assistance. Oy.

In addition, for some reason, I am one of those people that likes to know what they want, go into a store, purchase, and leave. Browsing is unnecessary except in minute amounts. This is why I particularly hate clothes shopping. I need to find my own tailor that can make clothes that actually fit my body AND look good. So far the two have been more or less mutually exclusive in my life. I should've been born in the 1800s. Those clothes fit me. I have what could more or less be described as an hourglass figure, even without a corset. Hell, I'd even have done OK in the 50s, I think. BUT things that fit through the waist will NOT fit through the hips for me these days, and so pant shopping is a nightmare. Skirt shopping is a nightmare. Dress shopping is a nightmare.

But, eventually, I found a dress that'll do. It was a bit pricier than I'd intended (honestly, if I had a sewing machine I probably could have made myself something for much less... although I haven't found a fabric store in York yet...).

So ignore the really messy hair and here ya go. Yes, I've edited the photo. Adele pointed out that anonymity has its advantages, although I think I only have three or four regular readers that I've never actually met in person.

It's... well... pretty much the color you see on the screen. It's almost chocolate brown, but has just enough purple in it that the people who created it can call it plum.

So. I bought the dress after much agonizing over another dress (but the 12 was too small and the 14 was ever-so-slightly too big in the bust area).

And then I realized that I have no shoes. Well, not any to wear with an evening gown, anyway. Here I was all relieved that my shopping was done, and then... shattered.

So I wandered to a few shoe stores before finding good shoes. They're silver, pointy-toed, with embroidery and such on them. I once swore I would never wear pointy-toed shoes, but they're surprisingly comfortable. God knows they'll be out of style in a year, but for now, they'll do. And there was a matching handbag, so that bit's taken care of, too.

But oh, dear God was I glad when it was all over.
A pleasant surprise
So I went and checked my mail today. There was a little envelope in it for me.

Strange.

I don't get mail. Well, rarely, anyway. So then I pick up the envelope, and it rattles a little.

Strange.

I flip the envelope over to check the return address.

Strange.
(Well, sort of strange. You have to understand that most Canadians will put the return address on the top left of the FRONT of the envelope...)

The return address is down in Kent.

Strange.
(I only know two people from Kent, and one of them is up here at the University. Kent, BTW, is a county in the Southeast of the country.)

I open the envelope, and there's a card inside. And inside the card is a small, wrapped package. This is getting cooler and cooler. I check to see who it was that sent me this item, and it was a friend from Lallybroch.

Lallybroch, btw, is an online community for fans of the author Diana Gabaldon, which I've been participating in for about 6 years now. I've met several people because of this forum, mostly from near me in Alberta, and have become fast friends with a lot of them. Being in the UK is giving me the chance to meet a whole new set. And no, they're not axe murderers. They're extremely lovely people. It's hard to explain the connection unless you've been there for a few years, I think.

I continue to dig into my mini parcel, opening the package. Inside is a necklace. A lovely necklace. That goes with a lot of my clothes and is absolutely gorgeous. Although the photo is in black and white, all the stones and crystals on the chains are shades of blue and turquoise and clear, and the chain itself is sortof a bronze-y gold.

The card and present was basically a "welcome back to the UK" gift - I'll admit that I was whining about having to come back - not because I don't like the UK, but because of what I left behind in Canada.

That being said, I think I'm going to cry; that was the sweetest thing anyone has done for me in a while.

In other news, I will be going to a formal dinner next friday, so I now have to go shopping for a formal dress that doesn't cost a fortune. This could be interesting. The cool bit is that it's going to be held in the Minster. Yes, it's a Christian-centred event, with a sermon in the middle, but there's going to be good food, good friends, and good dancing/music. Very exciting. It's going to be weird dancing to jazz/funk music in a building dating back to the 12th century, but, hey, I'm up for the experience, because it's going to be exactly that - an experience.

And now that school is starting up again, I'm definitely getting back into the swing of things and feeling less miserable, although I'm definitely missing everyone back home. I keep thinking we should go for coffee and then remembering that we can't just do that.
You know you're a geek when...
You actually find yourself enjoying bits of Latin that you're reading for class:

Olim Sanctus Columba in provincia Pictorum per aliquot dies manebat et necesse habuit transire fluvium Nesam. Ubi ad ripam advenit, vidit aliquos ex incolis huius regionis specatre miserum homunculum quem ut incolae ipsi dicebant, natantem paulo ante in fluvio, aquatilis bestia dentibus magnis mormorderat. Vir sanctus haec audiens, iussit unum ex comitibus suis ad alteram ripam natare et navigium, quod ibi stabat, ad se reducere. Comes ille, nomine Lugneus Mocumin, sine mora vestimenta exuit et, tunicam solum gerens, inmittit se in aquam.

Once upon a time, Saint Columba was staying the province of the Picts for several days and needed to cross the River Ness. When he came to the bank, he saw several of the native people of that region watching a piteous little man whom, as the locals were saying, while swimming in the river a little before, a watery beast with large teeth had bitten. The holy man, hearing this, ordered one of his companions to swim to the other bank and bring back to him the little boat that was moored there. His companion, named Lugneus Mocumin, took off his clothes without delay, and, wearing only his tunic, threw himself into the water.

Yes, that's right folks. Quite possibly one of the earliest accounts of the Loch Ness Monster.

How cool is that?
Back
Well, folks. I'm back in York. It's 10 p.m. local time (3 p.m. mountain time back home). I hate transatlantic travel. By the time I got back to York I'd been up for damn near 24 hours and I was ready to just fall asleep. So I did for a few hours. And now I'm wide awake.

I wish I could say that I was glad to be back. But everything just feels sort of wrong. Maybe it's because I'm tired. I don't know.

What I can offer you all, though, are some photos from my vacation.


This is me and Willow. Willow is my friends' new puppy that I was mentioning a couple of posts ago. Damn, she was cute.

The Muttart Conseratory (where I worked New Year's Eve) has all sorts of fun plants and things - this is their Orchid display (and a bit of my friend Bonobo's (not her real name) shoulder).

And finally where I was technically stationed - the arid pyramid. Cacti, succulents that sort of thing. And for future reference, folks, arid means DRY, not WARM. Could have used a sweater if I was going to be in there all night (I managed to escape though).

Well, bugger
Right. So that internet network came back within 48 hours, but I've been too lazy to actually bother posting anything.

Spent New Year's Eve at the Muttart Conservatory with small children for their first ever attempt at a special event on New Year's Eve. It was fun. Mostly 'cuz I got to dress up like a fairy. The magical variety. It was a medieval fantasy-themed evening.

And I've mostly been sitting on my ass since. Which is fine. That's what Christmas is all about, right?

I've spent the last couple of days, though, running around trying to see everyone I've missed and won't be seeing for the next 9.5 months.

And I need to stop now because I'm going to start bawling if I think about it any more...

Half an hour later...

Ok. I can do this. I went out to see some people yesterday - co-workers, mostly. Nicky and I went for coffee at the Second Cup... then I went to find Biddy and give her the crisps I brought back for her. She wasn't home. So I tried at work... she was there! So we had lunch together. And then I ran into Angie at the mall, which was lovely. And dinner was at O'Byrne's where 11 of my coworkers from FEP managed to come out - it was fantabulous! I'm going to miss my FEP family this summer.

And today, best surprise EVER! Adele got back from Montreal last night, and was in to work today, so we got to go for lunch! I didn't think I was going to get to see her at all whilst I was here. AND I got to see the Greek kittens again. Not that they really remembered me, but nonetheless... My babies are still there and are doing well... *sigh*

How am I going to manage the next 9.5 months? These are the most supportive and fun people ever... I'm going to miss you all a ton.