Impulsive day

Tuesday, I met with my adviser, Gale.  I always feel like I should have worked more or harder before I meet with her, then feel like maybe I did enough, but encouraged to work better or more for the next time we meet.


Afterward, I took a bus to Picadilly Gardens.  The fountains were on, which was lovely.  It was a beautiful day, blue skies, cold enough to wear a coat, but not cold enough to need it buttoned.  I walked up Market Street, which is the local version of a mall, to find Selfridges, a store that has American food.  I needed some Reeces for a meeting of ladies who had asked me to talk about America and bring some American food.  You can get hot dogs (canned in brine, but whatever), and hamburgers, so I thought I'd bring something not so conventional.

The main window of the store had a two story tall painting of Wonder Woman and what I assumed was Medusa, who was green with snake hair and bound with a blindfold.  Just outside the store was a large Ferris wheel, which I decided to get on before going to the store.  It had a recorded 'lecture' given by some local DJs explaining what could be seen from the wheel.  I had my camera with me, so I took pictures.

From the wheel, you could see the old Medieval section of Manchester, including a couple of pubs that survived WWII and IRA bombings.  People were having lunch outside because it was such a nice day.  More impressive is the Manchester Cathedral.  There has been a church on that site for over a thousand years.  The current building has been standing since the 1400's.  I'm going to have to see that soon.

After getting the Reeces (and deciding NOT to get Krispy Kreme, at almost 10 pounds per dozen!), I walked around the mall a bit.  Some ladies tried to get me to take a survey about my clothing purchases, of which I have made none since arriving.  They were kind enough to suggest some places to shop for a gal my size.  Then I found a Sony store and asked about some form of connector for my camera so I could upload pictures.  They found me one!  Now I just have to work out how to use it.  My usual approach of looking up and saying "Um...Huz?" is just not going to be effective this time.  It does mean new pictures soon though.

After all that, I took a bus home.  (Discovered yesterday that the Oxford/Wilmslow Road route I spend most of my time on is the busiest bus route in Europe.  Don't have to wait more that two minutes for a bus, which is nice)  I got home just as the local weather reasserted itself, bringing a cold wind and overcast.

Birds

I was standing at the rock wall that surrounds my building of flats this morning, waiting for a ride to play rehearsal.  As I stood in the grey light of an English morning, the birds were especially noticeable, as there were few people or cars around at 9:00.

I find British birds particularly interesting.  They are so small in comparison with their American counterparts.  The song birds, which have lovely songs that are easily heard, seem to be about the size of the hummingbirds I would watch in the Langthorn's back yard in Oklahoma.  Its incredible that these two or three inch birds can produce such loud calls.

This is an English Robin.  I think the colors aren't quite right.  To me the brown bits should be more of an olive tone, and the orange parts should be more rust colored.  Its a beautiful, tiny little bird that lives in and near the block where my flat is, because of all the trees.  Sparrows and (what look like) chickadees are also smaller in comparison to those I'm familiar with.

I've taken pictures of the pigeons that like the park near my place.  (I'll get those posted as soon as I can.)  The pigeons are like any pigeons anywhere else in the world, I would imagine.  Same size, same greys with a purple sheen to the neck feathers in good sunlight.  I took pictures of these guys - a flock of between 50 and 100, depending on the day - because of the stand out bird.  There is one brown member of the flock; the only brown pigeon I've seen here.  I discovered recently he is a male, though the lady pigeons seem unimpressed with his display.  But then, they always seem unimpressed, don't they?

You can always tell a pigeon from around Picadilly Gardens (a rather unlikely name for the place, as there is a smallish patch of very short grass as the only greenery).  Picadilly Gardens is where all the major bus routes end, as well as trams, metrolinks, and is only a short walk away from Picadilly Square where the trains have a station.  The pigeons there are more likely to be limping, lame or missing a foot.  I'm not sure if being there gave the poor birds the problem, or if they stay there because of easy pickings of the Gardens and nearby Market Street.  One day, I saw one bird with a twig about six inches long and an eighth of an inch diameter stuck in its ankle.  It allowed me to get close enough to think I might be able to help before it flew off with its twig.

I thought at one point I heard a woodpecker in the park by my flat, but it was a raven (maybe a blackbird - is there a difference?) knocking something against one of the trees to get it open.  Ravens are smaller than I would have thought, but then maybe they were that small when I saw them at the Tower of London in 2000, and they grew in my imagination.

Busy, busy, busy....

Is anyone surprised?

I finally got internet connection at my flat last Thursday.  I'm able to get work done!  (and video call my husband, which is more important)  It's amazing how interdependent we are on this technology.  When I first started college more than ten years ago, I distinctly remember Dr. Allen Rice telling the class not to go online for research, and not to trust the internet.  Now, you can't access a library catalog, access journal articles, or contact colleagues without the silly thing.  Journal articles that are not anthologized are digitized and only available through services like JSTOR.  Ask a librarian (less than 50 years old) about the card catalog and you get a blank stare.  Even inter-library loan for anything less than 50 pages is just digitized and sent to your email box.   All communication for business or education purposes is also conducted, almost exclusively, through email, which makes it difficult to know about meetings and the like if you don't have access.

The point to the whole ramble is that I can now get some serious work done, without resorting to lugging my laptop to the school library only to get online to do the work I could be doing at the house.  Less wasted time = (theoretically) more work done.

On a more personal front, I'm now involved in a few other things to fill my time.  I've been attending conferences, discussion groups (one organized by me at the 'request' of my thesis director), attending workshops, and other school/education related activities.  I've also been called as my ward's music director, joined a choir that will be performing for the 400th anniversary of the printing of the King James Bible on June 11 as a tenor, and have a part in the ward roadshow.  (For those not in the know, a road show is a short play, 12-15 minutes, put on by church members, with several church groups performing the same night)  I do all this so I have something to do with my copious spare time while doing a doctorate, because it is so easy, and not at all time consuming.  (Did you catch the sarcasm of that last sentence? I thought you might have.) 

But for all that, I should be able to post more often, now that I have access to the internet whenever I want it instead of whenever it becomes available.  I haven't forgotten about posting pictures, but have to wait for a connection cable for my camera, as my computer won't read the memory card, even with an adapter.  Chet said he would be sending one along, because they don't sell them here.

Feast!

Last Saturday, a group of my friends got together for a semi-annual feast for the UCO Medieval Society, alumni, and other interested parties.  I couldn't be there - some fool excuse about being 4,000 miles away, or something - so my husband attended for both of us.  He reported the evening through an email that was so amazing I'm including it here, typos and everything.  I don't know why he loves me so much, but there you are.

Here's the email:

Just got back from the feast.  The head count at meal time was 25, and the spread was bigger and more varied than I've ever seen (Mr. Langthorn even made the same comment in his toast, thanking the cooks).   I met a guy named Richard who teaches Medieval Philosophy, who sat on my right.  Steve actually wound up on the other side of me (since Nuri sat me at the "head" table).  Unfortunately, the people I know with this group are the ones who know the most people, so I got about 5 minutes with Theresa at the beginning, participated briefly in a discussion that had been going on before dinner between Steve, Jake, and other unknown parties about the existence of freewill.  I happen to have a firm opinion on the subject and found a way to express it succinctly that fit in with the flow of things.  After that, I was left to talk to Richard.  I told him my history with the Society, found out he played tag-a-long husband and took care of the kinds while his wife finished her PhD, and...yeah... Once the table cleared out a bit Steve came back and told me all about his trip to Greece with another group of students.  This one was apparently a special experience.  You can certainly find out more about that from Steve and Nuri, if not online then I'll see what I can link you. Here's Michael's toast as best as I can remember it:  (Steve had spoken a moment before to the group about Heath "It is a good day!" and Mark)  Michael moved to stand behind me, then said, "There are a number of former members that couldn't be with us today, but there is one in particular that needs mentioning...Chris Petty, his wife" (here, there were several voices raised in enthusiastic assent, or versions of, "Oh, we can't forget her." ...in a good way, keep your )  Then he gave a capsule history of how you got launched on your current trajectory.  His toast was to the hard work and dedication you put forth on that loom project that put you in a position to be where you are now. As I was typing that paragraph a had a, "Aaaw!  Sudden realization of perfect thing to have said!" moment.  Doesn't matter though.  Those who know you witnessed it, those who didn't would have suspected a loving husband of exaggerating (which I would not have).  Since I'm too late to tell them, I'll tell you, to remind you of the mountain you've already climbed. "Ladies and gentlemen, what you've heard is correct, but bear in mind that except for being borrowed as a thesis for a term paper or two, none of the research she did on the loom during her time at UCO had much to do with the loom.  She was also busy earning a dual bachelor's degree in History and English, and doing a mother's share of raising three kids.  In addition to these things she was doing for herself and her family, she was President of the Medieval Society for several years and heavily involved in it every year since we moved here.  As a student in Dr. Law's class with Chris, there was one thing you could count on come test time.  She would organize a study group, instigating, planning, coordinating, and can anyone who ever attended one ever remember showing up and not having some sort of home-made snack on hand?  Finally, when she first joined the Society, the previous Representative in the student-body House of Representatives had left and she agreed to take up the job.  Once there, she was placed on the Ways and Means Committee, the major annual task of which is to receive the budget requests from all the student activities groups and use them to determine the next year's budget.  However, because student body organizations have such a high roll-over of officers, many of them didn't understand the system that was in place, and the system that was in place was...well, frankly...I think it was created for a much smaller student body and never fixed because by then it was "in the constitution."  Budgets were handed in en mass just days before the Ways and Means Committee deadline for submitting the finished budget, many times improperly filled out in one way or another, forcing members of the committee (busy students, all) to put in marathon hours sorting through these forms.  The result was that when the budget was done, many groups didn't get funds they needed and there was money left over which got dropped into a 'Rainy Day Fund' ...first come...first served. "Well, you can probably guess by now she wasn't going to like this situation much, but she dutifully put in her marathon hours for two years then set about like a one-woman-army to fix it.  In the end, I think it wound up rewriting a chunk of constitution.  Ladies and gentlemen, to give some idea how grateful the student body government and their sponsors were to this were to this one woman, they passed a bill into law on her last day as the Med Society Representative, making February 5 every year, 'Christina Petty Day.'  So here's to my wife, whose abilities, strength, and the beauty of her spirit that she gives to everything and everyone around her so freely still leave me breathless." Happy Birthday! Love         your Huz

Food!

I've been thinking about this topic for a while, as it is kind of important to existence.  And it is enjoyable.

I expected there to be differences, of course, but in retrospect I expected more name changes and extra items more than not being able to find things I'm used to having.  For example, zucchini is called corgettes and I had stretchy bacon for breakfast this morning, but I can't find any chili.  Or Mexican restaurants.  What's that about?!  Doesn't everyone eat Mexican food?   There are plenty of flan, paan, scotch pancakes and croissants, but no tortillas, cream of mushroom soup, cinnamon rolls or link sausages.  There is Krispy Kreme, though.  Go figure.

I also have a problem with their baking isles.  Chocolate chips come in what looks like 3/4 ounce bags, flour comes in 1 kilo (2.2 lbs) bags.  That's not enough to make my bread recipe, maybe a batch or two of cookies...

Adverts around here seem to assume that cooking at home is not an everyday occurrence.  There is one that says running to the store, going home, cooking it up and eating it will only take 90 minutes.  If the stuff is already in your house it takes less time, people!  Weird.

On the flip side, I can get duck, duck grease, haggis, and all kinds of Indian food at the store, along with other items I have yet had the guts to try.  I've had duck, actually.  It was very dry, reminding me of the chicken squares that come in the Lipton dry soups before you add water.  (I was a strange child...don't ask.)

Hopefully, I can start posting some of my many pictures soon.  The posts should be more interesting then, as I take pictures of things just so I can remember to tell people what I'm thinking, noticing, and finding interesting, like the tiles on the Oxford Road train bridge that look like characters from the old Space Invaders Game, the cinema inside an old warehouse, or the single brown pigeon in the flock next to my house.

Addendum:  No Chocolate/Peanut butter combinations  here either.  No Reeces, no chocolate covered peanuts...that's just wrong!

the wheels on the bus go round and round

Today, while riding the bus, I saw an ambulance helping a girl with no shoes or coat on the sidewalk.  She looked like she had come out of a building, and would be ok, they were just being careful.  The really interesting thing was the ambulance itself.  It was, I kid you not, a bicycle with large dayglow yellow packs saying ambulance on them.  And I thought the ambulance that was a two door hatch back was small…

Speaking of busses, I saw Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban last night while doing cross stitch.  The scene with the Knight Bus, where the bus stops and starts on a dime, waits for an old lady to cross the street, and squeezes between other busses was hilarious when I first saw it.  Now I realize they are just showing a slight exaggeration of the British bus system.  The drivers stop and start like they only have two speeds (sounds like my husband’s grandfather – a wildcatter for the oil fields in his day.  Ask Chet about him.), all the way on the brake or all the way on the gas.  They drive these huge double decker busses like they are the size of a motorcycle, squeezing in spaces they shouldn’t be able to go, zipping and weaving around in traffic like it was no big deal.  Kinda scary, if you stop and think about it, which is not really advisable.  But hey, at least my sense of balance is improving.

still waiting

Still no internet.  Still no bank account, and still having problems registering.  And to fix the problem with registration, I need to be able to get online.  Sigh…

It’s snowing today, but not sticking to the sidewalks.  Brollies are everywhere.  I suppose I ought to get myself one, but a hat seems easier. 

I sat next to a guy on the bus who either had his mp3 player turned up really loud, had bad earbuds with a lot of noise bleed, or he didn’t have any brains to soften the sound so his empty skull was acting like an amplifier as the music bounced around.  As it always seems that the people with this problem are never listening to classical or jazz or new age or something like that – the music was very heavy on drum beat – I’d go with option three.  Not that I have any problem with rock.  I listen to a lot of it myself.  I just think it doesn’t need to be so loud.  Maybe I’m just getting old.

People driving on the wrong side of the road is something that surprised me a bit.  Not that they do it, but just how little I seem to notice.  Only every once in a while, like when I saw a six year old girl in the “driver’s” side seat, or when someone is turning across traffic but is in the wrong side of the car from my experience, does it cross my mind.  If anybody watched closely they could tell I wasn’t local because I still look right-left-right instead of left-right-left when crossing the street, as you should here.  Decades of checking oncoming traffic that would hit you first from the right hand side is difficult to overcome.