Odds & Sods

I've been working like a dervish the last few weeks and there's been a lot going on... So this is a kind of a cheap roundup of the last 10 days in Big Apple, Little Britainer land...

-- First of all, huge apologies to everyone who's braved the Sham Wow! guy enough to come back here... I lack the tech know-how to stop it from playing automatically. It's been bugging the hell out of me also, so I can only hope I have a few readers left... Personally, I've been saying 'Wow! Every time I use a sham wow!' in my sleep for weeks.

--You'll be pleased to hear, I'm sure, that the mouse and 'roach situation is more or less under control. Thanks for all the advice folks - but during a weak moment in Rite-Aid last week I was at my most American and thought that throwing money ($20) at the problem would be much easier than messing round with expanding foam and wire wool. After some time dithering in the shop, I bought a battery-powered electronic killing machine called Victor (no joke, those of you that know me). Anyway, after spending 30 minutes marveling about batteries -- seriously, how many things do you have nowadays that need batteries? I bet, including your TV remote, it's 90 percent less than the number of things you had powered by AA batteries in the 80s. Times are changing, people -- anyway, within 30 minutes the killing device had its first victim. The count is now at nine (dead), but the batteries have gone after I went away for the weekend and forgot to turn it off. One poor mouse was left with Victor for three days on end. Both Victor and the mouse smelled worse than the rotten potatoes when I got back, but at least there were no living, crawling things around to greet me.

--I made it to the Red Sox game last Saturday - the one that I'd been really looking forward to - in time for the last two innings. The trip to Boston was mildly interrupted by the failure of a rental car company in NY to find my reservation, and an alumni boat race in Westport, Connecticut, that took somewhat longer than expected (old people don't row very fast even when bribed with alcohol)... So, I made it to the eighth and ninth innings of the game, didn't even get a chance to get a drink or sit down, and then I got a call from work asking if I could come back to NY, please, and get to the office as soon as possible? Things kind of went downhill from that moment on and I'm only just pulling myself back together.

--On a more positive note, I appear to have found some tights! That stay up! And don't make my legs look orange! I'm a little cautious, still, as the real tights-wearing weather has yet to hit, but I'm quietly confident that these will do the trick. For anyone who cares, they're made by Hanes and are called 'Sheer Elegance' and I bought them in Duane Reade. Still no luck finding decent hold ups, but small steps etc etc.

--I've had some time to catch my breath and catch up on my reading over the last few days and I have to give a big shout out to all the blogs I read regularly - some of my favorites: Ali Blah Blah, Aye Wonder, A Brit Out Of Water, Alien In A Foreign Field, Almost American, Anglophile Football Fanatic, Bloody Brilliant!, British Daffodilly, Expat Mum, A Brit Different, Long Aye-lander in Glasgow, London Foodie, Brit Gal in the USA, Grand Lake Ink, and Not Wrong, Just Different have really kept me going. It's like having my own little secret support group. Thank you! If I could figure out how to give you those clever blog awards, I would - but if I knew how to do that, I'd probably also know how to turn off the Sham Wow man...