sweet home alberta

So I'm home. Unfortunately nothing much more exciting to report. Taking some time adjusting to jet lag and reacquainting myself with my cat (and the rest of the family of course). Pretty much just wishing I could fast forward to Christmas and then on to starting the new job. Waiting feels a bit like purgatory...the holding area and I'm not sure if I'm on the way somewhere good, or straight on to the bad place. As I'm so often reminded, only time will tell. Really hoping being in Canada will help speed up the security bollox.

Seeing I've got nothing but time on my hands, I thought I'd try my hand at some proper political type blogging. Starting tomorrow (or whatever) of course as I am a serious procrastinator who should really be turned over to procrastinator's anonymous (ie the lazy lard arse society). Topic on my mind these days has been the relative effectiveness of aid orgs.

It's cold here. I don't like it. ;)

things i will miss about britain

fizzy vimto. the guardian crossword. cherry bakewells. train journeys. weekend newspaper glossies. mueller rice with vanilla custard. primark pants. fish and chips. multi-coloured terraced houses. actually funny comedy. quorn bacon. never being more than a few hours from the sea. m&s. worchester sauce crisps. easter break at the beach (despite bracing wind and rain). the tube. 6 nations rugby. cobbled high streets. proper ale drunk in proper pubs. branston pickle. boots the chemist. decent indian takeaways. waterstones. lime shower gel. the multitude of accents. the bbc. bollox, rubbish, cheeky and lovely (yes, the words). chocolate horlicks and malteaser drinks.


things i'm looking forward to in canada:

my nephew. my cat. having a proper steak. snow (for about 2 minutes mind). american style pancakes with maple syrup. driving. country music on the radio. christmas lights everywhere. hmmmm...

the cornish riviera

On a wee holiday visiting a good friend stationed in deepest darkest Cornwall. Actually there is nothing deep or dark about Cornwall (apart from the weather). It is lovely and friendly and rather old timey. And you can't exactly take a place too seriously that calls itself the 'cornish riviera' and where train conductors sound like pirates. This is a place that feels like time stops and life is lived in harbour walks, long pub stopovers and pasties consumed in teashops. While this is a rather fortuitous phenomenon for people (like me) who are trying to avoid their 'real' life and cocoon themselves from the hectic displacement that is about the occur....it is also disconcerting. Time might slow down for a moment in a sleepy place to sit and appreciate a hot cuppa with a friend, but it doesn't actually stop. On the contrary it keeps flying by. Speaking of flying, that's me on a plane in just 2 sleeps. No, I'm not freaking out or anything. Of course not...that would be silly...

I also got the chance to attend my first British fireworks night down at Swanpool Beach in Falmouth. Really fab. Not exactly for the fireworks...but as a reminder of why I love being British and want to call this place home. All of these people gathered in the cold looking over the water with a sense of foregone disappointment. Finally a few crackers go off...really mediocre, unexciting stuff and there is this collective sigh of yes, of course they are shite, what else were we expecting. Amazing really. They did get better...I mean nothing on the scale of anything you'd see at even the smallest North American display....but so much the sweeter for the humble, low expectations. I'm not really sure why I love that so much, but there we are.

a change is gonna come...

Only just recovering from the late night up with election fever. To be honest I'm a bit disappointed with the lack of 'action'...it was pretty much over before last night even got started. That of course didn't stop me from staying up over many cups of tea and paltry snacks to watch, almost to the bitter end.

Interesting really, I guess I'm a bit of a cynic and I expected that people were a lot less inspired and a lot more apathetic than the American people turned out to be yesterday. Good on them really.

I think that Obama is going to be carrying an awful lot of expectation on his shoulders on his way into the oval office. I just hope that he can live up to it and follow through with change we can all believe in. I admit to not being sold on his spiel...but I hope, especially now, that I'm wrong. The world will be watching and really, it's about time.

all my bags are packed

The time for denial is over (well sort of)...I finally have a departure date for leaving the UK. Came a bit as a surprise to be honest, I spoke to my mum on the phone about booking a flight home and the next day received an e-mail from my father telling me when I needed to arrive for the plane on November 12th. Parents are interesting creatures. Efficient though.

To be honest, reading the details in black and white shocked me a bit because it was finally a fait accompli, I am going and with only another week to say goodbye to the UK (and all the people who make the UK the place I wanna be most in the world). After a wee cry and a reminder from a very dear friend that I was never going to be any more ready to leave, I found that I am after all ready. That doesn't mean that I want to go, I love so many things here, but I a'm ready to take the next step.

Still no word on security clearance.

american idol

What kind of politico would I be if I didn't make mention of the impending American election. I've been following the election buzz with a lot of interest. A good percentage of my peers at the moment are also politics students, so it was pretty hard to avoid the subject. Not that I'd want to, as let's face it, it is pretty massive. Who will be the new leader of the free world effects us all..primarily in terms of foreign policy. It almost makes one feel as if the rest of the world should get a vote or two in this election.

But if you're Canadian (even one living abroad) the next American president is an even more pressing matter. Canadians aren't exactly shifting a lot of weight on the international stage, it's not really our style. Or policies are often alongside or in direct response to what is decided by our southern neighbour. That's why I wasn't partiularly bothered by the results of the recent PM election because it is clear that policies coming out of Ottawa are going to be shaped in a big way by who ends up getting the keys to the White House.

Just another night to wait....I'll be pulling an all nighter here in England.