Today is Thursday. In 5 days, 20 hours, 31 minutes and 52 seconds (47 seconds, 42 seconds, 37, 35, 32, 31, 27 seconds. Well, you get the drift) my parents will be arriving at my house. Yes people, my parents from Sunny California will be arriving at my place in Dreary England. I get to see my folks for 11 whole days! I'll get to show them around the area I live in and take them to London for a few days too! I am sooooooooo excited.
Just slightly less wonderful than seeing my parents again for the first time since December, is the fact that I've got 8 days off work for the duration of their stay. Finally, I am actually taking time off and I have never EVER needed it more than I do now.
Anyway, back to my parents' visit. I've got a bunch of stuff planned, though I'm still in need of a bit of help. I'll detail a bit below. Here's what I've got:
Bath: I want to take my parents to Bath because it's, well, it's stunning. The only thing is that there's loads of shopping there and we're not going to want to shop really. We want to see the touristy stuff. If anyone reading this knows any neat stuff to see in or around Bath, please let me know. I know the city centre is really beautiful and you can pop into the Roman Baths for a peek, but that won't take a whole day and I need to fill it all up.
Dunster Castle and Lynmouth: I've got this one covered. I love Dunster Village and the castle grounds. There's a great little tea house by the old mill (which is still working!) with a cottage garden where you can have cream teas and a babbling brook runs right by it. And Lynmouth is a short drive down the coast and a beautiful little seaside village practically cut into the cliffs. Then we'll be driving back through the Moors which have some really nice views and an occasional sheep running across the road.
Cheddar and Wells: Another easy one. Cheddar Gorge and the Cheese Factory for some fan-freaking-tastic cheese. Quaint little shops and pretty views in Cheddar. Drive up to Wells through the Gorge and see the Cathedral there and see some more quaint shops and some really old, historical buildings.
Stonehenge: I'm not sure when we're popping this one in, but we've got a couple of extra days so we'll definitely have time to drive down there. If anyone knows any cool places to stop between Weston super Mare and Stonehenge that are not Cheddar, Wells or Bath (since we're already stopping there) let me know.
Bristol: Next weekend is the Harbour Festival so I think we'll be going to that. I also want to go up on the Clifton Suspension Bridge and take them for a drink at one of the restaurants up in Clifton that have a view of the whole city. We might do 2 days in Bristol since the Harbour Festival is on the same day as the BBQ.
One of the days we're having a big family BBQ in the afternoon at Steve's parents' house. Maybe we'll go to Stonehenge that morning. We're also spending a day (a Sunday since nothing is open) wandering around some trails on the Quantock Hills since they're so pretty and I know my parents will appreciate a relaxing day before a week and a half of chaos.
Friday Aug 6 - Monday Aug 9 we'll be in London and there's too much to do there so we're all set with that (though if you know of anything cool going on there that weekend, please let me know!).
Anyway, if you've got any suggestions or know of anything going on in the area between July 28 - Aug 5, please let me know. I'm always open to new suggestions!
22 July 2010
21 June 2010
Mirrors...
So it's June now (I know, I know. It's been too long) and the weather has finally turned warm. It's been lovely!! I just hope it stays like this for the whole time that my parents are here. *touch wood*
Though I am absolutely loving the Summer, some events have occurred in the last several weeks which have made me reflect on the last year. A lot of you know that a year ago I was working at my previous employer without being paid, being told that 'any day now' I'd get the money, as well as the rest of my colleagues. Well, it turns out we were all lied to. A year later, we've all given up hope of ever seeing our two month's wages, plus the damages awarded by the Employment courts. We know a lot more about those who employed us, things we didn't want to know, things we wished we'd have known a year ago. As they say, hindsight is 20/20.
That was the beginning. I think I can safely say that the last year has been the worst year of my life. Just when I think things can't get worse, they do. Event after event has attacked me since last Summer and it's been one horrible ride. I won't get into the gory details on here. Those that are close to me know them. If you don't know everything, sorry. You'll just have to suffer.
If I believed in Karma, I'd be playing the lottery every week right now because I'm due for a win. Trust me.
I'm not posting this to whine and cry and complain so that everyone pities me though. Don't pity me - Seriously, stop it - Believe me, I have had some great times in the last year. I've made some great friends; people I'm sure I'll be in contact with long after I move back to California (whenever that is). My relationship with Steve is stronger than it could have ever been had this year never have happened, and I'm still falling more in love with him every day. Basically, I'm happy, regardless of everything that has happened.
And why is that?
Because despite the horrible people out there who don't pay when they say they will and the heartbreaking things that happen which are out of my control, the one thing I can control is myself. And that self is going to be fine no matter what dammit!
Though I am absolutely loving the Summer, some events have occurred in the last several weeks which have made me reflect on the last year. A lot of you know that a year ago I was working at my previous employer without being paid, being told that 'any day now' I'd get the money, as well as the rest of my colleagues. Well, it turns out we were all lied to. A year later, we've all given up hope of ever seeing our two month's wages, plus the damages awarded by the Employment courts. We know a lot more about those who employed us, things we didn't want to know, things we wished we'd have known a year ago. As they say, hindsight is 20/20.
That was the beginning. I think I can safely say that the last year has been the worst year of my life. Just when I think things can't get worse, they do. Event after event has attacked me since last Summer and it's been one horrible ride. I won't get into the gory details on here. Those that are close to me know them. If you don't know everything, sorry. You'll just have to suffer.
If I believed in Karma, I'd be playing the lottery every week right now because I'm due for a win. Trust me.
I'm not posting this to whine and cry and complain so that everyone pities me though. Don't pity me - Seriously, stop it - Believe me, I have had some great times in the last year. I've made some great friends; people I'm sure I'll be in contact with long after I move back to California (whenever that is). My relationship with Steve is stronger than it could have ever been had this year never have happened, and I'm still falling more in love with him every day. Basically, I'm happy, regardless of everything that has happened.
And why is that?
Because despite the horrible people out there who don't pay when they say they will and the heartbreaking things that happen which are out of my control, the one thing I can control is myself. And that self is going to be fine no matter what dammit!
08 May 2010
Some People Disgust Me...
So I came across this article just now. You can read it now or later or never, but basically, it details a woman with a 3 year old boy who met a guy online and let him move in with her 2 months later. The two months following BF moving in, he proceeded to abuse the boy by dunking him under water, shoving him in the freezer, burning him on the heater, with scalding water, smothering him with pillows and even more. When the woman was asked why she allowed the abuse to continue she responded, "I guess I was in love with him. I didn't want to lose him." "Him" being the boyfriend. Disgusting.
Reading her quote made me think of someone I know. A pregnant woman, in a terrible relationship with not a great person at all, a guy who's proved that he doesn't value life and who is an alcoholic with absolutely no experience with babies and small children. Despite the fact that she knows this is a bad relationship and he doesn't treat her all that well either, she does everything she can to stay with him, including being nearly estranged from the nearly all of her friends and family, for the exact reason that the woman above allowed her boyfriend to abuse her son.
What is going to happen if this other guy gets fed up with his infant baby screaming at night? Or if the baby throws up on him or does something else to make him angry? What if he's drunk? What if he goes to far? Will this woman let is happen because she "doesn't want to lose him"? Scary stuff.
Reading her quote made me think of someone I know. A pregnant woman, in a terrible relationship with not a great person at all, a guy who's proved that he doesn't value life and who is an alcoholic with absolutely no experience with babies and small children. Despite the fact that she knows this is a bad relationship and he doesn't treat her all that well either, she does everything she can to stay with him, including being nearly estranged from the nearly all of her friends and family, for the exact reason that the woman above allowed her boyfriend to abuse her son.
What is going to happen if this other guy gets fed up with his infant baby screaming at night? Or if the baby throws up on him or does something else to make him angry? What if he's drunk? What if he goes to far? Will this woman let is happen because she "doesn't want to lose him"? Scary stuff.
02 May 2010
What did you do with your Sunday morning?
I spent mine making a new dog bed for Ripley. Oh yeah. Rock out.
When I was visiting California over Christmas, the woman who rents a room from my parents was making no-sew baby blankets for some of her friends for gifts. Though I'm more a fan of the nice clean lines of a sewn baby blanket, I do understand why these are good for babies and toddlers as a lot of them like to play with tags and this thing basically has tag-like thingies hanging all around it. It's also a really good, inexpensive gift to make for people who are having a baby, particularly if you don't know how to sew or don't own a sewing machine as all you need are two equal-sized pieces of fleece and a pair of scissors.
Anyway, back to the dog bed. When we first got Ripley, we bought her a dog bed. That's her sleeping in it the first day we got her. Isn't she so adorably cute and tiny?! Look at her tiny little nose and feet! Ok, back to the bed again. She didn't really see it as a bed, instead it was more like an oversized chew toy for her own personal entertainment. She was also very particular about the placement of this "chew toy." The base of the bed had to be exactly halfway up the stairs and the pillow could only be in either the kitchen or the office, next to a doorway. Steve called it "Ripley's feng shui'ing." Needless to say, that bed does not exist anymore. Well, it does, but but not as a bed. More like lots of tiny pieces of red fleece and hollow-fiber filling. And even if it did still exist, she's a bit too big for it now anyway.
Maybe she was trying to tell us something.
So one day I was browsing sewing patterns on the web and amusing myself at the silly costumes that people make for their pets (particularly pugs) and I came across a no-sew dog bed which used to same concept as the baby blanket I mentioned above. The site I was on wanted something ridiculous like £9 for the pattern, which is stupid because you could look at the picture and figure out what they did so I decided to make it.
I had some extra fleece from a double-sided picnic blanket which I bought from Dunelm for the sole purpose of cutting up for little blankets for Chaz, but obviously a hedgehog doesn't need a massive amount of fabric so I got a couple of good-sized pieces for Ripley's bed, one bigger than the other, and a double-sized duvet folded up so it fits the dimensions of the fabric. I then had to cut bajillions of fringes on each side of the fleece. Let me tell you, if you don't have sharp scissors, this is THE MOST ANNOYING THING EVER!!! Then you just tie a bunch of knots, throw the dog bed on the floor and let doggie enjoy. Here is Ripley enjoying her new doggie bed. Hopefully, this one won't be torn to bits like the last one.
When I was visiting California over Christmas, the woman who rents a room from my parents was making no-sew baby blankets for some of her friends for gifts. Though I'm more a fan of the nice clean lines of a sewn baby blanket, I do understand why these are good for babies and toddlers as a lot of them like to play with tags and this thing basically has tag-like thingies hanging all around it. It's also a really good, inexpensive gift to make for people who are having a baby, particularly if you don't know how to sew or don't own a sewing machine as all you need are two equal-sized pieces of fleece and a pair of scissors.
Maybe she was trying to tell us something.
So one day I was browsing sewing patterns on the web and amusing myself at the silly costumes that people make for their pets (particularly pugs) and I came across a no-sew dog bed which used to same concept as the baby blanket I mentioned above. The site I was on wanted something ridiculous like £9 for the pattern, which is stupid because you could look at the picture and figure out what they did so I decided to make it.
I had some extra fleece from a double-sided picnic blanket which I bought from Dunelm for the sole purpose of cutting up for little blankets for Chaz, but obviously a hedgehog doesn't need a massive amount of fabric so I got a couple of good-sized pieces for Ripley's bed, one bigger than the other, and a double-sized duvet folded up so it fits the dimensions of the fabric. I then had to cut bajillions of fringes on each side of the fleece. Let me tell you, if you don't have sharp scissors, this is THE MOST ANNOYING THING EVER!!! Then you just tie a bunch of knots, throw the dog bed on the floor and let doggie enjoy. Here is Ripley enjoying her new doggie bed. Hopefully, this one won't be torn to bits like the last one.
25 April 2010
I *heart* Butternut Squash...
So last week I went on a massive butternut squash kick. I have no idea why. I think it's because I suddenly remembered that I once had these amazing butternut squash enchiladas and I wanted to make some and then while looking for recipes I came across another really fantastic recipe with butternut squash so I made that too and during the entire process, I rediscovered how much I absolutely love it and how incredibly versatile it is and how many different things you can use it for. I also discovered that my dog goes nuts for it! She really, really likes it! Which is a little strange. Ok, a lot strange.
So the first thing I made was a butternut squash, spinach and feta quiche, adapted from this recipe. Let me tell you, it was sooooo good! And it looked stunning. I know it's kind of weird, but I think food tastes better when it looks good. Seriously, would tiramisu or a nice fat burger taste as yummy if it came in the form of sludge, like oatmeal? [An aside on oatmeal: I think it smells amazing, but I just cannot eat it, because it looks so gross!!]
Anyway, this was super tasty and I got to eat it again for lunch at work the next day because I had way extra so I was happy =]
Seeing as how the original reason for the butternut squash was to make enchiladas, Steve and I invited our good friends over to have them last Sunday. One is a vegetarian and the other is from California so they both appreciated the vegetarian, Mexican food. Plus, it was sunny and hot and we had beer so we got to spend all day in the sun. It was lovely.
Ok, back to the food. The enchiladas were fantastic. Better than I could imagine. Next time I make them though, I'll use more squash and stuff the tortillas more. I used a combo of a few different recipes. I probably should have written down what I put in them because I can't really remember, except that it included cream cheese and fried onions and garlic. Crap. I really should have written it down because I'd like to make these again. The only problem is that the only enchilada sauce I could find here looked like ketchup. It tasted ok though. Not as good as the stuff back home, but I didn't really have a choice. Here you can see Steve's sock money enjoying his own plate of enchiladas, and yes, he has a penis.
One thing I've really been missing here is canned pumpkin. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, canned pumpkin is used to make pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread and lots of other yummy treats. I know it seems a bit strange, but these are super tasty. They're sweet, not savory. Anyway, it's near impossible to find canned pumpkin here without having to order it online from one of those overpriced American food shops which charge ludicrous prices for food and shipping. I've heard rumors of cans of pumpkin lurking at Waitrose, but I've yet to see them. Anyway, butternut squash tastes very similar to pumpkin and is much easier to come by so I'm toying with the idea of trying to make pumpkin bread but with butternut squash. We'll see. I'll let you know. I might be lazy and just give up though.
Anyway, this was super tasty and I got to eat it again for lunch at work the next day because I had way extra so I was happy =]
Seeing as how the original reason for the butternut squash was to make enchiladas, Steve and I invited our good friends over to have them last Sunday. One is a vegetarian and the other is from California so they both appreciated the vegetarian, Mexican food. Plus, it was sunny and hot and we had beer so we got to spend all day in the sun. It was lovely.
One thing I've really been missing here is canned pumpkin. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, canned pumpkin is used to make pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread and lots of other yummy treats. I know it seems a bit strange, but these are super tasty. They're sweet, not savory. Anyway, it's near impossible to find canned pumpkin here without having to order it online from one of those overpriced American food shops which charge ludicrous prices for food and shipping. I've heard rumors of cans of pumpkin lurking at Waitrose, but I've yet to see them. Anyway, butternut squash tastes very similar to pumpkin and is much easier to come by so I'm toying with the idea of trying to make pumpkin bread but with butternut squash. We'll see. I'll let you know. I might be lazy and just give up though.
03 April 2010
Baking...
For those of you who don't know me, I have an unusually varied list of interests. For example, I really like sports cars and motorcycles. My car back in California was a 2007 Subaru WRX named Wroxanne. Get it? Roxanne, with a W? Because it's a WRX... oh nevermind. I also really love power tools and building things and my dream job is to flip houses (buy up old houses, remodel them and sell them off), much to the chagrin of my web designer husband who doesn't like to work with his hands at all. On the other hand, I can be really girly. I knit and crochet and sew. I also really, really enjoy science. My degree is in biochemistry and I absolutely love pharmacology and quantum physics, but I'm also very creative and really enjoy painting and drawing. I've always wanted to do other artsy things like make jewelry and design clothing.
I'm not a very "homey" person. I don't enjoy cleaning. I know few people do, but I don't even get those random moods where I just have to clean. That's not to say that I won't do it, and no, my house is not all gross and messy or anything. I have a husband who takes care of all that. Well, I help him sometimes.
And don't try to make me feel bad. I'm away from the house for 11 hours a day ok?
Back to my point. One place in the house where I shine is in the kitchen.
*pause for women in the kitchen jokes*
Ok, I absolutely love, love, LOVE to bake and cook and bake. My ideal house would have the kitchen right next to the bedroom so I could wake up and immediately start baking.
Kidding.
One of my favorite things is to bake for my colleagues at work. Not only does it give me a chance to try out new recipes, but it means I can bake whatever I want and not have it lying around the house for me to eat. And it makes my coworkers love me. I have been a bit of a slacker lately though on account of being really stressed at work and just wanted to do absolutely nothing on the weekends and not really having the extra cash to buy ingredients.
One of the struggles of baking for people at work is trying to find single-serving recipes. I've grown tired of just baking cookies. Cookies can be good, but I'm just tired of them. So I've decided, just a few minutes ago, yep, this morning, that I'm going to take it upon myself to find recipes which are not made for single servings and try to convert them. Fun huh? Maybe not for you, but for me? Yep. Party time.
So I'm probably going to put some of my single-serving exploits up here. If I remember. Stay tuned.
With this, I'll leave you with my absolute FAVORITE baking blog. Not only is this woman an absolute crack up but her recipes and photos will make you drool. I've made like 6 or 7 of the recipes from her blog and they are scrumptious. I highly recommend the chocolate cobbler... and the magic peanut butter middles... and the chocolate chip scones... or pretty much everything.
I'm not a very "homey" person. I don't enjoy cleaning. I know few people do, but I don't even get those random moods where I just have to clean. That's not to say that I won't do it, and no, my house is not all gross and messy or anything. I have a husband who takes care of all that. Well, I help him sometimes.
And don't try to make me feel bad. I'm away from the house for 11 hours a day ok?
Back to my point. One place in the house where I shine is in the kitchen.
*pause for women in the kitchen jokes*
Ok, I absolutely love, love, LOVE to bake and cook and bake. My ideal house would have the kitchen right next to the bedroom so I could wake up and immediately start baking.
Kidding.
One of my favorite things is to bake for my colleagues at work. Not only does it give me a chance to try out new recipes, but it means I can bake whatever I want and not have it lying around the house for me to eat. And it makes my coworkers love me. I have been a bit of a slacker lately though on account of being really stressed at work and just wanted to do absolutely nothing on the weekends and not really having the extra cash to buy ingredients.
One of the struggles of baking for people at work is trying to find single-serving recipes. I've grown tired of just baking cookies. Cookies can be good, but I'm just tired of them. So I've decided, just a few minutes ago, yep, this morning, that I'm going to take it upon myself to find recipes which are not made for single servings and try to convert them. Fun huh? Maybe not for you, but for me? Yep. Party time.
So I'm probably going to put some of my single-serving exploits up here. If I remember. Stay tuned.
With this, I'll leave you with my absolute FAVORITE baking blog. Not only is this woman an absolute crack up but her recipes and photos will make you drool. I've made like 6 or 7 of the recipes from her blog and they are scrumptious. I highly recommend the chocolate cobbler... and the magic peanut butter middles... and the chocolate chip scones... or pretty much everything.
28 February 2010
Lack of Convenience
So I've been in this country for a year and 8 months and since then I've been building up a list of conveniences which I miss about the US. Don't get me wrong, there are loads of things which we have in the UK which aren't back home which I think are great like cream teas, decent public transport, exceptional, long history, amazing architecture, fantastic culture which changes every 20 miles, great pubs all over the place filled with interesting people. But none of this (except for the public transport) really helps me out day-to-day.
Let me begin my rant of missing conveniences with something small, actually everything small. Everything in the UK is small. The houses are small, bedrooms are small, food and toiletry packages and are small (so you have to buy twice as much of everything to last you just as long), the cars are small, which is good because the parking spaces are small. The shops are small. Everything is small. Which goes onto the fact that there's just no space. My house is a normal 2 bedroom, terraced house which is a very common residence for a couple of Steve's a my age to live in... in the UK. In the US, this house would be considered teeny tiny. The ceilings are lower, and rooms are smaller, the garden is smaller, the kitchen is half the size it should be and melds with the dining room. Our couch barely fits into our living room and it's a small couch. I feel claustrophobic sometimes.
Another small part of the houses in the garage. On the way to work last week I only saw one house on the 30 minute drive which had a 2 car garage. Nearly everyone here has one-car garages and I've never even heard of anyone here having an automatic garage door opener. Nor have I heard of a door going directly from the house to the garage. If I want to get something from my one-car garage, I have to go out my front door, walk past the neighbors house, usually through the rain, and open up my garage manually with a key. This isn't uncommon for a lot of people here.
Of course having a garage doesn't even really matter which brings me to the next convenience I miss: driving. I've been driving for 11 years. 11 years and I STILL have to start over from the beginning when it comes to getting my UK license. That means taking all 3 of the driving exams, 2 of which are actually a bit difficult, particularly the practical driving exam where they fail you for tiny little things like not turning your head enough to look at your mirrors. If I had come from mainland Europe, I'd just be able to switch my license out for a UK one with no problems, but noooooooo. It's annoying.
Some other quick things I really miss:
-Dishwashers: they're becoming more and more common here, but with the size of my kitchen, where the heck am I going to put it?! Newer houses have them, but if your place wasn't built in the last couple of years then it's not built in and you have to buy your own which is portable??
-Central heating/AC: Central heating over here comes in the form of radiators in each room which have boiling water running through them and are usually connected to the hot water heater somehow. Usually this is a good thing because it uses gas rather than electric and uses the hot water from the boiler (I think?) but if you touch one you burn your hand off! And you can't put furniture in front of them because the furniture blocks the heat and it's a hazard. So basically because the rooms are so small and the radiator is so big and you can't put furniture in front of them, they basically take out an entire wall of usable space. Plus there's no AC, but I guess it's not like you really need it because it only gets hot for like a couple weeks in the summer here anyway.
- Dryers: The good thing about central heating is that it's useful because there's no space for a dryer, so you hang your wet clothes from the washer over the radiators or on a clothes horse to dry when it's raining outside. But I really miss having a dryer because the clothes came out hot and fluffy and wrinkle-free and wonderful. But there's just no place to put it and the garage is too far away and has no electricity.
-Mixer taps in the bathroom: one hot tap and one cold tap. The hot tap is scalding and the cold tap is freezing. How the heck do you wash your hands with warm water? There's two different temperatures coming from two different taps! It's not even like they're coming from one tap. The only way to get warm water is to pug up the sink and fill it up with a mix of scalding hot and freezing cold water and wash your hands in the pool of water. It seems like it'd even be more work to plumb two different taps.
Anyway, I really miss things being easy and convenient. I miss things happening quickly and effortlessly. I do love living here and if I were given the chance to move back right now, I probably wouldn't. But it would be nice to have a few of these things just to help out a little bit.
Let me begin my rant of missing conveniences with something small, actually everything small. Everything in the UK is small. The houses are small, bedrooms are small, food and toiletry packages and are small (so you have to buy twice as much of everything to last you just as long), the cars are small, which is good because the parking spaces are small. The shops are small. Everything is small. Which goes onto the fact that there's just no space. My house is a normal 2 bedroom, terraced house which is a very common residence for a couple of Steve's a my age to live in... in the UK. In the US, this house would be considered teeny tiny. The ceilings are lower, and rooms are smaller, the garden is smaller, the kitchen is half the size it should be and melds with the dining room. Our couch barely fits into our living room and it's a small couch. I feel claustrophobic sometimes.
Another small part of the houses in the garage. On the way to work last week I only saw one house on the 30 minute drive which had a 2 car garage. Nearly everyone here has one-car garages and I've never even heard of anyone here having an automatic garage door opener. Nor have I heard of a door going directly from the house to the garage. If I want to get something from my one-car garage, I have to go out my front door, walk past the neighbors house, usually through the rain, and open up my garage manually with a key. This isn't uncommon for a lot of people here.
Of course having a garage doesn't even really matter which brings me to the next convenience I miss: driving. I've been driving for 11 years. 11 years and I STILL have to start over from the beginning when it comes to getting my UK license. That means taking all 3 of the driving exams, 2 of which are actually a bit difficult, particularly the practical driving exam where they fail you for tiny little things like not turning your head enough to look at your mirrors. If I had come from mainland Europe, I'd just be able to switch my license out for a UK one with no problems, but noooooooo. It's annoying.
Some other quick things I really miss:
-Dishwashers: they're becoming more and more common here, but with the size of my kitchen, where the heck am I going to put it?! Newer houses have them, but if your place wasn't built in the last couple of years then it's not built in and you have to buy your own which is portable??
-Central heating/AC: Central heating over here comes in the form of radiators in each room which have boiling water running through them and are usually connected to the hot water heater somehow. Usually this is a good thing because it uses gas rather than electric and uses the hot water from the boiler (I think?) but if you touch one you burn your hand off! And you can't put furniture in front of them because the furniture blocks the heat and it's a hazard. So basically because the rooms are so small and the radiator is so big and you can't put furniture in front of them, they basically take out an entire wall of usable space. Plus there's no AC, but I guess it's not like you really need it because it only gets hot for like a couple weeks in the summer here anyway.
- Dryers: The good thing about central heating is that it's useful because there's no space for a dryer, so you hang your wet clothes from the washer over the radiators or on a clothes horse to dry when it's raining outside. But I really miss having a dryer because the clothes came out hot and fluffy and wrinkle-free and wonderful. But there's just no place to put it and the garage is too far away and has no electricity.
-Mixer taps in the bathroom: one hot tap and one cold tap. The hot tap is scalding and the cold tap is freezing. How the heck do you wash your hands with warm water? There's two different temperatures coming from two different taps! It's not even like they're coming from one tap. The only way to get warm water is to pug up the sink and fill it up with a mix of scalding hot and freezing cold water and wash your hands in the pool of water. It seems like it'd even be more work to plumb two different taps.
Anyway, I really miss things being easy and convenient. I miss things happening quickly and effortlessly. I do love living here and if I were given the chance to move back right now, I probably wouldn't. But it would be nice to have a few of these things just to help out a little bit.
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