Occasional musings from a Left-coast Canadian ExPat in Oxford.
I just got around to reading Anil’s recent post on 15 lessons from 15 years of blogging. Poignant, since I’ve been thinking about what to do with this site. I’ve been blogging for over 10(!) years, with a few defunct blogger and livejournal accounts before that. The blogosphere has changed a lot since then, but my … Continue reading The personal blog is an important, under-respected art form.
It’s November. Which means NaBloPoMo. Let’s see what happens when I force myself to blog every day for a month, shall we? Hah. Haaaaaha. Ha. At least it got me writing a little more frequently, yes? Yes. ———————————————————————————– There was a fantastic article posted on Business Insider the other day about the experience of a US … Continue reading North American Expats in England
It’s November. Which means NaBloPoMo. Let’s see what happens when I force myself to blog every day for a month, shall we? ———————————————————————————– Oh dear. Not even 10 days in, and I’ve failed to post every day. And my excuse for missing yesterday isn’t even that great: we were at the pub. We went out for … Continue reading A clash of cultures: Kid-friendly vs. Kid-centric
It’s November. Which means NaBloPoMo. Let’s see what happens when I force myself to blog every day for a month, shall we? ———————————————————————————– Continue reading Remember, Remember
It’s the first of November. Which means NaBloPoMo. Let’s see what happens when I force myself to blog every day for a month, shall we? ———————————————————————————– So here’s a thing I don’t think I would’ve learned had I not moved to the UK: Swans are AWFUL. Not having any practical experience with swans, all I … Continue reading Swanning About
I really hope that whole ‘soul stealing’ aspect of photography isn’t true. Because if it is, I am running awfully thin on spare soul. I don’t know whether to blame UK bureaucracy (I originally typed ‘bureaucrazy’ there, which seems apt), the general process of moving internationally, or something else entirely, but I am fully and … Continue reading Daguerreotype
England is a really buggy place. I was surprised at first, but considering the humidity, it’s not really all that shocking. There’s an amazing assortment of creepy crawlies here, 98.5% of which I am totally OK with. Except all of them seem to want to be in my house. In everyone’s house, really. And who … Continue reading Can we talk about the SPIDERS!?
A year ago. A whole year. We landed with a lot of luggage, a lot of excitement, a few nerves, and some semblance of a plan. In some ways it feels like we still arrived here yesterday. In others, it feels like it’s always been like this. So, a year in, what have I learned? … Continue reading The First ExPat-iversary
As of July 12th, we’ve been in the UK a year – a whole year! It has really flown by. I have so many more words to say about it, but between a crazy quick trip to Vancouver earlier this month (a surprise for my dad’s 60th birthday) and moving house (argh!), time to extract … Continue reading Happy ExPativersary to Us!
It’s been slow-going, including some active avoidance of all driving on my part, but I think I am finally confident enough to cross “Learn to drive a manual transmission car” off the life list! I am not currently going to win any races, but with Neil out of town for a few days (leaving the … Continue reading Life List: Learn to drive a manual transmission – Check!
With all the griping I did about our move, you would think I do not like change. This is not true. I like it a lot. Perhaps too much. I am rarely content to leave well enough alone. I just prefer when I’m the one initiating it, rather than having it imposed upon me. So … Continue reading Winds of Change
Just last week we were talking about how gloriously happy we were in our current place. Great space, lovely neighbours, excellent location. So of course, we received a call today that the landlord wants to move back in, and won’t be renewing our tenancy when it expires on 31 July. Fuck. We have just shy … Continue reading On the Move
It’s grey here today. Exceedingly grey. And cold. And there is nothing like reminders from Timehop about the fact that this time one year ago, I was in Cuba, and two years before that, in Thailand, to make me feel extra grumbly about the grey and cold. So I scrolled further back in the past, … Continue reading Six years later
Moving house can often lead you to see your possessions in a new light. Especially when you have packed in a hurry, without making much effort to thin your piles of stuff before beginning. And are then distanced from that stuff for half a year. Because who the hell brings tea (from the new world, … Continue reading Tea-mendous
I was going to go for a run today. Instead, I am watching the “fitness” app on my TV update. And will then proceed to do nothing about it once it has. I’m really just curious about the app, not interested in exercising right this moment. That is very much 2012 speaking. I took a … Continue reading 2013: a little more conversation, a little more action.