Surprise Snow-pocalypse!

Holy crap, it snowed all weekend and then some. We've got about a foot here, which isn't all that much on the New England scale of snowfall, but considering how England doesn't believe in shoveling sidewalks or ploughing any roads except the really major ones, it was definitely considerable.

And considering how I was struck down by the flu again (damn you, Maggie!) this was not great weather to have to go out in. Nonetheless, it is really exceptionally pretty, and I got a fair amount of exercise tromping to and from the train station and such. Most of the sidewalks that aren't completely cleared due to warmth and sheer use are either super compacted, which is fine, or filled with about three inches of slushy, soft snow, so it's like walking on a beach except, you know, cold and wet and not beach-y. Which is less fine. More exhausting, especially uphill.

But anyway, my biometrics are in the system, and now here's hoping that everything processes properly and I get my visa back in time to fly around Christmas. Sheffield, where I had to get the stuff done, is not a particularly nice town, but they do have an H&M, so I took the opportunity to pick up cheap sweaters because I'm cold all the time now. MORE SWEATERS ALL THE TIME OMNOMNOM.

Also the Border Agency has you go through a metal detector and take the battery out of your phone, but doesn't need you to take off your watch and/or shoes. The struggle against terrorism continues to appear arbitrary and confusing to this layperson's eyes.

And that's basically it. Thanksgiving was a blast, though--we had twelve people in the house, we ate and drank lots, I improvised how to carve a turkey (which worked eventually but I definitely mangled it quite a bit in the process), and we all had a lot of fun! It was a nice mix of people; several English girls from Maggie's archaeology classes, and some international students whom Doris knows, and everyone got along well. So it was definitely a good time. I managed to hold off illness through strategic drugs until the end of the evening, at which point I passed out and then was in a fever coma for the next twenty-four hours, but it was totally worth it. Have a silly picture:

P.S.: I should probably add at this point that, due to hills and awareness of weather like the stuff we're having right now (thunder AND snow! Just for funsies!) I have not bought impractical shoes in at least five months. I'm starting to go through withdrawal.

Life Update woooo

Hey, so it's been a while. I had a fabulous time with the fam while back in the States--a very welcome vacation, even though technically I wasn't (supposed to be) on one. Obviously, it was lovely to see everyone. And now that me (and my luggage, har har--stupid Boston only checking my bags through to Amsterdam...) are back in their place, I am mostly resettled into business as usual. I had a lovely dinner out with the flat at an Indian restaurant nearby in joint celebration of mine and Doris's birthdays. We also saw fireworks on Saturday and went to the pub for a bit. It was on Saturday, because I was so jetlagged on Friday that I basically slept for eighteen hours straight. It was actually the fastest I've adapted to a new time zone traveling east. So, wa-hey.

Unfortunately, however, major electronic things in my life have also decided to go on the fritz.

This means using my computer while its propped on the windowsill in my room, because there's a draft there and my poor Tybalt's fan is broken (yes, my computer's name is Tybalt...don't judge me). I'm going to take him to the Apple people in Newcastle at the end of this week and hopefully they will fix him up. And also give him a new battery, because I have been terrible at taking good care of this one, and now it can't hold a charge to save its life. Ugh.

Also my piano won't turn on. I suspect voltage issues, and since I asked a person in the music department who concurs, I'm getting a UK power supply and seeing if that works.

So with all of that in mind, here's my to-do list of things:

-Apply for the extension of my visa
-Finish up my essay outline, which will consist of reading more Marx and Morris and all those other silly people.
-Get Tybalt fixed.
-Get power supply, hopefully revive piano.
-Find an optometrist, renew contacts prescription and get new glasses (I was special and managed to squish mine in my mattress)
-Wait sadly for my laundry to dry outside, while the weather continues to schizophrenically switch between sunny and torrential rain. Yeah, that'll be a while.

Also, I heard it snowed in New York the other day? Well, it hailed here last night. Harrumph. This is not one-upsmanship that I appreciate.

To conclude, things are a bit annoying but under control, so long as from this point onwards, everything just obeys my will and submits to the various troubleshooting actions I've taken on its behalf. This is me, shaking my fist at the sky very dramatically!