A Mancunian Weekend and more

Grrr, I am not having any luck with festival tickets this year :( We had five people online and on the phone tonight, desperately trying to get Reading Festival tickets (for the 3-day bank holiday weekend at the end of August), and they were sold out within 15-20 minutes. And considering the number of tickets now being sold for exorbitant prices on ebay, they weren't sold to people who actually want to go, but rather who wanted to make a profit. Again, grrrr.

I've also been trying to purchase travel insurance this evening, which I have found to be equally frustrating-- it's difficult to figure out who is giving the best deal for the money, since their policies are all slightly different. Oh, and then there's the whole malaria and yellow fever conundrum...it wouldn't be an issue at all except that Viv and I are spending the last bit of our Peru trip in the Amazon basin. The general consensus seems to be that yellow fever vaccination is recommended but not required, and I was able to buy malaria pills at Boots today, but they are not the same kind I used in Africa (since I've taken those before, I know I wouldn't have any side effects), and one of the two types included in this Boots box is known to be ineffective against the strain of malaria found in the Amazon basin. So I don't know whether to bank on the effectiveness of the other type in the box, or just get a prescription for the kind I've used before from my GP. Well, anyway, 10 days till my flight home, woohoo!

News-- Carla is pregnant!! I'm going to be Aunt Allison!

And the weekend update: we did indeed do a ROAD TRIP (haven't had one of those in awhile) up to Manchester this weekend. I drank enough Guinness to earn my St. Patricks Day novelty hat (pic coming in the near future)- ok, so I had a little bit of help. We visited The Shambles, Manchester's oldest pub, which was moved twice, literally. The pub was moved piece by piece out of the city during the bombings in WWII. Then when the city was being rebuilt, they moved it back into city centre, piece by piece, every inch of the tudor-style pub with wooden pegs and all. We did a massive pub and bar crawl to celebrate the holiday, which included Europe's largest pub, in Deansgate...it was a Wetherspoons pub, quel surprise. Our hostel was very nice-- I don't like hostels in general, but decided I could deal with it for one night. It was relatively new, and they provided clean bedding (almost unheard of, most are bring your own bedding) with maid service, plus we took up 5 of the 8 beds in our room. Sunday we saw some of the sights, and did some shopping (window-shopping for my part). And then we had an uneventful trip back home...that is if you count snow, high winds, and a massive traffic jam upon entering Leicestershire as uneventful. The snow was pretty, it was sticking to some of the fields, and a lot of the sheep and new lambs in those fields.

Today we got some of that snow here in London, but it didn't stick at all :( I'm on my last full week of this rotation, so I've got tons of work to do, a full caseload of patients to see (ironic since I haven't had a full caseload since November), as well as my supervisor's caseload to cover since she's on a course now for two weeks. Yikes.

News

Hello hello! I am back. And what an amazing, gorgeous, refreshing weekend I had in Cymru! (Or Cambria, or Wales even-- all names for the same stunning corner of land in the UK.) We were based at Buckland Hall, in Bwlch, which pretty much turned out to be 5-star accommodation. We had twin ensuite rooms, and the entire manor to ourselves, a very attentive staff, open coffee bar, big wood fires in every room of the main part of the manor, amazing gourmet vegetarian food, 2 sessions of yoga per day, with hours of sun-drenched/misty hiking in between (yes, in Wales you can combine sunny and misty), and the gorgeous grounds of the manor itself to explore. Not to mention the wonderful people I met, and fascinating conversations we had- boy, do I have food for thought! I have loads of pictures, but it's about bedtime here, and I've spent so much time this evening organizing other things, the pics will have to wait.

Big news- Viv and I have booked our trip to......Machu Picchu!!!!! This has been Allison at my best, ridiculously indecisive to the last. Viv was no help (well, you weren't, at least not until the final moments), and each day I'd wake up and think ok, Costa Rica, we're booking that today, and I'd say something to Viv to that effect, and then be texting her the following day to say, no it's Peru. And so on and so forth. To the point where I'd finally decided upon Costa Rica today, picked a package that I loved, which has a stay at a gorgeous eco lodge as part of it since Viv keeps talking about this program she saw on eco lodges in Costa Rica, or little bungalows as she says. I'd filled out the confirmation form, entered credit card numbers and everything, when Viv called and said we should do Peru since I've had my heart set on it. Long story short (too late, I know), we have put down a deposit on Peru! And actually, what Viv said was we should do both- save the other one for the end of the year ;) Somehow I think it may be a bit longer than that until we get there, especially if we actually do intend to do Thailand and Philippines next spring. I can't believe it, I'm going to see Machu Picchu at long last! My fascination with the Incas began with a report I did in the 6th grade, but that's a story for another time.

I was also trying to coordinate a chunk of 2-3 days while I'm home to go and see my grandfather in Michigan-- it's a bit tricky, what with the wedding in Boston and the trip to Peru, and trying to work with my parents' schedules, so I don't know if it will happen yet. Unfortunately, no one was at home when I called this evening, so I haven't gotten very far at this point.

However, I am going to Dartmoor National Park with a bunch of people on another Backabush tour for the first holiday weekend in May. And I've started to look at fares for Vermont week with the fam (Heilalas and Johnsons and Burks, oh my) in July. Heard back from Virgin Airways finally, in regard to my complaint following my flight back to the UK after Christmas. They gave me 5000 miles back in my account, which I suppose is something, although I would have appreciated say 250 pounds toward a future flight a lot more. Especially knowing I will need flights to the States mid-summer and again in November for Jenn's wedding. Ah well.

I hope to post more about Wales and put up some pics tomorrow night. Namaste. :)

Updates

I was too sick on Thursday to attend the post-post-pub crawl party, at which the announcement was made that we did, indeed, break the world record by 41 people. Apparently my team, the Tigers, handed in 126 stamped cards, though we were only 125 to begin with, and lost some along the way. Go Tigers! Here's the official picture from the big day, the guy in front in the red shirt is the guy who organised the whole thing.

Also, my photos have been included in the second edition of the online Schmap travel guide for Kauai!! Woohoo, I've been published! You'll find a new widget on my sidebar, directing you to said Schmap guide.

How things stand on a Wednesday night

Things that are making me happy and/or laugh tonight:

I met a really fun Australian girl on the pub crawl, and sent her a text on Sunday to say I'd like to hang out again in future. I heard back from her tonight, and I'm quite pleased at the prospect of a new friend :)

My Aunt Sue's comment on my previous post...it would seem sibling rivalry shines through whether you're a teenager living at home, or an adult with your own family ;)

Dinner plans tomorrow night!

This weekend I'm visiting Jo- checking out her new place in Rugby and partying it up. Plus some shopping-- something I never do over here because it's not in the budget. But I have a little left over this month.

I have signed up for a Halloween weekend in Kent-- haunted house, hay ride, pumpkin carving, costumes, and a chance to wander around Leeds Castle. Not to mention, more opportunities to make new friends.

I ruined a chicken roast on Monday, trying to make it up as I went along, but managed to turn it into a very tasty chicken soup last night.

And last, but "soitenly" not least: I'm working on the stroke unit and loving it!!!!

Trouble in Thailand

Most of you have probably heard about the coup in Thailand on the news by now...it's been in conversations I've had over the past week and a half with Tufts Nicole, who has plane tickets to go with her fiance in November, and with Vivien, because the two of us are going in late March/early April of next year. Most reports coming out of Thailand talk about the "bloodless" coup, the Thai King backing the coup, and how democratic elections to replace the ousted prime minister will be taking place as soon as possible. I was rather amused this morning, however, when the radio show I listen to announced that all the photos and publicity coming out of Thailand are of people smiling- even soldiers with tanks in the background in Bangkok- because their country depends on tourism, and they don't want people to stay away because of the coup. And it seems to be working-- the BBC interviewed a Danish couple who talked about how excited they were to be there during the coup.

My other favorite news items today:
Boy, three, buys car on internet

I'm Getting Published!

Well, I might be. I got an email message on my flickr account from Schmap online guides. They've shortlisted two of my photos from Kauai, and asked my permission to consider including them in the second edition of their online guide to Kauai, to be published mid-October. I guess I'll find out in a week or so whether they've made the final editorial cut. One of the pics they chose is from Waimea Canyon, and the other is of a monk seal on the beach. I won't get paid if my photos are used, but they will give me credit, and include a link to the original photos in my flickr account. So I get exposure, baby. How cool is that?!!! If they do get published, I'll let you all know, and give you the link to the guide. Wish me luck...

Wake me up, when September ends

I had to bring the bag of candy corn into work, or I would have eaten all of it myself. Most people seemed to enjoy it, although one of the nurses thought it was a bit too sweet. And as far as working here at the day hospital goes, I've only got one week left!!! Next Friday is my last day. I can't believe all the things I've done in the past seven months...I've been to Italy, France, Bosnia, Turkey, the US (Vermont and Hawaii), and have been many places in the UK as well, from Durham and York on down to Bournemouth and Poole. It feels like it's been more than 7 months actually, more like a year. And it feels odd to say that because usually it feels like time is flying, so I should be saying something more like the last 7 months have felt like only 3 months, or something.

Anywho, September has been "unseasonably" warm over here, with yesterday's temps being in the low 80's I believe, with bright sunshine. This morning has been a bit rainy and cool, but generally speaking it's been a lovely month. I hope it continues into October, or that we at least have an Indian summer toward the end of October/November. As usual, this time of year has been making me nostalgic for field hockey, not just because of my love of the game, but the excuse to be outside for late fall afternoons.

Patience

I get a lot of comments about how patient I must be because of my job, or thank yous from patients for being so kind and patient, I've even had co-workers comment on my patience. And it's ironic, at least to me, because I only really have patience at work. Ok, that's not true, let's say I only really have patience for other people. Most other people. Because I certainly don't have patience for myself. I am definitely my own worst critic, and hold myself to high standards I would never subject anyone else to, and put myself down for not meeting those standards. I am also in a phase where I will take a book and skip through, reading bits and pieces from what's ahead, including the ending. I am one of those drivers who has a bit of a lead foot, and a mouthful for bad drivers even though I'm shouting to myself (except in panic moments which I've had ever since a bad accident a little over a year ago, in panic moments I've got nothing to say). I want the things that I want to happen now, and I hate it when I feel like something's missing in my life but I can't figure out what it is. Which I've been feeling lately. And though I've been trying hard to live day by day, it's really hard to break a lifetime habit of always looking forward to something or other. Here I am almost 7 months into being in the UK, and though I've done a lot, I feel there have been a lot of missed opportunities too. (I'm probably feeling that way at the moment since I don't have much planned in the way of traveling for the next couple of months, unlike this summer.) Anyway, I think this always looking forward to something is what makes time go so quickly. I mean, I don't really feel like I've been here 7 months. And where did the summer go? I was just getting warmed up!

Keeping myself entertained

I was supposed to have two patients at the day hospital this morning, but one didn't show up. And there is apparently nothing for me to do on the acute wards either :(

I'm currently hogging the computer-this is something a lot of the other staff has started to do, with things being so slow around here, so these days you have to be quick to get time at the computer! I've been cleaning out my email and found something I'd marked with a star from Kristy but had never actually opened (weird), and it's a link to some of her pics from our European travels together back in 2004! So here's a pic from the island of Rhodes, where we're looking a little windswept, so it must have been the north side of the island...I got a text from Kristy this weekend who was in NJ for some reason, saw a sign for Freehold, and thought of me. Awww. You'd better get your butt over here for our birthdays this coming winter, missy, so we can capture some more memories together!