Open Windows

It seems a gang of flies has set up their clubhouse outside my living room window. Whenever I try to open the window, they all get riled up and fly in. Admitted, winter is coming, so I shouldn't really be opening the window anyway, but it's nice to get some fresh air in and I like that smokey smell of bonfires during winter.

So Long South Florida

I flew over here to South Florida on wednesday because Mum had a stroke.

Luckily, by the time I arrived, she had made almost a full recovery. She has to take it easy for a while, but it seems that everything is going to be ok. Mum was in hospital at the time, so the doctors were able to help right away. It's also one of the best hospitals in town and everyone there was very friendly and helpful. It's not something you ever think is going to happen, so you're never quite prepared for when it does. Thank you to everyone who got in contact. Now we just have to find out if she is fit to fly over for Christmas!

Being here is actually a blessing in disguise as I can help Mum and Dad pack. Yes, after all this time, they are finally leaving South Florida. Which essentially means despite being gone for some four years, I am too. This whole episode happened right in the middle of packing up the house to move back to England. Packing up my things over here and seeing the mixture of what we had in Sway and what we've gotten since the original move, you can't help but think back on everything. The apartment we had when we first got here, all the parties we've had, the friends and family that have come over. I find that as I get older, you remember less of the bad, and the good makes itself more prominent. So goodbye South Florida. I can't help but feel I should end with a quote from a Boyz II Men song that they used at every end-of-year dance for about ten years

“And I'll take with me the memories
To be my sunshine after the rain
It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.”

Local Sausage

Last weekend I bought some local sausages made from local pigs on local farms and sold by a local butcher. Supporting local small businesses is cool, so I thought I'd do it in style. I made a big deal about these sausages to everyone, saying how great they are and stuff. People were anticipating the coming greatness.

I didn't know you were supposed to poke "real" sausages with a fork or something to let the fat out. So naturally they completely exploded and I looked like a big wolly. At least they weren't expensive.

Not Really Work

Because the developers at work are so far behind on the project I'm working on, I've had a lot of free time. As have other people. So we setup a Scalextric track in the office and spent most of friday racing cars. You'd think the boss would be angry, but in fact he was so happy that we were caught up on out work (?), we all got to leave work early and go to the pub on his tab. Very strange, but I'm not complaining.

Catching Up On Movies

I haven't been able to go to the movies as much as I'd like to over the last three years or so. In order to catch up on everything I've missed, I joined on of those online rental-by-mail sites and have an impressive (not really) list of films that will be sent to me over the coming months.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High is so much more awesome than I thought it would be!