luckykaa

So, feeling borderline angry, near to the raging dragon stage, I decided we should go out. Dragged flickums to Didsbury Village while I fumed. First of all we went to the cheese shop. She bought me a cheese! And a chocolate lollypop! Anger meter went from almost angry to peeved. Then onto charity shops!  Flickums ogled lots of books. There were some sort of tempting things. And flickums seemed to be busily being happy, That makes me happy. Anger meter went from peeved to merely miffed fairly quickly. By the time we got to the cancer research shop, I was just feeling a little sad. This was neutralised when we got the the Cancer research shop and I bought a wine making kit. Bargain. Must have been an unwanted gift or something.

Wandered back up the other side of the road. Almost bought a copy of a Beautiful Mind. Managed to resist buying the Barbie version of A Christmas Carol... Went to the hipster pub one of many hipseter pubs in Didsbury, where they had Kwak, and other Belgian beers, as well as Cineplexity, which I was planning to taunt Flickums with but it turned out is actually kid of a fun game. Pick up two cards. They describe scenes, actors, settings and stuff. Try to think of a film that matches. Unfortunately I got trounced by flickums since she does know her stuff when it comes to movies.

I also wanted to check out The Art Of Tea. A teashop. Turns out it has a bookshop in the back. Flickums liked it, but all feels a bit expensive compared with the bargains available in the charity shops. Very untidy. Put me in mind of Aziraphale's shop in Good Omens. So we had a look in the bookshop. Flickums bought me a Morrocan mint tea. And a coffee cake. It was very nice. I was a little surprised that it had nuts in and flickums beat herself up about it because she didn't realise but it was fine.

Went home. I was feeling much happier. I made pie. Flickums made the pastry. We watched Short Circuit. It was fun, although once agan the army is inept. They need to put the dogs in charge again.

Fickums is an awesome girlfriend. Everyone should have one. She really does know how to cheer me up when I'm upset.

So, I'll be heading back to Cheltenam tomorrow. Again.  Seems like it happens every week...  Oh yeah.. 

The halfway/pitstop point is somewhere in the Berkshire/Oxfordshire type area.  Anyone there:

In this Sunday (at about 6ish, but that has several hours flexibility)

Feel like putting up with me chatting to then and drinking their tea for a couple of hours.

Entertaining friends is fun but I'm knackered.

Party kinda worked. There weren't that many of us due to my choosing the wrong week, but since I already had plans for last week, next week (twice) the week after that and then we get a bit close to Christmas, I figured there wasn't a lot of choice. But tictactoepony and her other half and my friend Isegrim and Desideratist and tinkerbell1980 all came and we played singstar and buzz and ate food. And my dressing wasn't quite right. Not quite sure why but I'll sort that out I'm sure. I astounded everyone by just how low a score I can get on that game. Do I care? No! Well, okay it would be nice to be able to sing, but I can't and that's everybody else's problem:P I'll try and fix this oneday.

So anyway. People demonstrated their superior Buzz skillz, but I think there's an advantage to having played it before.

And people demonstrated their superior singing skillz. Singstar popworld is pointless and rubbish. Party has a decent selection on though.

So, eventually time was over. A few people stayed over. This was a minor problem due to my shortage of spare beds but I think we managed.

Today we watched DVDs, ate bacon sandwiches, bemused Tink with Look Around You, and then went to the Pier. It was windy. We went on a ride. Well, Tink and I did. Tictactoe and her bf were too apathetic or something. I feel very bounced.

It's taking me an extra 20 minutes to get to work these days.

Granted, this isn't as bad as losing a life/limb/family member in an explosion, but it's a damn inconvenience.

Apparently extra busses have been put on the number 91 route. Doesn't quite explain why I was waiting for 20 minutes for a service on Monday. On the way back I just missed the bus, and the next one was allegedly 9 minutes away. Since the busses normally come once every 8-10 minutes, I'm wondering where the extra busses are.

Decided to stay on the train a little longer and get out at Highbury and Islington. It's a nice day for a walk.

Still, I am not going to surrender to terrorism. I'm still going gaming this week. As long as we still have tea we will not be stopped!

Well, why not?

Tea - It's important how you prepare it. It should ideally be made in a pot. None of these teabags. Actual leaves. Spoon enough into a pot - Typically a half to one teaspoonful per person, depending on how far north you are - for some reason tea gets stronger in the north.

Warm the pot first. Pour a little boiling water in there and swish it around. Put the lid on and leave it for a bit. Dispose of the remaining water. Reboil the kettle. Water must be very very hot. Add tea leaves to the pot, and pour boiling water on top of it. Put a tea cosy on. Wait a couple of minutes for it to brew. Brewing time takes between 1 and 5 minutes depending on the tea leaves. Fine cut leaves take less time that coarse cut. If you want milk, add to the cup before you add the tea. This prevent scalding the milk apparently. Pour tea through a tea strainer into the cup.

Coffee - The most important thing here is quality of the beans. Buy only whole fresh bean roasted in the last couple of days. Do not buy ground coffee. It goes off too quickly. Grind it fresh just before brewing. Even whole beans will only stay fresh for a couple of weeks, so find a good local supplier who can tell you when it was roasted. Once again, hot water is needed. Just off the boil.