A proper review of the week...

Family,

And a good evening to you from across the Pond after another GREAT DAY in the Mother Country. Okay, so as I said yesterday, it's been utter chaos this week. That being said, I'm committing some dedicated time this evening to assuage the anger of the masses, who have basically condemned me as dead to their literary universes. Given that, let's pick up on Monday.

Monday: Introducting Team Brothernides!!!

Okay, so after another GREAT day at work (including - wait for it...wait for it...NANDO'S BABY), I rolled home to find 2 wonderful surprises on my couch: visitors from the colonies...and MUFFIN PUFFIN!!!!!!! Safe and sound from her trip to Slovenia (which will be an installment to the blog this weekend), JT was all smiles (read - DIDN'T HAVE TO WORK FOR A 5 DAY STRETCH), as were our guests.

The guests in questions are Andrea and John (aka AC & Jeebs), our "24" wathcing buddies and good friends from the Queen City. Wanting to treat them like the royalty they are, we took them to a dining experience fit for a king. That's right, folks - we took down some more curry at the Rajdoot!

We got in bed at a decent hour that night, which was good because a) Jeebs didn't sleep on the plan, b) Puffin had been up since 3:30 to catch her flight, and c) I had only slept 4 hours due to withdrawals from Nite Nurse and the book I'd read the night before. I think my imagination is worse now than when I was 4...

Tuesday: Farewell Fiona!!!!

Tuesday was a GREAT day in the office. For starters, I was up at 6, at which point I rocked through 1 hour on the bike before hopping back onto the treadmill. The good news? I ran 2.5 kms with no pain! Man, WHAT a GREAT feeling. Dinger - your days are numbered. Enjoy your pretty little poster now, because Jimmy Shaker Day will soon be upon you.

The only twinge of sadness to the day was the departure of Sister Fiona and the official breakup of the "Outpost of Happiness." With testing at an end and a month of Australia in front of her, Fiona's contract was over. However, I did get a last photo of the "Accenture Angels" before she departed. Safe travels, gal!

Today was also humorous because Hitman (more of the red than blue persuasion) got his first true taste of "Obamacare." Having been sick for a week, he booked with a GP (a general practitioner - their equivalent of primary care) in the Wharf. Leaving work, he walked the mile of arctic tundra to visit the doctor, only to turn up and have them say, "Yeah, the doctor didn't show today. Sorry - guess we should have called you." Hey, at least they had the courtesy to apologize. But there is a happy ending - he did get drugs and is now fit as a fiddle - he just had to visit a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SITE to get treated.

In the evening, we met up with AC and Jeebs at the Bear and Staff (Timmy, of course) before rolling into Chinatown for dinner. And no, Hitman - we actually walked away from the usual spots and hit this great little Malaysian joint, where I ate some noodles soaked in soy. Yeah, I gotta admit - it looked like eating skinny small intestines and earthworms, but it was really guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuud. All in all, another great day.

Wednesday: And then, in a flash, it was here...

So I do find it funny that, after 16 months of preparation, a move to another country, countless hours on calls and making spreadsheets (with no formulas, mind you), this day will only be a "sub day" in a blog. I say that because yesterday was probably the second or third MOST IMPORTANT DAY on my entire project, as we actually WENT LIVE, BABY!!!! WE ARE GREEN, BABY, GREEN!!!!! Knock on WOOD that it stays that way, but I simply COULD NOT BE HAPPIER with the first 2 days. In addition, I also managed to run again, this time going 3 kms. This is significant, as it's the first time since October that I'd been able to run on consecutive days. What's that sound, Dinger? That's the sound of footsteps on the pavement, and they are about to BLOW past you. VINDICATED!!!

Dinner last night was in St. Christopher's place, where I had some type of "earthy, green and white noodle dish." It was good, but Jenny's was LIFE CHANGING. I had food envy, so I basically stole her plate whilst she was still eating and scarfed half of it down. We got home and crashed before midnight for the first time all week, which was niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.

Also, whilst many of you are "disgruntled" by my blog performance this week, one person truly did his part to get me back on the wagon. Kudos to Tom "Shavin' cream feels guuuuuuud on my calves" Price for his "Ghost Blog." Basically, in an effort to help me out, he offered to "blog in my place," guessing what my daily activities were. The verbatim writing (which, for the record, had me ROLLING) is below, with commentary from me denoted by (ST):

1. I rode the bike for 30 minutes trying in vain to be like Tom Price but my dunlop (ST - this would be my gut, because it "dun lopped over my pants") was blocking all sweat from dripping on to my Hairy & the Henderson legs. Pondered whether it’s ok that I’ve been wearing my yellow LiveStrong Oakley’s while riding inside on a stationary bicycle. Oh well, they go with my flannel-plaid lycra shorts. (ST - I actually WAS wearing my Livestrong gear - AMAZING).

2. GOOD NEWS: I ran for a mile today. BAD NEWS: I was chasing an ice cream truck.

3. Work was GREAT. We debated who would win a battle between Selwyn and the Donkey.

4. For lunch today, I had a cow, wrapped in a pie, smothered in gravy with a side of potatoes. Tom Price had a yogurt and a piece of cardboard.

5. It’s raining outside..shocking I know.

6. For dinner tonight I had 8 beers, 1 bottle of wine and some curry that was hot enough to set off a Geiger counter.

7. I read a 1000 pages of Dan Brown’s new book: Symbols of post-modern Gnostic. It’s interesting, he chose to publish it using Wingding.

Price - FULL MARKS. This was AWESOME.

Lastly, Happy Birthday to the Posh Puma and the Eagle Scout. I heard it was quite the adventure...

Thursday: D-Day plus 2 and still kickin...

Today was another great day - I used the elliptical, which I must confess - I JUST CAN'T DO. I had to crank the resistance to 9 just to stay on the thing, and even then I looked like a rabid donkey humping a doorknob. I think that will be my LAST elliptical experience, especially since I can run again tomorrow.

The workday was great - things are still good! Knock on wood that the trend continues.

Dinner tonight was, well...an adventure. So the gang was collectively in the flat at 8, and we rolled out about 15 minutes later, bound for Thai food. Tonight's destination was Busaba Thai, and in theory it was supposed to be "right off Oxford Street." However, as is often the case in this city, nothing is quite as easy as it seems.

For starters, we tried to come at it from the "back way." The only problem was...there was no back way. The "street" was really just a "half alley," and there was truly 1 way in. However, we only discovered this after walking to SCOTLAND.

Even worse, we arrived to find a line longer than the Great Wall of China. Consequently, we turned and walked all the way back to the flat, ready to hit the take-out place 5 minutes (the OTHER direction) from our house, only to find that it had closed TEN MINUTES before we arrived. So we then walked to the pub RIGHT BESIDE OUR HOUSE (I mean, we are talking THE SAME BLOCK) only to find they'd killed the lights in the kitchen FIVE MINUTES BEFORE.

The result was a) a frustrated wife, and b) a late dinner from Sainsbury's back at the flat. But hey, 20 GBP and some Sainsbury's wine later, we're all smiles. Check out the girls!

Also, Happy Birthday, Ash! Make it a good one at Floridita!

Okay, that's all the news that's fit to print, and I'm hopefully now back in everyone's good graces. Chat tomorrow!

Love,

Sam and Jenny