i was crossing the road this evening, in front of the commonwealth pool, and the green crossing light went off just as i got to the middle island. plenty of time to finish crossing before it turned to a red man and then the traffic light turned to green, but for whatever reason - i couldn't be bothered breaking into a jog, or i was too engrossed in the music on my iPod - i stopped at the island. and a car came speeding through the red light in the lane nearest me, even before the red man had appeared. i hadn't seen it. had i decided to carry on it would have hit me full on and i suspect i would be dead now.

there was a bus stopped in the other lane, and the driver and i exchanged incredulous looks in the few seconds before the traffic light turned to green and he set off.

i think the newest source of joy in my life, who knows who he is, is having a profound effect on me, and this might just be one example.

photo time! click to view.

first of all, my hosts.
waverley, who was kind enough to let me sleep in her basement, and tom and shari, her humans. the beautiful building shown in the background was over the road from a tourist information centre wherein works a lovely woman whose son had just come back from a trip to edinburgh. such friendly people, these yanks


the road trip.
no journey through wisconsin would be complete without visiting this icon. but surely that should say 'cheese-food' because very little actual unadulterated cheese is to be found within.


the upper peninsula.
various views of Michigan's U.P., dividing lakes Michigan and Superior. all woods and creeks and lighthouses.




on the farm.
tom's fabulous farm at night. no, not that tom, the one who can cook.


my kinda town.
back to Chicago before flying home. what a great trip.


That's all folks!

I'm at work today. It's Sunday, and that's just wrong. But I'm only being productive in short bursts - and this isn't one of them!

First week back wasn't too bad in the end, though overall not being at work would have been rather better. Lots of busy evenings too, and I'm still having difficulty getting to sleep before 1am, creating even more difficulty getting up in time for work!

I have failed to book a cottage for our traditional new-year break, which is leaving me with deep feelings of Catholic guilt. (I set out to do it in June or something...) But I'm hopeful that the smaller number of us now interested might mean we still could get something sorted. We shall see. It's all my fault and they'll probably never speak to me again.

Selected excerpts from my current to-do list:

• Sort out new year plans.
  
• Scan / upload photos from holidays.
  
• See a mortgage advice person about cottage purchasing and/or self-build type options.
  
• Go see the bone professor to confess to my non-ingestion of the latest vomitators and see what he has planned for me next.
  
• Help my brother to move the rest of his detritus out of my house and then reorganise the hall and the living room, possibly including a lick of paint. Oh, and turn his room into a proper spare room.
  
• Buy new pots and pans*
  
• Buy a photo printer*

* Retail therapy is currently on hold until the hideously expensive months of August and September have been accounted for and somehow clawed back...

Right. Back to working out how best to represent the unique features of a groundbreaking distance-learning English course in XML. If it didn't have a horrific deadline this would be fun. Rewarding, even. I wish I was back in academia...

whoa!

got back four days ago from the states, where i had a fabulous time exploring the great lakes, the woodlands of michigan's upper peninsula, the pastures of wisconsin and the cornfields of illinois and indiana. selected photographic evidence of this foray will be forthcoming, i promise tom! my hosts were as ever fantastic, and the whole holiday was pretty damn near perfect. tomorrow, however, is monday. and the less said about that the better.

highlights: burgers on the grill in suburbia; a massage on the shores of lake superior with the sounds of the waves lapping feet away; the sun coming out over the falls on yellow dog creek; fried chicken followed by fruits of the forest pie in the thunder bay inn; the purchase of The Fish; the Mars cheese castle (hmm); the largest plate of ribs i've ever seen in my life; lucy and otter, the beautiful black labs; apple rustling in the dead of night and not getting shot; coming only six numbers short of winning 150 million; the kindness of strangers and, even more so, the kindness of dear friends.

so i have taken four days to get my body clock readjusted to uk time (i hate jet-lag sooo much) and now it's back to the 9-5. what a way to make a living.

oh, and tomorrow i'll be picking up the last two weeks' worth of email in one go. i was averaging about 150 a day, so that will be fun.