Site Meter

Friday, February 20, 2009

Pain and pleasure

On Tuesday afternoon Bobs and I went to the doctor's to get our travel vaccinations. Or immunisations. I never know which is which, or even if there actually is a difference. We are hoping that I'll be able to go out to India for a week or so over Easter, while Bobby's there ... It'll make the eight weeks apart distinctly more bearable. The actual shots were fairly painless, but my arms really ached that evening, and the next day. We got polio, diphtheria, hepatitis A, typhoid and tetanus. Three in one arm and two in the other. Ouch.

But that evening we got dressed up...





and went on our date night. The film was pretty slow-moving, but it had some thought-provoking moments, and made for good discussion afterwards. And the dinner (Nepalese food) was delicious. Except for the pudding. Normally, neither of us are terribly big pudding eaters, but that night we both felt like something sweet, so we ordered something called, appropriately enough, "Holy Sweet". Well. What we got was a little teeny pile of warm, grated carrot, drizzled with honey, with a few sultanas buried in it and a pistachio nut on top. Tasted like the sort of thing you might concoct late at night in your own kitchen if you were desperate for a pudding and had to make one from what you had available in the fridge.

Anyhow, pudding aside, it was a lovely evening.

Wednesday morning I finished the damn visa application - what a performance! It took me four goes at their stupid online form (their system kept bumping me out and making me start over) before I got it done. Anyway, I have paid the visa fee, and mailed off my passport and we'll see what happens. The only potential hitch is the fact that my dad was born in Pakistan, so they may either deny my visa, or require an interview. We'll have to wait and see.

My parents arrived here on Wednesday afternoon, and yesterday we went to the Sisley exhibition at the National Gallery. So it was another fun day - after we'd been to the gallery, we ate lunch out (one minor upside to the credit crunch - one can now find really good lunch deals in London - £5.95 for Thai green curry, rice, and a glass of wine or a soft drink...),




...then walked up Charing Cross Road to browse the bookstores (Emily bought The Declaration, which she's already finished, and I bought The White Tiger, which I started last night and am enjoying very much - before we took the train home to a nice crockpotted casserole.

My parents left this morning, so today I've been marking and planning lessons at the kitchen table. With Roly's help.




He just can't resist an open textbook. Wish I felt the same!

Oh, and I almost forgot - I finished week 4 of the couch to 5k program tomorrow! And, so far so good - to my surprise I'm really enjoying it! Am dubious about next week though - on Friday I'm due to run for two miles without stopping ... not sure if I'll manage!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Immunisation and vaccination are the same thing, it's just Britspeak vs USspeak.

Roly is serious business with the textbook eh?

zunzun said...

You guys look great...I really should make more of an effort when we go out and wear something nice!LOL

Annalise said...

Roly always looks a bit menacing in photos! They don't capture his true wimpishness.

Fwiw, I almost couldn't be bothered to get changed when we went out - it seemed like too much hassle to get out of my jeans. But, I was glad we made the effort in the end - made the evening more fun. :)