Christmas Lights

Today was good – one of those days where everything just fell into place nicely.

Firstly, Mike thought he’d lost his phone permanently, which is sad because he’s had it for less than a month. It’s an HTC Hero – his first “real phone” (he was using a crummy pay as you go flip phone before), and he has been madly in love with it since he brought it home and put a dirty Yoshi picture on it as the background. He tried the business where you call it from another phone to try to track it down, but it was going straight to voicemail, which was making him think poor HTC Hero had gone to stolen/destroyed land. Luckily, he called the restaurant where we had supper last night, and it was there. Joy! He had to work today, so I drove over and picked it up. It was perfectly fine, just had a dead battery.

When Mike was done with work, we went to see CHRISTMAS LIGHTS at Vandusen Gardens. I was going to bring a real camera, but Mike lent his to his roommate, and the battery in mine was dead. I am already bad at blogging, and I just bought this site today. This picture was taken with my iPhone, which generally does better than this except that it was dark. Dark + no flash = high ISO = grainy. I am just happy to have a picture of us, even if it’s a grainy one, because it was a really nice walk. I love Christmas lights, and even thought it was a bit rainy, it wasn’t too cold. We got Tim Horton’s for the walk. I am going to miss Timmy Ho’s when we’re in London. Steeped tea is just so perfectly lovely. It’s not like at other places where they give you a tea bag and hot water and you have to make it yourself. They pre-steep it and add your cream and sugar and you leave with a fully complete beverage, just like the coffee drinkers get. Brilliant. It doesn’t get much better than walking around looking at pretty lights with a warm beverage in one hand, and the hand of the one you love in the other.

I made chili for dinner. I actually made it just after lunch and let it simmer all afternoon, then popped it in the fridge while we went to look at Christmas lights. You know how in fancy designer home magazines and cooking shows always have snazzy gas stoves? I always thought that they were the pinnacle of fantastic kitchenness. This is the first house I’ve lived in that has one, and I have to say – not impressed. On the plus side, it heats up really quickly – almost instantly, in fact. The down side is that they suck for simmering stuff like chili. Gas ranges have low heat like Pee Wee Herman has low volume. It’s lower than the other heats, but still boils stuff. Very annoying. I had to stir lots and turn it off a few times to prevent scorching. The chili, however, was super nummy, which made it worth it.. I love chili.

There are exactly 3 weeks and 2 days until we hop on a plane to London semi-permanently. I’ve been told to sell my car, it’s probably better if I BCize – BC plates and all, so that is my big mission for tomorrow. It’s one of those things that sounds like it would take an hour or so, but will likely take much longer. I’m pretty sure I’ll have to forfeit my Alberta driver’s license (which sucks, because the picture is decent) and get a BC one. Then I’ll need to sort out insurance and registration and figure out how to get a plate on the front. It’s going to be a busy (and expensive) day! I also want to get a run in. Hopefully the weather will be kind!

P.S. – If you haven’t already, go watch Chicken Techno