Fun With Mike’s Mom

Okay, I have been a terrible blogger lately. Bad combination of company (which is actually good, just hard for blogging) and a cold (which is all bad and good for nothing). Luckily, I have pictures to do remembering for me, so I can pretty much piece together the past couple of weeks.

Wednesday – April 7

We work (of course), then meet Mike’s mom and his cousin in SoHo. I called her Sue in the last post, which is actually her name, but Mike and his brother and their friends all call her Soose, and it’s getting too hard to remember to call her Sue, so henceforth, she shall be known as Soose. Anyway, Soose was in Wales visiting her parents for the last little while, and was in London for 4 days before taking off to Amsterdam and Paris and all sort of other fun places. Anthony (Mike’s cousin) and Soose are really close, so they were having some time together exploring the city. We walked to Waxy O’Connor’s for dinner. I know she’s covering her mouth in this picture, but Soose just looks so cute that this needed posting:

Mike and I were apparently ghosts or found our way into the matrix or something. Not sure what happened here:

After dinner, we caught a train to the area where Anthony and Soose were staying, and had a quick drink. I bought a dress. This has become a theme lately. I have discovered that I really like dresses and thus have been buying them here and there. Mike and I walked home from there.

Thursday – April 8
We met Anthony and Soose in SoHo again, then went out for SPICY NOODLES which is pretty much my favorite restaurant meal these days. It’s a very splashy meal, but a good one. We tubed it back to our area, then Anthony and I played (lost money at) a lottery monopoly game, while Mike and Soose caught up for a while. That makes it sound like they were having some sort of ABC family special bonding session, but I walked over and heard something about RRSP and taxes, so it was far more boring and less emotional than an ABC bonding scene. I don’t know what happened after that. I ran away so that I wouldn’t fall into a boredom coma because seriously – you know that saying that only two things are certain – death and taxes? They are pretty much the same thing. I am pretty sure that if I one day die of boredom, it will be because I’ve been forced into a job as a tax accountant. YAWN! Anyway, no pictures from that night, but it was very relaxed and low-key.

Friday – April 9
Anthony has to head home for some work thing, I think, so he and Soose drop Soose’s bags off at Mike’s work, and he hops on the train. Soose explores SoHo on her own, then meets Mike after work. I go straight home and try ironing new dress (the one I bought on Wednesday) and drop an ironing board on my face. Then I blog about it. Come to Booboo Magoo for the travel stories. Stay for the recaps of domestic chores. Anyway, Mike and Soose turned up shortly after the ironing board kicked my ass, fawned most pleasantly over the ENORMOUS DISFIGURING LUMP it left on my cheekbone, and we went to a nearby pub for dinner.

Saturday – April 10
We decide to hop on a train and see where it takes us. We end up in Croydon. Soose and Mike put down bets for the Grand National horse races. I put £3 into a blackjack machine and walk out with £6. We walk around and do a bit of shopping, where I (surprise) buy another dress. Then we find a pub for lunch and to watch the horse race. I am not interested in the horse races and go on a short mission to find shoes to go with new dress. I find shoes on sale, then change into new dress because it’s a beautiful sunny day that isn’t meant to be spent in jeans. Races are over, MIKE WINS £55.

We decide to head home. It’s a bit windy. Wind picks dress up, displaying my knickers for all of Croydon (poor Croydon), so I put my jeans back on under my dress. I have since purchased leggings to match that dress. We are all pretty tired, so we order in pizza. Try to push some pizza and chocolate off on roommate Jane, who is heading out drinking for the night, but she refuses.

Sunday – April 11
Soose delivers some bad news…she thinks we may have a pest issue because when she went downstairs in the morning, our pizza boxes were open, and the left over pizza was eaten. Also, a bag of chips has been opened at both ends and spilled all over the counter. Turns out the “pest” is actually Roommate Jane who came home after her night of drinking and had herself some snacks. Soose indicates she is up for a relax day, so we enjoy the sunshine of the park nearby, pick on some groceries, and just chill. After dinner, we grab her bags and meet her friend at the local pub for Quiz Night. We lose miserably. Soose is embarrassed to have to dance around the pub in silly wigs.

Apparently, the pub people saw our loss coming, and had “Oh Canada” queued up on the entertainment system. Mike and I sing along, to loud cheers and applause from the pub. They must have been cheering our…enthusiasm, as the quality of the singing was not exactly phenomenal. Soose and her friend leave for their hotel (they were taking off to Amsterdam the next day), and Mike and I head home.

I have spent most of the last week nursing a cold and working. Yesterday, I was feeling better, so Mike and I took Teddy out drinking. Teddy is now lost. We hope he found a good home.

P.S. – I appear to be channelling Heather Mills McCartney in that last photo. I assure you, mom, I still have both legs.