I cross all the seas, it's fine by me...

Cu mic, cu mare si o intarziere de o ora (deh, nu e usor sa fii bucatar, am constatat), ne-am deplasat (cu masina!) spre 31 Siddeley Avenue, nu inainte sa ne oprim la magazinul de la colt, sa cumparam o punga de orez...Asta pentru ca Anuj, prietenul lui Sonali (indianca din casa mea) a varsat tot orezul in chiuveta, incercand sa il scurga (in prealabil Sonali varsase si ea o parte prin aceeasi operatiune).
Pana atunci eu nu mai fusesem acasa la Mihai si Nicoleta, deci nu stiam exact cum arata casa, asa ca am sunat la nr. 31, sperand sa raspunda cine trebuie. Daca s-ar fi aratat altcineva la usa, as fi spus ca suntem de la firma de catering si ca am gresit adresa. Oricum, paream din acelasi film, cu o groaza de pungi cu mancare si bautura.

Cu putina timiditate, ne-am pus pe treaba - mai intai pe baut si apoi pe mancat (si iar baut). Iata cum au iesit bunatatile:

Aparent, indienilor le place obiceiul nostru de a ciocni oua. Sonali il suspecta, totusi, pe Anuj ca avea un ou de lemn, caci mereu il spargea pe al ei:





Apoi ne-am jucat Monopoly, eu si Nicoleta am trisat mult (pentru ca stateam una langa alta). Unii chiar au falimentat (Sonali), unii au dus-o chiar bine (eu), iar altii au dat cu pumnul in masa de ciuda, spargand un pahar si udand tabla (Antony - un francez).



Si cam asta a fost...Ne-am intors acasa pe la vreo 3 (banuiesc) si am inceput sa curatam bucataria, caci nu a mai fost timp inainte sa plecam si era dezastru! Dar stiti ce repede se termina treaba cand esti beat?


Pe de alta parte, aici e inca vacanta de Paste (inclusiv saptamana urmatoare), dar englezii chiar muncesc. Proprietarul a trimis un 'om bun la toate' (Mike) sa faca niste reparatii mai mult sau mai putin minore prin casa. Pe langa faptul ca ne-a inlocuit furtunul de la dus si s-a ocupat de izolatia geamului de la living, a mesterit si la unul dintre picioarele fotoliului.

Banuiesc ca nu stiati ca la petrecerea de ziua lui Guillaume (mai bine spus 'dupa'), Valou, unul dintre francezi (semi-coleg de casa, caci e mai mereu aici), a simtit nevoia sa se incline un pic spre dreapta, cu tot cu fotoliu, rupandu-i un picior. O vreme am stat cu el asa, de forma, incercand sa nu ne asezam prea tare. Dar proprietarul a venit sa repare internetul la putin timp dupa petrecere (de care nu a aflat, evident) si s-a asezat pe fotoliu, dand la o parte niste cabluri pe care eu le pusesem special acolo, sa nu ia loc. Nu va puteti imagina in ce situatie eram: ma bufnea un ras, uitandu-ma la Fiona si Guillaume (si ei de fata) cat de seriosi erau, dar trebuia sa ma prefac uimita de cele petrecute. Am bajbait ceva de genul "Parea cam instabil fotoliul, dar asta nu s-a intamplat pana acum", desi nu cred ca a muscat galusca (nah, proprietarul nu are "ciunga-n par"...asta pt ca e cam chel oricum :D). Apoi, pana miercuri, fotoliul a aratat cam asa:



Tot Mike ne-a adus, de la prorietar, o masa plianta de plastic (gros)...MOV! Si cum a venit primavara, maine planuim sa luam masa afara, caci in garaj (da, avem garaj, desi poarta & aleea sunt prea inguste pt orice masina) avem si scaune de plastic, pe care trebuie doar sa le stergem. O sa fac din nou tortilla, ca vad ca le-a placut mult indienilor! Chris nu este invitat (s-a intors ieri, a fost plecat o saptamana in nu-stiu-ce-oras-de-care-nu-am-auzit, langa Oxford), iar gratarul (avem si asa ceva in garaj) il lasam pt cand se vor intoarce si ceilalti. Un picnic pana atunci e totusi tentant...

Joi au venit 2 tipi sa taie copacul din spatele casei si a durat o zi intreaga! Nu mi-am imaginat cata munca poate fi. Cand m-am uitat prima data pe geam, curtea era plina de ramuri. Saracul pom, e chel acum...Iar cei doi "taietori de copaci" au facut un gest frumos si au curatat apoi curtea, caci langa poarta era plina de mucuri de tigara. Erau ei cam dezgustati de ce vazusera, dar le-am zis ca nu e problema mea, cei 3 fumatori din casa ar trebui sa se ocupe de asta. Mi-au sugerat sa ii impusc...Le-am zis ca ar trebui...






Azi am fost un pic prin oras si m-am bucurat de vremea frumoasa...De cateva zile este soare si caldut (12-15 grade) si speram sa o tina tot asa. Florile (narcise, braduse, ghiocei etc.) au aparut, totusi, de mult prin parcuri, pe langa facultate, prin curtea vecinilor...Dar abia azi au rasarit si niste rate...mie a asta mi-au semanat. Voi ce ziceti?







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Easter Dinner and More...


We arrived at 31 Siddeley Avenue one hour later than scheduled, but not before making a pit stop at the corner shop, because the whole rice that we were supposed to have with the chicken curry has been spilt in the sink, first in a smaller quantity, by Sonali, and then all of it by her boyfriend, Anuj.
Until then I haven't visited before Mihai and Nicoleta's house, so I didn't exactly know if we were in the right place. So we rand at no. 31, hoping that the right person will open the door. Had someone else show at the entrance, I would have said that we are from the catering firm and we made a mistake (we looked like that kind of people, with a lot of bags of food & drinks in our hands).

A bit shy at the beginning, we started our routine: drinking-eating-drinking. Above you can see how our dishes looked like (my tortilla de patatas & Vienna chicken, Sonali's chicken curry - not spicy, she says - and Mihai and Nico's painted eggs & cozonac, a specific Romanian cake that we have for Christmas and Easter).

Apparently, the Indians really liked our tradition of tapping the painted eggs. We usually tap the front and then the bottom and the person who taps first says: "Christ has risen!" and the other replies: "Truly, he has risen!". And then vice-versa. The point is you should not get you egg broken, unless you really want to eat it.
Sonali was constantly suspicious that Anuj had a wooden leg, because he was always breaking hers.

Later that night we played Monopoly and me and Nico were cheating a lot (we were next to each other). Sonali went bankruptcy, I had a pretty good financial status, but Antony, our French friend, got really pissed off at a moment and he strongly hit the table with his fist, breaking his glass and wetting the board (plus the surrounding money and properties), so we had to stop.

And that was it...we came home around 3 a.m. (I assume) and we started cleaning the kitchen, because we had no time before leaving the house and it was a big mess! But you have no idea how quick the cleaning can go when you are drunk...


On the other hand, we are still on holiday here, but the English people really work during it. Our landlord sent a carpenter aka handyman (Mike) to do some repairs around the house (replacing the shower cord in one of the bathrooms and taking care of the lounge window). He also fixed our armchair, because I didn't tell you that at Guillaume's B-Day party Valou (another French semi-housemate) broke one of the legs. For a while we just kept it like it was and we tried not to sit too much on it, but the landlord once came to fix the Internet and he sat on the armchair (although I've put some stuff there, on purpose). You can't imagine the whole situation: I wanted to laugh sooooo badly (especially looking at the serious faces of Guillaume and Fiona) but I was suppose to restrain myself from doing that. I said something like "Oh, the armchair seemed quite unstable, but this never happened before", although I have the feeling he didn't bit the story...Then, until Wednesday, when Mike came, the armchair look just like you can see it in the above pictures.

It was Mike again who brought us a table sent by our landlord. It's plastic and...MAUVE! And since the springtime is here to stay (I hope!), we are planning to have the lunch outside tomorrow. We have some plastic chairs in the garage (yes, we do have a garage, even though the pathway is to narrow for any type of car) and they only need a wipe out. I'll cook another tortilla, since the Indians really loved it! Chris is not invited (even though he just got back from I've-never-heard-of-this-town-before, near Oxford). We'll probably have a barbecue when the others will return...

On Thursday two guys came to cut the tree behind the house and it took them an entire day! I never imagined how much hard work it can be! When I first look through my window the back yard was full of branches. The tree is bald now..And the two "tree choppers" made a really nice job and clean the yard, although there were many many cigarette butts. There were pretty disgusted by the status of the yard, but I told them that it's not my problem, since I don't smoke and the 3 smokes in the house should have taken care of this. They suggested I shoot them...I said I should...
In the photos you can see how our backyard looks like now and, for comparison, how it looked last winter!

I went a bit downtown today and I really enjoyed the nice weather! It's been really sunny and warm for the past few days (around 12-15 degrees), but we do have loads of spring-ish flowers (snowdrops, duffs etc.) around the city, in parks, in the neighbours' yard for some time now...But today I also saw some ducks...or at least this is what it seemed to me...What do you think?