Spudtater's Journal

...from Spain (Tarifa), which was very hot.

Was welcomed by kitteh, who apparently went on hunger strike after me taking her to the cattery. This is... somewhat atypical, as those of you who've met her will know. She was taken in to the vet's, where she was given an appetite drug and coaxed into eating a little. She was collected the next day by father-in-law, and taken back to our flat.

Kitteh proceeded to stick her head into her food bowl pretty much as soon as we got home. Hunger strike, obviously, over. Silly kitteh.

...is the reason that I am now at home sulking instead of in Switzerland. Waited for six hours before being told that the flight was "indefinitely delayed" because the plane was grounded in the East Midlands. You'd have thought they could have mentioned that before, rather than just incrementally adjusting the departure time a half-hour at a time.

8^(

What are my chances of getting a refund from Sleazyjet? Or even being able to talk to a human? ("Welcome to the Easyjet Customer Experience! This line is charged at 10p per minute." "Oh for fuck's sake!" "Sorry, I didn't hear that. Please repeat your query.")

Edit: Refunded! ...thanks to the Super Secret™ number that luckylove pointed out below; 01582 700036.

Paris: makes for excellent weekend break. Nice this time of year.
Parisians: snooty, maybe, but not rude. Positively pleasant compared to Londoners.
Current exchange rate: ouch.
Traffic signals: absolutely nuts. Green man = RUN FOR YOUR LIFE.
Hotel: trendy.
French fries + french mustard: taaaaasty + taaaaasty.
Steak tartare: because rare is overcooked. Mmmmm.
Eiffel tower: temporarily blue.
Notre Dame: is BIG.
Louvre: is bigger.
Mona Lisa: not entirely sure what the big deal is. Good, but not fantastic. Over-hyped. And somewhat grimy.
Venus de Milo: now that is worth seeing.
Louvre Near Eastern section: Is best section (oooh, controversial). Writing on everything. Mesopotamia for the win.
Code of Hammurabi: Wooo! Geek love.
Paris catacombs: An absolute must. Spooky doom. Highlight of the trip for me. Am not a goth, honest.
Wedding: now less than a year away.

Photo post may follow soon, when I get around to uploading photos.

EDIT: Am re-watching an episode of Noir, which is quite entertaining. Not hugely accurate, though!

"During the last twenty-four hours I have probably experienced the greatest humiliation to which I have ever been subjected. During these last twenty-four hours I have been handcuffed and chained, denied the chance to sleep, been without food and drink and been confined to a place without anyone knowing my whereabouts, imprisoned."

And what country is she talking about? Why, that good ol' US of A, of course.

Once again strengthening my resolve not to step foot on US soil again, ever, for any conceivable reason.

• Erla Ósk Arnardóttir Lillendahl's blog, English translation
• Iceland complains to US about treatment of tourist in New York — Associated Press

I be off, then. Not for long; in Swizzerland 'til the 1st of August. Will then return with chocolate.

Well, it's almost one here in Swizzland! I have seen the future, and it is sparkly and slightly alcohol-fuzzed. Note bene. (sp?)   8^]

Had a lovely champagne-and-fireworks new year with the family. I would go out and mingle now, but I'm dead tired. So happy new year everybody! I would call you all and wish you well in person, but that would require, you know, effort and all. Zzzzzz.   |^)

Btw, resolution for this year: get my future sorted.

Well, I've been in Nethy Bridge all weekend with the New Scotland Country Dance Society. An... interesting experience.   8^)

( A summary of the weekend, bullet-pointed for your sanity )

Anyway, I'm glad I went, though I'm equally happy to see a nice comfy bed in a room that I don't have to share with five other people. Missed the usual bunch of goths & freaks (you know who you are) on Saturday night. Oh, and my sympathies to nickys, who I hear was suffering from aggravated injustices while I was faffing around in the highlands without a care. I hate being out of touch.   8^(

See you all soon!

Well, I'm off today; going to Hong Kong over Easter. I'll be relying on internet cafes and the like for intarweb stuff, so I won't really be able to manage to keep up-to-date with LJ. I'll be back on the 19th of April.

Oh, and figg: sorry I'll miss your birthday. Here's hoping that you get utterly wasted on the day, in order to forget how old you are... Happy Birthday! All books you lent me are with Gary, btw.