Buddist monks, kittens and Thanksgiving
Oct. 9th, 2006 10:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenayHappy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends!
For the first time, I'm actually here in Canada for Thanksgiving so I'm getting to find out what happens, which is rather exciting. I believe that I'll be on veggie peeling duty later :-)
I'm here safely and settled it. The flight wasn't as bad as I'd feared. I had to use my cane, which produced some unexpected benefits because I got put on the plane first along with the first-class passengers. So nobody got wacked as I tried to find my seat *g* For some reason, I didn't have anyone sitting next to me so I got to enjoy my window seat without worrying about disturbing someone every time I got up for a hobble and a stretch. The food was as...exciting as ever. I can't decide whether it was pasta or potatoes that they gave me. Hmmm.
The queue at security in Heathrow was nightmarish - if anyone is flying from there any time soon, make sure you leave lots and lots of time to get through to the departure lounge. There were people in the line getting dangerously close to having their gates closed before they got there.
The customs queue in Canada was almost as bad. I had some English people demonstrate how nice we all are by queue jumping me when I dropped my passport and had to retrieve it just as the queue moved. A few minutes later a very nice Canadian Buddist monk tried to get me to skip part of the queue and jump in before her. Which was very sweet :-)
Do you go to hell for looking at Buddist monks with less than heavenly interest?
I had an interesting day yesterday, too. My aunt and I were walking up the road to get the car and heard this very odd noise. It sounded like a weird bird, but not quite. We looked around for the source and found a tiny kitten lying in a ditch by the road. The poor thing was much too young to be outside, never mind lying in a ditch. Obviously, we had to rescue him when we couldn't find mummy cat or any sign of one. He seems to have been dumped, although how anyone could dump anything that cute is beyond me. When we got him home, we checked him over and he seems perfectly healthy, just very young. He took a few minutes to catch on to drinking milk out of a bowl and he hasn't got any interest in solids, so we think he was still nursing. Cue a rush to the store for kitten chow, special milk and anything else he might be able to eat. The poor thing was starving and exhausted, but otherwise OK. My aunt thought about keeping him, but her neighbour across the road has been looking for a kitten so the little mite has a new home with a very happy mistress.
If I didn't have to back to England, I would have kept him myself even though he'll need a lot of care for the next few weeks.
Altogether, it's been a busy couple of days and I haven't even been here forty-eight hours yet! So I'd better get upstairs and start peeling carrots :-)
For the first time, I'm actually here in Canada for Thanksgiving so I'm getting to find out what happens, which is rather exciting. I believe that I'll be on veggie peeling duty later :-)
I'm here safely and settled it. The flight wasn't as bad as I'd feared. I had to use my cane, which produced some unexpected benefits because I got put on the plane first along with the first-class passengers. So nobody got wacked as I tried to find my seat *g* For some reason, I didn't have anyone sitting next to me so I got to enjoy my window seat without worrying about disturbing someone every time I got up for a hobble and a stretch. The food was as...exciting as ever. I can't decide whether it was pasta or potatoes that they gave me. Hmmm.
The queue at security in Heathrow was nightmarish - if anyone is flying from there any time soon, make sure you leave lots and lots of time to get through to the departure lounge. There were people in the line getting dangerously close to having their gates closed before they got there.
The customs queue in Canada was almost as bad. I had some English people demonstrate how nice we all are by queue jumping me when I dropped my passport and had to retrieve it just as the queue moved. A few minutes later a very nice Canadian Buddist monk tried to get me to skip part of the queue and jump in before her. Which was very sweet :-)
Do you go to hell for looking at Buddist monks with less than heavenly interest?
I had an interesting day yesterday, too. My aunt and I were walking up the road to get the car and heard this very odd noise. It sounded like a weird bird, but not quite. We looked around for the source and found a tiny kitten lying in a ditch by the road. The poor thing was much too young to be outside, never mind lying in a ditch. Obviously, we had to rescue him when we couldn't find mummy cat or any sign of one. He seems to have been dumped, although how anyone could dump anything that cute is beyond me. When we got him home, we checked him over and he seems perfectly healthy, just very young. He took a few minutes to catch on to drinking milk out of a bowl and he hasn't got any interest in solids, so we think he was still nursing. Cue a rush to the store for kitten chow, special milk and anything else he might be able to eat. The poor thing was starving and exhausted, but otherwise OK. My aunt thought about keeping him, but her neighbour across the road has been looking for a kitten so the little mite has a new home with a very happy mistress.
If I didn't have to back to England, I would have kept him myself even though he'll need a lot of care for the next few weeks.
Altogether, it's been a busy couple of days and I haven't even been here forty-eight hours yet! So I'd better get upstairs and start peeling carrots :-)
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no subject
Date: 2006-10-09 02:23 pm (UTC)I saw something weird this morning, waiting for the bus. A cat was walking down the footpath, and then it just vanished... I wouldn't have mentioned it if you hadn't have said anything about a cat above.
As for the monk, well, monks are people too! You naughty person :-).
As you can imagine, things continue here much the same as ever. The bus didn't turn up and it took me two hours to get to work, which meant I missed seeing Rebecca this morning on her first morning back from Japan, and also had to skip going to the gym.
We're painfully busy, and I'm getting behind in the revision. On the plus side, my Uni prospectus has turned up, and I fixed the bathroom door. Again.
Hope you have a lovely thanksgiving. Love to the family.
Txx
no subject
Date: 2006-10-10 08:57 pm (UTC)The kitten was too adorable for words. I still can't understand why anyone would dump him. He's apparently had two good nights, sleeping well and eating although he's still ignoring the solid food. But at least he's eating something and seems to be doing OK.
Monks should only be looked at with spiritual, proper feelings. Even the attractive female ones. I am definitely going to the depths of hell.
Sounds like you've had a sucky day :-( Hope things improved and that you managed to see Rebecca this morning. When are you guys running off together for the day?
What happened to the bathroom door?
no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 07:16 am (UTC)My day - not too sucky. It's just so busy, and what with revision and everything, I'm getting run down *and* not getting to go to the gym. On the plus side, I've seen tons of Rebecca this week - including twice yesterday (the poor girl!). I'm not sure we'll get our day out in Penn this weekend - we may just meet up for coffee instead, since she's got to go into town on Saturday, and she's got loads to catch up with, given the jet lag and everything. And this is the last weekend before my exam, too.
Bathroom door - was getting worse, not closing etc. Planed it down and painted it up and it's good as new.
Right, well, better get back to my mock exam before work I guess. Hope you're having a lovely time. Please post soon! Txx
no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 10:22 pm (UTC)And I'm very pleased that you're getting to see Rebecca, even though you're obviously not taking care of yourself properly. When the exam is over, I expect to see you doing plenty of relaxing.
Good luck with your mock exam. I've justed posted something, but I'm going travelling tomorrow so I may not get to post anything more for a week or so. I get back to Halifax on Wednesday. Good luck in your exam!
hugs.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-09 07:51 pm (UTC)That little kitten is lucky you two stopped! Poor little thing! I'm glad you found it a loving home.
I'm glad you are enjoying yourself. Happy Thanksgiving!
no subject
Date: 2006-10-10 08:59 pm (UTC):-p~~~~~~~~~
It did make the customs queue much more bearable. For an hour. ;-)
If we hadn't needed to make an emergency run to the store for stuff that we couldn't get on Saturday for my father, we wouldn't have been walking that way and the kitten might never have been found. It did seem to be a destiny thing. People don't seem to walk much around here and walking on that particular bit of road was the only way it would have been found. So it was very lucky. And a totally adorable creature :-)
I am enjoying myself muchly :-)
no subject
Date: 2006-10-09 09:56 pm (UTC)I know what you mean about the English. I know I *am* English and to be fair, most of the English people I know are fine, decent people, but there seems to be a preponderance (sp?) of arseholes far and above a reasonable percentage for an island this small. And people ask me why I want to move. We were in Amsterdam last weekend, which feels very much like Vancouver to me. I was talking to a friend about it, and he told me he'd lived there (in Amsterdam) for many years, and understood what I meant. He did say, though, that he doubted they had the drug issues that Amsterdam has, in Vancouver. I told him I wouldn't be so sure! They do love their grass and 'shrooms ;o) I could probably live in Amsterdam, but since they've taken on the Euro, it's so damned expensive :o(
I hope the kitty stays fit and well, and well done you guys for saving it. Do you think it was abandoned, or a feral kitten? Probably abandoned. Some people are such gits. :o(
Enjoy the rest of your vacation and safe trip home. *hugs*
no subject
Date: 2006-10-10 09:03 pm (UTC)The kitten was probably abandoned. We checked it over and it had no fleas or worms, which it would have done if it had been feral. It looked cared for and although it was hungry, it hadn't been starved. Why anyone would just dump it is beyond me because it was still nursing. I'm glad that we were able to save it and find it a good home with someone who genuinely wanted it.
I agree with you on English people. Most of the time the English are perfectly good and decent, but then they'll do something that makes me embarassed to be English. I'm sure every nation does the same thing, but I was annoyed that it was a British couple who demonstrated their bad manners that way in Canada.