Lest some of you think that I am becoming nonchalant about traffic in England (the last time I devoted more than a sentence to it was over a month ago), here is a sad reminder. Driving distance from the house to Becky’s school: 4.1 miles. Driving time suggested by Google:…
Despite what I wrote on Saturday, Natasha and the kids did not want to waste a perfectly cold and unpleasant weekend. So, on Sunday, they picked one of Becky’s school friends and went to the movies. That is, they drove to the movie theater together. After which Natasha and Kimmy…
Remember this ESPN commercial that ran during the World Cup last year? On any given Sunday these days, I proceed from watching one football to the other and back. I can’t help but notice how the environment dictates the primary watching habits. While the last few years of…
We woke up this morning, looked out the window, regarded skies of dark lead hues, and decided to stay home for the day. Not that we had much planned, but we could go to the city and spend some time with our friends. Only, the weather outside was loudly hinting…
Tying a few of old threads today. Since the last time I wrote about my year-long adventure with the gas service, it has finally reached a closure. It took over a month to properly register with British Gas that the meter at our house was not the one that was…
One thing I neglected to mention in my brief tribute to married life. After this many years, Natasha and I have progressed from finishing each other sentences to frequently thinking the same thoughts at the same time. Quite uncanny, I should say. There are obvious house-related things such as remembering…
The invasion of adolescent girls left one member of the family exuberantly happy, the other exhausted, and the third excited but relieved. Me, I was exempt from proceedings, and holed up in my study occupying myself with various blog-related tasks (for instance, Loire Valley review). The most excited was Kimmy,…
Apparently, my Halloween lamentations notwithstanding, there is some fun on the occasion that can still be found in England. For instance, this expatriate blog suggests that trick-or-treating works to reasonable satisfaction in Hampstead (thanks to my old friend Tamila for the link). But here is a little damning fact about…
Yes, it’s Halloween… which means that another year of married life is now in the annals of history. Natasha and I started the whole spending-the-rest-of-my-life-with-you deal very young, and in the intervening years have probably expressed our love for one another in every imaginable way. There is very little that…
My kids like to play general knowledge quiz with us. No specific rules, just various questions and answers. Since Kimmy is obviously a bit young to have answers to more advanced questions, we expressly target easier questions at her. At some point recently, I had the bright idea to ask…
So, the Red Sox won the World Series again. The next 86 years of the life of the Nation turned into just 3. Somebody, please, curse that team again, quick! My dislike for the Sox stems not only from the fact that I support the Yankees, but also from the…
For the first word, take our Ruslish-fied family name. You know, the one that appears in the URL between “www” and “com”. For the second word, take a three-letter word that describes every adult’s favorite thought. You know, the one that starts with an “s” and ends with an “x”.…
From the ship – on to the ball! (those of you more apt linguistically, is there another English equivalent for с корабля на бал?) Ok, not exactly a ball, but for my taste, a good circus performance suffices… At any given time, there are a couple of travelling circus troupes…
Our last long trip of the year has come to its end, leaving us not exactly looking forward to the cold and drab months ahead. It was already quite cold in the Loire Valley (although, thankfully, no rain). It has long became clear to us that one of the biggest…
Continuing with the driving license thread, Natasha finally has scheduled her practical test for sometime in November, and in the meantime, decided to take a lesson or two. The rationale is obviously not to practice driving, but to practice passing the test. At the first lesson, as soon as she…
We celebrated Becky’s birthday on Thursday with a family dinner, which was regularly interrupted by congratulatory phone calls. Thank you all who called or wrote, we appreciate all of the attention more than ever, and Becky certainly enjoyed being continuously congratulated. We love you all! The second part of the…
Man oh man, I am so not ready to be a father yet! How is it that I have a teenage daughter? She is tall and graceful, often mistaken for her mother’s younger sister. She is smart (that’s Natasha’s genes) and beautiful (that’s clearly mine). She is athletic (um… Natasha…
I wrote in the past about tax situation that a humble expat family is stuck in. Now, there is a little twist to ours. As explained in that post, there are several tax brackets in the UK with very straightforward progressive taxation amounts applied to them. Calculating your tax liability…
Why can’t the weather always be like today? Pleasantly cool air. Pleasantly warm sun. Clear blue skies. The type of weather that literally demands that you put aside whichever chores you saddled yourself with for the day, get up from in front of the TV (or the PC, for more…
Socialism in action! The Royal Mail has been on strike on and off for the last couple of weeks, throwing all mail delivery into chaos. Ok, ok, strike actions are not a socialist phenomena, but rather an attribute of a healthy and democratic industrial society. Yet, it is in those…