Huh huh HUH??
3:17 am Tuesday, 30 December, 2008
It appears that Switzerland is trying to get in touch with me via Patrick.
To this I can only say: WHAT THE FUCK?
Archive for the 'Washington D.C.' Category
4:43 pm Thursday, 12 July, 2007
I’m back in London almost three months now. I did my time in the US and I have been set free.
But the paperwork never ends. I’m in the midst of trying to fill in tax forms for both the US and the UK and some of it just doesn’t make sense. I suspect I’m going to have to spend some time, quite an amount of time, on the phone with my accountants next week.
Tax equalisation is a good thing, I think… but fuck if it doesn’t get complicated especially when you dive into state taxes. I have the added complications of trying to figure out how the hell I account for all of the medical bills and the associated tax. It makes my head hurt. I believe I can claim several thousand dollars back (that’s about two pounds at the moment) and so I really need to take my time and understand what I’m filling in.
Paperwork of course never being my strong point…
Going offline
1:56 am Monday, 30 April, 2007
Almost packed. I just have a tiny bit more to sort in the morning. Then the movers are due in around 11.
So for the most part I’ll be offline for the next few days. I do have some work to do at some stage but I’m hoping it can wait a few days. I’m tired and I’d rather just get the move done and then worry about everything else.
Once the movers are done I aim to go out for a nice lunch somewhere and possibly head into DC for a last round of photos at the Mall. Then Tuesday morning I think I’ll do a last trip to the zoo to say goodbye to Butterstick.
Have a picture from the archives but newly spruced up, some commentary on it here
in vino veritas
9:36 pm Thursday, 26 April, 2007
First, and for the record, I have never slept with any barstaff*. Obviously this should be followed with some comment about not for lack of trying but I can’t recall ever really doing so. There was girl I worked with in a bar back in Dublin that I had such a crush on but that kinda fizzled out after a while.
Pint-Sized Ireland: In Search of the Perfect Guinness is a great book. I have been collecting copies of a similar book as presents for some people in the US before I leave. I was looking for more of that in Barnes and Noble in Georgetown when I came across this one. I figured it would do for one and that I’d have a read of it first. I just finished it in the pub this evening and it was pretty good. It’s one of the few recent books that does a good job capturing some of the spirit of Ireland.
So as I say, I was in the pub this evening. A good few months ago my friend Nick was over for work and crashed at mine for the weekend. We stupidly listened to Schro and hit a local club for the Saturday night. We were the youngest people in there by a long shot. It was, as best I could tell, an over 40s and twice divorced hook up spot. So we had some dinner and some drinks and we caught up and that was good but it was hardly a great night out.
However the food was pretty damn good and it’s quite closeby where I live here. So a couple of weeks later I stopped in and had dinner on the way home. Food was good, it was fine in the early evening and the bar staff were pretty nice. This became a habit and I’d stop in there once a week or so with a book or newspaper for a quiet dinner and a few pints. Ya know often enough to know the staff by name and to have them know what I want to eat and drink. It was pretty good.
Tonight I had what’s likely to be my last dinner in there and it kinda sunk in that I’m finishing up here when I paid my bill and said goodbye. With so many gone from the office and V leaving drinks not till this weekend there hasn’t really been anyone to say goodbye to yet. Have I ever mentioned that it’s odd over here?
One of my many leaving drinks in London was in a bar nearby work. It was, and I suspect still is, a shit hole. However it had exceedingly attractive bar staff, or so I was told. First it was Nick who started going there on a regular basis for the straight Polish boys he never had a chance with but liked to look it and then Rich took up the mantle with, the admittedly very cute but in a long term relationship, Karolina and so it took way too much of our money and our time for several years. Anyway quiet leaving drinks in there with Nick and Rich became less than quiet. While Rich left early on, we had hooked up with one of the previous barstaff and her sister. I was quite dunk that evening but and overwhelming memory remember is a sense of vague guilt when Rich walked back in around 11.30 after being somewhere with his girlfriend. I’m not sure why the guilt…okay I have an idea and Nick’s recollection seems to indicate the same reason but he was trying to avoid the advances of a young drunken Irish girl (the fool!!) and so is not a reputable witness and I choose to disregard his testimony!
Anyway the point is I guess I really am leaving. In just a little over a week I’ll be back to heading to Hammersmith five days a week and seeing what that life brings for me now.
Now where is that dunk thread?
*barstaff of course being the politically incorrect term for barmaids.
Packing
3:16 pm Thursday, 26 April, 2007
It should be easier this time around. It is easier this time around but why oh why does it feel like such an uphill struggle?
My apartment is now in a total state, I’ve done a little bit of packing in every room and a lot of taking things out of their homes and putting them on the floor/bed to be sorted. About 5 minutes of that and I suddenly think must check email or must do this and do that.
I mean I know I have people coming in to do the bulk of it next week but I think I’d much rather just have the boxes and get it all done myself. Then I think no that’s silly I should just do the basics and figure out what I need to live on here and in London for what could be a few weeks.
I hate getting stressed over things that I have no reason to get stressed about. I’m going to keep at it for another hour or so and then I’m going to the pub to have some dinner and perhaps a few pints to make me feel better.
Weekend roundup.
9:53 pm Sunday, 22 April, 2007
I’ve been trying to sit down and type something up for most of the week now. I’ve not gotten very far on it. It’s just going 9.30 on Sunday evening and as it turns out that as soon as the weather gets warm (at hot 80 degrees) my air conditioning breaks down.
So I am sat out on the balcony listening to The Killers and planning on typing for a while.
First off. The weekend has been pretty good. Friday night was straight to the cinema when I was done working to see Hot Fuzz and as I’ve mentioned I loved it. Highly enjoyable, I did laugh from start to finish so that was a pretty good way to kick things off.
Saturday was a beautiful day. Not a cloud in the sky, and lovely and warm outside. Naturally this first lead to the pub for lunch with Messers Comerford and O’Leary. That was decent enough and then on into town to take some photos. It was mainly the standard Tidal Basin/National Mall walk but with the weather so nice it made for some great photos. I’m happier with a higher percentage than normal which was nice. It helped that the tulip garden was out in full bloom and they made for great subjects.
So a long enough walk and tons of photos and well it was thirsty work. So off to The Four P’s in Clarendon for a relaxing pint which, of course, turned into several relaxing pints and a fry-up for dinner. Didn’t get home until sometime after 10 and pretty much just went to bed. This of course had me up and alert around 5am which wasn’t so good. Eventually went back to bed and slept through till 10ish. So that was a little better.
It was another beautiful day here but I guess I wasted most of that. I sorted through and started posting yesterdays photos, caught up on some TV and then decided I’d go out for lunch. The new issue of Wired had arrived yesterday so it made for perfect reading material.
While not feeling like going to far afield and at the same time not wanting to spend the rest of the day in my apartment I ended up going to the cinema again, this time to finally see Grindhouse. I wasn’t looking forward to Planet Terror too much but it was quite a bit better than the trailers implied and it was alright in the end I guess. Cast was decent enough. Death Proof was much better, I enjoyed that quite a bit.
Pound touches 14-year dollar high
10:12 pm Monday, 16 April, 2007
The pound has hit a 14-year high of $1.9938 against the dollar, with many experts believing it will rise above $2 in the next few days.
Sterling has been rising against the dollar as the UK’s economic performance contrasts with fears of a US slowdown.
The trend has been good news for British visitors to the US but has made life more difficult for exporters.
The pound was last equal to $2 in 1992, the year the UK was forced to leave the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.
BBC News
Of course this would be just as I’m getting ready to leave.