Meteorologists

The meteorologists are personally wetting themselves with excitement over 'the coldest weather since December 2004' or some such statistical ephemera. But it is kind of exciting to see the map of Britain turn progressively white with forecast of snow from West to East from approx 10pm tonight to 6am tomorrow. Oooh! This is fun! On SkyNews, the white stops just short of Norwich, but BBC1 says there may be up to 7cm in the morn :)

As a matter of observation, it is blooming colder here in Norwich than in Cardiff. Or at least it has been.

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So, gainful employment has been begun. And I like it a lot, although there is so much to absorb before my first outing, which incidentally will be to Australia (did i mention that?ooh, sorry.). Oh my Lord, it is exciting and yet mildly intimidating. Not least of which because of the fact that the reason for me to have this position in the first place is due to the previous person's untimely demise; and he had worked there for 20 years and knew everything there is to know about exchange agreements, travelling, everyone he remotely encountered, etc. But at least it is worked field instead of a cold one. And everyone seemed to really like and respect him.

My colleague is going to Pakistan in a week, where just last week there was a car bomb outside the hotel he and the faculty members will be staying. And there was another bomb today -- dear me.

In Britain, there is a letter bomber who has struck three times in the same number of days, so there is a warning out. Since I don't open many packages, this is not imminently a danger for me.

Anyhoo, to fill those outside the family who have not therefore been filled in on my accomodation (tee hee) -- my abode is in annexe (actually, enclosed garage) of a lovely house approx. 10 minute walk from mi officina. The couple I live with are very friendly and helpful and also don't mind my privacy at all. My room is triple the size of my room in the Hobbit Hole and probably almost the same as the room on Gold Street, except with a different orientation (long, instead of square-ish). V. v. clean (terribly important) and excellent light (again, important for mental health and designated knitting area [DKA] potential).

In the morning, I walk up the hill (or slip up the hill if there is ice as yesterday. Doc Marten mary-janes are in my future.), down steps to the next street, left to corner, right onto Bluebell Road (sadly, there is no ice cream here -- why is there a link called 'Learn About Ice Cream'? whatever.), cross the road almost two blocks down (this is to confuse you Brits who haven't a freaking clue what a 'block' is), walk through the university's park (past a lovely lake), up a hill, and there we are!

My office has a great group of people (assuming the four I haven't met are equally cool), very welcoming and only mildly take the mick about y'all. My direct line manager is from Portland, Oregon; he sounds British to me, but the Brits think he sounds completely American. He has had to field the mockery for words like eggplant, zucchini and the pronunciation of database with an initial short [a] for 6 years or so, so he is glad there is fresh meat. The office is open plan, which is a little daunting at first, coming from Private Office World [POW], but I think it should work fine. My computer doesn't get registered til tomorrow, so then I will hopefully be an entity, have email that works, be listed on important lists and be able to get on with it.

Well, obviously there is still a lot to be commented on, but my wrist is tired. And I need to stretch my hips. (This may sound bizarre -- yeah, okay. I admit it DOES totally sound ridiculous -- but having spent 16 months moving around a lot and not sitting in one position longer than 14.7 minutes, esp. not in a desk chair without my legs crossed Indian-style, my hips ache! ha! I suppose I am made for an ADD job where I move around a lot.)