Health blog for a health puppy.

Hey, Everyone!

    To start here is an update on Dippy's leg. It's healing fine ( so far that we know.), but she has an appointment with the doctors today to possibly get the cast off. YAY!!!

   But other then Dippy's leg, there hasn't been much going on.  In a week or so we will be going to another brunch with friend. And they have told us it's like going to a night club, but with food and no loud music. Apparently the people treat it like a party! Dressing up, getting their hair done, just so that they can have a buffet and maybe attract somebody. All in all sounds like my kinda place!! High energy AND delicious food and drinks!! Sign me up.................Oh wait I did already!

   But in preparation for this feast of delights, I have been diligently going to the gym and trying to get back in shape. ( I once had abs and I will again!!!!). I have meet some cool people in the circuits class I take every now and then. also I workout with one of Dippy's bosses. Yay networking!

   So far I have lost ten pounds in two weeks and 6% body fat as told to me by my scale. I have been using one of Dippy's fitness monitors and doing well in my opinion. But ya, we will see if I reach my goal by next August.

 Yep, as I said nothing happening quiet yet. But stay tuned for more!

Hop-Along and the Tales of Brunch

So Dippy and I went to a Dubai brunch. which at first I thought should be peaceful............... think again, readers! Nothing about Dubai is basic or mundane!!!

First though, I should mention that Dippy's ankle got worse! Now she has a cast. Poor Dippy! But don't worry, I take good care of her!

The health care here is pretty amazing!!! ...As long as you have insurance (which we do!).
Sooo send your get well soons to Dippy.

But back to the topic of the day! We went to Dubai's famous brunch. Which should be called a "drunch" (portmanteau of drunk and brunch). We went to the Wafi hotel . Which hosts an amazing brunch; and as long as it's "culturally appropriate" they offer an alcoholic brunch as well.

You can only guess what Dippy and her co-workers picked!
So the deal is you can have all you can eat food from three of the restaurants of the hotel, and included, if you wish, is "house beverages". The stylish bracelets shows that you can order alcohol.
It kinda reminded me of when I worked for Club Med.
( shout outs to our Club Med Readers!)

Now this is where Dippy and I behave ourselves, of course.
But when the last call came around, without asking, the waitress came to the table with soo much alcohol!!!

I asked for one drink to end the day, and got three. La Cat asked for "a rum and coke, but can it be a half glass" and wound up with a half glass... of rum! (with a can of cola on the side). Another co-worker got brought a half bottle of wine!!!

So if your ever in Dubai. I suggest a brunch if you want to get your day drunk on.

Other then that I got a haircut to clean it up a bit. We got some wrapping paper for Christmas as well. Being so big about shopping, they rep Christmas here big time, just not quite as extravagantly as Canada does.

Which I like, since I am a twin to Santa Clause apparently.

My apologies for the lack of picture. we didn't stay long after the brunch.

National Day at Abu Dhabi

Dear Readers

Get ready for a long one!! Cause this post is covering everything from the Abu Dhabi trip!

National Day horses delay our return to the hotel

Let's start off with: be sure to not injure yourself before you go on a trip!! Dippy did just that! Of course it was an accident. But she was so blown away by our driver's new ultra-patriotic decals that she fell in a hole and sprained her ankle before even getting into the car! This meant no time for ice and rest. Her ankle swelled up real good! So we tried to keep her off the ankle for most of the trip.

My next warning is: Careful which hotel you book if you're going to Abu Dhabi on National Day. I'm not saying that it was a bad stay or that it was busy. On the contrary! It was wonderful! ... once the military lifted the lock-down in and around the hotel. We had trouble getting to the hotel because the military shut down the entire area around it. So after some talking, we were escorted by armed guards to the hotel and then told not to leave it for five hours. The whole area was closed down from 12pm to 5 pm due to special National Day events at the Expo Centre adjacent to the hotel. This put a bit of a damper on our plans for the day. But after waiting for two hours, we snuck out.

We had made it out and now were off to Yas Island for Yas Mall!
and here is were warning number three comes in:

Don't go to Yas Mall (yet).
Go sometime after April 2015.








The mall is big and it boasts over 300 stores... if the mall were finished. Much of the mall is unfinished and the stores haven't opened. The building is nice, but we had planned to shop a a few stores that you could only get back home. The store I wanted to go to most was the Under Armour store.
But as you can see from my grumpy expression, it was one of the many stores not yet open. The only store that was open that we particularly wanted to go to was Pie Face.

The store is all about pies, as you can tell from the name. both sweet and savory. The meat pies were very good! Next time I go, I'll be getting a bigger pie though! I could eat through all the small pies without any trouble.

While in Yas Mall we thought we would check out Ferrari World. Which is a huge indoor amusement park based solely on Ferrari cars. However, the tickets were really expensive, so we decided that could wait for another time.

This store is called On Time... alas, like many stores at Yas, it was not.

After Yas Mall, we came back to the hotel and decided to have sushi at their roof top lounge. Dippy enjoyed the sushi because in one roll (the "aloft maki") she got every single one of her favourite sushi ingredients. But unfortunately for La Chat. they messed up her order and the communication between servers seemed rather off. So we all went to bed and chalked that night up as a failure and would start a fresh the next day.

The next day we went to a few of their other well-known malls. Al Wahda was a much better experience than Yas had been. We went there to have Red Lobster for breakfast/lunch. For a moment, I felt like I was back in Canada. Looking around that mall, we found a cute little Christmas tree for our apartment, and new shoes for poor Dippy's injured feet! Dippy's favourite brand of dress shoes had a whole shop there as well, so we all went and tried on new shoes. When we were done with Al Wahda Mall we took a taxi to the Gold Souq (also known as the

Madinat Zayed Shopping Centre & Gold Centre).

I have never seen so much jewelry in once place. Sooo much Gooooooold, and for really good prices, too! Bangles, earrings, necklaces, watches... every form of jewelry and gold that you can imagine!

The Marina Mall was the last stop of the day because they boast some of the best views of the coast in the area. I wish we had gone up their tower; it probably would have been a really great view. But we were tired and so we stopped at an ice cream shop that makes ice cream according to your specifications by hand with liquid nitrogen. You choose the milk base, the mix of flavours and add toppings or mix ins! It was called Sub Zero Ice Cream Shop and it was a lot of fun to watch. I remember being told to wear protective gear when dealing with liquid nitrogen, but these guys didn't!! They do it day in and day out, so I suppose that they know how to handle the stuff better then I could. The ice cream they made was very tasty too! We don't know if it tasted any better for being made so fresh; but it tasted exactly like we hoped it would!

To wind the night down we took a scenic drive past the Emirates Palace and went back to our hotel. We ate dinner at their poolside restaurant/bar/shisha lounge/night club, took a dip in the pool and spent the night watching "The Terminal" while having our own little spa night.

Once we woke up and packed up for our final day, we went to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

The Mosque was absolutely amazing! What a perfect way to end our trip! Ohh the marble flooring, ohh the delicate design! If you ever get a chance to come to Abu Dhabi, the Grand Mosque is a must see!

There is really no worlds to describe the place! the photos here do not do it justice, and that is saying something cause Dippy is great at taking pictures!!

What an amazing trip. Bumpy and slightly scary at the beginning. But it smoothed out in the end!

Best movie experience soo far!

Ya I know, I said that the next post would be about Abu Dhabi.

(Sorry no photos of that place. Didn't think about taking pictures).

Ya sorry, I lied. there is just to much fun going on that I had to right about it!! So last night I had a great time with friends. Went to dinner at this Korean chicken place called "Kim Chicken" in Dubai! All I have to say is look out KFC and Popeye's cause if this place decides to become a chain then they can take all my money! ( also I'd be fat. cause fried food make you fat). Then we went to a place called " The Irish Village" which made me feel right at home! All the green and pub atmosphere a little Irish boy could want!



But that brings us to tonight! where Dippy, Veronique ( who from now on will be referred to as La Cat.) and I went to see a movie in the most talked about way! Vox Gold experience! And let me tell you something, reading audience! It was the best way to watch a movie in theater I have ever had!

So here's the run down. Once you pay for your ticket you ,go to a private lounge, where you of course, lounge. But whilst lounging you pick out food to have during the movie! Then once it's time to get your seats you calmly find it. cause they look like this!

Such rich Corinthian leather!! Oh and they recline and there are only like 30 of them. So you practically get the theater to yourself. Soo quiet, So comfy. I went in with a backache and I didn't feel a thing from my back while watching the movie!








So once you are good and settled and the trailers are playing, you get a reminder that you had placed an order of food cause a ninja -like employee comes and delivers the food to your seat.
Even when they got La Cat's food wrong the first time. They delivered in the middle of the movie and I barely noticed an employee come back with the right thing.




The only problem I had was that the "eating light" that they have to help you identify the food on you plates kinda shone on my shoe. Which if I where a normal person I would have not worn my neon yellow running shoes.










But all in all was a good experience and I wish all theaters were like the Vox Gold Experience.I think while I am here I will strive to watch most movies in such a fashion!
















And to end this Blog post off I would like to here some feed back. Mostly about my hair. What do you guys think?




Does the long straight hair suit me? I think I have a good look here but lets hear your opinion.

Day to Day of a house spouse!!

So a friend recently asked when the next blog post would be ( you know who you are, and thank you.)
I was thinking of posting about being a house spouse in the U.A.E. mostly that I am male. and apparently to the mass here,  I should be " a proper man and have a job.
The wife stays at home and cooks!" literal quote from a local. It just shows how two cultures can collide in many ways. but I digress.

My life is amazing right now!! I really could not complain. Everything is going to plan and both Dippy and I are really happy! The facilities here are amazing.

My Itinerary for day to day is thus:

9-10 - Read ( Anything, Dippy got me Cockpit confidential. Which so far is a great book! If Patrick Smith flies to Sharjah I would love to talk to him. Also Naruto)

10- 12- Cleaning. ( Which includes scrubbing the toilets. I could get a maid. But then I would be bored)
12- 1 - Lunch with Dippy and her co-workers. ( We have really bonded with them! they are really cool friends)

1-3- Gym and swimming ( But lets be honest. I end the work out after an hour. Cause you can only watch two episode of archer!! lol But I have lost ten pounds so far!! YAY)

3-5 - Free time/ prep for dinner. ( Most of this time gets take up by Wow or whatever is new in my life. Cause I have a short attention span! lol)

5- Until bed time.
This point in my time I spend time with Dippy. Cause I really have the personality of a puppy. I miss her when she's gone and get excited when she comes home. Sometimes we will play wow together or read whilst cuddling in the bed. But as of 5, it's time to spend quality time with my girl! Cause she provides an AMAZING life! Seriously if you don't believe me have a look at the pictures!!






Bonus pics!!! Caught this guy the first week of being here!! as you can see he/she was set free unharmed!!!

Hop-Along the Wonder Pup Catches All the Readers Up

Bigitty blog, bi bi bi bigitty blog time!!!

This is a time rewind blog post to fill you in on what happened between the trip to Britain and now in the U.A.E

Last time we left our intrepid heroes they were tripping across the Britain.

But here's were I catch you up! including picture! YAY! Sooo after the trip to Britain, Dippy moved to Montreal to do her Masters degree. and I promptly followed her and proposed like a good doggy...................I mean man. like a gentle man. any who! That's when I got the call to travel, and left Dippy to her own! Traveling to Turks and Caicos was amazing! I learned so much! and had soo much fun! Met so many people ( which I probably should still keep in touch with............ oups).

Club Med is a blast! Everyone should go! Specially Turquoise if you have no children!

I learned that I'm better at french then I thought, Scuba diving is awesome, crabs dig holes in the beaches and much more!

Dippy came to visit me this time in Turks & Caicos. I showed her the sights and then she left. but about a month later I got an email to be a manager at a hotel in Montreal.So I felt Club Med, but didn't get the job. But it meant that I was with Dippy. And that always makes me happy.

After Montreal we moved back to our home town. ( unfortunately with Dippy's parents.) And hung out with our friends again! But nothing happened in that time. That period was fun. But not Adventurous.

It continued like that for a few months. Dippy and I taking jobs where they came. Dippy worked in the Canadian Broadcast Corp for a little while. Got to see Chris Hadfield. ( That man is my new personal hero! ) and hangout and see some/ be in some recordings of  George Stroumboulopoulos. He's pretty cool! Then just after the CBC. Dippy got a few job offers, one to Palau. to be the Director of the library there. Had it payed more we would be there instead. But the other was the job in U.A.E. and you can guess what offer we took.

But getting the job meant that we had to pull together a wedding that we were pushing of to save up money! So with the kindness of  friends, family and even some strangers. We pulled together our wedding in a month. It was a fantastic wedding. Then just as fast as the wedding, we skipped off to Sharjah!




And now to your regular posting!
Stay tuned for more Adventures of Dippy Jones and her Wonder Pup!

 *Spoilers*
Abu Dhabi, Yas Island!!!!!

Dippy Jones and Hop-Along Take to the Sands

For the Al Hijra long weekend, we finally made it out to the great wild west of U.A.E.; the desert! We went for a BBQ and bonfire with a bunch of other people from the campus. Maybe it should have been obvious, but we hadn't really made the connection that oil rich also means tons of awesome fossils. But the spot they took us to was covered in fossils!

 We figure it's some sort of sandstone. But we left our resident geologist back in Canada. When he visits, I'm sure we'll all know more about the rocks around here. But as you can see, the fossils were everywhere!! I guess that's what we get for moving to a oil rich land. Dino Bones every where!







When we were driving out, Dippy pointed something out to me that I couldn't make out. Turns out, it was a huge rock structure that I would have never seen back home! Probably because it would have been covered in trees and grass... But still! HUGE! You could see this mountain for kilometers! (or miles for the American readers out there).

  

       The sand was so soft. I thought it would be coarse because there wasn't any water to buff it. but as I got explained to me and felt first hand, air does a great job blowing it around and making it very soft. I sat down on the top of the dune and within minutes i was covered. There was a fine layer on my skin and being that my shoes were practically all mesh, I now had a dune of my own in there! 

       Our host quickly told us that we would have to get our selfies now since we'd have no light in ten minutes. and he was right! Once the sun started to set, it didn't waste any time! Soon it was completely dark! Like can't see in front of you dark. We didn't have and flashlights of our own but our host, Ali, and his family had brought a few. 

Then we built a fire and started barbequeing our stuff. 

          There was so much food being shared that I was stuffed very quickly. After talking and eating for three hours we started to pack up and leave. However, as we were driving away, our SUV decided that it's had enough of this sand stuff and broke down! We weren't completely stranded since we were diving caravan style. The moment the vehicle stopped everyone else stopped too and we made plans to switch vehicles and left the SUV in the desert for the night (or at least until the tow showed up). 

When we got home, we had another shower because you could just feel the sand everywhere! I mean, we took our shoes of at the door and these small little sand dunes appeared on our tile floor... 

Dippy Jones and Hop-Along The Wonder Pup Join Forces!

Wow! What a long hiatus! Did you miss me?

I'm really sorry about that. But guess what? Dippy Jones is at it again!

In the time I've been gone from this blog, I've been making some waves. I finished my Bachelor's degree, and went straight into a Masters program in Montreal. After some post-post-grad school contract employment, I finally landed something a little more permanent...

In the Middle East!

So Hop-Along and I, after years of dating, engagement, and finally protracted and constantly delayed wedding planning, whipped a wedding up in a month with the help of a friend-fuelled crowdfunding campaign.

Now that Dippy Jones and Hop-Along The Wonder Pup have partnered up in a more legally binding sense, we've moved together to the middle of the desert, near a little place you may have heard of before: Dubai! While we don't live in Dubai proper, we live in it's smaller neighbouring Emirate: Sharjah.

The United Arab Emirates is fantastic, and you can see some of our adventures so far over on instagram.

But since Dippy Jones is so busy with her nine to five, Hop-Along has decided he'd like to take over the blogging duties!

So hold onto your seats folks! He'll keep you up to date on our current adventures, and maybe fill you in on some of our adventures in the past few years that you've missed (like did you know, he lived and worked in Turks & Caicos? Wow!)

See you around, I know I'm leaving you in good hands!

View My English World in a larger map

Filler for now

I'll do full updates later, I've got a backlog of notes and travel experiences and photographs from the past few weeks... it's been nearly a month since I posted last, hasn't it? Yikes... I'm sorry...

What have you missed? Jon came to visit and we went *everywhere* (it was amazing), I've been going crazy with how stressed I am, and when my internship is done I'm going to the Alps to finally see Melanie for the first time in ages before I head home.

So, here I am on the second last day of my internship. I'm trying desperately to finish up these promotional videos but I'm not a very good editor. Don't get me wrong, I can edit. When I have the time, I can edit fairly well. But I am *not* a Good Editor. I can't edit amazing pieces in the blink of an eye, I make mistakes and stumble. Sometimes it feels like I'm groping in the dark when I use my editing software... Ellis once told me there are 3 ways you can have editing, but you can only ever have 2 of those three. It'll either be fast and good but expensive, fast and cheap but bad or cheap and good but slow. I am "cheap, good and slow" in that saying. And right now, I'm trying to be fast and cheap... without having the finished product be terrible.

What am I doing right now? Waiting on the render that never ends.

I am so inept that this one sequence I'm working on seems to constantly need to be rendered... ok, so it's not really my ineptness, it's how complex this particular one is... but it makes me feel inept so bleh.

Plus this particular sequence is next to impossible because one interview is with a person who is a constant re-phraser who never actually starts or finishes a complete sentence and the other says 'like' every other word... so beyond the issues of trying to edit a good piece waffling back and forth between two people (one person is easy, 3 has some symmetry, but 2? It's a painfully constant back and forth) I'm dealing with people who do not talk in an editable manner. Blah.

For my next trip, I shall try to edit 2 complete single interview pieces within 4 hours... I need an Amped energy :/

Oh look, my render's finally done... for now.

TTYL... probably very later >.>

Dippy Jones Across the Pond: Day 69 - Happy Birthday to me!!!!!

So, most excellent birthday made even better by the day of my trip it happens to fall on? Yes. My day is complete.


Today, I walked into my office like any other today. But today, someone else had been in my office first...

How did I know? They left a clue:

XD SO ADORABLE! It spells out my name and everything!

I was talking to Miriam on Friday and had mentioned that my birthday was on Monday, I guess she decided I needed an army of cupcakes! Such a great surprise. I love my co-workers! The card was super cute too... I think it's made of fabric or something... it doesn't feel like normal paper.

The cupcakes are not only adorable and creative, but absolutely delicious as well, in case you were wondering. I ate the one on the end with the little <3 flag first. Now I need to decide how to devour my name... I'm thinking of starting with the A. If it were shaped like an animal, I'd have to bite the head off first, it's just the rules... but since it's a name, I think I'll eat it from end to beginning, keep it recognizable as long as possible... Ok, so I'm severely bizarre; your point?

When I got home I went for a run, and you'll never believe it but I managed to jog, not walk briskly or alternate between kinda running and depressing limps, but full out jog for a whole episode of How I Met Your Mother without stopping, or dying of an asthma attack! I've found my exercise muse; television. And people say it's making America fat, puh-leez! I suppose it's partially because I'm used to watching TV with no image that it works for me. I used to stay up way later than my parents thought I was listening to the Gilmore Girls on Global TV once I discovered that my radio can pick it up at the lowest band of the dial. But I digress. A full 20 minutes of proper jogging without immediate ill effects! Go me! It was followed by another 20 minutes of walking briskly and jogging intermittently, yet another episode of HIMYM.

Then, when I was home from my jog, I made myself some smoked salmon pasta, which left something to be desired but still, smoked salmon is delicious! And then ate some of my Ben & Jerry's Phish Food. Mmmm.... The Phish is Delish! ^_^

I also shared some of my cupcakes with Katie and Faye. They're too good to keep to myself! ... I think I should convince Miriam to give me that recipe... I won't say they're better than Heather's, but maybe I just haven't had cupcakes in a little too long :P

But look at that! There's even a heart made of sparkly sugar on a couple of them! Awwwww!

They did look a little nicer in the office though... Transport wasn't great for them. Nor was my relentless picking at the edges of the icing for just one more hit of the sugary sweet.

Anyways, it's well past my bed time. I think it's time to hit the hay... or eat myself into a sugar shock. Decisions, decisions!

Dippy Jones Across the Pond: Day 68 - So far? Best Birthday EVER!

This weekend I had been considering taking a day trip to Newcastle-upon-Tyne (3hrs on a train each way? Yikes..). But I had fallen asleep with my window open, so when I woke up (at 4 am), my allergies were so oppressively bad I couldn't breathe right, I couldn't sleep anymore, my eyes could barely open and my sinuses felt like they were going to blow my head up... it was Not Fun. I needed to do my laundry anyways so I made an executive decision to go to Newcastle some other time.

Having woken up at 4, since I'd gone to bed at like, 7pm the night before because I was so exhausted, I was already awake when Jon called at 7. I suggested he do something (I can't even remember what) and he replied "I don't really have any money". I was taken aback by this.
"But Jon!" I said "You've been saving up money, how do you not have any?"
"I spent it all on your birthday present." he said sheepishly
*shocked silence* "What could you have possibly gotten me that you'd spend that much money on!"
"I'm coming to visit you." he responded.
...
...
...
O.O REALLY!?!?!?! XD *dies*

Seriously though, best birthday present ever!!!! Here I had prepared myself, suppressed my previous hopes that he'd come visit (he'd wanted to come for my birthday so I wouldn't have to be alone) so I wouldn't be sad when he wasn't able to come over, either because the ticket would be too expensive or because he was going to a summer school math class, and then he just goes and buys a ticket!?! ^_____^

So he's coming to visit. His flight leaves on the 13th, he gets here early in the morning on the 14th and he leaves on the 20th. I can't wait! I don't know where we'll go... I mean, I've gotta take him somewhere! Maybe Scotland? Or maybe I'll just take him around to various places kind of close by... I think he said something about wanting to go to Alton Towers; that could be really fun!

I spent the next few hours working myself up so much that I'd have to go to sleep. Then I'd wake up, work myself up again and go back to sleep. Finally, I got up for real and went and did my laundry, grabbed some snackies from the Select and Save and ran into Faye. We wound up talking a bunch and I invited her to come watch Repo with Katie and I later that night.

Now I didn't "force" anyone to watch Repo (so you can bite your tongue mom! XP lol); you see, Katie's sister LOVES Saw, and when I mentioned I'd met Darren Lynn Bousman, and explained how I met him (which is through shadowcasting/making my documentary about Repo shadowcasting) Katie decided she had to see Repo! The Genetic Opera. So we sat and watched it... I tried to bite my tongue throughout, but the urge to do callbacks is just so ingrained now! Now they want to go see the Repo Shadow Cast in Birmingham, so I think if they're having a show in the next month, we may just have to take a trip down there!

Faye and I decided we'd go grocery shopping together on Sunday, since we both needed things. She showed me where the Sainsbury's is, since I've been doing all my shopping at the Morrisson's. I got such a great haul of stuff, including smoked salmon (which our local Morrisson's doesn't carry) and a special birthday treat, Ben & Jerry's Phish Food icecream (my fave!). It's going to be awesome! For my birthday dinner I'll make myself a simple smoked salmon pasta with Phish Food for dessert! It'll be fantabulous! Maybe I'll even buy myself a Fufu Berry Jones Soda as a special drink to go with my special meal!

I made myself a pretty special meal tonight too... I made myself an applewood smoked cheddar grilled cheese sandwich *drool*... it's like there's bacon in it, without there actually being any, you know, bacon :P.

Faye, Katie and I tried to have a Chatroulette party, but for some reason it wouldn't let us do video chat... we could do text chat, and we had some pretty funny ones, but still, no video :(

We did do a video chat with my parents on Skype though! They wanted to wish me a happy birthday and so my friends got to meet the famjam. And now, having seen my kitchen, Katie wants to come visit even more! I think I'm winning her over about Canada being more awesome than the US of A. Although her NYC and Florida obsession may run a little too deep for me to counter >.<

All in all, a pretty awesome birthday weekend for my having not left the Newcastle/Stoke/Keele area!

Dippy Jones Across the Pond: Day 66 - Canada Day pt 2

I realize I never actually explained what I did for Canada Day! I needed to have some sort of celebration, right? Well, Katie wound up coming to my office at the end of my day because that's the only place I have access to my iTunes Library and she wanted my TV shows. So now she's watching New Who from the very beginning (and I imagine, staying up all night to do so) and also has a few other shows to try out. Then we went home and when we passed by the post office, I checked the board to see if I had any packages waiting and I did! But the office was closed so I couldn't pick it up... I had a feeling I knew what it was though... When we got home, we had some of her left over birthday cake as a Canada Day treat and we decided we'd go have dinner and a pint at the Sneyd Arms together as our own little celebration. We both had steak and ale pie. I reasoned that Steak and Ale pie is appropriate Canada Day cuisine as it is as close to tourtière as we're going to get here in England! XD It was totally delicious and totally worth the ~1/2 hr walk to get to the pub :D

Oh and apparently Thursdays are Pie Days at the Sneyd Arms, so even better!

Mmmmm.... Pie....

Today, I picked up the package and I was right! It was my package from the YOWilkies! It contained 4 different boxes of Kraft Dinner; Original, Extra Creamy, White Cheddar and Sharp Cheddar. I ate a full box of the Original for dinner with a bottle of Fufu berry Jones Soda; a truly Canadian meal just a day late for Canada Day. Perfect!

KD is so delicious... but now my tummy is a little angry with me. I think it's bed time...

Dippy Jones Across the Pond: Day 65 - Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day!

If I were home, I'd be watching fireworks tonight. Hanging out in Riverside Park, seeing all my old friends from Rovers and Venturers; one of the few times all year I manage to see them. I'd probably be enjoying a barbeque or something, maybe stopping by the houses of family and friends having Canada Day celebrations and saying hi.

If I were home, on Monday, I'd be eating dinner with my family. Probably at East Side Mario's or an All-You-Can-Eat Sushi place. Celebrating my birthday.

If I were home, I'd have a pool party to celebrate my birthday and I'd invite all my friends; from Guelph and from Toronto.

If I were home, only 4 people would actually come. But we'd still have fun, I've gotten used to the low attendance rate of my parties.

If I were home, I'd be enjoying my family's brand new pool. Well, our old pool revamped. Enjoying the solar heated, salt system water surrounded by mock river-rock pavement.

If I were home, I wouldn't be annoyed that because of that new pool, no one is coming to visit me.

If I were home, maybe I'd have gone to the cottage for Canada Day and put on my own fireworks display from the dock.

If I were home, I'd have Jon by my side, laughing and joking and cuddling wherever I happened to be.

If I were home, I wouldn't be travelling alone.

But if I were home, I wouldn't be seeing dozens of cities I've only ever read about before.

If I were home, I wouldn't be perusing library and museum alike, weekend after weekend. Devouring experience after experience. Learning, seeing, photographing voraciously.

If I were home, I wouldn't be visiting the locations I've seen on the silver screen, big and small, all my life.

If I were home, every other meal wouldn't be some sort off meat filled pastry.

If I were home...

Well I'll be home soon enough.

Dippy Jones Across the Pond: Day 63 - Birthday Celebrations Begin

Yesterday was Katie's birthday! She turned 22 too! Yay for samesies!

Anyways, she knocked on Faye and my door at like... 10 o'clock, offering us pieces of the birthday cake her parents bought for her. Tasty chocolatey goodness!

The next night, we'd planned to get birthday pizza as a kind of joint birthday celebration and watch Sherlock Holmes, the new Robert Downey Jr one. Faye was working a late at her placement, so we had to wait for her to come home for that. While we were waiting, Katie, her friend Chris and I went to the Union to have some drinks, I tried some mixed berry cider with a complex unpronounceable name. Then we headed back to the shed, Faye texted and told us she was feeling sick so she wouldn't be coming. So we ordered Dominos, they have a 2 for 1 deal on Tuesdays. We got bacon double-cheeseburger (my personal fave), and Southwestern BBQ chicken pizza... Soooo tasty.

We watched a few youtube videos before we started the movie. I showed them this funny Kids in the Hall sketch, they really appreciated it. Chris had been telling me how much he wanted to visit Canada, and one of the prime topics of conversation after that is always "stereotypes" so I thought it would be appropriate.

Sherlock Holmes wound up going way too late, but I love that movie, so I just couldn't resist. I rarely ever hope for this, but I really hope they make a sequel to that film! It's delightful :D