My woe at having to work so late tonight was alleviated by a man juggling fire outside the office (I have little time for regular jugglers, even those throwing knives around, but everyone knows fire is quite exciting - FIRE!!!) and, when I got home, the man driving his boxy 80s BMW down the road with his Jack Russell hanging out the back, ears flying behind. I LOVE it when dogs do that! It always makes me smile. *smiles*

Anyway. Then I got home, and Ted and I had a lovely supper, and then ...

Ted: *proffers wine gums*

Me: "No thanks, I've not finished my glass of wine yet."

Ted: "But they're wine gums! They're made to go with wine! Look, that's why they have different wines written on them, to help you! This one goes with port!"

Me: *rolls eyes, sighs, tries to concentrate on Heroes*

Ted: *mouth crammed with wine gums, evil chuckles*

Me: *giggles, fuzzes*

Dear friends,

This is a note on behalf of the Sea Monkeys, a.k.a. Ted, Lauren and me, to say thank you again for sponsoring us to swim the 2008 Swimathon.

We swam it last weekend in record time, finishing within ten minutes of each other. We each swam 68 lengths, which works out as a mile plus an extra 100 metres. It was great fun. We were issued with matching white swim-hats and swam at the same time in lanes next to each other. Ted came first, in half an hour, and was relieved not to be beaten by girls. Lauren flew in next, at 35 minutes, and I came in at 40 minutes. We were tired but happy by the end!

When each of us finished, our length-counters and the crowd cheered, and we were force-fed cookies and orange squash by a small boy when we emerged from the pool, as someone had told him all the swimmers might keel over otherwise. (I think we'd have been ok, but the Oreos were nice.)

The sponsorship money is still coming in, but at the time of writing you have raised over £850 for Marie Curie Cancer Care. Thank you all so much - it's way more than we ever hoped to raise. You are all very lovely, generous people.

As a special treat to thank you for your support, here's a photo of us with our Swimathon medals outside Balham Leisure Centre.

Lots of love,

Linnie
xx

Me: So why is an overbite considered an attractive trait?

Ted: Well, it's a lot more attractive than an underbite. *gurns, makes ork face, grunting noises*

Me: *rolls eyes, giggles*

We had such a lovely time in D.C. - it's a beautiful city filled with charming people. Here are some photos.

Lettice and cherry blossom:

( LOADS more pics - and some sculpture-groping - this way! (Very image heavy.) )

I was woken up this morning by a man bursting into my bedroom.

After I stopped screaming, I was relieved to see that it was my husband. His flight got in early. Oh, how we laughed.

Anyway. We both had a wonderful time in Washington, and neither of us wanted to leave.

Last night, I went swimming to combat my jet lag. The pool was packed – it was boiling with people. It would have looked like an all-you-can-eat buffet to a cannibal (if they liked the odd piece of Lycra to chew on, and the tangy taste of chlorine).

It’s quite nice to be back in grimy old London.

Today was sunny so we went to Georgetown, like bubblishpop said we should. She was right. We got the bus across town and strolled around in the sunshine, doing a little bit of shopping, a little bit of eating, a little bit of exploring. It was all hot, charming and lovely; the canal was really pretty.

We came back and chilled - Ted gave me a fashion show of his new clothes and sneakers, eep - and then went out for dinner at the Starfish Cafe, where we went on my first night. (So it seemed appropriate.) Yum, oysters, swordfish and crabcakes that have copious amounts of crab in them. Nom nom nom!

Then we came back, sipped champagne and watched some nearby fireworks (Boom! Ooooh!) until a roving thunderstorm came along and, ahem, put them out.

Tomorrow, I'm heading to the Botanical Gardens, probably. Tomorrow afternoon, I have to go home.

I don't want to leave. It's been too lovely. ^_^

The cherry blossom was beautiful. We went out into the tidal basin on a pedalo, took lots of photos of Lettice and blossom and saw the Jefferson Memorial. I found all the quotes inscribed on the inside of the monument very moving. That's something you guys do so well in America: writing up the important words on your buildings. We just tend to have statues celebrating old guys who've killed lots of people.

Then we headed up to Adams Morgan 'cause we'd heard it was the place to be: they were right. What a fabulously lovely neighbourhood. It was like Sesame Street, but nicer. Stairs! Up to the front doors! We had a lovely boozy lunch at a French place then strolled around, mopping up the sunshine and the atmosphere. Ted is now a redneck; my nose is a bit pink. ^_^

Last night, I made him take me out for ponies and sliders (stubby little beers and mini hamburgers). It was fun, but my stomach has told me never to do that again.

Today, he had to be back in the library, so after I hit the Folger giftshop (all your Shakespeare needs in one place) I went to the Air and Space Museum and goggled at spaceships. They had a planetarium: I can't resist them, so went to both the "what's in the sky right now" and the "MASSIVE SPACE COLLISIONS! OMGZ BOOMZ!!!" shows. Both were great, in very different ways. Then I saw Dorothy's ruby slippers, met up again with Kermit the Frog and said hi to C-3PO and R2-D2, who were hanging out there while the Museum of American History was being refurbished.

I had lunch at the Museum of the American Indian, with my New Best Friends, Bob and Linda from North Dakota, who were utterly charming (this is another thing you guys are so great at - talking to random strangers - it's delightful), then went to the zoo where I fell in love with the red panda, who sniffled at the glass when I put my hand up to it, and the giant pandas, who were cuddly and OMG only three feet away.

Once I'd done some high-end hifi shopping, I met Ted and his crew for beers. They are lightweights, so left us after a couple, so we had Thai food and drank and sat in the light until we were full and cold.

Scary news: my iPod has started playing up again. Specifically, it's refusing to play "Outdoor Miner", my favourite song. *tests* Oh, and indeed, anything at all. It sometimes does this; so far, the scattiness has passed. But I am in the States right now, so a new one would be so much cheaper here than back home.

LiveJournal friends, tell me what to do:

Poll #1169316
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Should I buy a shiny new iPod when there's a chance my old one still might work?

I'm in Washington! And what a beautiful city it is. So green, so springlike, so many shining white buildings.

Ted met me at the airport (flight ok, managed to get one of those seats with extra legroom, sweet!) and we drove past the Pentagon and the Lincoln Memorial to get to our sweet little house on Capitol Hill.

Everything here is covered in cherry blossom. It's so beautiful and translucent, and makes it look like the whole city is covered in this incredible, ethereally sweet light.

He took me for a stroll around Capitol Hill and showed me the key sights (the Capitol, the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, Jimmy T's Diner). We found the cutest vintage store, which is far too close to have such a great selection of vintage costume jewellery, and I picked up some faux pearls with a Limoges cameo clasp. Then we dined at the Starfish on oyster shooters and prawn ceviche. I was 'specially pleased that my dinner came in a martini glass. I am considering only consuming things that come in martini glasses.

Everyone here seems very friendly and laid back.

I've woken up very early 'cause of my jetlag, but Ted is asleep. Soon, I shall rouse him to take me for pancakes or waffles. Hmm. What a decision. Either way, it's going to involve lashings and lashings of maple syrup.

So Ted has been in Washington for a while now.

The dear boy has been fussing about leaving me unattended for weeks. He forgets so easily that I am also a sentient being, and that I have coped perfectly well without him in the past. He stocked up the fridge and freezer with "nutritious, easy to cook food 'cause I know you won't bother while I'm away." (It's true.)

( Anyway, I thought I would share some rather choice gems from the email he left me. )

So on Monday, I had a very uneventful swim in the pool. It was nice.

Tonight, however, was a different story.

( You will not believe who got into a face-off at the pool tonight ... Well, ok, but I wasn't the main one. )

So for reasons that are too complicated to go into here, Ted and I are, essentially, homeless for a month or so, in that we have nowhere to live close enough to work that's big enough for both of us.

Ted's solved this by arranging to work in various archives around the country - something he needed to do anyway. This week, he's in Norwich, and as I had quite a bit of writing to do, I've packed it up and brought it here for a couple of days.

I got here late last night. They say there's no pleasure without pain, and ONE trains certainly provided that - but I won't bore you with it. Anyway, we're staying in a sweetly swish hotel, we had a delightful Thai meal, and last night I actually slept properly.

This morning, I hit the zone. The coders amongst you will know what I'm talking about - that wonderful state of semi-consciousness that descends when your code is flowing, all standards-compliant and in the most elegant way, onto the screen. Well, today, I felt truly in the verbal zone. Little bounces of happiness fired off in my brain as it hopped about from thought to thought. The words were my toys. As I plucked them from the ether and placed each of them with tenderness on the page to form sentences, it felt as if I was chanelling the joy of verbal play - weaving them together into a sort of silver thread, like the stuff Dumbledore keeps in his Pensieve.

(Of course, when I look at it tomorrow, I'll probably wince, hack it all about and give it a good kicking, but for now, I shall enjoy feeling fulfilled. It helps to get out of the office sometimes.)

At lunchtime, I nipped into the centre of Norwich. What a delightful place! It's pretty, with proper little shops selling all sorts of precious things and tasty snackerels. Everywhere smells of gingerbread. I tracked down a dressed crab, a lime and some green leaves for my lunch, brought them back and compiled them into a salad. (Note to others - if you're trying to get the juice out of a lime with only a teaspoon to help, I'd advise attacking it with the end, not the bowl, of the spoon, then wiggling the handle around inside to mess it up - works a treat.)

And - AND - in the market, they also had Victoria plums and woodnuts (which I call cobnuts) so I have those to snack on this afternoon. Yummy!

There was also an incident involving a second-hand bookshop, but I shall tell you that separately after I've done some more work.

Ted is back from Martin's stag weekend in eastern Europe* and his brother's wedding in Canada**. It is so lovely to have him back, even if he is fast asleep and all tired out! *bounces* Look! There he is! Over there! Tucked up in bed, all asleep!***

*as in Mary and Martin, who are getting married really quite soon, so the girls went to Brighton for a plush spa weekend and came back smelling lovely, and the boys trekked around unsavoury parts of Poland and Russia and came back smelling rather ripe.

**in Jasper, by Mount Edith, apparently - it all sounds very lovely and I'm sorry I wasn't able to go, but Ted fulfilled his duties as best man most excellently - thanks to those who helped him set the tone of the speech - and everyone had a jolly time. Plus the bride canoed herself to the ceremony (which was at the end of a jetty, very Dawson's Creek) which wins her a special prize. (That's who the bride pony was for, daizy_18.)

***This is the first time my footnotes have been longer than my actual journal entry. Good? Bad? You decide.

So, after getting used to coming fourth, Ted and I were rather gobsmacked that we WON THE PUB QUIZ last night! *flails*

Oh yes. Eat my points, Early Birds and Next to Nothing. (Those are the teams which usually beat us.)

Dr Vallance was on particularly good form; I did the science ones. We won £25! TWENTY FIVE WONGAS! And there are only two of us to share it, so I am £12.50 the richer, minus the money I spent last night. I must be at least £2 up! I promise not to spend it all at once.

Breakfast this morning was on me; we're eating jammy doughnuts.

Ted and I went for a lovely autumnal walk on Sunday, and picked blackberries and sloes. The blackberries we ate - they were yummy. Then, last night, we had a go at making sloe gin. It took ages to prick all the sloes with a pin, and our fingers got all red with sloe dye. We now have various bottles and jars filled with fruit and alcohol, and hopefully it'll be ready in time for Christmas so we can give it to various people as little presents. Yummy!

I have a strong recurrent urge at the moment to hibernate by a warm fire, snuggled in fluffy blankets, and not emerge until March except for Christmas dinner.

So... Ted and I were watching Superted, and it struck me that, should Ted ever decide to switch career to "Motivational Speaker", when he came onstage, they could play the Superted theme tune, and it would be awesome.

We then tried to work out what my theme tune would be, should I ever become a motivational speaker. And I picked "Crazy in Love" by Her Royal Bounciness. But not the bits with words. Just the horn "Bah bah bah bah bah BAAAAAH" and the "Uh oh uh oh uh oh oh no no" bits.

And then, of course, I decided that this deserved one of my infamous polls. So...

Poll #553285
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

'Fess up. If you were a motivational speaker, what would YOUR theme tune be?

And while I'm at it, what do YOU think Superted's secret word was?