Uphill every step of the way...

I give up.
No, actually, I don't. I'll just have to keep trying harder, that's all. What am I talking about? My uphill struggle to educate my fellow Americans about the value and absolute necessity of caring for their environment.
I'm not saying that the UK is perfect, far from it, but Americans are quite frankly HUGE consumers and TERRIBLE at recycling. I can only speak of my own personal experience since I've lived here, but it shocks me on an almost constant basis how little thought most people here give to how many things they use once then throw away. They have little thought to where it all ends up, and at what cost to the environment.
To me it is unthinkable to throw a can, plastic bottle or paper cup into the bin, knowing it will add to the already rapidly filling landfill, when it could just as easily be recycled. Yet this is exactly what most people here do. I've seen people at work use a paper plate for their lunch and throw it away, repeating the process every day. I've seen people at parties using plastic plates and cutlery, then throwing it away when they could have washed and reused it for the next party.
When I first got this job, couriers would regularly deliver 30 or more flyers advertising property for sale. A flyer would be put into each agent's mailbox in the office, the rest would be thrown away. Most of the agents would then glance at the flyer and this too would then be thrown away. So I emailed the source of each flyer and asked them to send them to me by email so that I could forward them on to all our agents, saving them time and money, and saving paper and ink. Nobody objected, everyone agreed this was a brilliant idea, yet nobody else had come up with it before.
I also brought in a box for staff members to put recyclables in. We have a recycling bin at home, and as there are only two of us and it's a huge bin, there is usually room for more. So on a Friday I take home the recycling from work and put it in our recycling bin. Again, not much effort required, but it makes me feel better.
So last week when me and Perfect Husband were doing our shopping in Walmart, I took a break from my usual hobby of snapping pictures of weirdly dressed people and posting them on Facebook, and bought a 12 piece Dinner Set. It cost $12 and consists of 4 each of bowls, small and large plates. I brought it into work this morning, for everyone here to use, in an attempt to wean them off their use once and throw away habit.
One of my colleagues told the boss that I had brought it in to stop people using paper plates; his comment was "oh do we need to buy a dishwasher then?" to which I replied "no, we each just wash what we use."
This was what I believe the younger generation would call a Facepalm moment- I mean, really?? I despair of these bloody stupid, thoughtless people, I really do! Why am I bothering? Because our planet needs me to that's why. And there are millions more like me, and hopefully we will eventually educate everyone else to think more and be more careful.
And, in the words of that wise and eminent sage, Miley Cyrus "We can't stop....and we won't stop....."

I have the remote control!!

So in our house, Perfect Husband is normally in charge of the TV remote control when he is at home. I'm sure this is the case for the majority of households- gadgets are a man-thing, as is impatience.....
Last night we were settling down to watch TV after dinner, showers and chores were done; a bit of down time before bed. Perfect Husband was skipping through the channels as usual, while playing with his new Iphone (who says men can't multi-task?) when he settled on a programme which was about motorhomes and was already halfway through. After a few minutes he gave me the remote with the generous comment that I could choose what I wanted as he wasn't really watching this, and went back to his Iphone.
Now I have a different strategy for selecting something to watch. Quaint though it may be, I simply start at channel one and work my way through, reading the information as I go; this way I don't miss anything and I usually find something I am interested in. This weird and unacceptable behavior on my part was enough to drag his attention away from the Iphone; he "suggested" I check the movie channels. I carried on what I was doing, to which he helpfully told me that if I held the button down it would skip through the channels faster.
I gave him the look of Absolute Power, held the precious remote to my breast and informed him quite regally that I had the remote and therefore I was in charge, and if he had wanted to look for things his way he should have done it when HE had the remote.
I feel like there's a Life Lesson here of sorts: don't try and insist that others do things the way you want them done, if you've passed up the chance to do it yourself. Too many people try and control others; be it trying to force their opinions on them at a meeting or party, trying to control how they dress, what they think. We're all our own people and we need to respect each other, and even though squabbling over what to watch on the TV is a minor and stupid thing, it's the principal involved. Suggestions are fine, as is constructive criticism, but outright bossiness is not.
As it was, I settled on a reality show about a vet and even Perfect Husband enjoyed it in the end, although I did close my eyes when the vet was sawing the head off a dead calf that was stuck inside its unfortunate mother. Luckily the pieces of bloated calf were removed and the poor exhausted mother was saved. This was a happy ending of sorts, but I didn't necessarily want to see such detail straight after my dinner.

And so it begins...

It snowed yesterday. Yep, I kid you not. This is life in Alaska, when you are pretty much guaranteed snow before Hallowe'en and it's usually all gone by the end of May. If you're lucky. Why did I move here you ask? The simple answer is because I am stupid, and I made a huge mistake. Much as I don't believe in regrets; they are pretty much a waste of energy and don't really achieve anything, still I will probably always regret this one. But, the trick is to try and make the best of everything, and see it as a doorway to something else, so although I am dreading another Winter here, I cheer myself up with the knowledge that it will be my last in the Frozen North. Next year, Perfect Husband and myself are planning an escape to a much sunnier home, so watch this space to see how it all pans out.
But for now, we are here and must deal with it. So, out came The Big Coat; this will now be my Best Friend and Life Preserver until next May. Travelling by bus means a ten minute walk to my bus stop, then a ten minute wait, in temperatures that can get as low as -24 C; NOT funny at all. Add to that the fact that the City will ensure that the roads are plowed, but the pavement? Not a priority (few people here actually walk anywhere) so in a fresh snowfall you can literally be struggling through over a foot of snow. I can't leave the house any later as the bus will drive straight past the stop if nobody is there waiting, even if the bus is actually early!! So my full Winter attire consists of Big Coat, at least one pair of gloves, legwarmers and snow boots and a reflective armband, as in the depths of Winter it stays dark until about 10am. On especially cold days I wear an extra cardigan under my coat too.
But for now the Big Coat will suffice, and luckily, after yesterday's thoroughly miserable weather, today is bright, clear and sunny, although still cold. The snow, while being a warning of what's to come, didn't settle-yet.
When I got on my bus yesterday I sat opposite a woman holding a small black dog, with huge pointy ears, a Chihuahua maybe? I'm not sure, but so cute I couldn't help but smile at it, the way you would smile at a young child sitting on the bus with its parent. Dogs aren't actually allowed on the bus, unless they are a Service Dog, and I have no idea what service a Chihuahua would provide, apart from being cute. Maybe the woman told the bus driver it was her adopted child or something, or maybe she just pretended it was a handbag.
Anyway, as I have previously mentioned, it was, as we Brits say Bloody Freezing Out, and this poor tiny dog didn't have a coat on (I noticed the owner did) and when it came time to get off the warm and toasty bus the tiny dog planted its feet firmly on the floor and had to be practically dragged off the bus into the cold. So, pet owners, please wrap your pets up warmly when it's cold.....frostbite is no fun for anyone.

Anchors Aweigh!!

So Saturday night was the night of the charity Pirate Pub Crawl in Anchorage. The charity that benefits is the Blood Bank so I'm almost thinking that a Vampire Pub crawl would have been more apt, but it's all for a good cause and besides; Pirates are so damned cool!!
Of course me and Perfect Husband were going to be there! We love being pirates so much we actually had a Pirate Wedding, so there's no way we were gonna miss out!
We arrived at the Town Square just before 7pm, as that was when the group photograph was going to be taken. You could not move for pirates- so many people of all varying ages, (drinking age of course!) and everyone had made so much effort with costumes- we knew we were in for a good evening.
The Treasure Map we were given had the names of all the participating pubs and a place for each one to put their stamp; we were on a mission to get them all. And we were off!! The evening was a blur of drinking shots, taking photos of each other, saying "yarrrggghh" at every opportunity (many sore throats the next morning), admiring people's costumes, more drinking, making donations (Perfect Husband had got a roll of Dollar coins from the bank, as these are gold we thought they made rather good treasure to put in the donation boxes), more drinking, parrot tossing (not real I hasten to add) and a bit of dancing too! In one of the bars, aptly in the Captain Cook Hotel we overheard a couple talking. Nothing unusual in that, except they had BRITISH ACCENTS!! Oh great joy, as I sometimes feel like I'm the only Brit in town, even though I'm probably not. So I insisted we had a group hug to which they obligingly and cheerfully agreed, and we were all friends. Big Up to Mandy and Mick from the Cotswolds, I think we made each other's night!! At last, as we made our merry way down the road in search of a taxi to take us home, we saw a rather plump and jolly pirate heading our way. Clutching a pewter tankard in his hand, he nodded his head in the direction of the bar we had just left and simply said "Be there Rum this way....?" Naturally we replied in unison "Yarrrgghhhhh!!"

Just another normal day...

We started off with a passed out Eskimo on the bus, but fortunately he wasn't making any trouble for anyone except his own brain cells so that was ok. I figured I'd be off the bus and in my office before he came to. Then a small and rather cheerful lady in a very fetching hat with a flower on it got on and immediately greeted me like an old friend, saying she hadn't seen me for ages and wondered if I had moved. I realized that this was the same lady that chatted to me whenever she saw me and tried to make arrangements to go to the State Fair with me last year, so in that respect we are "friends" of a sort....
Today she insisted I take down her phone number because she had bought a shirt especially for me; it's pink and apparently has my flag on and she wants me to call her so she can arrange to get the shirt to me.
I took down the number for fear of offending her, chatted politely and waved when I got off my bus stop a minute later. I don't want to offend anyone, and she is friendly and means no harm.....I'm just not entirely comfortable with all these strangers insisting that they are my best friends.....it's not how we do things in Britain! You kind of have to be nice to everyone here though for your own protection- you never know who is armed and who isn't!! ( I personally don't think it's a very clever idea to sell guns in the supermarket......)
I got to my office and had just taken my seat when a tall lady marched in and quite frankly spoke nonsense for about 5 minutes-something about trying to establish the whereabouts of herself and being placed in a company and not having an address.....lots of long words spoken with the kind of conviction only the unhinged can truly muster..... eventually when she paused for breath I asked her how I could help her (call the guys with the straitjackets?) whereupon she fixed me with a steely glare and said I could NOT help her, she was merely here to talk about my origins.....the boss came out and asked what she wanted and she said she had no address or bank. When he explained that we were not a bank she said "whatever made you think I am a bank? Do I look like a bank? I can assure you that I am not and I bid you Good Day" then she slammed the door hard enough to make the entire wall rattle and was gone! Bizarre.
I kept thinking I had seen her somewhere before...and then it came to me. Of course. I've seen her on my bus once or twice. Once she was listening intently to her music, slapping her thighs and shaking her head to the beat, really getting into it, then I looked at her again and realized: she had no earphones on. The voices in her head must have been singing up a storm that day.
I have no photos of mad ladies, so I will post a lovely photo of my dog instead.

I am an embarrassing parent!!

I have long held a sneaking suspicion and now it has been confirmed: I am an embarrassing parent. The most recent bout of humiliation I put my daughters through is when Fabulous Daughter Number Two was made Head Girl at her school and I posted the picture from the school website on my Facebook page for all to see. My post garnered lots of likes from friends of mine who are parents themselves and are thrilled at my daughter's achievement in the same way that I am thrilled when their offspring do something equally noteworthy. However, friends of my daughter saw and liked this post to her utter horror, resulting in her commenting "WTF mum?" on said post. I had mixed feelings about this comment, I was partly amused that she had written it, her reason being that "I look retarded in that photo!!". (May I just say that I do realize this isn't particularly politically correct, but it is the way that our young people speak, and it is a direct quote and not my own opinion. My own opinion is that neither this child, nor my other one come to think of it has ever looked anything other than perfect and beautiful in any photo ever taken of them since they were in my womb-yes even the scan photos were good ones!! This is because they are both perfect and beautiful young women and the camera never lies.) Anyway, as I said, I was a little amused by her remark and obvious embarrassment, but I was also worried too, and I apologized for any upset I had caused; I was simply bragging to friends, co-workers and family about her achievement. I do this a lot because I love my daughters fiercely and completely, and I have a lot to brag about. They are beautiful, bright, wise and thoughtful young women, and I'm extremely proud of them both, always have been. And yes, there are a few occasions that spring to mind that have been somewhat trying for them both (I had a rather heated debate with a miserable woman running a carousel ride that upset my daughters by shouting at them a few years ago, I kissed them both in public constantly, I hugged their friends, I volunteered at the Youth Club, I turned up at every single school event, I have argued with bus drivers, teachers and anyone who I felt was treating them unreasonably, I have drunk dialled them and shouted sage advice when they are dating, and so on) but they have dealt with it all pretty well over the years, Fabulous Daughter Number One even going so far as to say "This is why I love you. You insult everyone who offends me in the slightest, and make me feel better. Plus the whole giving me life thing."
So, embarrassing parent I may be, but I am proud of it and I'll never change.
And you can put that on Facebook.

Queen of the Ice!!

I currently live in Alaska, and for those of you who have never been here, Alaska is pretty damn chilly. There are hundreds of glaciers here, and one of them is called the Matanuska Glacier. It is a pleasant 2 hour drive from our house, and for a small fee you can drive almost right up to it, park in the car park, follow the route marked by thoughtfully placed orange cones, and actually walk (scramble/ slip/ slither) right on it!! Of course you have to sign a waiver first stating that if you fall to your death down one of the many cracks and fissures you won't blame anyone but yourself (actually I have no idea what it says, I didn't bother reading it, like almost everyone else who signs it I would imagine) then off you go!
I had been to this glacier a couple of years ago during my first year here and my ill-fated marriage to Eskimo Husband. He is a great one for staying at home and being grumpy and never going out or doing anything (precisely why that particular marriage didn't last) and on occasion I would get brave and insist we went out and did something. Seeing as I had given up everything in the UK to move here and be with him I didn't think this was too unreasonable. So Eskimo Husband and I had driven to the glacier, whereupon finding out it would cost the princely sum of $20 each to experience the glacier close up, Eskimo Husband exploded with anger and grumpiness and would have turned around and driven straight home again (despite the fact that he spent $10 per day on cigarettes and I'm willing to bet that a walk on a glacier is better value and far better for one's health) if I hadn't been fortunate enough to have had enough money of my own to pay for us both. I was elated to be out and about, experiencing something that you can only experience in certain parts of the world, while he sulked and tried to hurry me along.
So this year I went back to the glacier with Perfect Husband, who has lived here for 44 years but never visited it, and our two dogs. Of course they would not be accompanying us onto the actual glacier, despite them both owning lovely warm coats and shoes, but they rather enjoyed the ride and the fact that they got to have a wander around the car park, and when they were given a biscuit each before we left them in the car they practically exploded with joy.
Off we went, stepping carefully on the planks laid down over the grey glacial silt; sticky, muddy residue of all the rocks that the glacier has spent many years pulverizing. Then onto the glacier itself, coldness radiating from it, huge jagged ice peaks in a beautiful blue/white colour, grey and black stripes of crushed stones running through it, small waterfalls, cracks, and terrifying looking holes that went down and down. We scrambled, photographed, picked up stones to take home and explored for over two hours before the cold got the better of us. A certain amount of fear too, as at one point we could hear the gurgle of fast running water and then realized that it was actually right below our feet! Time for a sharp exit, as the saying goes...
Of course Perfect Husband could not resist saying "Two Husbands, One Glacier" in a deep voice like he was doing a movie trailer....but that's why I love him, because he is an idiot (in a good way!!).
So I have added two photos on here of our experience, hope you like them. If you get the chance, get out and do stuff whenever you can, life is short and to be lived fully.