Field trips are fun!
Having spent an hour or two this morning with the pressing task of A Nice Press to some scarves & fluffifying sweaters with Maribou for "'Twas" (a touring Christmas show, I'll leave you to work out the rest of its title), we headed out to the south side, over the (Mighty) James, through Bon Air, to the Midlothian Turnpike & Chesterfield County.
Tarjét first & Kohl's to return some mis-sized clothing & procure some more for the show.
(I swear I'm clocking up an impressive amount of time in the former store this week, 50/50 between there & the costume shop.)
Sarah had asked me on Monday as to my favourite type of American food. I had paused, answering her with another question: "can I say Mexican?" She decided I could, just as Italian would be equally as valid. So that was what I was treated to at lunchtime today at the stunningly-named 'Mexico Restaurant'.
They collaborated to bring me back into Richmond along the scenic route, taking in the sights of Maymont's gardens through the trees. Past parks for children and dog-walkers (a rom-com waiting to happen). Into the Museum District along N.Boulevard, past the VMFA (where Marcia's John works), the Daughters of the Confederacy & the Virginia 'Hysterical' Society. Down Patterson Avenue, running parallel to Monument (I snuck in a small wave as a greeting to Stonewall) & into the Fan, so-named for its shape.
Autumn has most certainly arrived, at least from the colour of the leaves. I need to take a good photo-walk up that way soon as the trees look so beautiful in all their tertiary glory at present. I love autumnal colours ~ from Edinburgh, to Cambridge, to Richmond; leafy cities, wherever.
Back to the costume shop to round off the day by tweaking & reinforcing a few more sweaters - adding on white lacy collars, as would befit a little old lady. (LOL)
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I've been here a week already! The days have just flown by. I did contemplate celebrating by booting Sam's night-light off the wall as I did on arrival last Friday, thanks to jet lag & unwieldy suitcase. But I decided that wouldn't be so friendly a tradition to uphold.
- Y'know, there's no recycling collection here in Jackson Ward, our district. That fact breaks me. All that cardboard, glass & metal going to waste. I'm not even sure if Kroger holds a collection point. My most wasteful year every coming up. Glad I got in so many recycling points at Dowley Gap before I left.
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Quest for the weekend (beside celebrating an interpretation of the Celts):
Work out what the heck is going on with these tax 'worksheets' I need to complete.
Not-so-happening.
Year End works by calendar year here so my first tax period will only be from October - December & probably fairly minimum. But also, everyone has to personally file by themselves, by April here. The total flip-side of how tax is generally paid in the UK as it's outwith the employer. Nobody seems to want to answer questions because they lack the legal oomph with which to give a qualified answer.A disclaimer leads the start of every sentence uttered about tax. I'd happily settle for an educated guess, just so long as I don't end up owing thousands to the Fed.
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Ally wishes for me to teach "our American cousins" some Brit-speak.
30 of your Britishisms used by AmericansHowever at present, we're struggling with the phrase "kitchen roll" (over 'paper towel') & the fact that European DVDs have separate regional coding (an entirely new discovery). So I don't think my roomates will move quite so fast to adopt such Britishisms. I find myself sometimes in this patter of Brit/American as I use a habitual word before soon replacing it with another to speed up the understanding within the conversation.
I did teach Sarah the reasoning behind (my exclamation of ) "Blackpool Illuminations!" after all the lights were left on, on our floor today. That then made me wonder what the equivalent of "it's like Picaddilly Circus in here!" is. But I cut myself some slack & decided not to ask.
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