good bye miss brahms

growing up in a relative english household meant that when my dad got to choose what was on tv - it was normally an english show. I was aware of Monty Python, Black Adder and such at an early age (English soaps were never considered viewable...). However 'Are you being Served?' was watching with alarming regularity. It was on every night at 8 p.m. and my dad and I watched it despite the fact that I had clearly seen every episode at least three times over. I can't imagine how many times he had seen it.

Unfortunately Miss Brahms (Wendy Richard) passed away yesterday. Apparently after 'Are you being served' she went on to a soap opera called East Enders. Soaps here have a way of being part of everyone's daily chatter and their 'daytime emmys' are like the night time emmys in America.....

It's sad to see her go.

new routemaster

Double deckers has a special place in the British heart. About three years ago, the old mayor tried to introduce bendy buses. Due to the very awkward lay out of the city and the unfortunate incident of several of the buses lighting on fire - the bendy buses have been banned and this is the new routemaster look.

Oddly enough - that's my bus (both in Clapham and our new move to Battersea!) L2 doesn't think it's that strange that our bus was the one that was featured. It goes all the way from Central London through all the nice southern boroughs. And for all we know - it could have been a famous route (or the route that the designer lives on)

I hope this means that our bus will be the first to change.

dreaming of a canadian vacation

As one does, you dream of home when you feel under the weather. Been-seen recently blogged about Wickannish Inn in Tofino.

I was lucky that almost two years ago my brother and now wife opted for a small wedding in this fantastic little village. I want to go back. I should be thinking of going to the south of France or something exotic but I just want fish and surfing.

Images via my sister-in-law's facebook. Above - the hotel that we stayed in (actually we stayed in a whole bunch of little cottages behind the place which was fantastic) Below - a four generation photo (my brother, dad, nana and my adorable nephew)

the medical system

I was debating if I should talk about this on the blog but to be honest how many Canadians really make use of the health care system in England?

The very brief back story - I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease six years ago at the very lovely age of 19. There's not too much of a sob story as it was pretty straight forward. It didn't take too long to diagnose me - however it did take a while to get me into remission - four years in fact. And I tried the full remix of the drugs....But for six months it was under serious control and the last 18 months I was in remission. Bonafide easy remission. I was shocked that the English food would be so helpful but it was.

With me blogging about the system - you can tell I'm not in remission any more. In fact it came back with a bone to pick.. apparently it did not like that I was getting to do everything easily.

I'm lucky to work in a place that provides a certain amount of private healthcare. It will go a long way with surgeries, procedures but not too far with consultations as there is a limit in your cash. Private healthcare is a very weird thing - I saw my GP on Thursday, saw a specialist on Friday and had two exploratory surgeries on the Tuesday. That's right - all under a week. And I wasn't kicked out of my recuperating room (and it was my own room) and had a view of the Thames, the Gherkin and St. Pauls. Again strange.

But I miss good bedside manner from my Canadian doctors. I was asked within my first five minutes if I had moved over to London for an English bloke because that's what most Canadian women do. My response - I'm not that kind of woman.

I'll blog about little things about the system later...