In a Pig's Eye

It's been one of those days. I got extremely frustrated with my Year 9s because we spent yet another period with them not listening to a word I say, and complaining they were bored. They just don't seem to get that they can't do the fun stuff without demonstrating some responsibility, and not going insane every time I try something new, and that as fun as it would be, Science can't be all blowing things up and making crystals without stopping to explain why.

And after mailing my receipts to my limited company this morning (which all must be originals), I got to the train station only to realize that I had retained my receipt and mailed my monthly rail pass to Glasgow.

So. One of those days.

I decided to walk to Leigh Broadway before getting on the bus, pausing to take a photo of the snails in the retaining wall on the hillside. The snails here are huge, and the cracks in the wall were crammed full of the things.



But it was on the way home that things really took a turn to the surreal. I was walking past the butcher's, and since my Year 8s have been having trouble grasping how the eye works, something prompted me to stop in.

"Hi," I said. "I'm trying to teach my Year 8s how an eye works. You wouldn't happen to have any, would you?"

The butcher said nothing, just stared at me. Then turned and walked without a word into his back room.

Huh. I thought. It's not THAT strange a question, is it?

I was about to turn around and leave when he came back again, carrying a pig's head by one ear. He plonked it down on the counter, pulled this massive knife out of somewhere, and in seconds, he'd popped this into a bag, sealed it with a flourish, and handed it to me with a grin, free of charge.



I love this town.

So of course, being a giant geek (and fearing the deflation of the eye in my fridge over the weekend, and the wrath of my landlady upon opening the fridge and seeing it staring back at her), I opted to dissect the eye and videotape it.

Here is the result.



And as a bonus, I discovered that the first version of the house tour (in which I lock myself in, having inadvertently set the deadbolt when I came in the door), before I started filming it in 90 second chunks so it would fit on flickr, did in fact upload to youtube.

So here it is.


posted by Sarah E. at 5:29 PM

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Adventure Island

Today, since my original plans for the weekend had been cancelled, I decided it was time for an adventure. It started off in Rayleigh (up on the photostream), but quickly moved to Southend, as I couldn't find anything I needed in Rayleigh. So eventually I ended up on Southend High Street, which was much busier that it had been two weeks earlier, when I was lost and alone.



I actually had a great time just wandering. I love that next to the Museum and Discovery Centre appears to be a pit for containing children.



I also finally managed to get to a Barclays when it was open, and discovered the reason why nobody seems to know where my chip and PIN card is, even though everyone else who signed up for an account at the same time as I did received theirs ages ago, is because mine was never ordered. The employee was profusely apologetic, and promised I will have it within 5 working days.

Once I have that, I can get a new phone. My Superphone is fine for calling Canada, but it actually expensive for calling in England. But now that I also have a nifty new headset mic, I can use Skype for calling Canada (it's cheaper than the Superphone), my pay-as-you go Superphone if I need to call Canada away from the computer (at 2p/minute), and my new phone for unlimited texting and 600 minutes/month in England, plus built-in GPS in the phone so that I can figure out where the hell I am on the multiple occasions on which I am lost. Woot!

One of the most random things to happen today was reaching the end of High Street and seeing a familiar face. Sort of.



Yes, that is the real Herbie used in the original movies. This is the race car, so it has the porsche engine. Apparently there was a car show going on.

One of the biggest attractions in Southend is Adventure Island, which is something like a low-budget version of Canada's Wonderland. Or maybe Centreville.



Also adding to the day's victories was my long-awaited finding of a Thornton's.



Not quite Green and Black's, but still really good (and there are Green and Blacks here. Including cookies). I also found a store I love, Past Times, where I bought two cards that I strongly suspect will end up on my wall instead.



I like that, of all the standards of beauty, this is the only one I've ever felt actually looked like me. Overbites and double chins and everything.

So all in all, I ended up having a pretty good day.
posted by Sarah E. at 6:32 PM

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Things to do in Leigh

Living in a small town by the sea, there isn't much of a social scene (one of the things I miss most about Toronto is being able to leave the house at 10 p.m. and do... well, anything). But they are very proud of their annual Regatta.


That's Old Leigh as seen from above. When the tide is out, the boats just kind of flop over on the mudflats until it comes back in. Later in the day, Tania commented "It's not much of a regatta, is it? Where's all the rowing?", to which Kim replied, "well the tide's out, isn't it?"



They set up a few rides for the kids, which didn't see much action as the day went on. People were more interested in the food and the pubs. Can't say as I much blame them, though.



I still can't get over the name of this pub. I'm sure that it means something else. But I still find it pretty damn funny.



This gives a bit of a sense of what Old Leigh is really like. A lot of really old buildings and cobbled streets. It's quite charming, though.



Karina and I know what it's like to go to a venue to sell jewellery only to come away at the end of the day without a sale. So when I saw this one guy selling "natural resin" jewellery, complaining to someone on his phone about how the day was such a waste because nobody bought anything, I had to buy something. Fortunately, he made something I liked.

So that's life in Leigh-on-Sea. A little different from Toronto (for one, if you want to see a movie, you have to go to Southend). But still pretty.

For a more visual accounting of my adventures on this side of the pond, my England set is now up and running with commentary on Flickr.
posted by Sarah E. at 11:04 AM

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