Pumping With Beans

October 2nd- Less than a week after my arrival in the UK and I'm getting aquainted again with the British media, not to mention resuming with english culture and leisure. A job? Not quite there yet, but on to the fun and not-so-fun stuff during my downtime.

I found my excerise dvd which only plays in UK PAL format. It's called "fit friends" with someone named Gaynor Faye who was an actress on Corination Street(I still don't recognize her or the fitness instructor, an ice skating celebrity). Three days of avoiding the "pumping with beans" section on the dvd, I'm near to wacking ms. faye and co. It's not an excersize session- its more like bootcamp with smiles. I'm convinced the celebrities rest between takes of the split up excersizes that run together. It's neverending! I've been stopping the dvd whenever I stumble into the couch. It means its time to go shower!

I don't have cable anymore, but I have Freeview. It's about 20-30 channels that include bbc1, bbc2, ITV, C4, and 5. The remaining channels are either affilated with these network or are radio or shopping based. There are too many great shows to meantion, but somehow I'm always stuck watching Top Gear, Countdown, BBC news or a food program. I will never be deprived of Doctor Who again, so I have no complaints.

In fact, I waddled down some other roads today to attempt visiting Tescos(A super super SUPER market). I thought it would be quiet but school kids were running around and I wanted to browse casually. The biggest nightmare for me is not the crowded shopping but the process of buying something.

• step one- look confused as hell and wonder around looking for the shortest line


• step two-pick a line and get out your carrier bags, wallet, tesco card and juggle your basket in one hand


• step three- look distressed as the cashier scans all of your items before you get the first item scaned in your bag


• finally- pay, hand over club card, grab everything handed back(change, receipt and card) plus whatever you didn't have time to pack up and look like your a spaz for ten minutes off to the side until completely ready to leave.

ok, so this once again happened today but I returned home in one piece. Let me look to see what I actually wound up with.....

• Tescos free catalog


• New Magazine(a celeb mag)


• Doctor Who Magazine issue #400(with David Tennant on cover-*drool*)


• Local Paper- with job section


• A local Job Paper


• New Moon by Stephanie Meyers


• Another club card application

Next time, I should bring a shopping list because I might wind up with some the music and movies on sale for £4 each. I'll need clear note stating "do not buy 'Maid In Manhattan' just 'cause its dirt cheep-y'all don't need that crappy film just cause Ralph Finnes is in it!" (I may or may not feel this way about the Stephanie Meyers book, being an impluse buy which was the same price.) So with all this reading, televison watching, and confusion over celebrities-with-excersize videos, I hope to drag myself to a job centre soon. In the meantime, I'm still learning to travel to Scrabble. Coming Soon- how I survived my first day back at scrabble...