Happy times

[liv]

Various good things in my life at the moment:

A long phone conversation with compilerbitch. We reassured eachother about things we're both stressing about, and bounced ideas around, and it was just lovely.

I have quit my temp job. I'll miss it, in some ways, particularly the whole income aspect. In theory, I have quit in order to have more time to organize moving to Sweden, but in practice I suspect a lot of that extra time is going to be dedicated to cramming in as much socializing as I can manage before I leave the country. And playing on LJ, of course.

My (now ex)-colleagues clubbed together to give me a goodbye card with a message in Swedish. Which was a lot more than I was expecting given I'm a temp! They're a nice crowd, which makes even the dullest job more pleasant.

I got on particularly well with the other temp who started at the same time as me, CA. She's one of those people who are incredibly approachable; it took some effort to get her to talk about herself rather than just listen to me babbling. And I wasn't initially making that effort because it took me a while to notice that dynamic was going on. Anyway, she's lovely, and we've been chatting quite a lot when we had the opportunity to do so without it interfering with work. We've exchanged email addresses and all, so I need to be disciplined about actually staying in touch with her.

As it was my last day, I decided to go out for lunch, and invited CA to join me. I've been complaining for years that there's nowhere in Cambridge where I'd actually want to spend time, let alone money, and yesterday I managed to find two such places. Not amazing wonderful places I'd make a specific effort to take friends to (of which I had several in Oxford and a fair few in Dundee), but still.

The first was where we ate lunch, a funny little pub / restaurant thingy called Eraina, in Free School Lane. Pub food, nothing to write home about from a culinary pov, but it does the job that pub food is supposed to do: being cheap and substantial (set price menu is two courses for £6, and à la carte isn't much worse). Plus, you can choose from English, Italian, Thai, Indian or Greek style pub food, which is rather fun. And the atmosphere is pleasant enough, traditional pub without being tweely olde worlde.

And I had an hour to kill in the evening so I went to a place called Victoria on St Andrew St, somewhere I've seen from the bus and was intrigued. This is a place that sells a fairly eclectic selection of things, notably: Belgian chocolate, Mövenpick icecream, tea (and tea that they take seriously, not just a token alternative for people who are dumb enough to go to Starbucks when they don't like coffee) and internet access. Clearly, a business model calculated to appeal to me! The continental patisserie aspects make it a lot more pleasant than most internet cafes (plenty of space, nice decor including comfy sofas and low tables and plants and random bits of art), and they don't charge over the market rates for access either. Definite thumbs up.

The reason I was hanging around in town after finishing work was so that I could go to the Progressive students' Friday night service, which was, as ever, very pleasant.

I decided the other day that I feel like a person with long hair again. I'm still missing about 3 inches compared to when I had it cut last year, but to be fair that's 3 inches of split, ragged ends and general broken mess. It's amazing how much more comfortable I feel in my body when it's the body of a long haired person!

Comments

[megamole.livejournal.com]

Note 18th of March gallery trip... :)

[liv]

Thanks for the reminder. I'm just organizing things at the moment, so it's very timely. Yay Chinese art!

[wychwood]

Where would you take people in Oxford? Out of interest.

I muttered something before about Swedish LJ-ers. The two I know are ulva and mjlee - I met them both through fandom, Star Trek and Stargate, respectively. I've actually met ulva in person, but mjlee in chat only. I'm not really sure how to go about the introducing you thing - any ideas? I left a comment on ulva's journal, but she's rather busy with offline life right now.

[wychwood]

(She says email her at ulva.swe@gmail.com with any questions, she's more than willing to help :))

[liv]

In Oxford: I'm very fond of the Restaurant du Liban on Broad Street. It's getting pricey these days; when it first opened it was quite amazingly cheap. But even at normal Oxford restaurant prices it's a pretty good deal. Mario's pizza place on Cowley Road, which sounds (and looks) like it should be a completely trashy fast food joint, but actually does really, really nice pizza. G&Ds (of course!) Any number of far too trendy cafes in Jericho which are also rather nice. The Covered Market is quite an institution. The Turf, Jude the Obscure, the Harcourt Arms, and the Blenheim are all exceptionally nice pubs. I used to like several places in Cowley Road, mostly Indian, but I went off most of them by the time I left. I'm in two minds about tapas bars, but Kazbar on just across the plains is rather good when I am in favour of that style.

And introductions to Swedish LJ contacts are great, thank you so much!

[timeplease.livejournal.com]

I've always liked the Eraina (I went there very regularly as an undergrad). I wouldn't call it a pub, though, unless it has changed recently: it's always been a "cheap student restaurant" in my head.

[rho]

But surely cramming in as much socialising as possible is an important part of organizing the move? On the grounds that it lets you bid people farewell, and properly get your head around the idea of moving. Or something like that, anyway.

[lumiere.livejournal.com]

YAY long hair!

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

Gosh. For a moment there, I was very surprised, considering how often I used to go to the Eraina, that you did not know it. Then I thought about what I used to prefer to eat in it, and I can't think of a single thing that would be kosher. What did you have there ?