~ ANNE! ~

I find it really odd that I have so much trouble saying the word "toilet". Here in Britain, you never use nice euphemisms like "going to the bathroom" or "going to the washroom". You say "going to the toilet", or once in a while (depending where you are) "to the loo". For some reason I have tremendous trouble telling people I'm off to the toilet. Maybe it's just my Canadian reticence again, but it just seems such a stark thing to say. Although technically it does make much more sense than "bathroom", as in most cases no bathing is actually involved. It's really odd, but I can never quite get my tongue around the phrase. "Loo" is okay, though I will get mocked roundly if I continue saying that once I'm off this island...

Stephen told me I'm the most stereotypically Canadian person he knows, so perhaps this is just one more instance. I could argue with that, but it's probably true. I even own maple leaf knickers. No flags on my backpack, though!

So my cousin Jackie has started a blog, inspired directly by my own rambly mess. Cool! Apparently I have a larger readership than I suspected. It's a little odd, though - we spent a lot of time together as kids, but I haven't seen her in years. My primary memory of her is her changing the spelling of her name to "Jackee" one year. Probably lasted about five minutes. Also she had really pretty blonde hair (very striking with her brown eyes), and my grandma used to call her "13 going on 30". She always did act older - still holds true, as she has an adorable little daughter (Grandma used to show me pictures) and a rather more settled life. Reading Jackie's blog gives me a weird feeling of "the road not taken". Our lives have diverged pretty far up to this point, with her living in our home province with her husband and daughter, and me gallivanting around Europe. Oh well, maybe in 20 years things will be reversed, who knows? But I can't say I ever longed much for the settled life myself.

Speaking of which, with Pia back it looks like I will be going out a LOT more. She's been very bored in Germany and is raring to go. We did go out Saturday night, but I wasn't drinking (finances!) and spent the night fending off desperate guys. I'm not sure why they seem to think their aura of excess aftershave and desperation is sexy, but IT IS NOT. Just for the record.

Pia has also taken to saying "Good lord" a lot. Apparently this is something I say way too often (usually at Pia, as in "Good lord, Pia, what the heck are you up to now?") She's been driving her mother crazy with it in Germany. I'm not sure where I got this from, but we were watching The Simpsons last night when Principal Skinner turned around and said, "Good Lord, Mother!"* Great... exactly who I would like to be compared with. She's also taken to saying "Cheers" (or rather "Cheahs") like Craig. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before we all pick up each others' catchphrases (Pia's is "Schei�e", which is a not-very-polite word in German) and start to sound like some kind of multi-national cult who all speak alike.

*If Steve is reading this - SIMPSONS REFERENCE! Now name me the episode.