~ ANNE! ~

I am ecstatic! Lidl has opened up less than two blocks from our flat. Cheap food! (Cheap GERMAN food! Pia is pleased as well). No more reliance on insanely expensive Somerfield. (Box of own-brand cereal at Somerfield: �2.20. Box of luxury museli at Lidl: �1.40). The only trouble with Lidl is they don't alway have much selection... but what they do have is dirt cheap and decent quality. And as Aga put it, "They have also the luxuries for not much money." Which means condiments and spices without paying a ridiculous sum! Frabjous day.

I took most of this week off to continue the search for a decent job. This is immensely frustrating, but there's not much I can do about it but perservere. I've put my resume into a couple of agencies this week, as a last resort. I figure maybe I can temp for an agency for a while and keep looking for something better on the side... or maybe I'll luck into a great temp job that ends up being long-term.

December, or rather the end of November, has snuck up on me. Can't believe I've been here for nearly two months. Pia leaves for Germany next week, which is too bad - just when we'd started hanging out more. She'll be back after Hogmanay. The house will be very quiet without her shouting at Craig all the time! Craig's only going to be gone for a week, and it's pretty much the same one I'll be in Holland for. (He doesn't care for going back to Leeds much, apparently).

In bad (though unconfirmed) news, it sounds like Bee might be coming back to Europe very soon. I really hope not - I was hoping Canada would work out for her. Sounds like she couldn't get a job for the life of her, though, and is running out of money. The only plus is I'm more likely to see her if she's here, but it's really too bad. Waiting to hear the details to see what's going on (I got this information in a text from her boyfriend Pierre).