All Work and No Play

I just realized it's St. Patrick's Day - happy St. Patrick's Day! It's been all work for the past few days and I feel the need to do something fun and entertaining. Nancy is still here for a bit longer, so we decided that tomorrow we'll rent a car and drive up to the North Norwich coast. I haven't been there for years - probably since 1990. We're going to "make a day of it" as the English are so fond of saying. I'm looking forward to having fish and chips in Cromer. I was craving them yesterday, so when I went into Morrison's to get a few things for dinner, decided to treat myself to theirs, having had them only once since I arrived six months ago. The idea was better than the reality. The fish was excellent, fresh and hot with a light, crispy batter, and the chips were good, but it all suddenly seemed like too much food. I picked off a lot of the batter and made a mess of things. There were also mushy peas on the plate - straight out of a can but delicious and reminiscent of dinners at home when I was growing up. We always had mushy peas, Bird's custard, and all things English, given Mom was from Manchester. Probably another reason why being here evokes so many fond memories from childhood. I hear scraps of conversation in shops and on the bus, and her voice comes back to me across all the years she's been gone - "Aw ya awl roit then, Loov? Nice day, in it?"

I'm reading Hermione Lee's autobiography of Virginia Woolf and finding all sorts of material for one of my essays, which I hope to have done by the time Sally arrives on April 8th. That'll just leave one more, due on May 13th, after which I'll have to make a plan. Do I go back to Vancouver and write my final dissertation, due September 20th, or do I stay here and finish writing it? I'm leaning towards the second option as I'm afraid I'll lose my focus if I go back home too soon. Nancy is happy to have me stay at the flat, so I don't have to worry about a place to live. I know it'll all become clearer to me as May approaches, but those are my thoughts so far.

It's another grey day here in Norwich and I'm longing for some sunshine. Hopefully it'll arrive by Saturday when we head up the coast so I can take lots of nice photos. I hope too that I still remember how to drive, having not held a steering wheel since last September. That, coupled with the fact that I won't be driving on the familiar side of the road, could make for an interesting journey.