the NHS, Newcastle nites, and our upcoming party

Hello everyone,
Happy daylight savings! or "Fall back" or whatever. I know that in the US, you don't turn your clocks until next weekend, but here in Northeast England, we have eagerly turned them back today. It was wonderful sleeping in until 10, which was actually 9. To celebrate, I made Bret and myself some scrambled eggs and toast with some strawberries that I bought in the town market yesterday. I love doing Saturday shopping in town because all the vendors have their veggies and flowers and meats. There is a butcher in the indoor market, and I plan on buying some yummy cow hunks next weekend.
After our breakfast, I set out on a 30 minute run around the farms and hillsides. It's a gorgeous day (55 degrees and sunny), and so I put on my ipod, set it to some hardcore techno, and hit the hills. there was lots of horse poo along the trails, but it's beautiful anyway. Even though we live in a 'suburb,' there are lots of farms around. Right by our home, there is a horse and chicken farm, where they sell free range eggs. We will buy some soon because I used up the last of our Tesco eggs today.
So anyway, house updates: we have a gorgous couch that is very comfy and sleak. It is sitting right under the living room window, where I have 4 potted mini arecas and a bamboo shade rolled up half way. I also bought a fern for our donated bookshelf which is in the dining room. And I got 2 ivy plants for the top of the bookshelf (the leaves will drip down as the plants grow). We plan on spray-painting the bookshelf black because right now, it's just wood color. We are also really excited to put my mom's art on our downstairs walls, and Carmen Ruiz's art in our bedroom.

My herbs are doing phenomenally. the parsley and cilantro (coriander) came back to life, and the mint is going crazy. We are having a Halloween potluck party on Wednesday in which I will make lots of mojitos, hot apple cider, and a rice/chicken crockpot casserole. I'm still not sure what I will dress up as. I'm going for clever and creative because I can't afford a 'real' costume. So suggestions are very welcome.

Anyway, about a month ago, Bret and I went to Newcastle. We decided to go to Eldon Square because we saw that it was a hip shopping area. However, shopping around here closes at 5 so we just kind of roamed around deserted streets. We had eaten some gross sushi that had been going around in a conveyer belt, and then we went to go play pool at a bar where we were the only people over 17. We wondered why everyone raved about Newcastle. It seemed like a boring dirty town to us. With bad food. We were so disappointed.

But on Friday, we gave it another shot- this time with locals. We went out with Mark Norris, Shelly, and we met two other scientists: Gaz (nickname for Gareth) and Hugh. Together, we hit up a decent little Greek restaurant (I had vine leaves, Mousaka, and baklava, of course) in which we imbibed large quantities of red and white wine. Then we met up with Mark's middle brother, who is a beat bobby (steet cop) and Gaz's woman, Teresa at Revolution. It's a super hot bar with loud music, posh decor, and lots and lots of people. I had one of my usuals: a cosmo. After Revolution, we went over to Quayside, the absolute cooooolest part of Newcastle. it's right by the River Tyne. The bridges are all lit up, there are street performers, lots of ethnic restaurants, awesome bars, and crazy clubs. It was a gorgeous nite- cool, full moon, wispy clouds racing overhead. We went to two more bars, and exhausted, we asked middle Norris to drive us back to Durham. We crashed at 2 am and didn't wake up until 10:30. While we were not hungover, we were definitly lethargic. Bret was kind enough to make me some homemade oatmeal with maple syrup and cream.

So finally, we are starting to see the great parts of England. Not only is the nitelife way better than we thought it originally was, but there are aspects of the government which are great too. For starters, guns are illegal in this country, even for cops. That means virtually no gun violence exists (of course, they can be purchased illegally, but it's still quite uncommon to hear of such crimes, unlike the US). The death penalty is also illegal, and has been since the 60s, I believe. And of course, they have state health care. Believe me, I believe in business and profit. And I mistrust all governments, in general. But matters of health should not rest in the hands of profit-makers. Setting myself up with the NHS couldn't have been easier. They didn't even ask to see my passport. I just went to the health clinic, filled out a little form, and now I have an appointment for a check-up this thursday. Prescriptions are super cheap, too. So no copayments, no ridiculous costs. Just a few pounds and that's it.