I'm having issues with my flickr account. It expired and when I tried to renew the other day, it demanded my mother's paypal system, which takes 10 days to clear a Eurocheque. I'm completely at a loss! So stuff this delay, here's what I've been up to at home in England this week. (Most of the links are to pictures on flickr.)

Saturday I got off the airport bus and went straight to Avis to collect our car for the next four days. We had a lowkey afternoon, just driving around some of the local villages where my mother's family lived before the last century. After catching up with everyone at church on Sunday morning, we headed to the Suffolk coast (that's the bump bit of England to the east). We were heading for Aldeburgh, a seaside town my Mum has been wanting to visit for sometime. Turns out it's rather a posh little place with lots of Londoners inhabiting the beautiful sea front houses over the long weekend. Jonathan had a wonderful time, chucking hundreds of pebbles into the sea.

We stayed over night and spent most of Monday exploring places along the nearby coast, like Felixstowe, Woodbridge, and Orford, where we climbed to the top of a castle.

The drive home was exciting. We joined the little car parade. English roads are chock full of dinky little cars (most of them, ironically, imported from large European countries like France, Spain and Italy). We were driving a modest sized French-made Peugot, which could just about handle the 70 mph speed limit, when we were suddenly passed by three tiny little cars you almost needed a magnifying glass to see. They were like Jonathan's toy cars, yet some of them were doing at least 85. A physical impossibility I would have thought. We all chased each other for miles, passing and repassing, until the parade broke up when we turned off onto the A6.

Tuesday, Lucy was back at work so Mum and Jonathan and I had one last day out in the car. We went to the Welney Wetlands Center in the morning to see ducks and other wild fowl. It's a nature reserve in the middle on the fenlands of Cambridgeshire. The fens are marshlands that have been drained for agriculture. The roads are all built up several feet above the level of the land and the water is drained into a system of canals. The Welney reserve is the winter grounds for thousands of ducks and swans. In the summer, it's a little quieter, but we did see a little family of ducks up close, as well as swans and several South African swallows who are here for the winter (in S.A. that is). The arrival of the swallows is a sign the summer has come. The little fellows were darting about all over the place.

Then we headed west, via the Houghton Water Mill (the last working water mill in the East of England), to see the Eleanor Cross in the village of Geddington. If you've seen Braveheart (my condolences if you have), the old king of England in the film is Edward I, and Eleanor was his wife. She was on a pilgrimage to Lincoln Catherdral 200 miles north of London when she popped her clogs. Her body was brought back to London in a grand procession and everywhere they stopped for the night, Edward had an "Eleanor Cross" built to mark the spot. There were fourteen, but only three have survived the last 800 years.

Our last stop was Kirby Hall, which Lauren will recognise as Mansfield Park. The house is actually a ruin, except for the wing of the house with the rounded bay windows. Jonathan really got into the audio tour, insisting on listening to entire commentary for each room. I don't have the patience and kept wandering on ahead, much to Jonathan's consternation (he likes things done in proper order). He's cheerful in this photo, but the moment before he was giving me the evil eye for walking into the library before he was done with the previous room.

There are lots more pictures here, but they're in reverse order. The last two days I've been playing games with Jonathan and doing battle with him for control of the television and computer. Tomorrow we're going to London to see the Queen. And shop!

I'm enjoying my holiday by the sea...

I arrived home on Saturday, only to be told that I wasn't allowed in the living room. After some 10 minutes of patience in my bedroom, Jonathan emerged from the living room, having put the finishing touches on my welcome home present. It's a book, held together with two wonky little staples. It tells the story of my journey home.

The Shins

After bitter and crushing disappointment last year, I finally got tickets to see The Shins this summer. I hadn't been this excited about a show since Duff and I went to Interpol at Hammerstein. McCarren Pool in Williamsburg was the location. Are The Shins one of my favourite bands? I'd be ashamed to say no. What would that say about my musical tastes! The lads were in adorable matching outfits. James Mercer is the singer, but the short one is definitely the boss. He was a jolly little chap. There was a lot more bass and drums than on the records which gave the songs a bigger, exciting, arena-filling sound. I think they played them all. Oh and they completely fluffed Pink Bullets. We were all swaying in rapture, when Jimbo tripped over the words and it all came to a grinding halt. A few giggles from the boys and they picked it up, only to fluff it AGAIN. And we just loved them all the more! I was almost too happy to breath.

Then Mike proposed a little pizza for dinner...

And here are a couple pics of me for good measure...

I love these t-shirts

Hot off the press: Capitol Records has just signed Interpol. These guys are one of my top favourite bands. We'll release their third album next year. I'll get to work on that!! I'm so excited.

Lauren and I were (a little) obsessed with Interpol for a while there. She lived probably like two streets away from them and we even saw Paul Banks on 11th street. And that was the show where we saw David Bowie in the audience. Oh, this is almost too good to be true.

Auugghhh! I just got my paycheck and I'm paying nearly 29% income tax. That can't be right! For that sort of money, I want a free national health service and every homeless person in NYC put up in the Ritz Carlton for the night.

I think I got duped at my orientation because they suggested I claim only one exemption on my W-4. I sent in a new one the other day bumping that up to three, but I guess it hasn't taken effect yet. I need cash to move apartment. The government is only going to spend it on bombs. This is SOO unfair.

Jonathan just rang me to announce that he has lost his first tooth!! We have one ecstatic little boy on our hands. It wasn't easy to get a picture as he's been bouncing round the house all evening in fits of delight, but here he is, Mr. Gappy himself:

It took him a couple weeks to get it out. He's squeamish like me and he let it hang in there till it fell out rather than him pulling it. So tonight the tooth is going in a special tooth pillow (a bit of foresight on the part of Father Christmas this past year), hopefully to be exchanged for some bright shiny coinage he can spend on their daytrip to Brighton tomorrow. I hear the going rate for a tooth these days is about two quid. We asked what he wanted to spend it on and he replied, with accompanying sound effects, "the slide that goes round and round and round and round". He's referring to the helter skelter on Brighton Pier. I used to love going on that when I was a kid, despite the mild terror of being over the water as you wooshed around the far side of it. It's a REALLY long way down, but even that couldn't stop us hurtling back up the steps to have another go.

I told Jonathan he should have some fun with his gap, whistling and squirting water through it. Lucy says there's definitely a bit of a lisp going on there and Jonathan himself declared, "it's tricky to speak properly." He can't wait to show all his friends, and I suspect the people on the train tomorrow are going to hear all about it.

On a side note, Jonathan told my brother last week that he loves him very much, so much so, in fact, that he, and the rest of the family, are his third favourite thing. The running order: "trains, Chilli's, then family, and tunnels." I'd say we placed fairly well over all.

Uh oh

In case you haven't heard, there was a bit of a plot underway, involving the destruction of US airliners flying from London to major US destinations. New York, as usual, was top of the list. This one comes a little too close to home, seeing as I'm going to London in just over two weeks, coming back in early September. How soon they were planning to execute this is unclear, but it's quite possible I've just had my life spared. Thank you MI-5. I've been watching the third series of Spooks on DVD this week. Suddenly it's not just entertainment. These are the people who keep us in one piece. Good work, my friends.

I don't intend to change my travel plans, but I am a little rattled at the moment. I'll tell you one thing though. I'm flying on American Airlines this time (one of the airlines that was targeted), but in future I think I'm going to stick to Pakistan Airlines or Royal Jordanian. I figure I should get myself onto an airplane carrying as many Muslims as possible. I'm sorry if that sounds a bit naughty... but think about it!!! And here's another thought. If some fanatic punk decides to blow up the plane I'm on, guess what, it's me** that's going straight to heaven, not him. SO THERE!!!!

**In the interests of humility, I would like to say that I am by no means sure, merely hopeful that I wouldn't go straight to hell. I try. I have much to improve.

I emailed my family yesterday to complain about their lack of interest in my blog and the absence of comments on my posts. According to my site meter, Dad and someone in England, either Mum or Lucy, had a look later in the afternoon. Keep it up!

Then today I received the following message from my charming brother:

"GET STUFFED!!! Will continue to read at monthly intervals in order to leave outdated posts that no one except you will ever see."

I have one thing to say to that: "COBBBLERRRSS!" My brother is such a punk. I love it. He makes me laugh like mad. I was going to go back on my threat to embarass him, but, oh, go on then...

Is he just cute as a button!

For a recap of my exciting Saturday morning, I refer you to the NYCBros.

Jonathan rang me this afternoon to ask a favour, which I duly granted. How could I possibly say no to my baby. Then I was looking at some pictures of my friends, and it got me thinking about what Jonathan will be like when he's all grown up. He'll have girlfriends and jobs and - hopefully - fashion sense. He's got his grandfather's genes so fashion sense is probably a given. I wonder where he'll live. Although Jonathan is concerned about it, I don't think he'll end up in prison, but he could be just about anywhere else. I hope he'll have wonderful friends and lots more crazy Bovee children. Can you imagine... one day I'll a great-auntie!

Blimey, it's hot! The "feels like" bit on the weather report says it's well over 100 degrees. Humidity is about 150,000%. And the air conditioning in my office isn't working properly. It's got to be at least 80 degrees in there, if not worse. The electricity company has been issuing warnings for six days now, telling us to conserve energy or there'll be power outages. Today, it was so bad on the east side, the police were patrolling the streets making announcements through their megaphones telling us to turn off lights and conserve power. We could hear them out on 23rd street. It was like something out of a disaster movie. "The end of the world is coming. Please don't use your blenders unless you absolutely have to!"

Oh, Canada?

I spent the weekend upstate. A gang of us (Byron, Kristian, Keila, Sara, Paul, David and Rebecca) went to Palmyra for the Hill Cumorah Pageant. The drive up there took us through leafy northern New Jersey, the infamous Scranton, PA (we're all rabid Office fans), Syracuse (a fairly attractive "Northern, industrial town") and along the nearly exit-free I-90, the New York Thruway. Despite torrential rain and a horrendous traffic jam, we still managed to arrive in Palmyra in plenty of time to tour the sights before the pageant.

We first stopped at the Palmyra temple. It's a fairly standard temple design, except for one very special feature. The window behind me looks out onto the Sacred Grove. I think we were all immediately struck by the thought that we were walking on turf once trodden not only by Joseph Smith, but also the prophet Moroni nearly two thousand years ago. I think it's no coincidence that this place was chosen for such an important work. Unlike so many areas once rural that have now been swallowed up by development and sprawling cities, little Palmyra remains nearly as sleepy as it was when the Smith family arrived two hundred years ago. Any more town and the hustle and bustle would disturb the tranquility of the place. Today, we can return and still feel the strong presence of the Spirit. Even with all the pageant tourists, it was peaceful and still. And look there's Moroni up top, still keeping watch over it all.

We also went to the Smith farm and the Sacred Grove, and then into town to see the Grandin press. It poured with rain as we ate our dinner, so we bought sweatshirts and bin bags to protect ourselves against the elements during the pageant. The rain let up just in time for the pageant which was wonderful. I tried to take pictures, but the light wasn't sufficient. This is the best I managed, the opening scene:

After overnighting in Rochester, we went on to Niagara Falls on Sunday morning. I had a feeling there would be trouble at the border. I shalln't go into the details here, but I hope that this was the first AND last time I'm interrogated by US border patrol.

Here's the bridge over the river to Canada. Won't be crossing that again anytime soon!!
So instead of viewing the falls from the Canadian side, we got to see the falls up close on the US side. We walked onto Goat Island (such a romantic name, no wonder this was a honeymoon mecca!) which is between the American Falls, pictured above, and the grander Horseshoe Falls, below:
There are more pictures on flickr. We tried to find the spot where Superman rescues the dopey boy in the film. It's a shame we didn't have time to do the boat ride or the Cave of the Winds, but we had an enjoyable time, despite Keila's hair reaching near record-breaking temperatures. This was all followed by a long drive home. I was navigating, and despite taking us the wrong at least twice, everyone made a point of saying what a great job I was doing. I must say that I have some really terrific friends!!

The afternoon temperature in New York:

The afternoon temperature in Luton:

What's going on?! Luton is on the same line of latitude as like way up in Hudson Bay. They're having crazy weather in England. I heard on BBC radio that temperatures in the London Underground had reached 47 degrees in some trains, that's 116 in Fahrenheit. Shame I'm missing out on that!

I've never been a huge fan of sweeties and candy, but I do love a nice creamy, fruity dessert now and again. Thanks to Drew and Joanne for a great barbeque on Saturday. The highlight was definitely Drew's baking. We had strawberry shortcake, fresh peach pie and a cake in the shape of a sandcastle. Delicious!

Congratulations to me

I have been accepted into graduate school, the masters in human rights programme at University College London.

I'm not going. Obviously. But I am quite chuffed with myself for having got in.

The letter came yesterday. I had expected them to write and offer me an interview, at which point I could say thank you, but I withdraw my application. I had been dreading the interview, so it would have been a relief to be able to back out of that. But instead, they looked over my application and decided to take me sight unseen. That's kinda cool.

London loves

A year ago my city experienced one of its best days and then immediately one of its worst.

On July 6 we won the bid to host the 2012 Olympics. It was a euphoric day. I put up a giant poster over my desk on which I'd drawn the London logo. When I broke the news to Jonathan he shouted for joy at the thought that one day he would be 12, and he was pretty chuffed about the olympics (or 'lympics as they're known in our house) taking place right on his doorstep as well. He immediately wanted to go out and start training to run in the 100-metre dash. Lucy informed him he would be going to bed instead. Nice try, Jonathan!

The next day the bombs came and there really wasn't much to smile about for a long time. The poster came down and I just felt sick for days. But you know what, no one gets to spoil our city and no one gets to spoil our lives. Lucy and Jonathan went into central London just two weeks after July 7. She didn't want him to be afraid. London is so much part of our lives and he needed to know that it was safe. The longer they waited, the more he would worry. They rode the Thameslink from Luton station(just as the bombers had done), got off at Kings Cross and onto the underground. They spent a few tense minutes sitting on the train which for some reason was being held in the station. Worried looks were exchanged between the passengers, but finally the doors closed and the train pulled out of the station. Jonathan declared, "It's alright. There aren't any bombs anymore." Everyone relaxed visibly and smiled at a little boy's innocence.

I have a good life here in New York, but London will always be my home. Some days I'm really homesick. I just want to be in England and talk to people who now what "lubbly jubbly" means and know that they make bogs in Stoke-on-Trent. BBC radio via the internet is my lifeline. But I think how lucky am I to get to experience both these wonderful places. There's more for me to do here in New York. I have wonderful friends in this city that I don't want to be without. And thankfully, I worked out a deal with EMI when I took my new job so that I get to go home for more than a week at the end of August. I'll be with my family, breath English air, ride the underground and watch Jonathan train for the 'lympics.

So ends my first week of permanent employment at EMI Music North America. It's been a short, but hectic week. I'm trying to get my head round all my new duties as well as keep the lid on projects I am carrying over from my old position. It hasn't been quiet for even one moment! Suddenly people are sending me emails not asking me if I could look into things, but telling me I will resolve problems and handle pressing issues. I am responsible for stuff! It's a little scary, but it's all good experience. I'm enjoying the challenge of it.

All this has come at a cost, however, and I will miss my friend Joanne very much. Joanne got a terrific job offer as a Director of licensing at a music company near her home in New Jersey. No more commute into the city for her! I certainly know how nice that is. I don't miss riding hot sticky trains into London every day. We had a nice lunch at Pipa last Thursday to say cheerio.
Joanne has been a terrific friend to me over the last two years. We will of course stay in touch and already have plans for adventures together, include one seriously fancy birthday lunch. As a side note, Joanne became an auntie for the first time on Thursday evening when her best friend Kristen gave birth to a beautiful little boy named Aidan. I look forward to meeting the little fella.

"... their faith in their prayers was that this gospel should be made known also, if it were possible that other nations should possess this land; And thus they did leave a blessing upon this land in their prayers, that whosoever should believe in this gospel in this land might have eternal life;
Yea, that it might be free unto all of whatsoever nation, kindred, tongue, or people they may be." (D & C 10:49-51)