For Byron... a few words on Luton

My mother was born in an English town called Luton. I was born in a Canadian city called Vancouver. But I was soon whisked away to grow up in Saudi Arabia, a country I could never call my own. Long happy childhood summers were spent in Luton and after university it became my semi-permanent home. So I claim it. Luton is my hometown. People outside England imagine quaint communities of cottages and cobble-stoned streets, jolly little freckled street urchins, witty tea-drinking adults, all watched over by the lord of the local manor from his mock Tudor stone castle. Some places in England are a lot like that.

Luton is nothing like that. It's stubbornly modern. We have a river (stream really) choked up with take away chicken boxes, no old buildings and bad race relations. The rest of England looks down on us. We look down on ourselves. It's sad. They've been working to give the place a bit of a face lift with some recent projects in the town center, but more than anything the place needs a good pep talk and a dose of self-confidence. Up the road in Harpenden and St. Albans, they like their town and they like themselves. Luton has a lot to learn.

But I have deep roots there and in the surrounding villages. I have family and good friends there. It's the closest thing I have to a home and that alone makes it the best place on earth.
Well, sort of.

Ruby, Ruby, Ruby!

Mike and I played the new Guitar Hero 3 game on his xbox 360 last night. I love new toys and we played with this one for four hours. My hands were cramped, my eyes were red, my heart was full of joy. Mike's even got a super spiffy new wireless guitar with KISS plastered all over it. What more could any man want! I knew more of the songs so this one is my favourite game so far. I'm not into all that classic rock and motorhead metal mallarky. I'm a postmodern indie girl with no real musical roots. I want to play some frivolous guitar pop from yesterday not just yesteryear. A bit of Strokes and Kaiser Chiefs was just the ticket. Step a few years back and there was Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Metallica and Stone Roses. I remember when these tracks were singles, it was a happy trip back to a (early!) teenage me. They've added some frivolous new extras like new venues, characters and costumes. I rocked out in some skin tight silver leather pants. It occured to me that I can now wear something like that in real life. Should I get some? answers on a postcard.

Where do crazy dreams come from? I'm still fighting off the after effects of one I had in the early hours of today. We were on holiday, Mum, Dad and Jonathan had gone to some town in Bosnia, but Lucy had to go to a conference (for work? who knows) in some unidentified town in Greece. And on a whim, I joined her there. Suddenly the conference was over and we had 24 hours to meet up with the others. We couldn't fly so renting a car was our only option. But there is no way to get to Bosnia from Greece without travelling through Albania, Macedonia or Kosovo. Dodgy places all of them. We were chewing down our nails worrying about bad roads, bad drivers and, scariest of all, BANDITS! Convinced we would be stipped of our possessions and all the gold in our teeth, we were having a tough time coming to terms with the trip ahead. And then, bless her heart, my roommate Juleen started shifting around in her bed, and for once I was glad to have been woken up early. I don't understand what causes these weird fantasies... a warm room and a lot of Bonbon Chicken might have had something to do with it...but really! Sometimes I wish my subconcious would be nicer to me. (And by the way, I've been looking at google maps and in case anyone ever finds themself in this very situation, you can always take a long route through Bulgaria and Romania... the roads and the drivers are still terrible, but you won't get waylaid)

Just a quick word to say that the LSAT did not kill me... it was bloody hard, though! Over the last two weeks I have been giving my brain a little bit of a rest, although I'm obsessed with crossword puzzles at the moment so I hope that's keeping me sharp. My score is due in about a week so fingers crossed. In the meantime I've had a marvelous birthday where I was spoiled yet again by wonderful family and friends. Thank you to everyone who took part! I'll add some pictures from my home computer when I have a chance.