A new toy

[cosmolinguist]

My parents bought me a digital camera today. The one thing I wanted for Christmas (well, okay, except that other thing), they finally decided to get me so I could take some pictures when I'm in England. It's not a fancy one, but that's okay. Cheap but effective is all I want.

I plan on taking lots of pictures of Starbuckses and people and cars and proving to them that cities in England are pretty much like cities here and thus it's silly to insist upon pictures of things.

Comments

[comradexavier.livejournal.com]

What model is it?

[ivana-duboise.livejournal.com]

Yes! Your geek-y friends demand to know!

[cosmolinguist]

Nothing to excite the likes of you two, like I said. I do like that icon, by the way.

[cosmolinguist]

This one.

[dazztardly.livejournal.com]

Swank. :)

[cosmolinguist]

Swank is a cool word.

[ivana-duboise.livejournal.com]

I did not recognize your brother at all today. He looked like he should be singing country music.

[cosmolinguist]

Country music. That is so funny. Did I ever show you the picture on the CD of the guy he wants to look like?
I actually don't know what kind of music this guy sings; I'd never heard of him until Chris mentioned him, and then I recognized the name on a CD in Wal-Mart or something and laughed and laughed.

[ivana-duboise.livejournal.com]

Your brother was even wearing a coat that color yesterday.

[cosmolinguist]

That's a good point; I hadn't noticed. He's so in love with that ugly leather coat.

And he has wussy little earrings in his ear, too...

[cosmolinguist]

And he often highlights his hair in that dumb way, too. Though not recently; I don't think I've seen it like that since he stopped getting it cut.

[dyddgu.livejournal.com]

proving to them that cities in England are pretty much like cities here

At which point hear me holler - cometoOxfordcometoOxfordcometoOxford! There is pretty oldness! And not like America at all! We only have four Starbuckses, after all *rollseyes* The rest of it's nice though...

[dyddgu.livejournal.com]

Ah, I never go quite as far as Blackbird Leys... ;-)
A friend of mine did a summer job as a traffic warden in Blackbird Leys. And her mate from Moss Side was horrified and thought she'd be killed or something!

[cosmolinguist]

Seriously, though, I'm all for visiting new people and places. So if you really want to show off your town, let me know and we'll work something out.

[burkesworks.livejournal.com]

Only one Starbucks in Bradford - and only one, AFAIK, here in Leicester.
What you WILL see no end of, though, are these overpriced Subway sandwich places, which seem to be taking over British high streets faster than hogweed. Hell, there's even one on Uppingham Road now, though how they'll do anything given the amount of other eateries up there, one never knows.

[hexar-le-saipe.livejournal.com]

You're being overrun with Subways? Interesting, that's one I'd never have guessed... Can't imagine that the taste would be the same, I thought American Food was going to poison poor Andrew.

[cosmolinguist]

I saw a bunch of those in Manchester. Once, fairly early in my trip, Andrew gave me the choice of eating there or a nearby chippy and I chose the Subway, perhaps because I hadn't had any overtly American food in the month or whatever I'd been there. It was nice and familiar; the place smelled the same and the food looked the same and I took a bite and said, "This bread tastes weird..." As this gave Andrew an opportunity to reiterate one of his favorite complaints (the one about our bread having corn syrup in it, which admittedly is a terrible idea), he said, "That's because it's American. It doesn't taste of bread. It tastes sweet!" He does this a lot. Usually he says "sweet" loud enough to make me wince (which, admittedly, doesn't take much). Sometimes now I wince ahead of time, because I know what's coming. :-)

[hexar-le-saipe.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's about the experience we had during meals down here. Did he ever tell you about the time he picked up a praline at a convenience store down here, thinking it was a cookie? (I _swear_ if I'd realized that he didn't know what he was getting I would have stopped him, one of those things is enough to send a rhino into diabetic shock!)

[cosmolinguist]

I've seen about a thousand Starbuckses (it's a ridiculous plural, but that's why I like it...) in Manchester. I think it was Andrew who actually suggested them as a good thing to take pictures of, to convince my mom that I don't really have anything particularly exciting to photograph.

And really, I can think of all kinds of things that would be unusual to them. More than one bus visible at a time, for instance...

[angel-thane.livejournal.com]

The one thing I wanted for Christmas (well, okay, except that other thing)

I was the other thing, right?

I keep telling you, I won't fit into a stocking!

[hexar-le-saipe.livejournal.com]

How about a pair of stockings? Maybe some nice fishnets?

[angel-thane.livejournal.com]

Well I'd be lying if I didn't say they flattered my calves.

[hexar-le-saipe.livejournal.com]

Oh Zog, you tease.

[angel-thane.livejournal.com]

Well Comrade LeSaipe, they don't call me Mr. the etc... for nothing, you know.