Sunday Jan 29th- day 22

Wake up and sem to have got my cold back. I guess it was getting wet and exhausted yesterday, with only a cheeseburger and blue gatorade (which was I think better suited to a car radiator than to my stomach!) I come down for breakfast and Krishna is round, so Ann invites me to share brekkie, which I am very grateful for. We have scrambled egg and choclate brownie, a somewhat unusual combination, but beggars, choosers and all that!

Krishna is hoping to be offered a job in drywalling which, I discover is a bit like plastering. It will mean starting work at 4 am, working long hours, and getting shouted at for being the new boy. But it seems like a smart move- he is pretty handy at doing stuff to his Mum's house, and he will always have work if he has experience in construction.

It also transpires that Deanne is moving away to become a trolley dolley for a US airline. Ann is having trouble hiding the fact that she is relieved about this. I go to the other room and try not to listen to them discussing Deanne. Seems like Krishna is not that struck with her either, but breaking up is hard to do.

As he is leaving, some of Ann's friends come by unannounced, so I meet Carol, Ron and their 14 year old son Brian. He's a mad keen soccer player, so we talk about English footy for a while. Both Carol and Ron have recently been diagnosed with very rare forms of cancer; hers, a skin cancer, has been operated on, but his is in his sternum, and he is facing a tough battle with chemotherapy and surgery. You wouldn't know it to look at him. They seem like lovely people and it brings home the unfairness of things. I am very aware of it when talking to them both. I know that Ann has been shaken by this happening, especially them both falling sick at the same time, and one just wonders how it is for the lad, knowing (as I presume he does) that both of his parents are unwell.

I while away a happy hour or so on MSN messenger to Rosy back in Sheffield. Then it's off for a food shop to a posh "Whole Foods" store. The fruit and veg are amazing- they must either be pumped full of steroids, or raised on hours of bright Mexican sunlight. They even have what, to you or me would be yellow courgettes, but to them are "zucchini squash". See below for evidence! When you pay for stuff, there is someone there to pack it in the bag of your choice (paper or plastic). They will even put your shopping in a dumb waiter which goes down to the underground car park, so you can drive by and load on up! That's living alright. Or, as I keep hearing, "HOW D'YOU LIKE THEM APPLES?!?!" I think this is something to say when your team has just scored a touchdown or something. It's a bit like saying, "What do you think of that?" But from now on, I will try and use "HOW D'YOU LIKE THEM APPLES?!?!" whenever I can. I look forward to hearing George Bush using this phrase when asked about, for example, his opinion on the selection of Judge Alito, or somesuch issue of national importance and gravitas.

At the ranch, we unpack our stuff and try and fit it into her kitchen, which is no easy feat. At least here I am encouraged to unpack straight away rather than leaving my shopping in bags for months on end.

Ann claims that she doesn't even really like chickens, but that people keep sending her chickens regardless. One of them seems to have a death wish. I have half a mind to put it out of its misery.














I finish my book. It's been a great read. Lots of pages, but that's how we like it. I suppose I am biased, because I like comics, and the book is about the birth of comics in the America of the late 1930s. The author weaves in some stuff about the holocaust, which can be a bit gratuitous sometimes (as if it automaticaly lends a book some moral authority) but in this case it works really well. It reminds me a bit of "Everything is Illuminated" in that respect. I expect "Kavalier and Clay" will be turned in to a film, sooner rather than later. I can see Adrien Brody and, erm, Philip Seymour Hoffman in the title roles.