Getting All Spruced Up...

...inside and out!

Our next-door neighbor, the Migros grocery store, is being overhauled (it's about time!!) The interior is being rearranged and modernized, and the outside is getting a fresh coat of paint (a.k.a. an empty canvas for the local graffiti artists).

I think it was around the time we went to Amsterdam that I first noticed that something was going on inside. Stuff was being moved around, and then new shelves started going in. Then, late last month, the scaffolding started going up. In fact, they even began working on it AT 5:37 one Saturday MORNING! That's right... 5:37 A.M.!

So let me get this right...

I can't make noise between noon and 2 p.m. during "quiet time", but workers can hammer pieces of scaffolding together right next to our apartment building before 6 o'clock on a Saturday morning??? clank...Clank...CLANK!!!!!!

Whatever!

Anyway...

Although it's been open during the entire renovation, there's going to be a grand re-opening on June 18th. With the new layout, it seems like there's a lot more shelving which means a lot more room for new products.

Fritos? Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing?

Fat chance!

Revenge Is...

...stinky!

I had to bring King to the vet this morning. Don't worry...nothing serious! He had a blood test right before we went to Japan, and the results necessitated us increasing the dosage of his thyroid medicine. This morning's blood test is just a follow-up to see if his levels are now at normal levels.

King has always been a good patient - although he did hiss a bit when Dr. "Boozer" jabbed him in his front leg to draw some blood. The problem is that he's not very happy when he's in his traveling crate. But even worse yet is when he has to fast for twelve hours before a blood test.

That's bad for him AND for us.

King's appointment was at 8:00 this morning. This meant that we weren't supposed to feed him after 8:00 last night. We cheated a bit, and he finished the last bit of his food at just before 9:00 p.m. As we went to bed, I saw that he was standing in the kitchen next to the empty space where his food bowl should have been, and I figured we were in for a long, LONG night.

It turned out not to be too bad. He tapped my face a couple of times during the night, but I just told him to F-off and covered my face with the duvet. He eventually got the message, and I didn't really have to deal with him again until I got out of bed at 5 a.m.

Why 5 a.m., you ask? Well, that would be because Mrs. TBF had to fly to London for the day, and since I had to reserve a Mobility car to drive King to the vet's office anyway, I told Mrs. TBF I'd drive her to the airport so that she wouldn't have to take a taxi (good husband points for me!!!).

I made the five minute walk to where the Mobility cars are parked, drove it back to our garage, went back up to our apartment, and walked in to find "Starving" King fake-vomiting nothing but spit to try to prove to us what neglectful parents we had been.

Sorry, buddy...another couple of hours to go!

I drove Mrs. TBF to the airport, returned home, then endured constant pestering from King for an hour or so until it was time to load him into his crate and into the car. You have to believe me when I tell you that the drive was absolute HELL! Not only did I have to endure King's howling, but the howling was combined with Savage Garden's Truly Madly Deeply (perhaps the gayest song in the history of recorded music!) playing on the radio. Brrrrrrr! I'm shuddering just thinking about it!

We finally made it to Dr. "Boozers" office. The drawing of blood took a couple of minutes, King hissed, and then we were OUTTA there! I loaded King back into the car for the ride home.

Suddenly, at a red light about thirty seconds from our garage door, I smelled what was probably the worst smell I've ever experienced in my life. I turned around and saw...

...King sitting proudly on one side of his crate next to what was most likely...the longest cat turd in the history of cat turds!!!

King's revenge: total and complete!

I somehow managed to not pass out from the fumes and pulled the car into the garage. Fortunately, I had put a an absorbent doggy-training pad in the bottom of the crate, so I was able to simultaneously hold King, wad up the turd, and dry-heave.

To avoid further vengeance, I fed King immediately after returning to the apartment. He gobbled up all his food in a snap and was snoring away on our bed a couple of minutes after that.

I went back to the garage with a garbage bag in one hand and a spray bottle of room deodorizer in the other.

Early Morning Cuppa...

I woke up this morning at 4:50 a.m. (as I usually do my first morning in Chicago), and I heard Jo Mama (the mom-in-law) flush the toilet. Since I felt like I didn't need more sleep, I got up, sat down with Jo Mama, drank a couple of cups of coffee, and we watched the morning news.

Why is there a local Chicago newscast at 5:00 a.m.? Just wondering...

Since Jo leaves for the senior center at 6:30 a.m., I asked her if she would drop me off at the Dunkin' Donuts in town so that I could get a buttermilk donut (HEAVEN!) and big-ass cup of coffee (best damn coffee in the world!) with cream and one Sweet 'N Low. Then, I figured I'd just walk to my sister's house which is about a mile away.

"What??? Are you crazy???" Jo asked. "You can't walk there...IT'S TOO FAR!!!" I assured her that it was only about a mile, and that it would only take me about fifteen minutes.

Jo Mama: "No! You can't do it!"

TBF: "Why not?"

Jo Mama: "You...you just...CAN'T!"

TBF: "I can, and I will. Thanks for the ride."

She was still in mid-sentence when I shut the car door, so I'm not really sure what she said. I just walked into Dunk and didn't look back. A couple of minutes later, after wolfing down my buttermilk donut, I was walking down the street to my sister's house.

I was surprised to find that there were sidewalks down the main street all the way to my sister's subdivision. But apparently I wasn't as surprised about the sidewalks as the commuters were to see a man walking down the street at 6:40 a.m. with a big-ass Dunkin' Donuts coffee. At 6:55 a.m. I walked up my sister's driveway. It had taken about fifteen minutes, and I'm estimating that it was about a mile.

See, Jo? I told you!

And thus endeth my Chicagoland walking for this trip. I'll pick up my rental car at noon today.

A fifteen minute mile is pretty good...isn't it?

London Snippets...

I've been feeling a bit lazy lately (What else is new?), so rather than taking time to put some thought into an interesting and witty (Why start now?) post about our recent trip to London, I'm going to just post some pictures and write the first things that comes to my mind.

Minimal effort with (hopefully) stellar results. Hmmmmm...kind of reminds me of when I had a job...

Fires were successfully lit under the Colon Blows' asses (no explosions!), and we not only met, but exceeded, our goal of leaving the apartment by 5:30 a.m. Kudos to our houseguests! This picture was taken on the way down to the parking garage at 5:22 a.m. The sister-in-law (S.I.L.) and Mrs. TBF are looking fairly chipper, but the B.I.L. is not looking too happy with the fact that he had to wake up at...4 a.m.!!!!

We had, in my opinion, one GREAT and two decent meals in London. This picture was a self-portrait taken right before we went into St. John for dinner.

This was the second time Mrs. TBF and I had been to St. John. We heard so many great things about it, and were a little disappointed when we ate there a year ago. Thinking we might have just hit them on an off night, we decided to give them another try. And??? Good, but not great. Perhaps I was disappointed by the fact that they were out of the roasted bone marrow starter (the best thing I had last year), but I just don't think the restaurant lives up to its hype. We also had a curry dinner at an Indian restaurant called Veeraswamy which was also good, but not worth a return visit.

My recommendation for a GREAT place to eat the next time you're in London? Go to Galvin Bistrot de Luxe at 66 Baker Street for their prix fixe lunch. The food was absolutely great, and at 15 pounds it has to be the bargain of London.


On Friday, the B.I.L. and S.I.L. wanted to see things that Mrs. TBF and I had already seen on previous trips to London. So, while they were checking out the Tower of London, St. Paul's, etc., we took the Underground out to Kew Gardens.

Being a gardening geek, I figured that I'd like Kew...and I did. However, it had the added bonus of being right in the flight path of Heathrow. So, seeing how living a few miles from Basel's airport has turned us both into airplane geeks, we had the best of both worlds: horticulture AND screaming jets coming in for a landing right over our heads about every sixty seconds or so. The weather outside was balmy (especially for London in May), but the Palm House was like a freakin' sauna! I lasted about fifteen seconds in there. It had to be 38˚C/100˚F in there with 100 percent humidity. Being a Finn, I certainly love a good sauna, but...NOT WHEN FULLY CLOTHED. A little while later - with my shirt still clinging to my torso, I managed to take this nice picture of Mrs. TBF in the Waterlily House which was a little more manageable temperature-wise.

Of course, looking at plants can be exhausting. This chap found a nice spot on a bench to catch a few Zs...with his comb-over flapping in the breeze. Naturally, I just HAD to snap a picture so he could have his fifteen minutes of fame in the Blogosphere!


Later that afternoon, Mrs. TBF and I made our way to Westminster Abbey. The last time we were in London, we arrived at Westminster about two minutes after their unreasonably early closing time of 3:45. This time, we knew better and arrived with plenty of time to spare. Once inside, we (rather nervously) disobeyed the "No Photography" signs and snapped this image of us using the timer. Then, a bit later, we took another illegal photo of Mrs. TBF illegally using her mobile phone. HEY!!! Show me in the Bible where it says you can't take a picture or use a mobile phone in a f***ing church!!!

Going to church really worked up a king's thirst for the frosty brew, so we stopped at a pub for a bit of ale. First, let me say that I like English ale. However, I like it colder than English pubs serve it up. I know it's not supposed to be ice-cold, but...is it asking too much that it be served just a little cooler than room temperature? Maybe the cellars were warmer than usual because of the warm temperatures outdoors - I don't know. Whatever the reason, I ended up having to switch to that other "English" beer - Stella Artois. Let me tell ya, the Brits sure love their Stella. Plus, they like to order it in the pub and then take it outside where they just stand around drinking in the street. I guess that's what one does when the weather is nice in a place where it rains all the time (except when we're there, of course!).

On our last day in London, the four of us went to Harrods. I bought some clothes, we bought a couple of mother-of-pearl caviar spoons, I got me a Harrods Rewards card, we visited the Di and Dodi memorial, and I manged to be severely spooked by the VERY life-like wax figure of Al Fayed. I'm telling you, I stood there for several minutes staring at "him" to see if "he" would move - it's THAT life-like.

We liked Harrods...A LOT!!! I'm sure there'll be a new Harrods in Basel soon...NOT!!!

Alas, the time came to head off to Heathrow for our flight back to Basel. We had a last pint at a pub, and then we walked around the corner to our hotel where we found that our taxi was already waiting (five minutes early) with our bags already loaded inside. How's that for service? We said our farewells to the friendly doorman, and then off we went. While we were on our way to the airpot, Mrs. TBF suggested that we should go to London "...at least a couple of times per year."

I couldn't agree more!