  I just watched the urlLink Americans get the silver medal in women's urlLink gymnastics , losing (as usual) to urlLink Romania . Sorry for spoiling it for you, American readers who will watch the 'plausibly' live version on urlLink NBC tonight, replete with sob stories.
I kind of miss the sob stories. We get none of that here. Not even the ages, heights and home towns of the athletes. Just live coverage with no commercials. Miss Pillsbury and I went flat hunting today. For the last year, we've been living in the house of a very nice woman who spends nearly all the year in urlLink Ireland . Her house is spacious (there are entire rooms we never go into) and comfortable, but the décor leaves something to be desired.
It's not entirely unlike living in your grandmother's house. My friends call it The Pink Palace. Although the owner would be happy to have us remain in the house, but being accustomed to urlLink Chicago , we'd rather be in urlLink Nottingham city centre, which would be more convenient for my commute anyway, and someplace smaller and more attractive. We saw some nice flats today. One, in a converted convent, was especially gorgeous. The hard choice to make is do you pay a little bit more than you want to for something stunning, or do you pay what you want for a place that may be somewhat shabbier but has more room, free parking (for the nonexistent but possibly forthcoming car) and not only a washer but also a tumble dryer.
I'll never understand why the British consider the dryer optional in the whole laundry arrangement. In between viewings, we fulfilled an 11-month desire of mine and went to urlLink Hooters for a couple of pints and some urlLink Buffalo wings . Bizarrely, it is the only Hooters in the UK. I had never been to any of the 10 urlLink Chicagoland locations, but Miss Pillsbury had, and she assured me it was basically identical. The Stars &amp; Stripes waving outside (alongside urlLink St. George's Cross ), American football memorabilia and photos of scantily-clad women on the walls, far too many TV's all showing sports ( urlLink cricket in this case), and the waitresses were what you'd expect.
It was only 3.30 pm, but there were a number of portly, ruddy-faced men enjoying a late liquid lunch or possibly just bunking off work. Alas, the urlLink wings were disappointing. They were overpriced at £5.50 for 10, with blue cheese and celery costing an additional £1.39. We also had to ask for extra sauce as they were served essentially dry (and not the slightest bit spicy), which set us back an extra quid. But it was suitably hilarious and now I don't have to go back. In an update of today's earlier post, I spoke to my head of department and will be going into school on Thursday, hopefully assuaging my worries in the process.
Thank you to my dear friend Miss Wesley, by the way, for your words of encouragement. On an unrelated note, I discovered, thanks to the urlLink New Yorker , urlLink this tremendous website from the urlLink Museum of TV & Television featuring American presidential advertising going back five decades. Check out " urlLink Confessions of a Republican " from 1964. I'll also miss urlLink Julia Child terribly. The urlLink Smithsonian has an urlLink online exhibit of her kitchen . 
