• 🌄 sunrise 5:51 a.m. British Summer Time
• 🌇 sunset 8:07 p.m. British Summer Time
• 9℃ and Mostly Clear

old business

i forgot to mention it last week, but look at this super cute collage postcard lb made and sent over

new business

little springs

we have no ruffled grouses nor spring peepers here but there were plenty of moths. zoozoo was staying the week and we cleaned out the everything. i realized the masa harina incident never truly ended because around the corner in that haunted cupboard there was an unseen organic granola full of breeding henries. we have since destroyed their habitat and defeated them, it would seem, for good.

schengen area

imagine a visa application system where you had to have tickets for a flight and hotel before you apply for the appointment to ask for permission to use the flight and hotel, and where very few of the visa appointments are given out every month, and where they are snatched up quickly, and then you only get 90 days if you're lucky. eventually we managed to get an appointment and have accidentally booked a trip to spain in june.

macedonia

in other news, if you have a UK Biometric Residence Permit you can visit Macedonia for 15 days without a visa this year only apparently.

https://www.mfa.gov.mk/en/page/432/visa-requirements-for-entering-the-republic-of-north-macedonia

All foreign nationals who are holders of valid USA, UK-British, and Canadian visas, with multiple entries can enter the Republic of North Macedonia without requiring a short-stay (visa C) issued from the Republic of North Macedonia. The length of the stay at one entrance should not exceed 15 (fifteen) days, while the duration and the validity of the USA, British, and Canadian visa should be 5 (five) days longer than the planned stay in the Republic of North Macedonia. This decision is of a temporary character and shall be in force from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024.

good news for roasted red pepper fans.

other business

i didn't take any notes this week, so it's hard to retrace my steps. i think we mostly just tidied and tidied and tidied. the apartment looks lovely. and i cooked lots of nice meals. roasted red pepper and feta dip; and curry; and lemon and garlic and olive oil and butter codfish; and keto-ejjeh; a beef sausage tomato and roast pepper casserole; many cheese flatbreads, one very pizza; labneh. a nice fat omelete this morning with grilled bacon and philadelphia.

i'm reading the john dolan book, enjoying his surprisingly parallel struggles as he sees the world by accident. it's good company to know you can be 60 years old and still not have your shit together but survive and eat mcdonalds.

market business

we went for a nice walk today to the market. then to see where the marathon began, it was noisy. we stopped in at a coffee shop and bought some cute amber glass cups and saucers and new filters and came home and some nice coffee with lunch that was leftover dinner. it's funny how all those marathon strangers peering up at the tops of the buildings on my local high street like it was some foreign land made it all feel new again. with april threatening to shine a summer sun and take its clouds in the days feel long and hopeful, like they could have a joy in them.

well, have a nice week. plenty more. plenty more.