We had a look at a few apartments in the Alameda area this morning after a hearty breakfast with Liz. The Oakland ones are pretty depressing to be honest. We put in an application for a nice house there, good area, one bedroom and a dark room for developing photos but decided against it because of the lack of “hook-ups” which is Americanese for places to put a washing machine and tumble drier. Also the Schipperke would not be welcome… All important factors. Still, this is the time of year when places suddenly become vacant apparently so there’s no rush and there’s also the other buy-a-house possibility that fills me with existential dread but might be a better idea in the long run.

I’m going pseudo-vegetarian to try to offset my pork/beef/lamb footprint from the last two years. My favourite meat dishes are more expensive here and there certainly aren’t plentiful cheap tacos nor donner kebabs just around the corner, but anyway the plan is to not eat animal flesh more than once a week so that I won’t be a burden if we go round someone’s house and they’re cooking for us. Otherwise, it’ll be cheese sandwiches, potatoes, and Branston pickle all the way. Also, all bets are off if I cross any international borders.

I’m applying for web design gigs off of craigslist.org and generally kicking my CV into shape. I’ve a few on the boil, but open to offers, anyone fancy a website?