7 years :o

it took like 2+ weeks to get a hold of doctor's payslip. yes, welcome to UK. we started to wonder after a month had passed and his salary had been paid where it may be.  especially since we should send it to Home Office for additional proof of MY income (indeed claiming that im partly dependent on my husband, but whatever, i am tho arent i, i wouldnt be able to cover the rent and bills by myself?). but so he asked around and apparently payslips are sent to this separate online account, which, naturally, he had not been given login or password to. and that takes a while of course. just getting a paper copy was a struggle. it kind of sounds like turkey??  but its a bit more 'clear', in some way,  bureucratic but sort of trustworthy system.

i started listening to my older spotify playlists yesterday. how ODD. and great :D type o negative, placebo etc.  one of the playlists.

Tim Harford's writing on Konmari. not sure i agreed with everything. or, anything? but nevertheless, worth reading. i am not against Konmari - to each their own right. and less consumption is overall good for the planet and so. but i personally...like stuff.

at doctors hospital they dont even have a modern pulse oxitometer. seriously. of course, its the end results that matters and its not bad, but according to doctor they are technologically way behind turkey. when he changes hospitals in the fall to a large referral hospital (more comparable to the hospital in istanbul), i will be curious to hear if its as bad. cos then its really one gov funded uni hospital with trauma center compared to another. but its prolly not going to fare well when it comes to some of the modern equipment, things are just a little behind here.

what was wrong with this guy?? (G.Kopp) jesus...i feel bad for his wives.

Zehra Dogan got 2+ yr prison sentence for a painting. go turkey go...? f....


we are celebrating our 7 yr relationship today. now it's officially my longest relationship too. 7 years ago i moved my butt to istanbul, doctor picked me from the airport, and later that day suggested we make it official and be boyfriend & girlfriend. i was suspicious of the outcome, but interested obviously. so here we are. cant believe how far we've come... :D to celebrate we will go eat tapas and other delicacies at a local spanish restaurant.

i also booked a flight to Madrid on May 12th, going with my swedish friend Karin.

suomibileet suunnitelmissa

jahas, sit alko Bachelor Suomi. ei nyt ihan heti innosta mutta tapana on ollu kattoo. aika jäykkää, mut sillä tavalla aidompaa kuin esim. pohjois-amerikassa.

ajattelin mennä suomeen nyt kesäkuun alkupuolella koska sillon pitäs olla firman "pikkujuhannus" ja mähän en ole missään nyk. työnantajan pippaloissa ikinä ollut joten olisi korkea aika. voisi bondaa työkavereiden kanssa muutenki ku chatin välityksellä. silloin olis 9.6 myös joku festari olisko se Vantaalla, jossa olis Rammstein. aika erikoista, Rammstein jossain "korsossa"? sit ne muut bändit oli  sellaisia ettei niitä voi kaikkia ottaa vakavasti, Evanescence nyt tulee lähinnä mieleen. ehkä ne jotkut muut oli ihan ok noin yleisesti mut mun musamaku kun ei ole kovin raskas nykyään niin se ei vältsisti olis niin jee-tilaisuus... tosin kyse on anyway vain perjantaista, jos meen suomeen ni ei mulla oo kokonaista viikonloppua varaa festareihin upottaa. etenkään jos en ole kiinnostunut kys. artisteista. mut joo en nyt sit tiedä, pitää odottaa et bileiden pvm päätetään ja katsoa sit. Rammstein olis oikeasti sellainen joka olisi hienoa nähdä mutta suomen valoisassa kesäyössä(kö)?

kuinka turkki kohtelee homoja (HS). suurin osa joutuu tietty olemaan siellä kaapissa. jos asuu isossa kaupungissa niinku istanbulissa tai izmirissä niin löytää halutessaan ehkä liberaaleja kavereita mutta ikinä ei voi siitäkään olla varma - että miten liberaalin oloinen tuttu oikeasti reagoisi jos kertoisi, vai joutuisiko kenties pannaan kaveripiiristä kun sana kiertäisi. aika moneen homoseksuaaliin tutustuin turkissa, miehiin ja naisiin, ja kaapissahan ne on perheelleen suurin osa. sitten kun vanhemmat vielä painostaa naimisiin niin joskus ihmiset kokee et on pakko. siis ihan todella aikuiset, menestyvät, itsenäiset ihmiset, eikä vaan jotkut "kyläläiset". se perhe ja vanhempien miellyttäminen on vaan niin tärkeää, mitä on vaikea ymmärtää kun on kasvanut suomen individualistisessa kehdossa. ja jos suomessa on työtön tai tarvii muuten vaan tukea niin valtiohan on sitä varten. valtio tekee suomessa sitä mitä perhe suurimmassa osassa maailmaa. joten jos haluat jonkun tukiverkon säilyttää niin paras pysyä väleissä veljeen ja äitiin jne...   mutta toi homofobia turkissa on todella sääli.

proper rainy London day

i read Holly Madison's Down the Rabbit Hole in  a few days. while i was supposed to be reading Orwell's Homage to Catalonia - for our book club which is due to get together next week. well, both are biographical, right? but i have started the latter and will finish it obviously. then, i have the next bio in queue; Branson. DtRH was quite ok, but got a little bit 'american' towards the end - i get that she had to fight her way to where she got, but so does everyone else. the tone just got a bit superficial and fake-ish.still, overall i liked it ok.

some things are moving forward. the postman introduced himself the other day, his name is Jason. an older man, who says he likes when its not too warm out. i never got to know the postman/woman in istanbul cos they didnt usually come to the door, but was on superficial terms with the postwoman who last worked our street. point is, getting friendly with people around here reminds me of istanbul, i like it.

omg i found the switch for our bathroom fan. its annoyed the fuck out of me, ive even had showers in candle light in order not to have to listen to it. but, there was a swicth, outside the bathroom, above the door. certainly not easy to reach, have to jump or stand on a chair. the challenge will be to remember to turn it on at times, still, though. the bathroom would surely get moldy very fast if not. 

article on Brixton's recent evolution (Guardian). im surprised to read that the average rent for a 1 bed house is 1744£ in this area?! maybe the keyword is house? cos our 2 bed flat is less than that. and this a pretty nice, modern place. i guess its the flat vs house thing then. but the article is also referring to statistics that paint Brixton mostly white. am i living in another Brixton? cos this is preeeetty black and 50 other shades. if we wanted predominantly white or less diverse i guess we would've moved to Clapham or somewhere else. but it definitely depends where in Brixton u are, too - 100 meters can make a difference. on the street by the shops you see jamaicans chilling, middle easterners holding shop... then u walk into the hipstery Pop Brixton and everyone is white... on the bus nearly everyone is black again. at the tube station its super mixed, which i like.

Pop Brixton last week

now back to me

UFC done. it was so nice though, seeing and experiencing it first hand, i was excited. my friend, 'family man from espoo', was here for the weekend and we went to see it together. the finns didnt fare so well this time. had to cheer for the one swede that did...

blurry and whatever, but the idea comes across; 

finally alone tho, i DO LOVE having friends over, but especially if it's for over a week, i quite appreciate being alone afterwards. just chilling in my bathrobe, ready to watch a tv show. i guess i quite like home life? and frozen foods! veggie fingers, some weird quinoa mix and spinach. heat them up in microwave and then add egg, 1 more minute and ots done. and tried on doctor's peri peri sauce.

lol, 1.5 months after sending Lloyds a letter (filled form) for an address change, they replied via txt saying the address has now been changed. i would not have obviously sent a bloody paper form if it wasn't the requirement. but it was supposed to take a week or two. oh well, whatever. UK curiosities.

Vera is back! one of my fav shows.

doctor gave me a sushi dinner and a Ryanair voucher for my birthday. i thought it was really thoughtful. i do love sushi, and he still wants me to travel even if his passport is stuck at the Home Office and he cant.

pampering time

our cupboards are still fairly empty and our style looks oddly plain. i do appreciate simplistic design but somehow we've always had random, colorful things too. i think the coffee mug there is a good way to start things off...even if its not literally colorful.

my corner of the bedroom. i filled this drawer in the blink of an eye.

now that we have our own place, and its warmenough to run around nakes too, i got inspired to take care of myself again. sooo i went on a shopping spree. nail files, lotions, fake lashes... in short: stuff. that felt amazing.

we dont use an iron often...  maybe once or twice a year. but when we do need it, we really need it. its good to have one for those moments. so i bought an iron to avoid a catasprophe.

a view from the corner of our street. brixton village is there on the right, about 150m ahead.

our housewarming was a success in my books. i think we had 15-20 guests so that was definitely good and what i aimed for. food and drinks lasted and the lasts guests left after 5am. good start!

oddly creepy dating show; game of clones.

since ive been wondering abut how they plan to manage the throne accession and queen's death, this article was quite interesting (Guardian).

tomorrow: UFC in London!!

koitan kestää mut en kestä

mun spotifyn laskutus on suomalaisella kortilla joten spotify päättää että tarviin suomalaista soittolistat ja suomalaista räppiä. yhhhhh. joskus meinaa hetkeksi unohtua ja laitan jonkun viattomalta kuulostavan listan soimaan, esim. Aamukahvi

okei ei noilla geneerisillä listoilla muutenkaan oo läheskään aina mun mielimusaa mutta mitel helv kaikilla noilla suomalaisilla listoilla on räppiä?? ja niillä ei vältsisti edes ole mitään muuta suomalaista, ne on vaan tehty suomalaisille. muilla ns. paikalliseen makuun tehdyillä listoilla ei ole tietääkseni tätä ongelmaa (olen kysellyt). suomalaiset on kai vaan niin räppikansaa? :D loll...  nauraisin jos ei olis älytöntä. olen kai vaan vanha kun en tajuu miten se iskee niin...

taas yks hyvä kirjoitus pakkoruotsista (HS). tai näitähän näkyy aina siellä täällä, vähän eri sanoin mut aina sama pointti - ei ole järkeä pakottaa kaikkia pistämään niin monta tuntia kielen oppimiseen jota tarvii niin vähän tai harvoin, jos sillonkaan. mutta eipä tuolle mitään tapahdu. tuo on kuin terveydenhuolto jenkeissä, ei sitä saada näköjään kuntoon. mut en ymmärrä mikä mafia sitä ylläpitää. kielten opiskelu hyvä mut jos edes osa porukasta oppis jo sielt 7. luokalta tms jotain venäjää tai kiinaa tai arabiaa...(jotta tulis siinä sujuvaksikin mahdollisesti).

post-move crisis?

despite everything, i think im not super happy right now. well, without wanting to sound bipolar, occasionally i am really cheery, but perhaps going through post moving stress or something.

im still feeling a bit embarassed about having such a nice, big home. i know i shouldnt waste energy on such a feeling, its useless and unhelpful.

Susanna visited us today, since she cant make it to the housewarming.  brought us a nice gift, too - we love bubbly. we had late lunch in a thai place in Brixton village and looked around the shops there. im starting to enjoy the neighborhood more and more.

book! yeah, a light read but thats what i want. light stuff. lightmusic, light tv and light books. not ashamed.

found a perfectly sized cutlery tray on amazon! wow.

 me and doctor ate at a greek restaurant (sappho meze) the other night. it was nice to have some familiar tastes. we are definiely eating out more now that doctor is working and things have sort of stabilized.

got this black & white bookshelf cos its so modifiable. not sure this corner look works...i thought it would nicely separate my 'office area'  from the rest but it creates a sort of dark corner.

Brixton after rain. 

 this was my solution to the lack of storage in our bathroom. not ideal but will do, accessible from both bath tub and sink. we also got a mirrordoor cabinet buuuuut it would require attaching it to the wall and we cant do that, so now its just awkwardly leaning...

not sure this is the best way to store spices and everything else, but its so spacy underneath it kind of made sense.  and i wouldnt want to get yet another shelf or rack. i dunno. time will show.