New Friends (19 December)

There are three new friends in this post:

1. On my left arm, a penguin mascot at one of the numerous shops we browsed in our continuing search for household items (I have no idea what or whom the penguin was representing, but I sure liked him).

2. And on my right arm, my (as Bob calls it) "old-lady-plaid-grocery-puller" that I, um, scavenged from beside a pile of garbage bags put out on the sidewalk for collection. It's in perfect shape and after the most minimal of cleanings, has already been great help on all our shopping trips. Bob, Bruce, and Dianne are all convinced that there's an old lady somewhere crying for her cart, but I swear it was set out as garbage.

3. And finally, the best new friend of all: our en-suite washing machine, located in the kitchen, as seems to be quite common in flats here--a luxury I haven't had since I moved away from my parents at sixteen. No more wanting to do laundry and finding the machines in use--or in Bob's case, no more taking his laundry to his parents' when he goes to watch pay-per-view hockey.