Mia had to vote in the Finnish elections today so we had a day in Bristol. We went via Matt and Ali's again so that Ali and Yo could come with us to shop after the voting thing. We dropped Ted off to hang out with Rhys for the weekend, and Yo is coming back with us so she can stay over with Hattie. Experimental child swap. Changing the male female mix in the two houses and seeing if that affects our quality of life. Just testing. :)

We went over the Bristol and Mia voted at the Marriot hotel on College Green at the bottom of Park Street. Met some nice Bristol resident Finnish folk, who pointed us at the www.finlandinbristol.co.uk web site. Interesting. Then we walked up Park Street to Jumbucks, the Aussie Pie Co., and ate their wonderful Jaffle pies. I had a Russian Revolution, which was steak and gravy. Yum. I also had a nurble on Mia's New Yorker which is apple and custard. If you live in or around Bristol and haven't experienced Jumbucks, I urge you to check it out. Right now. Top of Park Street same side as JD Weatherspoons opposite Browns. Can't miss it. Loads of full, happy-looking people coming out of the door.

After that we wandered back down Park Street and went in a few of the excellent shops. Lots of shoe and clothes shops for the girls, and a comic shop which I've not been in before for me. Bought the new copy of Wizard (the comic readers magazine) plus a new copy of Frank Miller's Sin City book "Big Fat Kill" to replace the copy long ago that myself and buddy Brent Jackson read until it fell apart and then Brent papered his room with it. We also had a Starbucks too, which helped because I was flagging a bit by then. My current tipple in Starbuckys is a latte with an extra shot of espresso and hazelnut syrup. Yummy. Got me thinking about espresso machines. (see below)

Then we nipped over to IKEA in Fishponds/Horefield and wandered around the whole store, sitting on sofas, lying on beds, opening cupboards and stuff. Didn't intend to buy anything very much, just a couple of quid. Ended up spending about £50 including £14 for a really nice hobb fired espresso maker and some cheap but nice £6 cutlery for work. (I get exasperated by the fact there are no sets of cutlery in the school kitchen, and only one fork between about 20-30 staff. Argh!)

We intended to leg it over to what we refer to as "Ethnic Tescos" which is the the huge Tesco store next to IKEA, but it was half seven/eight o'clock by then and we were shagged. (We call it Ethnic Tescos cos it has a HUGE Afro-Carribean and Asian foods section on account of the local population mix. Really good. Only place I know where you can buy Jaggery.) Went home and hung out at the Kellands for a bit until we decided it was too late around 9.30pm and we really should go home. About halfway home we hit a huge dense fog bank and had to drive at about 15 miles an hour to stay inside the lines and avoid banging into other cars or the side of the road. Then as suddenly as it appeared it went. Weird.

Yo and Hattie went to bed and Mia and I rocked our computers reading funny emails and watching tutorial videos on Lynda.com till about 1-2am and then fell asleep to more "American Dad".