Garden friends

It's kind of like living in Bloomington again. In the morning, slugs. Lots of them. Big ones. I could put out beer and catch thirty of them, and the next day there'd be thirty more.

I feel like we are the ultimate consumers. Because we're still learning about this city, and because the most direct bus route that we're on ends at city centre, we spend a lot of time downtown. Everything is available down there, or at some place on the way. There's also a castle and further on down the line is Mermaid Quay, a chi-chi little area on the water. Friday night, we ate at one of the two for one pubs (two meals for 5 pounds 50p--the best deal in town by far) and had promised the kids ice cream at Mermaid Quay. When we got there, the ice cream place was closed. So we sheepishly entered "Eddie's American Diner" (Kieron: "This looks kind of snotty, doesn't it? Us eating at an American place." Then both teenagers slunk into their seat so no one would see.) and ordered apple pie and ice cream sundaes. Ok, the desserts were overpriced, my chocolate malt was pretty bad and the apple pie did not in any way resemble what we think of as apple pie. (Think tiny little apple tart you get for a buck in a vending machine at a toll road plaza. With raisins. And a little cup of soft serve on the side. Only it cost us 3 pounds 50, meaning $7.00.) So now I'm thinking, huh, does the Olive Garden really resemble Italian food? Or is it just our idea of Italian food?