HELLO, SUNSHINE

QUESTION: to paraphrase Bex's Dad, how can you sponsor the sunset? It's ridiculous enough that weather reports on ITV are 'sponsored', but too much that during an ad break today, there was a quick mention of what time the sun will set tonight, sponsored by some company. This madness must stop!

Hooraaaay! The sun has finally found its way to DC and has made me very happy indeed. As exciting as the move here has been, I haven't really got into the groove of the city and haven't felt so connected with where we are. Today, I realised that - as much as not having unpacked yet is kind of stalling any full-on immersion in Washington joy - the crummy weather is a lot to blame. Since the sun has come out and it's really blue outside, I feel much more inclined to explore and have been most gleeful all day.

Having said that, I haven't done any actual exploring yet, as I spent most of today whipping my blog into shape. Turns out I'm not the html genius I thought I was. hddddrrdrrdr. Anyway, it's really nice to feel so positive about everything and I have high hopes for the next few weeks actually managing to live up to the name of this blog.

Max and I were so full of the joys of sunny sunshine when I picked him up from work tonight that we decided to eat out (this may also have something to do with our still not being able to turn our oven on) and found ourselves in a 'concept' restaurant called Vapiano. The system was strikingly similar to one in a nice place we had lunch in in Christchurch before we left, but Vapiano was very pleased with its concept. 

On entering the restaurant, you get given a credit card. You then find a seat and go and order your food. The restaurant is Italian and there are different stations for pizza, pasta and salads. You tell your chef directly what you want, then touch the credit card thing on a machine and get given a pager that you take back to your table and wait for it to buzz when the food is ready, or you can watch as your food gets made. The bar works in the same way, with touching the card on a machine thing.

When your pager buzzes, you go and collect your food and after your meal, you take your credit card to the front desk and they charge you for what you've clocked up on the card.

Being a bigger fan of gimmicks and 'concepts' than the next man, I was very excited to check out a new dining experience, but unfortunately it was a bit of a disappointment. I managed to choose the slowest, most grumpy of the pasta chefs with whom to order Max's food, so had that whole, 'to change queues or to not change queues' dilemma, and my pizza ended up being not so nice anyway.

Hey, but while we were waiting for the late-night talkshows to start when we got home, we flicked onto a Spanish telenovela that was just starting and had by far the funniest titles sequence I have EVER seen - it was all we'd expected and more. And we were obviously asleep before Leno started.