Kleenex

Having had a cold that crossed the Atlantic with me this past month, I couldn't help but notice the differences in the Kleenex found in each land. Despite all intuition indicating it would be the opposite, I am generally much more impressed with the UK Kleenex. It's both considerably thicker and softer. It's not just that the stuff I have here is the premium either, my desk/home boxes are the cheapest grade of Kleenex available. Yet they are still triple ply. When you have a cold and are going through a lot of Kleenex, these little things can make a huge difference. Like my nose is a little happier over here. When comparing my slightly more luxurious travel Kleenex to the US stuff it's even more remarkable. It's like the Bellagio versus, umm, Circus Circus or something. Or maybe the parents just stock really, really horrible tissue. Unlikely.

In other news, I'll be shoving my application for a new visa in the mail today. I had been intending to do this on Wednesday but I didn't have everything I need, and then yesterday I had collected the things I had forgotten but removed something else. But today it's all hitting the streets. This is a worrying thing on many levels. First there is the obvious concern that I will be turned down for the visa and therefore be deported, then there is my general well-founded lack of faith in the Royal Mail to get my passports back to me when they are done with them.

Along the lines of completely unrelated paragraphs, I might also add that I am so glad to have purchased a box of my dearly beloved granola bars while at Target last weekend. Not only were they nice snacks to have on the return journey, but they've been fabulous snacks since then as well. Why, why, why does the UK not have Quaker peanut butter chocolate chip granola bars?? Do they not know what a glaring hole this is in society's ability to snack in a reasonable manner? You want a granola bar here you end up with some obscure thing generally lacking taste and only coming in one flavor - chocolate chip. Mind you, Nature Valley is around but I don't really find these comparable given the fact that they have two in every package, making them a much more considerable snack than the single bar. Plus you just get crumbs everywhere with the Nature Valley. Anyways, I could go on and on about granola bars all day. But I won't. I'm going to clean my desk instead. At least a little bit.