Plumbing, British things and random TWoP amusement

I do not understand plumbing. My toilet decided to get stuck or something and run for, like, fifteen minutes before I noticed it, and then when I played with it, I could get it to stop only as long as I was holding up this grey handle-thingy with a spoon. (Yes, a spoon. Hush; it's one thirty in the morning and all tool-related things are out in the storage room.) So, completely at a loss and wasting gallons of water by the minute, apparently, I go to wake Dad up and get him to magically fix it. In the meantime, it stops running.

*throws up arms*

I have no idea.

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I've seen mention twice in the past couple weeks that the UK is a "rabies-free country." Just out of curiosity, does this mean that y'all don't have to get pets vaccinated for the disease yearly?

Was poking around hp_britglish tonight, and ran into this excellent Guide to Britain for Fanfic Writers. Lots of interesting stuff, and a lot I haven't seen in similar guides aimed at travellers (especially this page about housing). Parts of it completely baffle my have-yet-to-leave-the-US self. No screens on the windows? Ever? Wow. You guys must have way fewer bugs than we do. I have given serious thought to draping myself in mosquito netting before going outside on some summer days; it is simply beyond my level of imagination to be able to not have screens in any windows capable of being opened. *boggle*

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Someone at Television Without Pity has done a hilarious recap of Center Stage here. I remember watching that movie; I rented it only because Ilia Kulik was in it (and while he makes a nice ballet dancer, he's better at figure skating). It was sooooo bad. I had blocked out the final workshop piece (complete with ballet-on-motorcycle) from my memory, and as I still can't seem to really recall it even after reading the recap, I think it's possible that I never actually made it that far into the movie. But still, hysterical recap.