Sorry, my time online has been extraordinarily limited recently. I only got on for a few minutes on Thursday to post and didn't get online last night at all.
Lieta - One of my clearest memories of a month long trip we took to Italy about five years ago was a small town (sadly I can't recall which one) which made a Nutella/hazelnut gelato. Nutella gelato was pretty common - similar to fudge swirl here, but this one had pieces of hazelnut in it as well. It was so good! So, I can understand your feelings towards nutella/peanut butter gelato, but I'm jealous that it's so close by to where you live!
Ann - I suspected people outside the US might have felt that way about the Nutella reference. I'd need others to tell me if my experience was unique, but I "discovered" Nutella in the mid-nineties and only as my then boyfriend (now husband) had spent a summer in Germany in high school so had had it there. Presumably other people did know about it, as we could get it in the supermarket even then, and I don't imagine that would be possible if there weren't that many buyers, but it certainly isn't common here in the same way as Europe.
My first trip to Europe was the trip to Italy mentioned above and we spent a fair amount of time in supermarkets as we cooked for ourselves when we could. I remember being amazed at how many different brands of chocolate/hazelnut spread there were. It is really like peanut butter here in States and by the same token, Nutella has no competitors here, which implies it can't be that popular even now.
Yeah, I really wish I could remember where the church I modeled St. Joseph's after was so I could find a picture, but I can't decide if it's something I saw recently (and then was probably in Asia) or a few years ago when we took a driving trip through part of England. I think it's the latter, but I don't even remember all the places we stopped. I was there for work, and so we had to go certain places, but on the drives would stop and site-see anyplace we thought would be interesting. So, this could even be some unknown church in some small British town that we passed and decided to stop and see. Unfortunately, my husband's memory is awful so he'd be no help with this.
I have to say, I don't have the strong dislike for Lana that others do, but that is partly why I chose Rachel as Clark's girlfriend here - I think lots of people have less hostile feelings for her. Plus, she's less developed in people's minds, which meant I had a lot more leeway in making her up into the type of person I wanted Clark to be with.
I agree. Clark needs to tell Rachel. But he's still Clark here and so has this irrational fear about her reaction. I promise, we'll know what her reaction is long before the story is over, though.
Lara - What about Lois what?
The story is far from over and in reality, we're pretty far from anything that resembles a break up.
I agree, looking at the ingredients for Nutella makes me think it's not very healthy, but that doesn't change the fact that it tastes good, does it? (Although I think it's best in small quantities - writing this chapter gave me a craving for some, so I had a spoonful and it was too much for me.)
I agree, this Lois, too, isn't much of a grocery-store shopper. But for chocolate...
Patrick - I'm of two minds about your post. In some ways, I don't think all this Lois has in common with others is a name. But I do agree I can see this Lois taking time off of work for a baby. Although, not that long. I see her happily taking off for a few months, but not for several years.
I guess this Lois is more like canon-Lois of the later seasons than season one. Her life is not defined solely by her job. It is still an important part of her identity, but it's not all that she sees herself as.
As for Nightfall - no, it hasn't happened yet. But so far, I'm on chapter 26 of what I expect to be a 32 or 33 chapter story, and I've managed to not include an A-plot at all, I think, so I wouldn't suggest you wait for Nightfall to appear.
Michael - I should have thought of adding this to a later part of the story, but I didn't. As mentioned above, writing this part made me crave Nutella and I somehow convinced my husband to make me Nutella crepes. Given Lois and Chad's relationship, where he does all the cooking, and the fact that since I'm not a chocoholic, I imagine Lois would like Nutella more than me, I can imagine her asking Chad for them fairly frequently.
) I also found it rather funny that Rachel managed to get Lois into a store to buy something grocery-like. That's so un-Lois-like. :p
