Saturday, April 10, 2010
Quick Road Trip - Whitstable
Easter Monday, no work and no school and probably our last weekend with a car, so we decide to take a quick road trip. Two options came up: Stonehenge and Whitstable. Should we really leave England without seeing Stonehenge? It is a top tourist destination but it is also top on the disappointment list of tourist destinations and after reading on the website that you can no longer walk amongst the stones unless you are part of a special tour group it was declined. Why Whitstable? It’s a short hour and 45 minute drive over the Thames estuary to Kent. It’s both a tourist destination as well as a working harbour.
It was the beach experience in true British fashion, blustery weather in winter coats praying for the sun to make an appearance. I’ve never walked along the beach that was covered in broken shells like this one is. We mostly strolled along, took a peek in the museum, looked at a few shops and tried to ignore the sulking teenager that was with us before driving home.
Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda
As the countdown begins, I’ve been thinking of all the things I would have liked to have seen while living here that just won’t happen in the next few weeks. Forget all the trips to mainland Europe I wish we could have taken, what things would have been fun to do right here on our island.
1. Liverpool – Yes, I would have liked to have done all the touristy Beatles things in Liverpool.
2. Hadrian’s Wall – Starting in Newcastle with my camera in hand.
3. Cornwall – Like A, it would have been fun to horseback ride along the beach (minus the horseback riding)
4. The Fat Duck in Bray – Is it worth all the fuss?
5. Wales – There’s a lot of natural beauty and I would have liked to have seen more of it.
6. Ireland – Any and all of it.
7. More Scotland – Would have loved to have gone even further north and also seen more islands.
8. Isle of Man – The pictures of the motorcycle races that happen along the streets in May look amazing.
Two things have stood in the way of us checking things off the list. The first is money. Don’t move to the UK unless you’re independently wealthy, and then if you’re independently wealthy you usually move somewhere else part of the year for the tax shelter, LOL. I believe I have mentioned this here once before but American travel writer Rick Steves proclaims that Americans don’t realize how poor they are compared to Europeans until they travel. Yes, this is so, and having to work for a living just gets in the way of seeing all that you’d like to see. The other thing that’s gotten in the way is travelling with a spoiled teenager. If it doesn’t interest her, she’s not interested, in fact she’s downright rude about it. I said to H last night, I hope at some point she realizes what she’s been like while we’ve been here and what we have been trying to expose her to and what a butt she has been. H assures me in 10 to 15 years’ time it will dawn on her. I don’t know if I can wait that long!
1. Liverpool – Yes, I would have liked to have done all the touristy Beatles things in Liverpool.
2. Hadrian’s Wall – Starting in Newcastle with my camera in hand.
3. Cornwall – Like A, it would have been fun to horseback ride along the beach (minus the horseback riding)
4. The Fat Duck in Bray – Is it worth all the fuss?
5. Wales – There’s a lot of natural beauty and I would have liked to have seen more of it.
6. Ireland – Any and all of it.
7. More Scotland – Would have loved to have gone even further north and also seen more islands.
8. Isle of Man – The pictures of the motorcycle races that happen along the streets in May look amazing.
Two things have stood in the way of us checking things off the list. The first is money. Don’t move to the UK unless you’re independently wealthy, and then if you’re independently wealthy you usually move somewhere else part of the year for the tax shelter, LOL. I believe I have mentioned this here once before but American travel writer Rick Steves proclaims that Americans don’t realize how poor they are compared to Europeans until they travel. Yes, this is so, and having to work for a living just gets in the way of seeing all that you’d like to see. The other thing that’s gotten in the way is travelling with a spoiled teenager. If it doesn’t interest her, she’s not interested, in fact she’s downright rude about it. I said to H last night, I hope at some point she realizes what she’s been like while we’ve been here and what we have been trying to expose her to and what a butt she has been. H assures me in 10 to 15 years’ time it will dawn on her. I don’t know if I can wait that long!
Monday, April 5, 2010
Moving Madness
We’ve hit the point in the moving process where we are:
1. Selling off the big items.
2. Packing up the items to ship and then pulling them out of the boxes to use because it’s too soon.
3. Getting rid of inconsequential things.
4. Sitting amongst filth.
We had a four-day weekend here for Easter and besides doing some things for the move, I also wanted to do something fun. Yesterday my internal monologue was so negative that I laughed as I thought of my friend B who, if she could hear me would have said, “You want a little cheese with that whine?” I set out to walking in a nearby wood with a map and H’s phone which has GPS and ended up on such a windy narrow road that for the first time in my life, I was car sick while driving. I didn’t think that was possible. It was Easter Sunday, the sun was making a brief appearance, lots of families were out for a country walk stopping to take pictures of the horses, etc. and I was just annoyed by the whole thing. After a nap the sun was shining bright in the early evening so I ventured out again, but stuck close to home. 
1. Selling off the big items.
2. Packing up the items to ship and then pulling them out of the boxes to use because it’s too soon.
3. Getting rid of inconsequential things.
4. Sitting amongst filth.
We had a four-day weekend here for Easter and besides doing some things for the move, I also wanted to do something fun. Yesterday my internal monologue was so negative that I laughed as I thought of my friend B who, if she could hear me would have said, “You want a little cheese with that whine?” I set out to walking in a nearby wood with a map and H’s phone which has GPS and ended up on such a windy narrow road that for the first time in my life, I was car sick while driving. I didn’t think that was possible. It was Easter Sunday, the sun was making a brief appearance, lots of families were out for a country walk stopping to take pictures of the horses, etc. and I was just annoyed by the whole thing. After a nap the sun was shining bright in the early evening so I ventured out again, but stuck close to home. 
I will miss living close to these beautiful houses, which I will never in all my life be able to afford!
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Last Day of School
Because of Easter holidays, Thursday was A’s last day of English school. We will be flying on April 19th, the day that her friends will be going back after the break. She packed paint pens so her friends could sign her school uniform which she initially asked if she could burn when we told her we were moving. I explained that the lack of natural fibers would probably make burning the uniform somewhat anti-climatic.
I must admit, I will be happy to never see these shoes again. This is what you get when your school regulates sturdy black shoes. Many of the girls wear this same shoe but none of them look quite like hers. In rebellion, A refuses to tie or clean them which add to their clunkiness. But let’s face it, those shoes can’t even be ironically cute.
Dinner at Artichoke
With our move date set (19 April) and lots to do to prepare, H is now done with work. Before we left he wanted to have dinner at the restaurant where he’s been working. It’s getting a lot of attention and we thought with A in France, what better time to have our last fancy meal in England.
We decided we would have the tasting menu and the accompanying wine flight (and taxi home). As the evening approached, whenever the dinner would come up, H would start describing to me one of the courses and how it was made. I had to stop him and explain that I wanted to be surprised. I asked him why he wanted to eat there when the experience would be totally demystified and he had two reasons, one was that he wanted to see how the front of the house worked knowing all he knew about everything else. The second reason, and the most important is that they serve local venison (or they did until last week when the seasonal menu changed).
A few hours before dinner H said that he wanted to take some parting gifts up to the restaurant, some cookies for staff. I asked if he wanted to me to make some homemade chocolate chip cookies. His response was no, we’d stop at the store on the way to the restaurant and pick up some things. He picked up the junkiest junk food like Jaffa Cakes, Haribo, and Krispy Kreme donuts. After paying for these items he slipped them all in a gift bag and me, not knowing what really goes on in a professional kitchen was shocked that he was going to bring that crap into this beautiful establishment.
We were the first seating and had the restaurant to ourselves for a good bit of time. The chef came down to greet us. We had a laugh about the junk food and how much they loved that stuff.
The atmosphere is really lovely, making the most of the historic building but also having a modern twist. We were treated like royalty. I remember the beginning of the evening and the arriving glass of champagne best of all. As the courses came H would describe how they were created which gave me more of an appreciation for all that goes into the preparation. The course I thought I would dread was an early course, primarily beetroot and one that H used to make and has described in detail. I’ve mentioned here before that the English love beetroot (or what we just call beets). I think they taste like dirt. The dish that was put in front of me was a work of art with pieces of beet, goat’s cheese, and some beetroot sorbet which I just couldn’t imagine being good until I tried it. My favourite course was the scallop course which was served with shaved coconut, pickeled carrot, and cilantro. It was amazing. My friend M said it best when I was telling her about the dinner and the accompanying wine with every course, “With that much wine, I forget a few of the courses”. By the end of the meal, the restaurant was completely packed and I was totally drunk. I actually haven’t wanted to look at wine since that night. I remember waking up Saturday morning with my 40th birthday looming large the next day thinking you don’t bounce back like you used to, do you?
We decided we would have the tasting menu and the accompanying wine flight (and taxi home). As the evening approached, whenever the dinner would come up, H would start describing to me one of the courses and how it was made. I had to stop him and explain that I wanted to be surprised. I asked him why he wanted to eat there when the experience would be totally demystified and he had two reasons, one was that he wanted to see how the front of the house worked knowing all he knew about everything else. The second reason, and the most important is that they serve local venison (or they did until last week when the seasonal menu changed).
A few hours before dinner H said that he wanted to take some parting gifts up to the restaurant, some cookies for staff. I asked if he wanted to me to make some homemade chocolate chip cookies. His response was no, we’d stop at the store on the way to the restaurant and pick up some things. He picked up the junkiest junk food like Jaffa Cakes, Haribo, and Krispy Kreme donuts. After paying for these items he slipped them all in a gift bag and me, not knowing what really goes on in a professional kitchen was shocked that he was going to bring that crap into this beautiful establishment.
We were the first seating and had the restaurant to ourselves for a good bit of time. The chef came down to greet us. We had a laugh about the junk food and how much they loved that stuff.
The atmosphere is really lovely, making the most of the historic building but also having a modern twist. We were treated like royalty. I remember the beginning of the evening and the arriving glass of champagne best of all. As the courses came H would describe how they were created which gave me more of an appreciation for all that goes into the preparation. The course I thought I would dread was an early course, primarily beetroot and one that H used to make and has described in detail. I’ve mentioned here before that the English love beetroot (or what we just call beets). I think they taste like dirt. The dish that was put in front of me was a work of art with pieces of beet, goat’s cheese, and some beetroot sorbet which I just couldn’t imagine being good until I tried it. My favourite course was the scallop course which was served with shaved coconut, pickeled carrot, and cilantro. It was amazing. My friend M said it best when I was telling her about the dinner and the accompanying wine with every course, “With that much wine, I forget a few of the courses”. By the end of the meal, the restaurant was completely packed and I was totally drunk. I actually haven’t wanted to look at wine since that night. I remember waking up Saturday morning with my 40th birthday looming large the next day thinking you don’t bounce back like you used to, do you?
Day Out in London
Last Friday I think H and I headed into London for the first time ever without any agenda. A was in Paris. It’s funny I have been thinking very romantically about London the last few weeks and how much I will miss it. On the train ride into London I started reading the paper and started feeling very nauseous because we were taking the super bumpy train line. When we got into London we headed to Borough Market for lunch and naturally my first choice was my favourite Greek vendor , upset at the thought that this might be my last visit. My lamb burger was pretty lacking, not the delicious treat I was expecting and as we ate we were harassed by pan handlers. Our favourite cheese shop was extra crowded with less selection. As we left I wanted to have one last glass of mulled wine. I stopped at a different vendor than my usual and got a putrid glass. After two sips, I couldn’t take anymore. The trains were all very crowded and we headed off to the Museum of London, which I had read is one of those great museums that not many people visit. We were not that impressed. They are in the middle of a redesign which opens at the end of April and I think then it will be a place to visit. Now, we spent more time looking in the gift shop than we did at the exhibits.
We then headed off to the Wellcome Collection, an exhibit I have passed a number of times and always wanted to visit. We sat down for a cup of coffee in their café which was packed with people and then started to walk through their exhibit. It was more interesting than the Museum of London and we both wished we had started there because we had to leave early without finishing due to our reservation.
It was a great day because it was just the two of us. But H is no lover of cities, and on the train journey home I was kinda feeling the same way. But by Saturday I was back longing for London.
We then headed off to the Wellcome Collection, an exhibit I have passed a number of times and always wanted to visit. We sat down for a cup of coffee in their café which was packed with people and then started to walk through their exhibit. It was more interesting than the Museum of London and we both wished we had started there because we had to leave early without finishing due to our reservation.
It was a great day because it was just the two of us. But H is no lover of cities, and on the train journey home I was kinda feeling the same way. But by Saturday I was back longing for London.
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