Saturday, April 10, 2010
From My Office Window
Moving is Never Fun
This week was very stressful on the moving front. I’ve got a deadline at work next week so that coupled with the move makes my head hurt. Moving doesn’t bring out the best in a family, LOL. After H and I had a very tense lunchtime discussion early in the week I headed back to work and sat at my desk feeling like I was going to have a heart attack. I called my coffee buddy A and we walked down for a Starbucks before the afternoon kicked off. I probably didn’t need a stimulant at that moment but did need a friend. I unloaded about the move and everything else that’s been adding to the craziness. I told A that I felt like I was heading down a spiral of negativity. He perked up, stopped me in my tracks and said with both surprise and delight, “J! You are turning into an English person! Just in time before you leave the country, it’s happened!” We shared a Belgian chocolate cornflake treat, each had an Americano and headed back to the grind.
The next morning morning when I came into work there was a bottle of wine and a bon voyage card on my desk from the cleaning lady. I know it’s scary that I’m at work late often enough that I have a great relationship with the cleaning lady, but something about solving crimes together bonds people. I thought to myself bottle of wine as a gift from a casual acquaintance at work, you won’t get that in America!
The next morning morning when I came into work there was a bottle of wine and a bon voyage card on my desk from the cleaning lady. I know it’s scary that I’m at work late often enough that I have a great relationship with the cleaning lady, but something about solving crimes together bonds people. I thought to myself bottle of wine as a gift from a casual acquaintance at work, you won’t get that in America!
Made Me Laugh
Two pictures I took in Whitstable made me laugh out loud. This first is what an homage to glam rock or the band KISS in the middle of the folk CDs for sale? And this figurehead from the Whitstable Museum looked like Will Ferrell in drag.
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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)