Glad To Be An American

I think I am living in the twilight zone. You cannot imagine how strange this country is. And we are speaking the same (not really) language. The longer we are in England the more I am missing America. YES, we are spoiled, over indulgent, living beyond our means, living in excess and always rushing around and I miss every thing about it!
Our days here are falling into a routine now that K&B are in the Ukraine. Abby went to school, came home, ate dinner and went to bed. (K&B are doing great but missing their little girl. They called tonight to say good night to Abby just before she went to bed and she ended up in tears and I think the 2 of them were close behind.)
But she is asleep now and we will continue to try to keep things as normal as possible. Not an easy task here in the UK for 2 American Senior Citizens. (Make that one senior citizen, the other one is totally oblivious of anything and everything around him.) The novelty is wearing off for me and the reality of living in an Old World country is settling in. We met a man in Salisbury who matter of factly informed us that English men HATE Americans. Well, guess what, I'm not to fond of you either old chap. This country is living about 200 years in the past. The whole country seems to have gotten stuck in another century. To start with, it is DIRTY over here. Buildings and roads are old and dirty and worn looking and to go along with that the Brits seem to think that when you have garbage the best thing to do with it is drop it where ever you are. There is litter EVERY WHERE ! Roads, side walks, yards, highways. It is one huge litter box. As I have mentioned the roads are no where near straight and direct, everything goes in circles and twists and turns.
It takes twice as long to go a mile away because you are actually traveling 3 miles because there is no direct route. But that doesn't matter because every thing else in the country takes forever. The washer and the dryer in this house are new and take about an hour and a half to complete their cycles. The washer is so small that you can wash one set of sheets and a towel at a time. Then before you can dry the clothes the dryer has to be emptied of water from its previous load. The dryer doesn't vent so it collects all the moisture from the clothes it is drying. You have to empty the tank before you do the next load or the clothes will never dry. And forget the settings on appliances, you need to be able to read Egyptian Hieroglyphics in order to set the machines. There are wiggly lines, pictures of fans, straight lines and various combinations of all. The first try at cooking dinner, washing and drying clothes and dishes I had no idea of where to begin. And speaking of signs and symbols, what ever happened to international road signs? There are road signs over here that I have never seen in my life. A round blue sign with a red ring around it and a red X through it. I take it to mean DON'T do something but I can't figure out WHAT I'm not supposed to do. This sign will appear in the middle of the block. Got me!
I think I am just missing home and all the things we take for granted, Large cars for one. Cars that you can get in and out of without pulling a muscle. Large and efficient appliances that do a great job in a short amount of time. Comfortable beds and furniture, a dozen stores to choose from when you want to shop, grocery stores that have an entire aisle filled with canned fruit or vegetables. Publix bakery! (Even though I am loving the pastry here) And what I am missing the most is talking to people who don't sound like they are bloody English. The accents are no longer entertaining and quaint. I want to have a conversation with someone who doesn't sound like they are Hugh Grant or James Bond. I am about to strangle Ger if he says "Ellooooo" one more time.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

Happy Father's Day from England. Abby's daddy and mom are in the Ukraine at the moment so the day was a celebration for Abby and Grandpa. As you can see they had a great time celebrating and there was cake!
K&B left early this morning for their trip to Kiev. Abby, Grandpa and I drove them to the bus stop for a bus to the airport. I offered to drive them to the airport but they felt the bus stop was enough of a challenge for my new driving experiences. It just happened there was a Mac Donalds at the bus stop so we said our "good-byes" and went in for breakfast. It was a painless separation for both parents and child. Abby told us she was sad but then scarffed down 2 pancakes, half of Ger's sausage and a hot chocolate. After that it was home to bake banana bread and then off to mass, a stop at the play ground by church and a trip to Tesco, the grocery store. Home again for lunch, (which included some very fine banana bread with cream cheese) and a DVD for a quiet afternoon rest. Dinner was a roast chicken with stuffing AND mashed potatoes because Abby didn't know if she liked stuffing but knew she liked mashed potatoes. ((She didn't even want to try the stuffing once she saw the potatoes.) By this time we were all a little silly and once the cake came out there was no holding Grandpa and his girl.
We had a lovely day and heard from K&B to let us know they had a good trip and were
settled into their apartment for their 3 day stay in Kiev. There is another couple from the same adoption agency also staying in the "hotel" and they were all meeting up for dinner. K&B seemed pleasantly surprised at the city and their accommodations. Hopefully they will get some good information from the other couple and by their court date on Tuesday will have relaxed enough to enjoy their adventure. Wednesday they are supposed to fly to the area where Romans orphanage is and then finally get to see Roman again for the first time since January. They will be in touch with us every afternoon so we will keep you up to date on how they are doing.
As for Abby, Ger and I . . . we are doing fantastic for the first 15 hours and we are looking forward to a great 2 weeks.
Love to all you dads ! Hope you enjoyed your day as much as we did.

It's Cold in England

I am not missing the heat and humidity in Florida but today was a bit to cold for me. We went over to the Long Walk again today to see the Queen. It is the last day of Royal Ascot and the last day the Queen will be driving out of the palace and down the Long Walk on her way to the races. We wanted Abby to see the Queen so the whole family packed a picnic lunch and headed into Windsor. We parked the car at Kyle's office and walked through town to the castle gate where the Queen would exit. We got there early and spent about 2 hours out on the green. By the time the Queen drove past we were so cold we could barely lift our hand to wave. It was in the 50's here today and the fact that tomorrow is the official start of summer made no difference. Every once in a while the sun would come out from behind a cloud and warm us up only to disappear again. On our way back to the car we stopped at a playground for Abby to play a while. From there we walked into town to feed the swans down at the river and have dinner at WAGAMAMA. This was an adventure in dining for us. IT is a restaurant that serves Japanese "fast food". Abby had some sort of soup with ramen noodles and tofu. I thought poor Ger was going to cry but he and I found something that we thought would be edible and it actually was quite good. We are now home for the evening and the boys are watching the World Cup.
Tomorrow is going to be a rough day for all. K&B are heading for the Ukraine in the morning and will wake Abby before they go. I am not looking forward to the morning but I am sure we will all survive. We have plans for baking tomorrow with hopes that it will distract Abby enough so she doesn't miss mom and dad too much. I also see a quiet afternoon of movie watching and popcorn. If it is as cold tomorrow as it was today I think we will all be happy to stay in.

World Cup Fever

I don't know how things are back in the states regarding the World Cup Soccer but over here it is THE thing to talk about, read about, and watch on the telly. Tonight England is playing Algeria and this part of the world has come to a screeching halt. Ger and I went to the grocery store today to stock up on some supplies for next week. The place was a circus! Between the folk decked out in their top hats and tails buying champagne to take to the races at Astor and the common folk buying their beer and crisps to snack on while watching the World Cup tonight, there were lines of people every where. The isles were packed with people wandering and stopping suddenly in the middle of the isle. The fact that the "carriages" have the type of wheels on them that allow them to move in ANY direction, (forward, backward AND sideways!)caused Ger a great deal of trouble. He was managing to control his carriage but couldn't keep out of the way of the little old ladies who would suddenly dart out in front of him. Then to add to his nervous condition he had to get back into the car with me driving for the trip home. Under the very best conditions Ger is not a good passenger. He sucks in his breath, moans, flinches, grabs at the dash board and shouts "WATCH - WATCH - WATCH". I have yet to know exactly what I am supposed to watch but that is all he can manage to get out. Add a few round a bouts to this and the man is almost in tears by the time we get home. Today was particularly trying on Ger but we did manage to arrive home in one piece where he ran for his favorite chair in the kitchen to sit and read the paper and have a soda to calm down. Good plan except the chair leg broke and he landed on the floor.
All is well now. The rest of the day passed quietly and the nerves are settling down. The USA tied in soccer today and the English are not winning as of this posting. Tomorrow is the last day for K&B to be here so they are busy packing and spending time with Abby. Keep us all in your prayers, Please. And have a good night.

The Afternoon Edition

We had a lovely lunch with Bridget today. K&B are under a lot of stress this week as they get ready to travel to the Ukraine. Today Bridget needed an afternoon out in the beautiful sunshine. Off we all went for a drive outside of Windsor to visit The Windsor Farm. This is a farm stand, gift shop, tea room just outside the walls of Windsor Castle out in the country. All the produce and meats that are sold come from the castle farm. Ger and I WILL return there to shop for veggies and meat. The products were wonderfully fresh and the prices were great. Bridget, Ger and I had lunch there and it was delightful.
And then Abby came home . . . last night, just as we were finishing dinner and Abby was getting ready for bed, Abby anounced that she had something up her nose. Bridget's reaction was exactly the same on that I would have had when my children were 5, "Abby, why didn't you say something earlier today?" To which Abby replied "I don know." Abby then informed her parents that she thought they should take her to the hospital that Grandma went to so the doctors could get the thing out of her nose. She also told her parents that she had put a plant up her nose some time during the day. Kyle's soulution to this was a quick look with a flash light and after seeing nothing, a bath. In the bath Abby could go under water, blow some bubbles out of her nose and that would be that. Abby took a bath, went to bed, got up this morning, went to school and no more mention was made of the "thing" in her nose. UNTIL . . . Abby came home today and was told she had to come inside to read the 3 books that she never read yesterday. Suddenly the "thing in her nose" began to bother her. Next thing she and mom took off for the hospital. (We were happy with this decision because we didn't want a problem next week when K&B were gone.) Two hours later the girls were home again, minus one LARGE piece of plant from Abby's left nostral. Poor kid DID have something up there after all. Seems she takes after her dad who stuffed a pebble up his nose when he was 2. She aparently was a trooper and let the 2 EMT'S remove a piece of who know's what without so much as a "Bloody Hell" that the rest of us would have been yelling. (But then I guess we wouldn't have shoved a plant up there in the first place.)
What a day! My heart goes out to K&B for all they are dealing with this week and then a trip to the hospital besides. When it rains it pours. Even though the sun was shinning all day and it was just amazingly beautiful outside.

The Morning Edition

For all you lucky folks who have nothing better to do with your lives than follow this doepy blog, today you may get TWO (2) postings. Don't know what the rest of the day will bring but I had to write this morning edition for my BFF Sharon.
Hey Shar, remember all those years of delivering "Meals on Wheels" in Sound Beach? Those days before GPS when we thought we were lost forever in the winding streets, never to be heard from again? Well, Sound Beach has NOTHING on this ENTIRE country! There isn't a straight road in this town, county or country. Every road twists and turns around on itself and just when you think you have got it, the road ends! I cannot believe the streets, they are so narrow. I think they were originally sheep paths that got paved over the years. Ger and I are walking more but have also started driving around. I have gotten pretty good with my internal compass and can usually keep from getting too turned around while still remembering to drive on the left side of the road. Not an easy task. Yesterday I drove to the chiropractor's office that is probably 1/8 of a mile away as the crow flies. This would be a lovely walk except there is no direct route. Driving there involves going North, then West and then South and is a distance of 3 miles. We bought a street map the other day but that just proved that there is no easy way from HERE to THERE. Even if you find a "direct" route there are ROUND-A-BOUTS thrown in that totally confuse the issue. After the third trip around the circle we are tempted to just call it quits and return home if only we could find a road that would take us there. Naturally I am in the wrong lane to exit the circle so we take another 2 or 3 turns around. By now we are so dizzy that there is little to no hope of ever getting anywhere. I do think we will stick to walking. It is safer and faster considering all the roundabouts. When you are walking thre are tunnels under the roads so you don't have to worry about crossing traffic. A great inovation that some of our cities should adopt. Everyone here walks every where but as I have mentioned before, it is not a soulution for weight loss because there are tons of pubs and tea shops along the way. Heaven forbid you go without food or drink for more than an hour. Which I suppose is a good thing because you never do know when you will get lost in the maze of streets never to find your way home.

A Tour of the Castle

Today we walked into town with Bridget and she took us on the tour of Windsor Castle.
The tour is a self guided audio tour. It walks you through the court yard outside the castle and then proceeds into the castle through the public rooms. It takes about 2 hours and is really great. Interesting information and fun to see a video of the Queen holding receptions in the very rooms you are standing in. After 2 hours in the castle we decided to finish the tour another day. Having bought our tickets today we got a pass to return to the castle tour any time within the next 12 months. We will take them up on that if we can remember where we put our tickets.
After our tour we stopped at a little cafe down the street from the castle and had a nice lunch out in the sun. As we were finishing lunch we realized we could head down the street and see the Queen as she left the castle to drive to Ascot for the afternoon races. The cars you see in the second picture are the Queen and others driving toward Ascot down the LONG ROAD. This road runs from the castle towards Ascot with a HUGE statue of (can't remember who) at the other end. The road is indeed LONG. We are told that on nice days the Queen will drive to a point near the end of the Long Road and get out of her car and into her horse drawn carriage to enter the races in style. People line the Long Road to catch glimpse of the Queen and to see what color hat she is wearing today. We did arrive in time to join the crowd and saw that the Queen was dressed in RED today.She actually looked quite good for a woman her age but if I lived in a castle as large and opulent as Windsor I suppose I would look pretty good also. Instead, I am looking as haggard as most of the women waking about town. All this walking may be healthy but let me tell you it is KILLING me. My toes have blisters and my legs ache. I am ready for bed by 21:00, (that's 9PM for all you Yanks) and am popping Advil like they were M&M's. I am being passed on the street by old women and crippled dogs. It is getting quite embarrassing. Hopefully the chiropractor that I started seeing today will help me with the leg and back pain and if I can stay away from the pubs and pastys I just might go home healthier than when we arrived.
FYI . . . I have tried ordering salads for lunch and what I get is a plate full of something that looks like they just pulled it up from next to the road. There are green things in the salad that I have NEVER seen before in my life. They taste rather like grass so I am thinking that because salad is NOT a big seller here in England so they just throw anything green into a bowl when you order salad. I expect to start "mooing" any day now. Then to top it off there is NO dressing of any kind on the green stuff. They offer you "sauces" which turns out to be ketchup, mustard or mayonnaise. If you order "chips", (remember they are french fries) you get vinegar to put on the chips.