Thought I'd do a few more top ten lists to keep you all awake...
TOP TEN THINGS I MISS ABOUT HOME
(Besides all of you, 'cuz that's a given) ;)
10. My VAN...or even the Old Man Car - especially on trips to the grocery store.
All that food is HEAVY!
9. Gary Poppins Cheese Popcorn
8. My kitchen, with all the accessories. Here, I feel like I'm on an extended camping trip, trying to cook in an oven who's settings go from 1 to 9 (huh?), with strange ingredients and college-boy pots and pans. (I could go and buy a bunch of new pans, etc, but then what would I do with them when we leave? Seems like a waste.)
7. The Park Ridge Post Office. Believe it or not, it's lightening fast in comparison.
6. Chocolate chips for baking.
5. Half-and half - all I can find is whole cream and even DOUBLE Cream!
4. My comfy computer chair and desk.
3. Hearing Owen playing the piano.
2. Grass. (The 'yards' here are tiny squares, about 8x8 and many are bricked over to use as a parking spot for their very small cars!)
1. Wiley and the way he cries because he's so excited to see you. Every day.
And now, the flip side....
TOP TEN THINGS I LOVE ABOUT DAILY ENGLAND LIFE
(not counting all the cool, historical stuff, b/c that's a given)
10. Walking everywhere. Many, many people walk. Gas is over $8 a gallon and you are charged extra for taking a car into London.
9. My tiny washer and dryer in the kitchen - how convenient! Plus, the loads are so small, you can fold 'em in less than 5 min.
8. The phone not ringing off the hook.
7. The darling front gardens that are filled with pots of plants and brick/tile walks.
6. Waking up to a rooster call (tho I'm pretty sure that's not typically English).
5. The cotton/linen scarves all the ladies wear as a fashion accessory.
4. No screens on the windows (and therefore, no bugs! No mites!)
3. The tiny spoons they serve with coffee. Notice I didn't say the coffee, which, in most restaurants and homes is...(you may want to shield the children's eyes here)... INSTANT.
I kid you not. Tho you can find 'real' coffee shops (and our mall even has a STARBUCKS).
2. Seeing books I know from home with totally different covers (see picture above - Owen as Carol Merrell showing off the English Harry Potter books).
1. English expressions, esp the way our friend John, local cafe owner, calls all the men 'gov' (short for governor) and a few of the women 'sauce pots';)
You'll notice that some of the things I miss are also some of the things I like most about living here, (like missing my van yet enjoying walking everywhere). But isn't that the way most things are? Two sides to every coin.
Cheers!
4 comments:
Can we go down and let Wiley get a good cry out? Norah would be so happy to see him...like I wouldn't, right?! Do you have a coffee maker?
Bev,
I wished I had taken notes while we were living there to pass on to you. It took me weeks to figure out that the on/off switch for the "hob" went to the cooktop in the kitchen. (I just left it on all the time...)
Does it bug you that the power switches are opposite the States -- up is "off" and down is "on"?
Your washer/dryer must be so much better than ours was. It took me HOURS to do a load of wash and even then I had to hang the damp stuff to dry on a rack in the utility closet.
My son went snail hunting every night (or at least every night that it wasn't raining). We also had a fox that lived in the courtyard of the flat. And, if you looked closely when walking along the Thames, you could see rats cruising the vegetation!
We did find chocolate chips at Tesco -- tiny bags in the baking section with enough chips for about two cookies. It was much tastier to just chop up a Cadbury bar with a knife and use those pieces.
Have your kids tried fizzy water? I LOVED some of the drinks over there -- carbonated juices and bottled smoothies -- I really miss those! And, of course, I miss a really good scone.
Have you figured out that "aubergines" are eggplant and "courgettes" are zucchini?
And about the rain. Have you learned to ALWAYS carry a "brolly" with you? I don't know if I passed this phrase along to you, but we heard this early on in our stay: "There is no bad weather in London, only inappropriate clothing".
Also, did you notice that the new Harry Potter book came with two different covers? One was the kids cover and the other was the "adult" cover, so that all those commuters reading on the Tube wouldn't be embarrassed by carrying a kids book.
Have you been confused in tall buildings yet? Our flat was up three flights of stairs, yet it was on the 2nd floor. They don't count a ground floor, the ground floor is 1, and you go up from there.
Paper and envelopes are sized differently.
Aren't you flabbergasted with the number of languages being spoken? We would walk to the Tube station and hear DOZENS of other languages.
You must try out Wagamama's -- our favorite "cheap" food!
Our kids picked up three words that have stuck in their vocabularies -- "brilliant" "wicked" and "Oi!". They also say "sorry" in that British way with the long "o" -- "sore-y".
Your legs are going to be in awesome shape after all of that walking!
I'm so excited for all of you. Good luck to your students!!!
(I've had trouble trying to post this. Please forgive me if it posts twice...)
You are ALWAYS welcome to go visit Wiley! He's staying at Grandmas:)
And being the coffee fiend I am, I of course brought my thermal coffee press:)
Patty,
Your comment(s) cracked me up - I was nodding and 'uh-huh-ing' the whole time!! Loved the 'only inappropriate clothing' line - how British can you get??!
I've yet to get myself a 'brolly' - believe it or not, we are starting our 3rd week of straight sunshine! (I know I'm asking for it, putting this in print!) I actually had planned to do a nice, leisurely shop by myself after everyone was in school and pick out a really cute one. Little did I know it would take nearly a month to accomplish this seemingly simple feat.
Alas.
Tomorrow will be my first day alone, with everyone at school, and I REALLY should be writing. So, maybe if I'm good I'll reward myself with a trip to Harrods next week. Sound like a plan?!
And we will DEFINITELY be hitting Wagamama at some point in time - sounds awesome, even for my picky eaters:)
I hadn't realized you lived in a flat here, for some reason I thought you were with family. You can doubly relate then, huh?!
Cheers!
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