18/365

Happy August Bank Holiday Monday! I woke up today with that "Ugh what I have I done? Where am I? Who is next to me?" feeling and quickly realized I drank about 20 times too much, I was in a hotel in West London and thankfully it was David next to me. Phew!
We made it home very slowly, managed not to puke in the process and got home to find that there is something wrong with the boiler (hot water heater) and we had no hot water. I had a hungover freezing cold shower and went to bed. Trust me, there was nothing worthy of photographing today.

17/365: Notting Hill Carnival

We went to the Notting Hill Carnival today and drank ... alot... for a long time. We went with the intention of catching the train back home and ended up at a hotel because we simply couldnt make the journey home.
As for the Carnival itself, its really not my thing with all the drum and bass music, porta-potties, trash everywhere and idiots dancing in the street running into me, but after some rum punch, I could handle it :)


We met this nice old guy on the street - he said he lives in Notting Hill and has been coming to the carnival for 44 years. I dont know if you can tell, but thats a very well behaved Jack Russell Terrier around his neck.

Now as I write this, its actually two days after the Carnival and I think I am still hungover and my tinitus is really annoying loud thanks to all the terrible dance music.

What I learned today: Sambuca is liquid evil.

16/365: Car Shopping

Now that I have one driving lesson under my belt, it is apparently time to buy a car. We decided that we were going to get a Mini, but then realized that due to their popularity and the fact that I need an automatic (which seems to be relatively rare) a Mini would be a fairly expensive option. Bye bye to dream of whizzing around Italian Job style; hello to my a new dream of a Renault Megane Convertible.

We saw this one at a dealership today surrounded by boring Ford Focuses and Vauxhalls and I fell in love. David is less than thrilled with my choice and said I cant have a French car because the French dont know how to make cars, and these are hard to find in automatics also, but my dream is not dead yet!

What I learned today: Batting your eyelashes at your husband begging for a new car doesnt work.

15/365: Dog Friendly Britain

I was in my friendly Barclay's bank today (where it seems I have spent a lot of time since arriving) to reset the pin number on my debit card that I managed to lock myself out of after having it for one day and couldnt help but smile to myself when I saw a dog in the bank. Even when he started to bark at some annoying kids, no one seemed to mind. Want to go to the bank, Mirra?

14/365: The "Wrong" Side of the Road

Here is my driving report card. Yes, thats right - I took my first driving lesson today and am proud to report I didnt crash, kill anyone or even turn in the wrong lane. I am still terribly confused by the road signs and markers on the road itself (the paint and stuff), but I think it was a good start. I am giving myself bonus points because the instructor has a Range Rover, which feels even bigger on these tiny roads as you can imagine!

I apologize, this is a crap photo for the day, but I was too embarrased to ask my driving instructor to snap his picture. Maybe next time :)

Oh and I got my debit card in the mail today! Woo!

13/365: The High Street

This is Camberley High Street. Every town has what is refered to as a "high street". Sometimes it's a generic term for the main drag and sometimes is the offical name of the street, which is the case in Camberley.
As you can tell in the photo, its a bit of a rainy day, so I purchased this lovely umbrella, only to realize that I am not sure I really know HOW to use an umbrella. Is there a trick so it doesnt catch the wind and blow your arm off or turn inside out??

12/365: Laundry, Little House on the Prairie Style

While not strange to some, I have some good laughs to myself when I hang laundry on a clothes line.

What I learned today: Mexican food in Camberley is ok, but doesnt hold a candle to La Fogata. *drool drool*

11/365: Good 'ol Number 1 bus

Here's the inside of the brand new "Gold Line" buses roaming around Surrey, complete with leather seats, which was apparently their big selling point. I've mastered the route to Camberley town centre, but I have to admit I feel like I am doing a "walk of shame" of sorts when walking to or from a bus stop. Hopefully I wont have to rely on it for very long.

What I learned today: Running uphill sucks.

10/365: Trains and Cathedrals

My dad is a train enthusiast so in his honour, we went for a ride on the Watercress Line which runs real steam engines on a short route between Alton and Alresford in Hampshire. David went up to the Signalman's area (which is clearly marked "private"), knocked on the door and much to my surprise, the very nice man inside let us in and taught us all about the switches and safety measures put in place long ago to ensure the trains didnt colide; all very interesting stuff. We were getting a little antsy as he kept talking when the train was supposed to be departing and he just said "dont worry, they cant leave without me". Super nice guy. Here he is:

Then we went to Winchester to check out the Cathedral. I almost don't have words for it - it was SO amazing. Incredible detail, beautiful carvings, really really impressive.



What I learned today: Winchester used to be the capital of England.

9/365: Ikea!

There she is - the magical place they call Ikea. I've always wished there was one closer to me in Denver, and eventhough this one really isnt very close to me here, it will do. Its actually fairly difficult to buy furniture at Ikea as you have too find it in their warehouse and load it yourself, but I suppose thats what keeps prices down. I am still drooling over the GREEN appliances I saw there and thinking of how I can get them installed in this kitchen without David knowing before hand :)

After Ikea, we went into Richmond and saw an Italian movie (subtitles and all at a little independent theatre. The movie was called Mid-August Lunch or Pranzo di Ferragosto and was pretty cute, but not a fantastic sleeper independent film in my book.

What I learned today: Becky is a whore, according to a busload of boys on the M3.

8/365: The Dentist

We went to the dentist today as they are accepting new NHS patients which is apparently quite rare. They took two xrays (and not the horrible ones that make you gag like my old dentist did), poked around in my mouth a bit and told me I should probably have two fillings. Ugh. She informed me that the NHS would pay for the silver fillings, but if I wanted white, I would have to pay out of pocket. I want white, of course, so we'll see...


We also went to the pub for a few drinks tonight where I was once again visually reminded that girls drink wine while boys drink beer. What is up with that? I dont want to drink wine in a pub, but dont want to be seen as some butch beer drinker either. So far, my compromise is cider. Its both beery and winey, right?


Randomly, there seems to be a problem with the ivy up the front of the house thinking it can grow in the window!

7/365: Kingston upon Thames

I know I cant be the only one who finds that when cities are "Upon-Thames" or upon something else, their charm value goes through the roof, but sadly, even when a town is Something-upon-Something, no one actually calls it that. At least thats the case with Kingston upon Thames - its just Kingston (the namesake for Gavin Rossdale and Gwen Stefani's child, I am sure).
Regardless of the modernization of the name, the town is very charming. I went there today (took the train all by myself!) for a meeting with a company that specialized in charity recruitment/employment. Sadly, they were less than charming and failed to give me an hope that they would be the answer to my job search. They did say they would pass on my CV (resume) to the World Wildlife Federation who are looking for a 6-week temporary position, so we'll see how that pans out.

I stumbled across this "art" in Kingston, and then noticed that Kingston's Wikipedia entry has almost the same exact photo!

What I learned today: I love pasties! That's pasty (pronounced "paa" like Pat), not pastie like strippers put on their nipples. A pasty is a bunch of goodness (mine was cheese, thinly sliced potato, onions and mushroom) put in a nice pastry case. (What is a pastry case really called??) And yes, I really did sit there in a busy square and photograph my pasty. Check it out.

6/365: The Joy of Fountains

I have perhaps mentioned to most of you before (because I think its the strangest thing), something very odd happens when the sun shines and/or it is not raining: Brits run outside and find something, anything to do in case the sun never shines again. I took this picture in a square/park in Manchester at about 11am when it was partly cloud and the temperature (I checked on my phone) was 73 degrees.
Now, I have seen many a child run around in public fountains when its about 90 degrees and the sun is making it uncomfortable to be outside, but never on a day like this.

The children were either dressed in swimsuits or stripped down to their underwear, while some of their caretakers didn't even bother....

What I learned today: Apparently most or all of British credit cards have a little chip in them and the terminals which Americans usually slide the card through is set up to have the card inserted and the chip read. I was not surprised when I recieved a deep sigh from a cashier when I asked her to take my regular non-chipped card.

5/365: Manchester

We drove (er... David drove and I rode) up to Manchester today. Very boring drive; not much to see as we took a toll road which apparently takes you around Birmingham, so all I saw were rest stops, lots of signs warning you to not drive while tired, cows, sheep and 2 shetland ponies. As you can tell from the photo above, there is a random huge London-Eye-wanna-be ferris wheel in the middle of Manchester.

What I learned today: Manchester has an awesome thing called Printworks, which is an old newspaper printing place (or something like that) that is now filled with pubs and restaurants. Sounds great to me because if its raining, you can go inbetween pubs without ruining your hair. Good thinking!

4/365: Not a "Successful" Day

So, I didnt get the job at Make-A-Wish. Now that I dont have to worry about jinxing anything, I can say that I aced that interview. I was awesome. Period. And they agreed.... They said I was the best candidate, but didnt have knowledge of UK charity laws. She said that in 6 months, I would be the perfect person for the job, but they cant "take a chance" right now. Translated: it has less to do with UK charity laws than it does with the fact that I dont drive. Of course - the thing I am THE most afraid of. I caught myself thinking "back home I would have that job hands down", and am trying not to focus on that, eventhough it is the absolute truth. Oh and just to jab you in the heart, the words they seem to use over here when they tell you you werent chosen is "I'm sorry, but you were not successful". Ouch.

But onward and upwards as they say (at least I think someone says that), I bought the huge book that covers all the questions you may be asked on the Theory Test and I guess I am going to have to get behind the wheel sooner rather than later. Yay?

What I learned today: A crumpet (see exhibit A below) is kind of like an English muffin, but doughy and soft. Almost like an undercooked English muffin, but really good with butter and jam. Word to the wise: don't try to cut them in half, you'll just make a mess and ruin it.

3/365: Off To The Seaside

We took an impromptu trip to Portsmouth today and had lunch and a lie on the beach at Southsea. It was one of those days where the weather makes all Brits comment approximately every hour how nice of a day it is, and then when its still "nice" come evening, they comment on what a lovely evening it is. I've yet to see this terrible weather for which England is known, but I hope its coming!

What I learned today (just for Kari): It's actually fairly comfortable to lay on pebbles.

2/365: Technology is a Girl's Best Friend

A beautiful thing happened today... I got a new phone. She (yes, she is a she because she multi-tasks and always gets everything right) is and Xda Zest and is lovely. Frankly, making phone calls on her requires a few too many button pushes, but she can access Facebook and email quickly, so I love her.

On to the photo part of this photoblog:

I witnessed a cricket match today, and even was able to follow it, if you can believe it. The rules are quite similar to baseball with some major differences, but fairly easy to understand. This was clearly not a big professional game, but a small club in Tilford, which is a super cute town(village??) in Surrey not far from us.

What I learned today: cricket players dont wear uniforms and the pitcher guy is called a "bowler".

1/365: So It Begins

... and yes, I failed today, my first day to take a picture. But I think I have a few good reasons: I left Denver last night at 8:45pm and arrived at Heathrow around noon. The flight was terrible - I ended up in a window seat bumping elbows with my fellow passengers and hardly slept at all. (One word of advice: Don't ever bother watching the movie 'Ghosts of Girlfriend's Past". Its crap even as far as predictable romantic comedies go.)
I made it to my interview at the Make-A-Wish Foundation right on time and think everything went well, except they do require you to drive as part of the position and I am well aware that not knowing the communities where I would be working will be a disadvantage. They said they expect to make their decision on Monday, so now we wait...

I thought I'd take a nice nap when I got back from the interview, but I couldnt sleep, so I unpacked 2 of 3 suitcases and sent a telepathic message back home to my walk-in closet telling her that I missed her.

We went to Windsor (no, the Queen wasnt home) for a quick dinner at good ol' Nandos (Its a chicken place, but they have wonderful veggie options there!).

What I learned today: There is South African beer.