This morning when the internet at our house was turned off, I felt like I'd been cut off from the world! All better now.
Actually, our new temporary digs are quite nice. We're staying in a "self-catering apartment" called Ashness. (Once we were checked in, I discovered they had a website. If I had actually visited it, I would have realized a long time ago they had internet, and I wouldn't have had to worry!) We've got a kitchen, living room, one bedroom, one bathroom, and a tiny dinning area. The apartment is fully stocked with flatware, plates, pots, pans, etc. It's right down town, so it's close to everything.
Last night Ryan slept the whole night through (for the first time since the movers came). Yay! And now we're moving out. *sigh* He's generally a good little guy, and adjusts fairly well to things.
We're waiting for the media people to come and get our box (it isn't really cable anymore, is it?). Today and tomorrow will be major cleaning fests.
For a long time now, I've been trying to figure out just how I am going to say goodbye here. I have such mixed feelings about leaving. There are definitely things about living overseas that I won't miss, but those seem so minor compared to the things I will. I'm not sure how to sum up two years in just a few sentences, and really get the experience across. Right now, what I can say, is that I've been incredibly blessed to have gotten to live here. I've gotten to do and see some really great things. Above all though, I've met some wonderful people. They will be what I miss most.
Tonight will be our last night here. Tomorrow we'll be checking in to our hotel. We lost our internet tomorrow, too, so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to check e-mail between tomorrow and when we leave (the 9th).
We are now without a car - well, at least until we pick up the rental tomorrow!
Today I had my going away do at Betty's Tea Room, and the Turkish Baths and Health Spa at Harrogate. Betty's is one of my favorite places, and it was great to be there with some of my favorite people! Many thanks to Sarah for organizing our afternoon, and thank you so much to Joan, Angela, Michelle K., Michelle W., Aimee, Erin, and Sarah's mom, Nora, for coming to Betty's!
After a very enjoyable luncheon, Sarah, Nora, Joan, Aimee, and went on to the baths. (The spa doesn't have its own website, but this page has a nice photo and description: http://www.harrogate.gov.uk/immediacy-1100) I'd never been to anything like it before. As the name infers, the spa is decorated in Turkish style. They do spa treatments there, but we were there for the baths. There is a steam room, a cold plunge pool, and three dry heat chambers of increasing temperature. You do cycles of heat, shower, plunge, as many times as you like, ending with a 20 minute rest. On the above webpage it says, "At the end of the session, many of our clients report a feeling that combines exhilaration, euphoria, total relaxation and absolute cleanliness." Exhilaration, euphoria, and total relaxation. Yep. That about sums it up!
It's been a bit of a struggle for Ryan - and us! At first I thought he took the move fairly well. When Sarah brought him back from Winkies on Tuesday, Ryan asked for his chair, but was otherwise ok. However, that night he woke up crying three times. Over the last couple of days, he's been very out of sorts. The last night he woke up twice; once at 12:30am, then again at 4am, and was up for over an hour!
Poor little dude.
I'm sure it's tough for him, not truly knowing what's going on. He hasn't been napping, so he's been exhausted, too. Larry got him to nap this afternoon, but not without a lot of unhappiness - for both Larry and Ryan!
Two more nights in the house, then that's that. We're into the hotel until we leave.
Here we are, sitting in an empty house! It's surreal.
The movers got here around 8am. I feel sorry for them - they have to make a four hour drive up from Mildenhall to come get our stuff! (Then of course, make that same drive back after packing up all day.)
Things went pretty well. Sarah - bless her! - took Ryan to Winkies, so that made things a lot easier.
The movers were done by a little after 2pm. The only hitch was that someone tracked cat poo into the house. However, it wasn't a lot, and it's been relatively easy to clean up.
It's funny the things you don't think about while packing until it's too late. Some time back, our land lady had an upstairs window replaced. We took down the blinds for the occasion, naturally. However, we never put them back up, because they got in the way of opening the window. I never gave it a second thought until I saw that whole room packed up, and no blinds in sight. Oops. Luckily, I was able to retrieve them!
I wasn't so lucky in Ryan's room, though. I took down the ties that hold the curtains back, because I have that insane mom thing where you're afraid your child will somehow hang himself on something stupid like that. I had the ties set aside, but somehow they managed to wind up inside a bin. I didn't think about it, until that bin was packed up. Oh well. I can always mail it back if my land lady gets upset. (However, I don't think she will.)
It was funny the things the movers packed up, and the things they left out. They packed up a moldy old dish rack (which we were actually going to throw out), and took an instruction sheet that was taped to the top of the dryer (the dryer is staying here). However, they left out a diaper holder that was hanging on the back of Ryan's door, and a lamp shade (I was able to add those items before they were done).
We had two "safe rooms" set up, with all our stuff we didn't want packed. That was handy. Now that the movers are gone, our stuff is leaking back into the rest of the house again.
It occurred to me while watching my stuff get packed up, that you don't realize exactly how dusty and dirty your house is until you move. Without all those pesky possessions in the way, the dust really stands out!
Also, you don't realize how big a part muscle memory plays in your life until your house is turned upside down. I keep looking at the wall where the clock was, somehow expecting it to still be there. It's amazing how much we bumble around the house on auto pilot, simply because things are where we expect them to be.
So, next up, we're checking into a hotel (well, it's more like a B&B) on Saturday. We'll have our phone on in the house until the 5th, and we do have voice mail. However, if you need to call us, our cell phone would be a better bet. I'm not sure what the internet situation will be at our hotel. We'll have internet at the house until the 5th as well, so at the very least, we'll check our e-mail one more time then.
Hello again. Just wanted to let everyone know we had our daylight savings time here today.
Also, the movers are coming tomorrow, Tuesday, and (if needed) Wednesday. Things are about to get hectic (or more so than usual). We're out of the house by Nov. 5, and lose our internet and phone that day (we'll still have our cell phones, or as they call them here, "mobiles"). We're flying out on the 9th, visiting Larry's family for a couple of days, then you'll be able to get a hold of me and Ryan at my parents' house in CA. (Drop me a line if you need our phone number and/or address there.)
I'd like to keep updating here as long as possible before we leave, but in case I don't, you'll know why!
I'll be keeping my same e-mail address, and also have my myspace http://www.myspace.com/hkvl and facebook accounts. Please keep checking this blog, because I plan on starting a new one once I'm in the States, and I will post a link to that here.
Hope everyone's had a great weekend, and hope to be back a few more times over the next couple of week. Stay tuned!
(Click on the above slide show to view as a web album.)
This year, Menwith Hill Station had its Halloween festivities on Friday, the 26th. There was all sorts of stuff for kids to do, but it was mainly for older kids. Around 6:30pm, we met up at Carissa's house to go trick or treating with her and her boys. (Carissa's friends Dana and Ken were there, too.)
Ryan was Harry Potter for Halloween. My mom made his robe, and did an excellent job! The rest of his costume was simply British school clothes.
The last couple of years, Ryan was too young to really know what was going on. This year he seemed to really enjoy himself! He loved yelling, "Trick or treat!" at the top of his lungs, usually after getting his candy, not before! We all had the best time taking Ryan trick or treating around the base. It was a lot of fun!
Interestingly, I didn't see any other Harry's (Larry said he saw one), only a Ron. I would have thought with the book and movie coming out this summer, there'd be a lot more.
When we were done, Ryan kept saying, "Want more trick or treat!"
(Click on the above slide show to view as a web album.)
Tuesday we drove south to RAF Fairford. We've been listening to the Harry Potter books on cd. The version we're listening to is the UK one, read by Stephen Fry. We finished Prisoner of Azkaban, but only had the US version of Goblet of Fire, so that's what we started listening to. No disrespect to Jim Dale (the British man who reads the US audio editions), but we gave him two hours and by the end of that time, Larry and I were ready to fall asleep, lulled by the monotonous tone of Mr. Dale's voice. We marveled that someone could actually make the book boring. We gave him a try. We really did.
The trip to Fairford was long, but smooth. (It took over four hours to get there from Harrogate.) We had dinner at the bowling alley on the base.
Ryan amazed us that night by actually sleeping in the rollaway bed in our room! (The last time we had a rollaway, Ryan ignored it and slept between me and Larry.)
The next morning we had breakfast in a tiny little cafe tucked inside the base's community activity center. The center itself was undergoing renovation, and looked deserted. As we walked over the cement floor, currently stripped of its carpet with residual glue stuck on the ground, I said to Larry, "There was a time when I would have thought this was weird!" However, we rounded a few corners, and found the minute oasis of coffee and food in the midst of the dark community center.
After breakfast, we headed to Cardiff. Along the way, we saw an, "Adverse Camber" road sign. I'd seen this before and it left me scratching my head. After a quick Google search, I found it has to do with how the road slopes from the center to the side. If this gets going the wrong way, and a vehicle gets going too fast, things can get ugly.
The border between England and Wales is over a body of water, the Mouth of the Severn. There's a really neat bridge that spans it. (Unfortunately, there's a 5.10 pound toll to get across!) It took us a couple of hours to get into Cardiff and get parked.
It was a gorgeous day, sunny, but quite cool with a breeze. My first thought was that Cardiff is a lot more European in feel than England and Scotland. The sense of being in a foreign country is heightened by all the signs being both in English and Welsh. (Welsh is really crazy-looking. Way too many consonants all together. )
Our first stop was Cardiff Castle. http://www.cardiffcastle.com/ (If you want to see some Welsh, click on that link and choose "Cymraeg." There are also some great photos of the inside and outside of the castle. Go to the site and click on "present" to see them.) We hadn't been to a castle in a while. A tour of the castle was included in the price of admission. The tour started up on the castle wall. Ryan was tired and not at all cooperative. We had to remove him from the first couple of rooms of the tour. (Larry and I took turns.) Eventually he settled down and was quiet and good. (I suppose it's expecting a bit much for a three year old to be quiet during a tour!)
After the tour, we walked over to the keep, which was separate from the residential part of the castle. It was fun to climb up to the top and look around.
Of course we stopped in the gift shop. The Welsh flag is a red dragon on a field of white and green. I love it! It was hard for me to control myself in the souvenir department.
We had a late lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe (of course). We got Ryan an HRC collectible bear wearing a dragon costume (Dylan the Dragon, I was told was his name). From talking to two of the employees at the HRC, I got the impression that Welsh people are very passionate about their dragon, and have a strong sense of national pride.
Cardiff is home to the Millennium Stadium. http://www.millenniumstadium.com/3473_3515.php Larry suggested we take a look at it. They had a tour starting just as we got there. It turned out to be very interesting and informative. I'm glad we went on the tour. It's something I never would have thought to do, but it turned out to be fun.
Of course we stopped at Starbucks and bought ourselves a Cardiff mug. (We also made a stop at WHSmith to buy the UK audio version of Goblet of Fire. ) We walked around the pedestrian area a bit before heading back to the car.
I really enjoyed Cardiff. Wales is somewhere I'd definitely like to come back and explore.
That night Ryan made sure Larry and I didn't sleep to well. He must have lulled us into a false sense of security that first night! The second night, he took forever to settle, then kept moving back and forth between our bed and the rollaway. Then he was up around 4am, and didn't go back to sleep until after 5am!
We had some breakfast, checked out of the hotel, got some gas, and were on our way to London. We did what JoAnna and Ryan and I did last year: drove to the tube stop at West Ruislip, and took the tube into London. This worked out well. Ryan was great on the tube.
As sunny as Wales was, London was the opposite. It was stereotypical British weather: cold, grey, drizzling, gloomy. That didn't dampen our spirits, though.
We pretty much went back to London so I could see The Globe Theatre. It was definitely worth it. We had a late lunch first, then Larry kept Ryan while I took the tour of the Globe. It's a re-creation. There's nothing left of the real Globe except a placard noting its original location just one street over. However, I very much enjoyed the tour, and even got to walk across the stage!
After the tour (and a quick Starbucks stop), we headed back to the tube, then back to our car, then back to Harrogate. It was a long drive (about four hours), but fairly smooth, except for some bad traffic in the beginning.
I'm really glad we got to see Cardiff, and took one last jaunt to London. I still can't believe we're leaving the UK in less than two weeks! I will definitely miss it.
ps - Today we were channel surfing, and saw there was a Tom Jones concert at Cardiff Castle! It was fun to see it, since we were just there!
However, it wasn't a lot, and it's been relatively easy to clean up.
Halloween 2006