Dishwasher
Topic: The House
We got our dishwasher yesterday. It's almost exactly like the one we had in Germany, only a little smaller. It works really well, too. Yay! As far as the washer/dryer goes (did I mention it's in the kitchen?), I think we're going to find somewhere to put a dryer and have one delivered. It just takes way too long to dry things, especially considering how small the loads are.

I still haven't sorted through all my stuff yet. I think that's going to take a while. At least I've got my suitcases unpacked!

Topic: Harrogate
Yesterday evening I went for a walk. On the way home, this particular side street evoked a mood I wanted to capture. I love late afternoon sunlight. I took these pictures with my new cell phone. They don't quite do the scene justice, but they aren't bad considering it's a cell phone.





Also yesterday I saw this "Holly Cottage." Of course I had to take a picture! I looked around online to see if I could figure out what this place was, and found out that the phrase, "Holly Cottage" is used a lot to describe bed and breakfasts. I still need to do some digging to find out about this particular one.

Mostly the last few days have been spent running more errands and taking care of Ryan. Yesterday I picked up my driver's license. Look out Britain! I heard a bit of trivia from the fellow who gave me my license. We heard a siren in the background and I commented that it was interesting how the sirens sound the same here as they do in the States. I figured in Britain they would have the European sounding ones that I heard in Germany. The man told me that someone told him that the police can change their sirens and use different ones depending on where they are, because different sounds get a better reaction in different places. I thought that was interesting.

Tomorrow Larry leaves for a month for FLTCE (foreign language training center Europe) in Garmisch, Germany. Ryan and I will be on our own. Should be interesting. I will definitely keep you posted!

Appliances
Topic: The House
I was spoiled in Germany, to an extent. I had an American washer and dryer, and it was good. I also had an American fridge. My oven and stove were a weird hybrid that had a German design, but was as big as American ones. The range was electric - which I hate - and the oven was marked in degrees that seemed to match up with neither Fahrenheit nor Celsius. You also had to turn about three different knobs to just the right settings to actually work the thing. I knew people who lived on the economy who had German appliances, and the main thing I heard about them was that they were a lot smaller than American ones, and took a lot longer to do their jobs (with the exception of ovens, which were still smaller, but cooked things in a fraction of the time). Here, I have a gas range which is great, but a tiny oven. Larry had to buy smaller cookie sheets since the ones we had wouldn't fit. The thing that's really been vexing me is our washer/dryer. Yep. It's a combo. We don't have instructions for it, so that makes it all the more interesting. (I need to see if I can find some online.) The washer/dryer has a very small capacity, about what most Americans would consider a small load of laundry. It doesn't take too long to wash, but it takes FOREVER to dry. We don't know how to add fabric softener (although as I write this it occurs to me that we could add a dryer sheet at some point during the drying process), so the clothes come out wrinkly and full of static. There also doesn't seem to be a delicate cycle. I am by no means complaining, simply describing. I am happy to at least have something, and I consider this an adventure! As far as the fridge goes, the only thing besides space constraints is that it seems to either freeze things when it shouldn't, or not keep things cold enough. Oh well. We'll get it figured out. Also, the freezer is on the bottom. I know some units in the States have that arrangement, but I never have had a fridge like that before. While I'm at it, I have to mention an oddity in one of the bathrooms. Instead of a light switch, there's a knob hanging from the ceiling that you pull. I think that's sort of funny. We're supposed to be getting a dishwasher tomorrow. I'll let you know what that turns out like!

Lots of errands and firsts...
Topic: Harrogate
(You may have noticed that entries can be sorted by topic. I've decided that "Harrogate" will pretty much cover anything having to do with the local area and our experiences pertaining to it.)

Wow. Today I've been here a week. I can't believe it. Time is flying by. I wish I could remember how long it took in Germany to go from feeling like a stranger in a strange land, to looking around and feeling like I was home.

It's been a busy couple of days. Monday I actually drove here for the first time. It's the first time I've ever driven on the "wrong" side on the road (on purpose, anyway!). I drove from Menwith Hill Station (where Larry works) back to our home on Dragon Parade. I made it without being in or causing any accidents! I still have yet to drive a right hand drive car, since we have our Honda still and aren't planning on buying another car anytime soon. I'm told it's easier to drive over here with a right hand drive car. I would like to get a chance to find out sometime. For now though, driving our Honda around doesn't seem so bad. Today I took the written test to get my driver's license for here. I passed. I get to pick up my license on Friday. They give you a study guide, which is nice. I had to laugh a little because even though I know they spell some things differently here than they do in the States, I didn't know "curb" was spelled, "kerb!" I also didn't know until last night that what we call a sidewalk is a "pavement," here. So when the study guide said not to drive on the pavement, I had to scratch my head at first!

The day before yesterday I went for another jog in the stray. Larry showed me a map that revealed the name of the stray: "The Stray or Two Hundred Acre." I have no idea as to the logic behind it. (If anyone out there knows, please share!) On the way home from my jog, I noticed a business called, "Stephen King Auto Services." Now there's a thought!

The weather has been really gorgeous. Today was warm enough for shorts. I'm really enjoying the cooler temperatures (compared to the desert) along with sunny skies. I know this nice weather isn't going to last, so I am taking advantage while I can.

The area we live in is nice because we're not really in a big city, but there's a really nice shopping area within walking distance. We are also right near a lot of agriculture. On the way to Menwith Hill Station or, "The Hill," as they call it, there are a lot of cattle and sheep. There are green fields segregated by long, low stone walls. Larry told me it takes something like an entire day to build six feet of a wall like that. When I see all the lengths of wall everywhere, I think of how much time and labor must have gone into it all.

The last couple days we've pretty much just been taking care of errands on base (I will refer to Menwith Hill Station most of the time as "base," as in air force base, or "MHS" for brevity). I realize I was spoiled in Germany on post there, because we had one of the biggest PXs and commissaries in USAREUR (USA Army Europe). MHS is very small and there just aren't very many amenities. On the bright side, local shopping is within walking distance from our house, and there isn't the same kind of language barrier. One thing I did notice in the commissary on base that I thought was interesting was that there are German products on the shelves. I expected that in Germany, but in England? Odd. In a way, it was kind of a deja vu!

Today for the first time Ryan and I walked alone to the shopping area. We'd been with Larry several times before, so I knew where I was going. It was good to get out and around and explore a little more. I'm starting to get the lay of the land a bit and that feels good.

Beulah Street
Topic: Harrogate
Larry and Ryan and I went out in the early evening yesterday. Larry had Ryan in the stroller and I went for a walk/jog. (I haven't run much this year, but am hoping very much to get back into shape.) It was an absolutely gorgeous evening. The sky was clear and the evening sun threw everything into relief between shadow and golden light. We were in what they call here a "stray," which is like a green belt, park-like area with big stretches of grass bordered with trees and a paved path. There was a bit of a breeze and the temperature was perfect. It felt good to get out and move around, especially in such a picturesque setting.
Today Larry and I took Ryan for a walk in his stroller to Beulah Street (the photo on the left). It's a pedestrian zone with lots of shops and cafes. It's only about a five minute walk from our house. There's a church in the middle of the shopping area, which I thought was funny until I remembered that there's a church in the middle of the marktplatz in Wuerzburg. (I'll be comparing England with Germany a lot, simply because I lived in Germany for five years and it's interesting to see the similarities and differences. England is a lot like Germany in many ways, only the signs are in English and everyone drives down the wrong side of the road.) Most businesses were closed since it's Sunday, but a few more were open than usually are in Germany. One of the things here I love is that everywhere you go there are flower arrangements in public places. It's so pretty.

We turned down Cambridge Street (the photo on the right - and yes, that's a Starbucks on the left side) and went into a little place called Cottage Bistro and Coffee Bar to get something to eat. I ordered the day's lunch special, lasagne. I've never seen lasagne served with french fries and cole slaw before! Larry had a hamburger. Both our plates came with a small salad with no dressing. Our food wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. I don't think we'll be going there again. Of course we stopped by Starbucks on the way home.

The House
Topic: The House
Here's a photo of our house. I just took it about five minutes ago. The sun came out for a second so I ran outside and tried to get a photo before the sun went behind the clouds again. I only semi-succeeded. This house is nice, but has some odd quirks. We have two bathrooms, one in the master bedroom and one down the hall (both are upstairs). One bathroom has just a tub, and the other has only a shower. They both have toilets, but you can only really use the one in the bathroom with the tub, which is NOT the one in our bedroom. The shower is a walk in, back out deal, with very little water pressure and not much control over the temperature. I'm glad Larry was here before I was to figure out that there's a switch outside the bathroom that you have to turn on to get hot water. It's near the floor, so it's not obvious. It's an adventure!

From Los Angeles to Harrogate
Hello. Nearly *gasp* twenty years ago I started keeping a journal on paper. Five years ago I started a website The Adventures of the Layman Family. With a move to a new country, I figured now would be the time to try my hand at blogging.

Four days ago, my ten month old son, Ryan, and I departed LAX. My parents very kindly drove us to the airport and helped with all our stuff. Because of airport/airline staff incompetency and equipment malfunctions, we very nearly didn't make our flight. However, once on the plane everything went quite smoothly. Ryan makes friends wherever he goes. Before long he was playing with two very nice boys from Northern Ireland who were sitting behind us. Both the flights (LAX to London and London to Manchester) went smoothly. Ryan is a champ at travel, whether by air or land, local or international.

I've been the to UK a few times before. I've been to London three times, and to Scotland once for a week, so the landscape wasn't totally alien. However, after such a long trip (a ten hour flight to London, a two hour layover, and an hour flight to Manchester), everything seemed a bit unreal. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe in Manchester for lunch, then drove to our new home in Harrogate. We live on a street called Dragon Parade. That is so cool! Our house is a two story Victorian style, with four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a small patio in back. It's long and narrow, and has lots of windows but not much of a view from any of them. Some of the windows have stained glass, which is nice. We lived on post in Germany, so it will be interesting to live on the economy here in England. The electrical outlets are different from those in the States AND in Germany. We're using transformers for our American appliances. Luckily, our German stuff works here with a simple outlet adapter.

So far we've run some errands on post and have just been trying to get acclimated to the new locale and time zone (8 hours later than California). Things are definitely different here. It helps that we lived in a foreign country already. It makes things less of a shock and gives me some idea of what to expect. However, I am not looking forward to learning how to drive on the "wrong" side of the road!

My goal with this blog is to chronicle our time here in the UK and keep friends and family updated on what we're doing and what life is like here. I'm hoping that if I write a little each day, I won't get epically behind the way I have in my paper journal and with my website. We'll see what happens!