Some Catching Up
Topic: This and That
A couple of items about my Scarborough post: First, as I wrote that I'd never been to a boardwalk, I just knew I would get called on it. :) It's not that I set out to outright lie, it's just that I didn't really remember the experience. As you may have seen in the comments for that post, my mom pointed out that she and my aunt took me to the boardwalk in Santa Cruz when I was little. I DO remember that - vaguely. I also think I may have been to a boardwalk type place near Boston in the summer of 2000 while visiting my sister-in-law. So when I said I'd never been to a boardwalk, I meant I'd never been to an honest-to-goodness, Jersey boardwalk. :)
The second item comes under the category of: reactions-to-things-I-least-expected. When I got home and showed Larry my photos from Scarborough, he looked at the one I took of the menu board and commented on the "beans on toast" part. The next day, I had a comment from my mom on the same thing! :)
Back to catching up...
Friday the 29th was another busy day. Over here you have to have your gas inspected once a year. The inspector was supposed to come around 9:30am, but didn't show up until 10am. It was only a half hour later, but I still hate waiting around for stuff like that. When the man did show up, he basically insulted Americans living here by saying that we keep our houses too warm. Nice.
After that, I tried to go for a jog (with Ryan in the jogging stroller), but I just didn't have it in me. I went home and got cleaned up, then got myself and Ryan some lunch. I needed to go to the commissary and bx, so I did that. I still needed to shop for the baby shower I was going to the next day, so once home, Ryan and I walked into town and did some shopping. By the time we got home, I was pretty tired. Add to that, that Ryan didn't really nap. By the end of the night, I was fried!
The next day was just as hectic, if not more so! :) In the morning, Ryan and I drove back to Manchester to pick up Larry from his short tdy in Germany. Not long after we got home, I went to my friend Natasha's baby shower, which was very nice. Larry kindly agreed to watch Ryan. (We thought Ryan would nap so Larry could just relax. Unfortunately, this would not be the case.) Towards the end of the shower, Larry called to tell me there was no heat or hot water in our house. Not good, especially because of the weather here. It was getting pretty cold in the house. The pilot light on our boiler was out, and we couldn't figure out how to get it relit. Boilers and gas are definitely something you don't want to mess with! Larry was able to get a hold of our landlord, who said he'd come by in the morning to check it out. In the meantime...
Larry informed me that Ryan had climbed out of his crib while I was at the shower. It seemed we couldn't put off the transition any longer. Larry went ahead and converted Ryan's crib into a toddler bed. (It was a huge pain, too.)
I felt bad for Ryan, because all in one day he had his Daddy come back from being gone, then had his crib taken away, then had his Mama gone - twice (and the second time I was gone for bedtime). Where was I...?
That night I went to my very first barn dance! The Harrogate Harriers hosted a "Barn Dance and Hog Roast" at the Ripley Star Club. I was worried about Ryan and Larry - Larry being tired from his tdy and his long day, and Ryan spending his first night in his "new" bed. That was probably why I accidentally drove out to Ripon, which is way farther out than Ripley! I was driving around Ripon looking for the Star Club, when I stopped to ask for directions to the... Ripley Star Club. It hit me what I'd done, and I felt like an idiot! Luckily, the people I'd stopped were really nice about it!
I turned back and went to Ripley, which is an extremely small village. Seriously small. We're talking about a quarter mile from one end of the main street to the other. And I couldn't find the Star Club. I asked directions, and luckily was pretty much right next to it. It was one of those places that if you weren't local, you'd never see it, or know where it was. From the outside, it looked more like a church than a club. On the inside it looked like a very small school auditorium, with a stage at one end where the band was playing. (The name of the band was, "Cobblers Wax!")
I arrived late, and a dance was in full swing. I saw a man I knew named Pat, and made my way over to him. He's a fellow American who has also spent time in Germany. We had talked a bit before. He's quite nice. He found me a place to sit, very kindly got me something to drink, and introduced me to a couple of women who work out at MHS.
I went ahead and joined in the next dance. The band leader had a microphone and taught everyone the dance. I had no idea what I was doing! It was so much fun! A lady I've run with a couple of times, Rona, was quite helpful, literally pushing us in the right direction and telling us what we needed to do when we got lost. At first the dances seemed kind of complicated, but after doing a couple of them, they started to make sense. I thoroughly enjoyed doing them!
After a while, the roast hog was brought out. I really, really ought to be a vegetarian on principle. People applauded the presentation of the hog, and I couldn't help but think that the hog probably wasn't too pleased! :) Everyone lined up to get some food. There were a couple of boys around the age of seven who were sitting at our table (they belonged to the ladies I was sitting with). They were talking about watching the man take out the hog's spine, and one boy asked his mother if he could keep the hog's head. Yikes! Boys! Is this what I have to look forward to??? :)
There were some wonderfully soft rolls to put the pork on, along with applesauce and some overcooked stuffing. The man serving the hog asked me if I wanted some, "cracklin'," which was the skin. I said sure. Once back at the table, I took a bite of the cracklin' and realized that the thought of eating pig skin grossed me out, and one bite was all I managed. (It tasted pretty much like crunchy bacon, but not nearly as good.)
The price of the ticket to the dance was 14 pounds. (Drinks not included.) After seeing the food, I thought it was honestly a bit steep. However, there was a live band, and I did very much enjoy myself, so that was definitely worth it.
Cobbler's Wax advertised themselves as a "ceilidh" band. (Pronounced, "KAY-lee," believe it or not.) I'm not sure if a ceilidh and a barn dance are the same or not, but I'm guessing if not, they're pretty close. It was nice because people of literally all ages were there, and everybody dances with everybody. I'm told that the dances we did are similar to American square dances. (However, since I never square danced except in elementary school, I don't really have any experience to compare it to.)
All in all, I had a good time and would go to another one.
Around 10pm I went home, since I was really tired and was wondering how Larry and Ryan were doing. Ripley isn't far from Harrogate, so it was nice not to have far to drive.
Apparently Ryan did pretty well while I was gone. He took a little coaxing, but generally his first night in his toddler bed went well.
Sunday morning our landlord, Sandy, came by. It took Sandy and Larry a while, but between the two of them they got the boiler relit. It was actually a very simple process once they figured it out, it was just figuring it out that was tough! (We have instructions for our boiler, but they are very technical and not at all straightforward.) At least now we know what to do if it happens again. The kicker is that the gas inspector's inspection was what caused the pilot light to go out. I think it was negligent of him to not bother to mention to me that that could happen, and that he didn't ask me if I knew how to relight it if it did. Oh well.
The rest of the day we just tried to kick back and relax. At some point Larry went for a run. Ryan and I went to ASDA for a couple things, and hit Starbucks as well. Since the weather was semi-decent, for dinner we barbecued one last time.
I've got more to post, but it's getting late and today's been a long day, too. Hopefully Ryan will nap tomorrow and I can finish catching up!
Posted by hkvlayman
at 2:39 PM BST
Updated: Thursday, 5 October 2006 10:59 PM BST