Rain has hit. And mist. And the damp that reaches into the core of your body and grips tightly. Everyone says, oh, it must be a warm day for you, but I am cold. It's not the fact that it's chilly outside. That I can handle. It's the fact that it is damp and that the inside of buildings are cold too! Every morning Bonnie and I arrive at the school and the first thing we do is light the heater. Then, we huddle around it the way we huddle around the heating vents in our house in Edmonton on a minus 20 degree day. It does eventually heat up and by lunchtime, the warmth of 23 sweaty children has created a rather smelly, but cozy sauna like feeling. Ahh, the joys of teaching a soon-to-be teenage classroom!
We've been happily busy, relaxed and succumbing to the routines of school life. Now that we've established that we're staying for another eight months (only?!), we've learned to tone down the weekend doos a little and just be people living here. Plus, now that it is officially winter, all the major tourist attractions are closed. Except for Cadbury Land which I am SOOO going too soon!
You know that things are settling when you have favorites of things. We have quite a developed list of favorites here now. I highly recommend doing this where you live because seriously, it gives you something to look for and enjoy on a daily basis. I do believe that when you live in your hometown of many years, that you just walk and drive by the same ol, same ol every day without noticing much. But, when you know that you only have one year in a place that you love, you watch. You listen. And you see things that would normally just be a blur in your drive.
Bonnie and I have a few of these on our daily drive to Dundry. On the way, we drive by the Park and Ride. Now, strangely enough, there are actually horses parked there, tethered posts, chomping away at the grass. We love these, but are rather confused by their presence. Are they being ridden into the city and parked for the day or are they being used as enviro-friendly grass mowers or is some farmer getting his fields 'done' and therefore using this as an alternative pasture? It's strange, but true.
Then, we head down Yanley Lane. Now, the sat. nav. introduced this to us weeks ago. It's a windy overgrown and inconspicuous little lane. Driving on it can be a real self-esteem boosting session, that is if you do things the right way. Because the lane is narrow, windy and tree covered, you have to slow down to let others pass by. Otherwise, you can take out a rear view mirror. But, we have it figured out. There are little cut in sections every 15 metres or so. If you have one on your side and another car comes, you stop and wait to let them pass. And vice versa. Now, here is where you get the proverbial pat on the back. When you let them pass properly, the driver gives you a nice wave, a kind nod of the head or a thumbs up. On the other hand, if you don't pay attention and drive through your opportunity to let one pass, you get the other end of the stick. An upright middle finger, or two. There is another gesture which I haven't quite figured out the meaning of. Only had that one once, but I'm sure it wasn't meant to fill my self-esteem bank account. I guess I'll have to ask my students what that one means.
Then there's our favorite tree, favorite herd of woolly bums and the daily count at Chris'. This is a side road mini van that serves breakfast to the local construction crews. I call it the bachelor breakfast bus. Bonnie wants to stop there one day but I'm afraid that we won't have much in common with the regulars that stand around chatting.
We have also developed a rather bad habit of having one flat of dark chocolate in the glove compartment. It's kind of like a 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' ritual. Each day after school, we get to have one or two, ok, sometimes three, squares each on the way home. I think that when we visit Cadbury World, we'll buy a few months worth. I've heard that they have a flawed candy bar section!
We had a great swingin' time last weekend as we took homemade pasties to Helen's brother's house in Gloustershire. We had dinner and then went to a Celtic dance band at their community hall. Andrea, Nick, Brian, me and 4 little girls had so much fun dancing away! After each dance, we'd all run back to the table and rehydrate with red wine, then off for another round. The band had an accordian, a flute, a saxophone, a couple of guitars, drums...you name it. And then we would be shown how to do the next dance and the music would start. If I wasn't laughing so hard, I might have been able to do the dances, but any kind of physical activity that requires a team effort usually cracks me up. The more serious dancers were staying noticeably clear of us near the end. What a blast! Can't wait to see them again!
I found out something interesting about pasties from Nick. I think he said that the miners in Cornwall used to take these in their lunches. But, the difference was that they were both tea and pudding in one! One on end was the savory and the other end was the sweet and that the crust was not eaten as it was meant to be hard so that you could hold it. Hmm, mine would fit right in!
We've also been to Cheddar Gorge in the last while. Now, this is the home of very good cheese. We even saw it in the actual caves! It's a system of caverns that have been carved out with underwater rivers. There are some stalactites and such, and then you walk around a corner and see all of these recreated scenes built with mannequins and props. I found that much different than any cave systems we've been in before. For example, in Arizona, you weren't even allowed to place a finger on a surface, yet alone take pictures and eat! All in all though, it was a pleasant experience and the girls had a great time perusing all of the tourist shops.
Gough's Cave in Cheddar and on right, the ghosts that dwell in the dark chambers. Hmm...doesnt' really lend itself to an environmentally protected site somehow.
Downtown Bristol has a superb science centre. We also spent a whole day there trying out all of the experiments. The girls were fascinated by the suspension bridge building, and the human development section. They actually have a womb that you can go into and it runs through what it would be like to be the developing baby. It actually starts to move and squeeze up. I got a bit uneasy at this point and left. I think being born once is certainly enough, but the girls loved it!
Did you know that Cary Grant was born in Bristol? There is also a bronze statue of him outside the centre.
Here's Bonnie playing with the light strings.
Up in the Village a new pet store opened. Of course, we are very excited and had to go meet everyone. They have some cute bunnies, hamsters and birds. The usual assortment of soft sweeties. But, there has only ever been 1 creature that I would not want in my life...until now. At our old pet store in Edmonton, Michelle had a crocodile monitor. This was a creepy 6 foot evil looking monster! But, it has met it's match. At the pet store in Shirehampton, there lives the second creature that I will sadly never snuggle up to and appreciate...an African Snail. Growing to be as big as a cat, this lovely juicy morsel has the most teeth of any other creature in the world. The pet store owner said that they are lovely pets. If they escape, they will only be three feet from their cage in 24 hours. Can you imagine the slime trail? We probably could use it as a tobaggon slope!
So, back to the weather. On our drive home last week, we got stuck behind a sander. And it was sanding its way along the portway. I asked Brian if there was snow in the forecast and he said no. But, that very morning, it did frost. I guess that was close enough!
Frost on the grass and car!
I love watching the kids here play soccer! They are fancy dancing around with the ball, and so very agile! The Canadian kids are rather heavy footed in comparison. But, the other day, we decided to play hockey in the parking lot at the hall. I have to say that the Canadian kids kick butt on this one. I loved watching the Dundry fuddleducks wacking around the puck, albeit the parking lot was a bit of a rough surface.
Funny though, because many people have been telling me about the skating rink. Yes, we have a skating rink and it is even outside!! People are saying that you must go skating! Well, we did have to head off to the mall one night last week to do some shopping and there it was. The skating rink in its full outside glory! It's in the parking lot of the mall, surrounded by cars and lovely Christmasy stuff. But, the thing that struck us as a bit of home, was that all of the trees were covered with snow! For a second, I just assumed that yes, that's snow, and it's time for snow, but then I shook my head and thought...wait a minute! We had a good laugh when Emma noticed that it was spary-on snow and believe me, cotton snow does not make good snowballs.
Wednesday night we had the opportunity to watch a football/soccer match with Darren, who was our audio guide to the ins and outs of the game. David Beckham missed his shot and as it stands, England won't be in the Euro 2008 next year. First time in something like 14 years for them, ooo, hard hit.
Bonnie started horse back riding lessons. Now if you ever wanted to see a girl with a big grin on her face, you'd have to see Bonnie riding little Jack.
Emma started violin lessons with a rather curious gentleman. Don Leondardo is his name! He has played all over the world and is a virtuoso. I said that I didn't know much about classical violinists, but I did know of Yo Yo Ma. He laughed and said that was his buddy at Julliard. In any case, he's quite famous and has 6 cats! Bonnie said that she would pay just to go and play with the them. Probably I would too.
We are having a quieter weekend. Took a stroll in Bristol's downtown streets. The Christmas lights and displays were rather beautiful!
And, Brian goes home next weekend! UGGGGGHH! Thank goodness he's made frozen casseroles for us!
New quiz question this week: What are you doing if you're stripping the willow? For all of you out there who think I'm being rude--you thought of it first! Anyway, it's not naughty.
Crabby Mr. Tibbs who lives at the Riding Stables.
Itty bitty baby Mousse doing what she does best--ready to pounce on an unsuspecting person needing to use the bathroom. We love her.
And just to end with a final funny Dundry story...on Friday, Emma came to Dundry as she had a PD. day off. I was on playground duty and told Emma that she would just love the little four year old Foundation Stage students. Suddenly, one came up to me and said, (please insert small child Bristol accent here), 'Miss, Marshall is in the toilet with a bogie on 'is 'ead!' I replied, well, um, yes, that is a problem. What should we do about it? Just then, the little lovely Marshall came out and I swear, I have never seen such a large booger on a child's head before! Be still my stomach! Emma clearly stated EWWWWW! And I was left to deal with the problem. Now, there is a very kind boy in my room who just happened to be passing by. I stopped him and said, I'll give you 2 house points if you wipe that bogie off of Marshall's head! He was thrilled to do it and out he came with a ball of crumpled toilet paper the size of football and yelled, 'Marshall, come 'ere!' Hey, getting house points is worth it! The winning house gets to sit on the benches for the next week's assembly! Worth it to me too as I have a real problem with bogies (pronounced b-long o-gies).
Right then,
cheers!
beth
This is Bonnie's friend Fizz. He lives across the lane, but mostly spends his time along the river's edge catching rats. We think he may be selling them to Mousse at bargain prices. He's the Rum Tum Tugger of cats around here!
