Slime Trails and Bogies

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, That and the Other Thing

Hmm...so? Well...right then.
I can say that we're officially settled. Yes, you know that familiarity that comes with walking into a room and not noticing anything new anymore? Or, the way you feel when you come home from, ah hem shall we say, a rather stressful day on the front lines and the aroma of your house drains away your worries? Well, we have reached that. It's darn pleasant. I really think that being in a new place, with all of the uncertainty of what is waiting around each corner, is very tiring. Your brain's neurons are always firing, making new connections. No wonder babies need 4 naps a day! But, I can say that I'm able to stay up past 9:00p.m. and not be like that giant slug that moves across the back porch in the morning!
I've finally managed to drop some pictures on. I'll just go through and tell you what they are about.

This is the 'Eye' in London. Big Ferris Wheel built for the new millennium. Rather a big tourist drawing card, but none the less, worth the 1/2 hour circumference trip.

A view from the Eye. Brian didn't come on this when we were in London. He has a fear of heights, that or a fear of VISA bills! This cost a hefty 30 dollars each to float above the Thames!

Buckingham Palace and my 3 loves! Notice Prince William walking behind to the left? He's used to getting his picture taken.

For those of you who don't know, that's Loopy Doo, Bonnie's beloved stuffed friend. He came to the Tower of London with us. I think he makes a rather fine looking Beefeater, don't you?

And the one and only Katrina, Emma's Chosen Stuffy! She reminds me a little of Anne Boleyn.

Here's Bonnie with some golden royalty.

We went to Horse World last weekend. The name is unusual because I'm sure that the gentle beasts here are NOT horses. All the same, we had a glorious time walking around and chatting and smoothing the rescued animals.

This is Gracie-May. She was rescued from a horrid situation and now is one of the stars of Horse World. She and Emma got along very well!




We spent the last day of our half term break at Blaise Castle. This is about a 15 minute drive from our house. The day was glorious and sunny. As you can see, E and B had quite a time in the leaves.

There were many trails to explore there, and because the leaves are so beautiful, we just kept on walking and walking!

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!
Stunning Edinburgh--little do these young lassies in the photo know that they are now famous!


Here's Emma at the Museum of Childhood, dressed in Victorian era clothes. Somehow I can't imagine her staying white for very long if she had to wear that!

FINALLY! Brian has found something to do with himself while we're at school!

A view of Royal Mile, Edinburgh.
E and B in front of the Edinburgh Playhouse.

The token phone booth shot.



At the Edinburgh Castle


Coming home on the train in the cargo car! Notice the red balloon? We found that on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, carried it all through our walk, and it provided hours of enjoyment for E and B on the train ride back to Bristol. Kinda like the cardboard boxes on Christmas morning, don't you think?

Guy Fawkes day was much more like a week. Fireworks every night! We would go along the Avon River and just hook up into groups that were setting them off. It was quite fun but rather loud for cats and dogs in the neighborhood.

As for the week in school, much has been happening. We started a unit on Canada. The students are quite interested in Canadian animals. Especially wolves and bears. I realized that it must be similar to me thinking about African animals. It's just so much like a story book!

Also, we have been talking about John Cabot and how he left from Bristol to find Newfoundland. Quite a connection there!

One small boy who is quite naughty in the year 2 class comes in daily to ask me for a chat. Even though he can be a regular handful in his homeroom, he always makes me giggle. The other day, he came in, all proper in his uniform and said, Excuse me Miss...Can we have a chat? Oui, Monsieur! Entrez! I replied. Bonjour, Damham McCormick he said. I speak French too!

Then, because soccer/football's are a treasured item and all hell breaks loose when they are roofed, I agreed after much pleading to climb the ladder, onto this 150 year old school, and knock down the ball. Well, this turned out to be quite a life altering experience. I'm not going to tell you what I found up there!

And, next week is Parent interviews. I will have to report on this one later as I'm quite nervous about the whole thing.

Emma starts violin lessons on Monday. Bonnie is going to take horse riding lessons. We decided that know that we are in familiarity mode, we can tackle a little more during the week.

And, Brian!!! Well, all I can say is "YOU GO GIRL!!" He has signed up for the half marathon in Bath in March. I didn't because some one needs to be on the sideline cheering!

Hmmm...so? Well, right then.

Cheers!

beth

P.S. The Markos win again. The answer to what covers Edinburgh Public Bus Transit seats is....ready for this? TARTAN!!

Okay, this week's question is not so hard or unusual. What do people here call 'sleeping in'?

Black Madge and the Edinburgh Visit!

We're back home! Well, home is now Bristol, so when we got off the train after spending 3 days in Edinburgh, Emma said, 'Wow, Mom, when do you ever get to go on a trip when you are on a trip?' True enough!

Let me start by saying that perhaps you can judge a city's fun factor by the amount of barf outside of pubs. Yes, Old town Edinburgh must be a great place to flex you beer drinking muscles because we found out the'Bonnie' way that there was vomit for everyone. My dear Bonnie! Even in the heart of Scotland she is not immune to disaster for as she skipped down the brick sidewalks, she slipped in a pile, of well, puke and wiped out. I swear that child's Guardian Angel is getting paid over time!

Otherwise, our trip to Edinburgh was fantastic. Here is a city of history and beauty that I have never come across before.

It all started when we left on the train Tuesday morning. Now, the train ride was very gentle and went through the country sides. I don't care how many sheep I see, they are all still so CUTE!!!

We arrived in Edinburgh at about 3 p.m. and checked into B and B. Then we headed out toward the harbour. I even asked for a repeat of directions 'just in case' Brian didn't quite understand. Well, after walking for a few kilometres and only seeing a rather industrial side of Edinburgh, we finally stopped some Scottish beer drinking punks and got proper directions! We ended up having a superb Italian dinner, one in which both girls were filled to pasta capacity! Good thing because we got supremely lost on the way home and ended up walking for at least 2 hours in many directions.

One thing I love about 'trying out' new cities, is getting my mental compass established. Well, I was having a hell of a time doing this--mainly due to lack of sleep and a shared bottle of house red.

So, we played a game. Girl children are always up for this! We would stop at a corner and the next brave person would get to choose which direction we would turn. But, of course, you would have to pay the price of being wrong and be lambasted until the next person saw a recognizable landmark. "I'm sure this is the way! I remember that Tesco Express! (a.k.a. the ubiqutious convience store)" Yeah, right. Thank God for those cab drivers that just take side streets once in a while. We finally flagged one down. After we got to the B and B he gave each girl a keychain with the taxi's phone number and said, 'Keep this in case your parents get lost again!' Hmmph.

The next day we ventured out to the Old Town of Edinburgh. This was a remarkable area of Edinburgh. The old 'Royal Mile' road of cobblestone, the Edinburgh Castle at one end and the Holyrood Palace at the other. The many little shops, museums and cafes along the way enticed us to stop and compare tartan prices! Bonnie was so impressed because she has never been able to find her name on things like pens and Christmas ornaments, but her name appeared everywhere! The best item was a thermometer with Nessie, the Loch Ness monster on it and Bonnie's name next to it.

Then, we walked the mile to the castle and had a splendid day learning about the history of Scotland. The girls were once again, most impressed by the Crown Jewels. The displays there were very informative and engaging. I didn't know that these jewels were hidden in the ground under a medieval latrine in WWII. They were sneakily placed to avoid theft and damage.

This castle sits atop an extinct volcano and at 400 ft. above the city and the Firth of Forth, it is a formidable structure. As we walked through with our audio phones listening to stories of the past, we saw a crowd gathereing. And in visitor style, we joined the fun only to find out that in a mere 32 minutes, a very loud gun would go off signaling 1:00 p.m.

Now, I'm going to tell you this even though Brian will get mad. At one, every afternoon, for the last 200 or so years, a gun has been fired atop of the castle to set the time for sea merchants, trains, etc. So, Brian approaches the officer and asks what time the gun will go off! AHHHHH!!!! I really don' t think that they are going to change the time after 20o years! We were given that look that is reserved only for the misled few.

After spending the rest of the day touring around, we had a pub dinner and then did the scariest thing of all. We took a tour of the underground bridge vaults.

Before I tell you what it is, I must describe the bridge first. As you can see from the picture, the bridge for the most part, is now underground. It spans 7 hills worth of rock. It's best if you do your own research on it if you want to know more. Check out this site: http://www.historic-uk.com/DestinationsUK/EdinburghVaults.htm

Underneath the South Bridge is called the Vaults. Now, these became the homes of very poor people during 18th century and it is reportedly the most haunted place in Britian. So, we decided to take Emma and Bonnie on a night tour of these vaults. Our tour guide arrived to find a group of Starbucks drinking visitors. We stood there rubbing hands and pacing back and forth to warm up and to diffuse our anxiousness.

She swished up in a black long cloak, old hat with net veil and captivated us instantaneoulsy with stories of the past. We were led through small 'closes'--little alley ways, and as we went along, she explained what it would have been like to be living there in the early days of Edinburgh. I would love to share some of the stories with you, but because they were so delightfully horrid in description, I just can't repeat them. She was a professional at her job though and as she watched the junior faces in the audience she realized when to 'put a lid' on the blood and gore stories. Thank goodness for those kids because I really don't think I could slept through the night after that!

Then, we ventured down damp, dark stairs to the vaults. OOOOO!!! Creepy!! Each seperate room came equipped with it's own resident ghost and subsequent stories of encounters. The guide has us all glancing over our shoulders. Black Madge, her name was, left a deep and dark impression on us all.

Now, onto cheerier things. The funny thing is that we didn't see any cats anywhere! Not one! But, we kept alluding to this fact and then we approached the Edinburgh Playhouse and stood out front saying 'Hey, finally there's Cats!' Well, this was our surprise to the girls. We took them to see the musical CATS. They simply adored it.


Grizabella singing 'Memory' brought me to private tears. I know that was one of my mom's favorite songs.


And you know you live with cat lovers when your children can name a cat in their own lives that reminds them of each of the characters in the play!


I just have to tell this funny story. We were sitting in this cafe having tea and this little boy, or should I say, rather rotund little boy walked up with his mom to the cafe. I noticed that he was carrying a bulging green bag, much like that of the Body Shop and I said, Ahh, that's nice. I bet he bought a nice gift for his mom at that store. Emma looked a little closer and then said, Mom, that is a bag from Fudge Kitchen! We giggled and went there after tea.


The girls loved the train ride home. Funny though because it seems like everytime we come home from somewhere, something happens.

Competing with University students returning home can be like shopping for underwear on Sale Day at Walmarts. And because it's a bank holiday on Monday, many students were travelling.




There we were waiting at Platform 3 and 1/2 in York to change trains, fairly oblivious to the crowds of ipod wearing laptop carrying students, when suddenly the train pulls in. Well, as a family of four + 2 suitcases, we didn't have a hope in hell. Needless to say, I think we got the better deal as we had a metal cargo car to ourselves, with one other young man who fell asleep. With his ipod on of course. So, B, E and I had a rousing game of balloon football whilst Brian pulled up some greasy metal to snooze against.


About half way through the trip, the young man's cell phone went off. Us four, stopped and waited for him to wake up and answer it. Especially because the ring tone was playing some dirty rap music! Well, he didn't wake. Nor, at the next stop, or the next.


As a mom, I'm thinking...someone is waiting to pick this exhausted lad up after his first few weeks at University, at some train station that he probably slept through, and now is phoning on his cell to demand to know 'Where the HELL are you?' and he's finally getting the best snooze he's had since leaving home. Right here at the end of the train. On the floor, with us playing Balloon Football.


When he does finally open his eyes, he looks at us as if we're aliens from another time zone. I smile and reassure him that, yes, you are still on the earth, but you have missed 2 urgent calls and probably slept through your stop. He did. He gets off at the next stop and smiles gratefully.


Gosh, you know you're getting on in years, when you are nuturing to a young handsome English university student, and not wanting his phone number. When did that happen??


On to other things...3 stories from Dundry school that left me laughing. First off, a few weeks back, there is a church tower which is directly behind our lovely school. Like I've said before, Edmontonians would travel miles to see something like this.


It was a Monday, rather subdued, when suddenly the church bells started to ring. At first, I thought what a strange day for a wedding. Then I thought, oh, must be a funeral. And, they were rather loud! So, the class and I listened momentarily, and decided that it was probably the latter. But, after a few minutes which turned into an hour, I thought about who would have died that needed bells to toll for a whole hour? Finally it stopped and we could hear ourselves once again.


The next day I brought up the subject in the staff room. Without wanting to offend anyone, I simply stated that the funeral must have been an important one.


But, it was the bell ringing club actually that was trying out the different bell tower for practice. This is a club we definitely don't have in Edmonton.


Then, this lovely church is surrounded by a cemetary. I was chatting with our school administrator whilst delivering the Harvest food collection. I noticed that many of the gravestones were knocked down. This made me sad. These are century old head stones, tall, thin and beautiful. In Edmonton, when you see markers pushed over, you know that some stupid drunk heads were on the premises.


But, to my surprise, Julie told me that the Health and Safety People--a curious group I am sure, came by and pushed them all over. It was a hazard, they decided, to have these upright stones. People could get hurt if those headstones were to tumble upon them. Oh, dear.


Then, this most precious scene. We ring the playtime bell. This is a handheld brass bell that we shake the sheesh out of! I love it!!


Anyway, all little children dressed in blue and white, rushed as word spread, to see under the upper classroom. The upper building, where my class is located and is raised up 2 or so feet. Underneath was a cat. Silly feline...what was she thinking?


I wish I had a picture of this! All of these little blue legs and black shoes laying down, peering and screaming under the building. I imagine that if I were that cat, I'd be thinking that this was an apocalyptic event. No getting out of. But, she risked one life and ran for it.


Being the teacher supervisor on duty, I watched as this stampede of 40 or so children in blue, ran down the stone steps, across the pavement and after this poor kitty. I have not laughed that hard in a loooonnng time. The cat escaped, unscathed. She jumped the enclosure to leap into the cemetary, only to be squished by a fallen headstone! Ok, I'm kidding about the headstone. Oh the sheer joy of it all.

Well, back to work on Tuesday. I'm thinking of trying out some of my Canadian teaching stuff now that I know the students better. Actually, I've talked my dear husband into coming to volunteer in some capacity at Dundry. We'll see how it goes.

And, I must say that the winner of last time's question was my dear friend Kim...all the way from Chilliwack, BC! Flytipping is emptying garbage on the run into some place that is not acceptable.

This week's question: What are the public bus seats all covered with in Edinburgh? (hint: it's NOT barf!)

Not too many pictures this time as the blog site is having a problem downloading them. I'll make a catchup picture site soon of Edinburgh photos!
cheers!
beth

Ps. A special 'HI' to my neice Lizzie from B,B,B and E! And Mousse of course, who is doing much better by the way!

Single Cream, Double Cream, Double Chin

Okay, I'm sad. Not one comment this week. That's it! I'm writing in the colour of blood red just to protest.

Well, partially my fault, as I've been in survival mode this week. Yes, just 'getting on' as they say here. We've been very occupied, both in terms of time and mental energy. Brian comes home tomorrow--PLEASE GOD LET HIS FLIGHT AND BUS NOT BE DELAYED!! I think you get the idea.

This is 'Grave yard cat'. She lives in the grounds around the Shirehampton Village Church and I'm sure she is a ghost!

I love dairy here. the town of Cheddar just around the corner. Cows here even look good enough to eat and all these different varieties of cream! Single, double, clotted and 20 more varieties I'm told. I think that the only thing we give so many catagories to in Edmonton is antifreeze!

Here's the only whole hedgehog I've been able to find. Emma made it when she went to Devon for her induction camp. By the way, it didn't stay whole for very long as Bonnie and I devored it! Much in the same way as the crows eat the fallen hedgehogs roadside here.

So, no huge discoveries this week, but the people postcards have been masterpieces! Let's start with last weekend.

The girls and I headed off to Bath which was stunning and beautiful in its autumn splendor. We love the street performers there. This guy in pink for example, was a unicyclist. I'm trying to convince Brian to wear an outfit like that. It's all the rage here, and as you know, European fashion is two years ahead of us in Canada! Gentlemen of Edmonton, get your tutus on!

Then, on Sunday, we had some very special times! Imagine this....Sunday afternoon, driving to Gloustershire. A hilly, winding road drive to Helen's brother's house. We approach, park and walk up the lane to their home. An old mill converted to houses. Theirs is the end and on the porch is a HUGE pumpkin--although, not like Canadian ones. This one has no telltale lines, like the ones all school kids draw on their scary jack-o-lanterns. I found that very interesting!

Then, we walk into this great stone kitchen (Nick and Andrea would probably say I'm being silly, but this is a kitchen that I might be able to actually create something edible in!) And then, after climbing not one, but two narrow staircases, we find lovely girl children!! Hooray!! Some new friends for E and B! Now, Emma and Bonnie see that these girls have a whole floor---converted attic--to themselves! This was most impressive! And the view of the Gloustershire hills! I`m sure that I would have a few more than necessary sick days if I lived here. Just so I could stare out the window drinking tea.

We had Sunday roast then. Please will someone just invent this in CANADA?!!!
Our walk afterwards went from their house, down through some lanes, up to their allotment (pigged out on Autumn raspberries--I'm not even gonna go there!) and through an alpaca and sheepfield. I'm happy to brag to you readers--this was truly an English experience. One in which only the most creative imagination could conjure up.

And, meeting Helen's brother and sister-in-law was so much fun! I'm just thankful that we have a whole year to meet again--actually we have plans to do a November sleep-over after a Celtic dance night at their hall. I'm bringing pasties for dinner just to let you know!

Then, after saying our good byes and getting home, we were following our noses to the next seating of another amazing dinner. This time with Ben's friend Ben. We got completely lost, but for some reason ended up fairly close to our destination. Ben came and rescued us and we followed with our tail between our legs to Montpelier, a very scenic and aMAZEing place...seriously, the roads through this part of Bristol are like a corn maze. But, we finally arrived and met another group of Bristolians (ok, I'm not sure that this is the correct term). In any case, Chris and her friend Stephane made this chicken and roasted vegetables. And with a giant glass of red wine, and great conversation, I truly thought that I could easily be Provence. Okay, I've actually never been there but after reading Peter Mayle's book, I'm pretty sure that it's a similar experience.

This gang of friends have it figured out. Each Sunday they meet at one person's place and that person is in charge of feeding everyone. I love this idea for many reasons! First of all, I'd be much more inclined to make a stunning meal for others on a Sunday--think leftovers!! Second, it totally alleviated the Sunday night dreads, and third, meeting everyone and just pilling through everyone's weekly gossip was so entertaining. I'm definitely adding this to my list of things that I will do when I get back to Edmonton. Anyone out there want to sign up? It'll give you a year to think about meal planning!

And, the people postcard factor was brilliant there! I've already been attached the moniker of the 'Canadian on Exchange' which suits me perfectly fine! Then there was Stephane, the orthopedic surgeon from France whose English is broken and perfectly charming, Chris, a physical therapist, Darren, an all encompassed computer/numbers guru who is awaiting his new contract, Ben another primary teacher, Ethina (sorry if my spellings are poor here), a Spanish student at U. of Bristol, her daughter Lola who is in year 8 and us. You can imagine us all sitting around this huge old table. Great fun!

Chris' house is a tall and skinny old, and I mean OLD, many story home. People in Edmonton pay years worth of salaries to make their houses look like this. The hardwood floors were foot wide planks, stone walls, interesting twists and turns. I guess there are no companies that can move houses overseas. Damn.

The last 2 weeks in school have been busy. Ok, very busy--I won't lie. At day's end, I'm pretty much pooped and my brain turns off around 8:00. Thank God for the continuous loop of old 'Friends' episodes. The thing about school here is that there are so many dimensions of differences. One thing that I'm really appreciating at the moment is NOT doing report cards. Sorry Ben. I should have warned you about that one.

I'm going to go out on a very thin limb right now. I think that we over assess students in my homeland. Now that I've worked without doing too many tests, quizzez, assignments I realize that kids don't have to be held accountable for every thing they learn. It actually does stick into their pliable little minds without the benefit of studying and regurgitation. Now, on the other hand, I wonder about the effectiveness of changing for phys. ed. classes in England. Ok, my limb is beginning to break. Change of topic. Here is a picture of the Bath Cathedral's main window with 56 scenes of Jesus' life. Wow!

Here's a sad, but true story from the natural world here in Cerney Lane. Each and every day, with the sun's rise, a crew of multisized gulls fly up from the Avon Gorge to line the street lamps and housetops. I thoroughly enjoy watching these little and big poopers arguing over pecking order and such. But I have learned something quite interesting about them. Here's the story.

Last Sunday, as we were walking back from our usual hourly trip to Connie's for treats, Mousse decided to be a road hump. (Yes, that's what they call them. In fact, you can see signs that say things like 'Humps for the next 3 miles'). Back to the story.

So, we approach the street and suddenly a Lurcher darts out from someone's yard. This dog has earned it's disposition let me tell you. So, there's Mousse the road hump, the lurcher breathing down over Mousse, drool dripping, teeth barred, and all time stands still. Now this is where the gulls come in. I'm not lying when I tell you this. Each and every gull stops, turns and with a slight cock of their heads, watches the Jaws and Claws scenario play out. I swear that they were placing bets, those cheeky things.

Seconds pass. No one moves. The gulls are silent and happy to be watching such an event. Rather like people driving by accidents on the road.

Suddenly the lurcher does what he's bred to do. Grabs a whole tailfull of fur and lifts poor dear Moussy off the ground. We all scream, the gulls start paying their debts to each other and Mousse climbs a tree.

The owner of the dog shows up, apologetic (but not really) and we rescue Mousse and hustle her off to First Aid. Both girls are horrified to have seen this, as am I. We're planning revenge on the Lurcher. Any ideas?

Friday night, our dear Darren came over with two prized items. A copy of the Disney movie, Ratatouille and 4 bottles of beer. Much needed and happily appreciated by all.

We are now off for a week. This is where I truly feel for Ben. Please someone, buy him extra ale for the weeks to come!!! He is settling in for a nice round of report cards and interviews, and we are off to Scotland. Hmm...where's the justice in that?

And, just to let you know, the Markos discovered the answer to last time's quiz. Something about a marble quarry. Sadly I'm not really sure of the answer myself now. The tourguide in London said that they had to go all the way to Alaska. Maybe he just made that up thinking that no one would really check it!

This week's quiz is a little easier. What animal made this poo? OH SHOOT!!! Someone erased my photo?! Now, who would do such a thing?

Ok, here's another question. What is fly tipping?

Here's a colourful shot of E and B sporting their new scarves from Marks and Spencer. That's what happens when Dad leaves--the mice will spend!

Here's a picture of me trying to teach E and B the etiquette of tea drinking at Sally Lunn's Bun shoppe in Bath. Notice the motherly look of reproach? Note to self: Don't give daughter the camera!

And, what would it be without a lovely picture of Mousse? She's a bit shy here after the story I told you.

Cheers,

beth

And, to leave you with a real head-turner...Literally!

This is Silver Man. Notice the glass ball in his hand.

Here are some pictures that E and B and I took today when we went for a walk to the Suspension Bridge. The one on the left is the Avon Gorge with the tide out. Below is a view of Bristol from the bridge.

The girls are just horsing around in these other pictures.

This is from Clifton Downs which runs along the top of the cliff looking at the bridge. It was really sunny and warm today!

Inspiration

Funny place this England! Every time you turn around, another thing hits you in the face that you want to record in brain's hard drive.

First and foremost, Brian is going home for his first 6 week visit. Hmmm...I realized quickly that he has become a fifties housewife with the exception of the deep voice and six o'clock shadow. It's funny how you can learn to take advantage of the services of your house husband quickly. No wonder all of those housewives burned their bras in the 60's! They had enough. I'll tell you that he has been our anchor here. Gets us up in the morning, makes us breakfast, sees us off. Then during the course of the day, does the shopping in the village, does the laundry, feeds Mousse, makes our dinner and handles all other affairs. Then, he still has his career to contend with. And from his improved PlayStation 2 Fifa World soccer standings, I assume he's been doing a bit of that. All in all, we will surely suffer here without him. If the way the girls cried at his departure this morning at 7:00 in downtown Bristol's bus station is any indication, I declare survival the skill of the week! Plus, he's cute to boot!

Ok, must apologize for the week long delay in blogspotting. Last weekend pretty much left me in brainfreeze, due to the overwhelming recovery of being in London with 2 girls for 48 hours! I must say though, before telling you of our adventures, that I have realized an important lesson. One in which I have been searching for...sorry for being so filosofical!


Here it is...London, noisy, monstrous, macrocosm of history, cultural treasure chest and Royal toursit shops--anything and everything. It offers an amazing experience for every perspective. WOW! But, compare this to the grade school boys next door who took us across into the grass the other night and taught us to play cricket with their all-in-one cricket kit. Now, that was priceless.


I wanted to give you a taste of our London experience, but my uber-organized house husband filed all of the pictures onto his laptop, which of course are in Edmonton! I'll include some next time.


Here's a run down of the weekend. Off to London on coach at 8:00, arrived and hooked up onto a 24 hour hop on hop off double decker tour. This definitely beats the old backpack tube to the nearest 'must see'. I actually understand the layout of London! And, let me tell you that it is not as complicated as it seems!


Our first hop off was Hyde park and prepacked lunch of squished sandwiches. Funny, we're sitting in these lovely beach like chairs, eating and talking about how we need to find a bank machine when who walks up? But the chair charger! Yes, in fact, the chairs cost 2 quid an hour. Dishonestly we say we'll be back to pay as soon as we find an ATM. So, back on the tour bus, with headphones included, through Picaddily Circus and then onto the Tower of London. We had a great time there learning about the history and the Ravens. Girls were quite impressed by Crown Jewels...opened up the opportunity to tell them to marry rich (hee hee). KIDDING!!! You guys are all so proper!


Then, ventured back to SoHo for some amazing pizza, a bottle of wine to calm mom and dad's anxiety, and then off to Hamley's. 5 floors of toys. Yes, boys and girls, this was an adventure of pure self control...for me. And, then Chinatown on Saturday night. The girls let me smell their clothes when we got home and I could identify the odor. Roast duck!!


The tube ride to the hotel was fun. There's poor Bonnie who didn't realize that you need to HOLD ON to something--she went flying down the car into someone's luggage. That kid sure knows how to pull herself together. For example, the other night we decided to all go on a night walk along Clifton Downs, a beautiful scenic view of the Avon Gorge, and she ran ahead to hide and pop out to scare us as it was dark. Little did she know, she hid in a pile of thorn ridden bramble arms, just waiting for a young juicy fleshy child to venture into, and with her knitted poncho and bare legs was hopelessly caught up. EWWW! The cry of a child entwined in bramble is not peaceful. Her legs are covered in scratches and gouges. Just like the time she fell face first onto the barnacles on Gabriola island.


But this is the point where I must interject with someone's 15 minutes of fame. On the tube ride, out to a rather obscure area of London, Brian chatted with an East Indian fellow. This man, probably in his early sixties, greying and missing a few teeth, was so kind. And real. He told us of his family and how some were living in Canada--maybe we know them? They are in Toronto? And how he lives here, runs a shop. Human postcards. That's what travelling is about.


Sunday morning, we're on the tour bus again. We actually made the cutoff to the Thames River tour, jumped off at the London Eye, spun around once to view the neverending landscape of brick and architecture. Then, wandered through the Big Ben and parliament buildings. E and B couldn't wait to see the Buckingham Palace. Only a few blocks walk through stunning old trees and giant squirrels (pictures to come) of St. James Park to end up at the Palace. You know, for all of the royal glitz and accolades, we maybe were just too tired, but even the girls were just plain unimpressed by this fortress. Ooohh.. that's gonna cause some fur ruffling.


A pub dinner and hopped on the coach to come home. Now, this is where the adventure starts. Halfway through the ride, someone approaches the bus driver and says, Excuse me. But where the hell are we? As we are sitting near the front, my ears perk up and as I assume most travel in England is efficient, I am eager to hear WAZ UP. So, the driver, in his broken English, yells, Can't you see I'm busy driving...bug off. Well, shit folks. We're in Birmingham. 2 hours north or so of Bristol. The bus suddenly gets wind of this. Mostly, University students coming back to Bristol, half sleeping/ half studying. A football game mentality prevails. Shit. So much for reading peacefully and getting home early.


Finally, with the leadership of a Survival episode canidate, a motherly lady in the front approaches the driver. Only to get the same '"£$%£^£%*£^£ Off' response. (Notice all of the Pound symbols?) Suddenly there's an army of cellphones being turned on and an eruption of people's voices saying that they'll be late. But, the motherly woman in the front calls the National Express bus line and explains what is going on. We are heading towards Birmingham, meant to be at Bristol, and the bus driver will not communicate what is going on. A global response to someone else's mistake ensues. What the?!! Who the HELL??!! What is this guy doing??!!


I'm actully quite amused at this point. I think to myself, Let it play out. Who cares if we are home at midnight. And, watching the crowd on the bus, panic, complain, and angry. I put myself in the driver's shoes. As it turns out, he has taken a different route--maybe a bit too different--due to an accident on the major highway. But, the motherly lady saves the day by passing out the Incident Number and gets us all free bus tickets for our next journey. That's why I was tired.





This week's been good at school for the girls. Emma's off to an induction camp on Tuesday to Devon. Lucky girl! They are going to a dairy farm and coming back Wednesday. Then, Bonnie and I have made it through another week.

I did my first parent/school assembly on Friday as Jenny (the Head of Dundry) left poorly (that means 'not feeling up to snuff' in Canada). It went well, as I introduced each class' performance but then passed the buck to the Kindergarten teacher to sing the Happy Birthday. I said that in Canada we sing it differently. I was sure of it! But, to my dismay, she sang it in the regular Canadian rendition. I looked towards Bonnie in the crowd and she gave me this puzzled look. Now, that wouldn't be such a problem, except that parents came up to me afterwards and asked what they sing in Canada for birthdays?


Now then, just to end things off, B, E, and I (minus the other B) spent the day at the Shirehampton library and village. We are going to read, watch movies, and make a less than 'up to snuff' Thanksgiving dinner.


Cheers!


beth



ps. I almost forgot--Jenna won the contest. A conker is a nut from a tree that you can throw at naughty people or you can play a game with.
Here's Emma and Bonnie's rendition of a Harry Potter Photo.

This week's contest...This is a hard one! In Trafalgar Square, there's this dude on a column. Nelson his name is. So, a few years back, his left arm was blown off by lightning. They decided to replace it, but the marble quarry that made the first arm has since closed. Where did they have to go to get the new marble for his new left arm? This one is worth a big prize.

New Neighbors are NOT a Good Thing

Ok, this is weird. A few days ago, a caravan of trailers and people arrived on the grassy space across from the row. They are called 'gypsies' and for all intents and purposes, are basically wandering people who pull into open spaces to live. Now, I consider myself a very tolerant and politcally sensitive person, but the only name that I could come up with to describe this group of people are A Society of Human Warts. I'm going to go out on a limb here because it SO MADDENING!!

Let me explain before you make judgement on MY judgement. Yes, the term 'gypsies' sends connotations of poor vagrant migratory workers in your head. But, these, dear friends, are not the same species. These are people that drive BMW's, have brand new big-assed trailers, wear nice clothes and have expensive dogs. Yes, I'm still talking about the caravan that moved into the grass where neighborhood children play football and dogs frolic for fun.

Now, after speaking with different members of this precious community, we are told that this is fairly common! These caravans pull into public or private property, set up residence, work at temporary employment and basically live for free. They don't pay taxes, children don't go to school consistently and they think that this is their God given right!

So, a 6-7 week stint is usually what they can get on their new grounds before the legal documents are produced and they are evicted. But, we got lucky! Heavens! Their unsupervised nastyassed little purebred dogs bit 2 children that were walking home from school and therefore, they received an emergency eviction to leave DAMN QUICK! We watched as they basically let their children roam and piliage for fun, threw their garbage into the river banks and established a makeshift highway through the neighborhood's grassy play areas. I can't say how this troubles me. They have absolutely no respect for other people, feel that they have rights to be wanderers, leave a stinkin' shabby mess and drive cars that I know I will never touch steering wheels with in my lifetime.

When all of the police showed up, they organized themselves into a freaking 'leaf-cutting ant' trail and blew out of here, with the wierdest smirks that I have ever seen on human faces.

That has had an impact on me this week. What societal sucking human warts. Ok, I'm done venting. At least we got our grassy field back. I know tread marks will grow over, but the treads in my faith in human kind will take a little longer.

Okay, now on to more pleasant stuff. Had a great week with the Dundry gang! We are making animated movies of Beowulf and once again I find myself having to learn before I can teach. I've heard of Beowulf, but if you had asked me who he was, I'd probably have said that he was a buddy of Nosferatu. A human monster or something. Good thing I did my homework.

And then, only a handful of bust 'em up fights took place. Brave, brave Jenny! She's the wonderful Headmaster with patience and wisdom that I can only aspire to. Her dealings with the kids are heartfelt, honest and effective. This is definitately like being back at University again, except I get to sit on the real life sidelines and figure out why this way of teaching and disciplining is somewhat foreign to me. Don't get me wrong, differences are not negatives!

Rough points about the week--Emma and Brian got lost for 2 hours on Thursday night coming home from a science open house at Emma's school. Now I can honestly say that I know how my parents must have felt when I didn't come home on time. After the first hour, I moved to sit on the stairs, then at 10:00pm, I moved into the front porch, and in the last half hour I started to pace. Even the lovely Mousse was feeling my anxiety. Finally they got home, safe and sound. Of course, the first thing I said to them was 'WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN!!!" So much for missing them.

We also got slammed with a vagrant virus that us Canucks aren't resistant to. Bronchitis, flu, general blah-body hit last Sunday. Mostly we just got up to drink "Lemsip", our equivalent to NeoCitron. Did the trick.

Today we went to Wells. I love how the names of these cities are so very descriptive of what they have to offer. Wells, well, believe it or not, is built around a natural spring and runs underground throughout this beautiful town. It is also home of one of the few Medieval Cathedrals in England. We are SUCH tourists! We parked and then walked and came upon a beautiful church surrounded by lush green grass. I stopped to take pictures, and then realized as I looked above and beyond the tower, that there was another staring down upon that one, like it was a little buddy. Yes, I was only looking at a simple church (perhaps simple, but in Canada we'd drive big km's and pay big bucks to even see this one!). Stunning was the big brother that loomed overhead. Over 300 sculptures, the second oldest working clock in the world, and stained glass that would leave your eyes in a tizzy. And that was just the entrance. Check this one out, church lovers at http://www.sacred-destinations.com/england/wells-cathedral.htm. It's worth the techno-trip.

Then, we wandered through markets and eventually drove to...brace yourself shoe lovers...the Clark's shoe Village. The actual shoe factory and wholesale store. I've told people here that Clarks in Canada, are only sold in expensive speciality shoe stores. So, beads of sweat formed. My heart raced and I turned to Brian said--I'll BE BACK. Two sets of shoes and 2 hours later, I returned, smiling at my accomplishment of buying not one, but two pairs of shoes (as compared to the measly one pair that I could afford in a year in Edmonton.)

Well, that would be it for this week. I would like to publicly say THANK YOU to Darren, Ben's friend who lent us his SatNav that led us in all of the right directions this week. That in itself is worth taking him on a cruise to Alaska or something.

Oh, and no one knew the answer to the yellow door--except Ben who can't win a Yorkie Chocolate bar because he's from England. It's Johnny Depp who lives there.

New question: What do you do with your conker? (No naughty answers please!)

Cheers and until next time.

beth

PS. Just leaving you with a few candid shots.

Emma and Bonnie on the SS Great Britian.

Me in a corset at the fashion museum. I'm not smiling--I'm grinning in pain as they tied me up too tight!

This is a funny shot of Emma in the Wells market. She found this pile of slushy ice and said, 'Look! They have snow!' Then, she picked it up and squished it between her fingers. I laughed though knowing that this snow came from the fish market behind her and I told her to smell her hands!

And of course, what would it be...without the lovely Mousse!