Random musings...

So, today I’ve decided to transfer all of the random things I’ve jotted down in my notebook that haven’t made it into a blog yet. Brace yourselves….I think this is going to be a long one……

First and foremost, I am getting tired of people asking me if I’m an American. While I may lapse into British-esque pronunciations of words and phrases, ninety-nine percent of the time, I know I sound as American as can possibly be. Some random obnoxious fellows at the pub last week guessed Canadian, which was closer than the Irish assignment I got from the waiter at the Indian restaurant I went to the second weekend I was here. In all fairness though, the Indian guy didn’t speak English very well, so I suppose I should cut him some slack.

However, no leniency will be shown to any person for whom English is their first language.

I also have noticed that I need to cut down on how much American slang I use. For example, when discussing being propositioned for tutoring one of Conrad’s friends, I remarked, “Yeah, Harry’s mom hit me up to do some maths tutoring sometime in August.” That one got blank stares. Also confusing: “hit the lights”, “pick up your room”, and “bus your dishes please”.

On the other hand, I am quickly acquiring new words as well. I ask for local newsagents when I need to find a newsstand, tutor maths instead of math, and I now know the difference between pants and trousers (although I still use pants when I mean trousers….old habits).

New topic. Because of recent events (namely, trying to make a new friend), I have been forced to ride various modes of public transportation all by my lonesome. Hooray!! Now I’m comfortable enough with it to begin my adventures around the city, playing tourist until I’ve had my fill of landmarks and museums. Hopefully the weather will get decent enough to where I won’t have to be so concerned with getting caught in a downpour (although I have learned to carry an umbrella in my purse).

You’ll have to forgive me for being silly, but my first trip on the tube scared the crap out of me. Remember, I’ve lived my entire life in the suburbs, and my experience with trains had been a few rides on Amtrak during college. I own a car, and that pretty much explains it. I’m also a tiny bit claustrophobic, and a tiny bit phobic about being in crowds of people.

So, the prospect of being in an enclosed space with tons of strangers caused a rising panic as Conrad and I took the escalator down to the platforms at the local tube station. At Clapham South, there is one way in and out of the platforms: a single long escalator that seemed to stretch on forever that first time. Depending on the weather, there’s a breeze that rushes up the escalator and ruffles your hair. I could feel the weight of the ground above press down more and more insistently the further down the escalator went. Once aboard the train, I wasn’t prepared for how much motion there was. I am still reminded of Big Thunder Mountain every time I ride the tube, especially when the train goes around corners. I’ve also discovered that looking at the train cars ahead of me freaks me out a bit, and trying to watch the ads on the walls at the stations as the train moves past gives me vertigo.

But. I am ever so happy that I don’t have to drive. That alone outweighs any panic that might linger (which, thankfully, there doesn’t seem to be any anymore). There are lots of folks that make for interesting people-watching, and did I mention that I don’t have to drive? The only downside is that it’s hard to jot notes down when the train is moving. My handwriting gets all illegible.

I also saw Pharrell’s lovechild on the bus to Conrad’s tutor. He was calmly eating fried chicken. Amazing.

I’ve decided that it would be difficult for me to date a serious swimmer. They’d probably have smoother legs than I do, and that would just weird me out.

There is an Aston Martin parked up the way on my street. For those who aren't familiar, this is what constitutes "sex on wheels" in Great Britain.

I quite agree. The only thing wrong with this one? It's an automatic. So disappointing. That makes it lose at least 25 sexy points.

There’s a whole ‘nother bit about being a grownup, but I think that will have to wait for another day, as it’s quite lengthy.

More later…..

Waxing poetical....

I’ve discovered that I have had a secret love for rain for a very long time. As you may or may not have heard, there has been a pretty much non-stop rainstorm going for the past couple of weeks. Parts of England are without running water, the flooding has been so bad.

And yet, here I am, at 11:30 on a Saturday night, waiting to start the movie I picked to watch in order to sit and listen to the rain falling through the plants in the garden outside my window. Tonight isn’t a particularly vicious storm, just a gentle rain that sounds more like a stiff breeze pestering the greenery. I’ve got a cat curled up at my feet, freshly-laundered sheets, and took a long hot bath earlier, all of which adds up to be one of the most comfortable and comforting moments I’ve experienced lately. At least, that I can think of at this instant.

Part of me wants to sit on my windowsill until I get tired of being rained on. The other part is happy to remain where I am, snuggled up under the covers with Mr. Bear.

The rain has picked up, working its way to a steady patter outside. There’s a faint suggestion of thunder, but it’s more likely to be the rumble of a passing airplane. I taught Conrad the trick of counting the seconds between lightning and thunder to judge how far the storm is and which way it’s moving, but he wasn’t too impressed.

I discovered last night that Ben and Jerry have made their way to the UK. Terrible discovery, and thanks again to the evil person who brought it to my attention (you know who you are, and I’ll get you back someday). But somehow I think their coffee ice cream would make right now just about perfect.

It’s like watching a lava lamp, listening to the rain. You get so focused on the repetition, everything else fades out.

And you forget what you sat down to do in the first place. Like I have right now.

I am turning into a hippie. Rats!

Harry Potter and food

Harry Potter is done.

I'm not really sad, in truth, I feel sort of relieved. I don't like waiting for authors to publish the next book in a series. One of the other guys I'm reading likes taking at least two years to get the next book out because he spends too much time going to conventions and crap.

Anyway. I won't say anything about the book, so don't worry. I'm happy it's over. Now I can get back to reading other things, like Umberto Eco or Faulker.

But, before I can do that, I'm going to catch up with this first. Because it's something near and dear to my heart, and I love making it, I'm going to talk about food first.

First of all, I have never had so many different ethnicities to choose from. Everything from Portuguese to Nepalese. It's amazing. I've decided that I really enjoy Indian food. And fish and chips.

However, as I suspected, Mexican food is sorely under-represented here. The first week I got here, I didn't have tons of dinner ideas, so I figured I'd just fix fajitas one Tuesday night since most of the Mexican food I make is super-quick and super-easy. They were such a hit with Julian and Conrad, that it was declared that every Tuesday night should be Mexican night. In the grocery store, Mexican food fixings can be found in the "World Foods" section between Thai food spices and Indian food spices, and it gets about six feet of shelf space spread out over three shelves. You can buy do-it-yourself nacho kits, complete with instructions! And everything is Old El Paso brand. Auntie-Claus, if you read this, I desperately need Sadie's!!! Even the spicy salsa here is bland and too heavy on tomato paste.

And while one might think that you could make a fortune by opening a legitimate Mexican food restaurant, you'd never be able to serve anything truly spicy and manage to be successful. Oddly enough, one of the mini-grocery stores carries Tabasco, so I bought some to pep things up this week. As I shook some out onto my burrito, Julian made this terrible strangling gasping noise as though he had started to choke on something. Turns out it was just shock at how much Tabasco I put on my food. Conrad had a friend spending the night, so the two boys had a competition to see who could put more drops on their food. The competition stopped after two drops. Drops. Not tablespoons, not teaspoons, drops. This inability to handle spicy food is a bit confusing when you take into account the popularity of Thai and Indian foods. The curries from both groups can be painfully spicy, and I've had Thai food that sends me running for milk and TUMS. Somehow it just doesn't get translated over to Mexican food. Oh well. So long as I can get the necessary ingredients to make it for myself, I'm not too worried about the lack of El Toritos here.

I am happy to report that the burgers here are pretty much on par with the burgers back home. But then again, it's pretty hard to screw up a hamburger. I will say that I have found that I prefer English chips to American French Fries. I'm tempted to stop into a McDonald's to see if the fries are the same, but who wants to go to McDonalds when you can get fish and chips?

Speaking of fast food joints, I've seen Domino's, Pizza Hut, KFC, and McDonald's. Oh, and Subway. But why the hell you'd pay for Subway when you can walk into any grocery store or go to a Pret a Manger and get THE best readymade sandwich you've ever had in your life for half the price is quite beyond me. Without a doubt, the sandwiches are incredible.

Starbucks was worse than it is in the states. And the guy looked at me blankly when I asked for a venti coffee. I then asked for a large drip coffee. Still got a blank stare. Asked for a filter coffee. Still with the blank stare. I finally resorted to pointed and mouthing "coffee", which actually worked, but then he discovered that there wasn't any ready. Are you kidding? You mean I actually managed to walk into a Starbucks that didn't have any plain black coffee ready to go? Not only that, but the kid didn't even know they didn't have any ready. Unbelievable. And the coffee was crap. But I knew that was going to be the case, I was just a touch homesick that day and thought that chicory-heavy coffee would be just the remedy. Oops. Safe to say, I won't be going back any time soon. Besides, I have since discovered that Caffe Nero makes a fantastic Americano.

Rats. I'm tired and it's late. Tutoring has been going well, and I am very happy that the weekend is very nearly here. I may try and get out this weekend and see some more sights, or at least take an actual day off and get out of the house.

At any rate, time for bed now. Hasta luego!

Tourism and pubs....

Right.

So things have been going along quite fantastically since I last wrote. Conrad and I now do an hour of tutoring after breakfast every morning, and today I discovered that he understands the basics of simple algebra (x + 15 = 27......x = 12.....etc, etc, etc). This gave me tons of hope for actually being able to improve his ability to do math before he goes back to school in the fall. Basic algebra at 10. Good times.

But......tourism and pubs, before I digress....

I went to two excessively touristy things on Tuesday. The weather was gorgeous, so we got on the tube headed toward the London Eye. I didn't know exactly where it was in relation to some of the other extraordinarily well-known landmarks in London, all I knew was that you could see a lot of them once you got up in the ginormous ferris wheel. I'm a bit scared of ferris wheels, on a side note. Anyway, once we got down there, I decided that the line to get on was way too long, but that Conrad and I could just wander around and check out whatever happened to be in the vicinity. Our first plan was the aquarium, until I found out we had to pay to get in (I hadn't brought that much cash with me, and I had no idea how much admission was going to be. So we kept walking towards the Thames, and then turned left.

Parliament. Big Ben. I was so completely unprepared for seeing them both, I had to stop walking. I got goosebumps and my eyes went all misty, and it finally hit home that I am not in Kansas any more. Fantastic. Of course, my camera isn't working again, so I'd left it at home.

Then Conrad decided he wanted to go to the Star Wars Exhibition. Needless to say, I didn't require too much persauding. A tourist trap to say the very least, but I was so entertained by the "Jedi Training" little show, I've decided it was worth the money. There were also lots of production-type things on display, which I also enjoyed. Natalie Portman is waaaaaaaaay tinier than I had originally thought (they had a bunch of Amidala costumes). So that was the first super-touristy thing I did.

The second involved two orders of fish and chips and a big wall. Conrad and I were hungry, so we walked to a restaurant that did takeaway and both ordered fish and chips. We walked back to the river and ate lunch across from Parliament. I got to hear Ben chime both the quarter and half hours. Again, goosebumps. Second touristy thing I did.

At least I didn't take pictures.

Okay.

So. Now, on Wednesday, after the exhiliration of teaching algebra to a 10-year-old and actually having him understand, I met a wonderful chap for drinks. Had a fabulous time making fun of just about everything, and each round tried a different beer, and enjoyed each different one. If only I could remember the names.....Wiggledance or something was one......tried Fruli (strawberry beer...a bit sweet, but tastes great).....Oyster....which was a better version of Newcastle......and something else that has a high alcohol percentage.

Good times.

Anyway, towards the end of the night, we were sitting downstairs making fun of "that girl" (you know, the one who gets too drunk and winds up making out with the horrifically unattractive fellow because she's got beer goggles that make everyone look like Brad Pitt).....when I notice that the guy across from us (not the one making out with "that girl") is drinking a Corona.

What?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

With all the good beer to be had, why on earth would you drink Corona? I maybe could've understood if he'd had super-spicy enchiladas or something (since I'm under the impression that only Mexican beer can reduce the spicy of Mexican food....not counting milk, the wonderful cure-all for any food that is too spicy).

We laughed about that too.

But. It's late, and since I have to tutor every morning, I really should get some rest.

More later.....

But I've been busy.....

Okay, so I know I’ve been a bit lax about putting something new up, but it’s been really really really really busy here. I will post a few within the next few days because I have tons to cover.

First thing: Justin Timberlake.

That’s right, I got to go to a Justin Timberlake concert. Jealous? You should be. Fergie was the opening act, and Timbaland joined Mr. Timberlake for a few numbers. Timbaland also got half an hour to himself to just spin some phat beats during this weird intermission which I think was just to allow Mr. JT$$ (JT Money) to take a rest because not only was he singing and dancing, he’s also learned how to play both the piano and the guitar. AND THE KEYTAR. Yep. That’s right. The keytar. A white one. I almost peed my pants.

Lost respect for him though when they did a tequila shot onstage and he made a face after it was over. Come on now, don’t drink tequila if you can’t drink it without making faces. You’d think he’d be able to afford Patron if he can't handle Cuervo Gold.

Anyway, the concert actually was completely entertaining, and I had an awesome time. I didn’t get to shake my bum like I normally would because I was there with both Conrad (the kid) and Julian (the dad), so I didn’t want to do anything that would cost me respect points. Like showcasing the tricks I learned from Neena and Veena’s Bellydancing for Beginniners (woot). I bought a concert t-shirt and a button, and Conrad and I both had cotton candy (which they call “candy floss” over here, and it comes in a bucket, not on a stick…poo). I was also excited to hear American accents again (hadn’t heard any since I got off the plane…)

And the sexy was brought back. I’m so glad it had gone missing, because otherwise I would not have been able to experience its return.

Okay, so that was Sunday, July 8th. Today is Wednesday, July 18th. Ten days to cover. I’ll sort of gloss over things and make a promise to go into further detail about the following topics: Northcote Road, Kings Road, the age of everything, being a grownup, and swim club. For now. I’m sure there will be more.

So. After ending/starting the week with JT$$ on the 8th, it was time for Conrad’s last week of school. The painters came by again on Monday and finished up, so I rolled up my sleeves and got to work cleaning the house after I dropped Conrad off at school on Tuesday morning. Six hours of nonstop cleaning later, it was time to get Conrad, and I had just finished the downstairs. Here are pictures of the living room and kitchen, which are the only two rooms downstairs:

Yeah. Not a whole lot to clean. But I had been told by everyone that Sonja (the mom) is a ridiculous neat freak, and she was due back from Morocco on Thursday, so I wanted to get everything nice and sparkling before she got back (the cleaning lady that comes on Thursdays does a crap job). I oiled the wood furniture and polished all the metal, swept, vacuumed, mopped, washed windows, bla bla bla. My mother taught me how to clean. I was exhausted by the end of it all. Find out that Wednesday is the school’s sports day, so Julian’s mom picked me up after I took Conrad to school that morning, and we trundle off to one of the commons to watch the kids compete in a few different track and field events. I meet some of the other parents, but they deserve their own post entirely, so I’ll save those details for that…

We froze our asses off at sports day. I had half a dozen cups of instant coffee from the PTA’s refreshment table, plus a double espresso from the semi-ritzy Italian pizza joint across the street. Suzy (Conrad’s grandma) and I chat about child psychology as it pertains to Conrad, her fussy digestive system, and she asks about my tongue ring and whether or not I’ve noticed anything strange in my body functions since everywhere is an acupuncture point and she wonders which one the tongue ring has gone through. Had fun, but was glad to get out of the cold once it was all over. Had my first batch of English fish and chips for dinner. Fan-tastic. I think I’ll have to have another post about the food I’ve had since I got here……

Thursday is open day and prizegiving. Basically, it’s a big open house lasting most of the day, with a sort of awards assembly in the evening that all the parents sort of dress up for. The open house was fun, until Conrad ditched me at lunchtime and I sat on the curb, reading one of the books I picked up at a local thrift shop (I have made it my mission to go visit more thrift shops, as they are wonderfully fabulous, and once I’ve made it to a few more, they will get their own post as well). I don’t mind being the only one reading a book, but I felt a bit awkward with all the kids running about and the parents chatting with one another. I did meet another au pair, but we didn’t really get on that well, and there’s a bit of a language barrier (I don’t speak French).

Prizegiving is ridiculous, and will have to wait for its own post. Sorry.

So that brings us to Friday the 13th. Last day of school. Things are a bit of a blur now because Sonja is back. If you know her, then you understand what I mean. If you don’t….well….Hard to explain.

Grocery shopping on Saturday. I’m now starting to get the hang of grocery stores. Hooray! Barbecued for dinner, and had amazing sausage along with my ever-popular mashed potatoes.

Made one of my famous cheesecakes Sunday morning (used crème fraiche instead of sour cream. I think I’m one step closer to the perfect cheesecake recipe…although I will never use a springform pan for cheesecake ever ever ever ever ever again…should’ve listened to Alton Brown on that one…..)

Also went to Kings Road to go to a shop to order more shelves for Conrad’s room. More on Kings Road and the posh shops later….

New carpet got installed on Monday, so we spent Sunday afternoon/night bringing everything from the bedrooms upstairs to the living room downstairs. It was 75 degrees with 80% humidity at 11:30 on Sunday night. Ridiculous. And not a breeze to be felt anywhere, even though we had every window in the house open.

New carpet on Monday, then have to bring everything back upstairs. Not fun, and also very sweaty. Again.

I also got introduced to what ironing is like with Sonja. Basically, I’m supposed to iron everything. Except for knickers (underpants) and bras. And that includes ironing bedsheets, duvets, pillowcases, and towels. Took me half an hour to figure out how to successfully iron a fitted sheet!! This is what my pile looked like when I was half finished:
I still have ironing to do. It’ll probably take me a couple of hours to finish up. Crazy. I have a super-nice iron to work with though, which is wonderful. If I had to iron that much with a crappy Wal-mart iron, I think I’d commit suicide with the power cord.

Now. Tuesday Conrad and I go back to Kings Road to go to Peter George, to exchange Conrad’s John Lewis school rugby jersey. Peter George is a department store, and John Lewis is a brand name. I want to meet John Lewis, he’s everywhere from all-purpose cleaner to shower curtains to school uniforms and everything in between.

Conrad and Sonja both have decided to make a project out of me. Sonja claims she’s going to get me away from beer and over to champagne, with nice posh boyfriends who drive ritzy cars and buy me nice presents. Conrad seems to have the same designs. We’ll see. I’m not saying that I won’t let them influence me at all (because let’s face it, working at Sole Technology really put me into a jeans and t-shirt rut), but I’m going to do my best to resist any snobbery they may try to impart upon me.

So that brings us to today, Wednesday, July 18th. Conrad and I walked forever to go to the fabric store and get the things needed to make me a new purse (I think it’s going to be really cute…). The weather was gorgeous, and he and I only got into one major power struggle/boundary test/battle of willpower over setting the table for dinner. It’s getting better every day….Although next week we have to start our daily tutoring sessions. That’s going to be like pulling teeth for at least a couple of weeks.

In other news, I am starting to get pictures uploaded onto http://www.kodakgallery.co.uk/

Here is a link to the latest ones…..
http://www.kodakgallery.co.uk/I.jsp?c=92h06vdp.6xh4zep9&x=0&y=ie0j24

As always, I am keeping up with posting pictures on facebook.

It is now very late, and I am very tired, so I’m going to end it here. Either tomorrow or this weekend I will work on the individual topics that I’ve promised separate posts on. We’ll see how busy Conrad keeps me.

Hope everyone is having fun….

Weather and such

As I've mentioned previously, the clouds here are fantastic. The only problem is, the pretty fluffy white ones often end up being not so pretty.

It was quite warm this morning. I walked to the grocery store around 10, and I considered putting on my bikini top and sitting out in the garden in order to get a bit of color. Realized I had a bunch of ironing to do, so I vetoed the idea.

The weather continued on smashingly well until I realized it was about time to leave to pick Conrad up from school. Rather than a lightbulb overhead, I got a thunderclap. Hastily threw an umbrella into my purse, and ran out the door.

About 20 steps later, the skies opened, the wind picked up, and I managed to get fairly wet in the scant amount of time it took to fish out the umbrella and get it sorted.

At least I got the thunder, otherwise I would've gotten a cold.

First things first....

So I’ve been in the UK for a week now, and I’ve finally gotten some time to sit down and write the first of many updates that I will be posting through the course of my adventures in Britland.

To be covered today: Wal-mart, Don Imus, romance novels, and various other things.

So, from the beginning…

Got up sinfully early last Friday in order to begin my travels. Had my last cig ever on the way to the airport, and got onto the plane to PHX, no problem (remember, I’m flying space available the whole way…). Plane pushes from the gate, begins to taxi toward the runway, and the captain gets an error message about his flaps. Wonderful. Return to the gate, where the fine MX crew at SNA fixed the problem, and we were off. I think I slept, not sure.

I really dislike the PHX airport. Of all the airports I’ve been in, PHX is the only one that reminds me of Wal-Mart. People are so casual when flying these days. I saw more people in pajamas and sweatpants than I did in slacks and a nice shirt. I’m not saying that everyone should wear their Sunday best, but goodness gracious, how about a little effort? I felt completely out of place in my dress, even though it is a simple cotton affair. And my cute heels just compounded the problem (especially when I had to run to the other end of the airport for a flight that I ended up not getting a seat on). Got a seat on the second flight, however, and fell asleep before we pushed back from the gate. The captain gets an error message about the cargo door hydraulics while we’re waiting to taxi to the runway (some idiot ramper probably forgot to close the door all the way). Wait for MX, who has to re-cycle the system. Everything checked out, so on we went.

PHL is an interesting airport. Some of their cops ride Segues. I had a private gigglefest after I saw that. Once again, I had to walk from one end to the other, and I didn’t have time to stop at the airport’s cheesesteak stand, but I did get some cold medicine and more water. After lots of calls back and forth with Mummy, I got on the plane. And, because I have the bestest, most prettiest Mother in the whole wide world, I got to sit up in first class (although on US Airways it’s more like business class). Heaven. And I didn’t feel out of place because I was wearing a dress. Ate filet mignon, drank champagne, watched Pan’s Labyrinth, fell asleep watching The Lion King. Woke up, ate breakfast, then began our final descent into London Gatwick Airport. My first impression once we broke through the clouds was “Damn, it’s green!”

Got harassed by customs, struggled to get all of my luggage on the train, but managed somehow and took a seat. Picked the wrong damn car. Bunch of obnoxious old people from Newport Beach were seated just ahead of me. What are the odds? I travel halfway around the world to get away from OC snobbery, and then manage to sit in the same train car with it. Bonkers. Meet Julian (the dad) and Conrad (my charge) at London Victoria Station (which is huge), go outside to the car, and, force of habit, try to get in on the right. Der. That’s the driver’s side. Feel like an idiot, blame jet lag and lack of sleep, and go on my merry way.

So now I live in Balham. I haven’t gotten a chance to take pictures around town (my camera isn’t working at the moment), but the few I was able to take are posted on facebook. Leave a comment with your email address and I'll let you know how to get to them. Below is a picture of the street I now live on...
The house is adorable. Enough books I haven’t read and movies I haven’t seen to keep my busy for several months. My room is perfect, and it’s fantastic to be sleeping in a bed again. I haven’t really watched much TV yet, although I was a bit taken aback when I heard someone drop the f-bomb several times during a reality show about British binge drinking. No censoring, no beeps, just the f-word in all of its shocking auditory glory.

They have 4 cats, all of whom are prone to curling up on your lap if you sit down on the couch, although they don’t seem to be too keen on sleeping at the foot of one’s bed.

My weekday routine is as follows:
Wake Conrad up at 7, 7:30, eat breakfast, get him ready for school, leave the house by 8:05. Walk him to school. After I get back, I usually fix myself a cup of tea, then sit down for a bit and either read or watch a movie. After that, I do dishes and tidy up the house. This past week, there have been two friends of Sonja’s over to paint the hallway, and I’ve had a good time chatting it up with them. I then walk to pick up Conrad, then, depending on the day, get him ready for swim club or tutoring, or get him started on his homework. We have dinner around 7, after which he empties the dishwasher, and I do dishes. We watch a bit of a movie, then, at 9, he gets ready for bed, and I read to him until 9:30, when it’s lights out (I’m reading him The Hobbit, we’re only on chapter two). After that I might do some ironing, or just go straight to bed, as I’m usually pretty tuckered out by 10. I have weekends off (usually).

Conrad’s school was built in the Victorian Era, and I think I would’ve gladly given up at least a pinkie finger to go to school in a place like that. Here he is in front of it:

They’ve offset the 1800s feel of the place by putting a rock-climbing wall along the back, along with a cricket batting cage. When I pick him up in the afternoons, he has to let his teacher know he’s seen me, after which they shake hands, and Conrad is free to go. I’ve decided that all little children should speak with British accents (toddlers and such). Too cute.

Julian was telling me that Conrad’s school is located in an area affectionately termed “Nappy Valley”. Not the Don Imus variety, mind you, but the British variety (“nappy” is diaper). Apparently, this area had the distinction of having the densest population of people under 5 years old in the entire EU. My walks to and from school are a lesson in avoiding harried women with babies in strollers. Sometimes they’ve got more than one. And although I haven’t gone to check it out yet, there’s a road nearby that’s got all the OC mainstays (Starbucks, etc), where all the yuppie moms go to hang out while their kids are in school. Sounds like a haven for some of the dirty old men I know…..

I’m convinced that the authors of all those romance novels I’ve read that are set in Victorian England have never actually been here. They never mention rain, clouds, or the general gloom that has pervaded the place since I got here. Yesterday was the first day that the sun broke free of the clouds for an extended period of time, and today I’m sitting in the garden, enjoying a perfect 70 degrees with some of the most gorgeous fluffy white clouds that I’ve seen (as a general rule, the clouds have been amazingly pretty, even when it was hailing on Wednesday). The sun is making up for last week, it seems, and I think I may get a bit of color while I’m out here. I get to watch planes flying into Heathrow, and the cats come curl around my ankles every now and again. KEarth 101 has an internet broadcast, so I’m bopping to their late-night DJ (it’s something like 4 in the morning in the US while I’m writing this). Every once and a while the breeze winds its way back here, and if I close my eyes, it’s almost like being back home. There’s a lot of humidity in the air, so it always feels like I’m at the beach.

I need to go fix lunch soon, so I’ll end this with a picture (being worth a thousand words...although this one, I think, is worth one thousand and two....)

Inaguration

So here it is, my very own blog, created with the sole intent of chronicling my adventures as a nanny for a British family. Though I'm sure I'll probably get sidetracked more often than not and start rambling about other things.

At any rate, look for a nice big juicy first update sometime within the next couple of days, complete with pictures and witty comments about air travel these days.