I've been informed that we are not technically having a hurricane, but today the Southern and Midland regions of England are experiencing hurricane force winds, something that I thought I left behind in Georgia. So far for us though here in Suffolk it has not been so bad. We have not lost power and although the wind gusts have come and gone and been pretty strong things in Bury St. Edmunds are just fine. I still get amazed at how quickly the weather changes here and they are predicting the storm to move across the country and be in the Netherlands by early evening.
Sunday Alex gave a talk to the sailing club about his trip across the Atlantic, he did a great job! The audience was very appreciative and asked many questions. He was well prepared with a power point and plenty of notes but gave a very natural delivery and got a big round of applause at the end and of course a free pint.
We are really enjoying getting to know everyone in the club, they are the friendliest group of people I have ever met and without exception have lived very interesting lives. Many of them have lived on multiple continents, have children spread out throughout the world and travel extensively. They also host many different types of social events to spark the interest of everyone in the club from country walks (usually having a pub as the final destination), quiz nights, dinner parties, craft clubs and of course cruising events on the river. The club even has a bar, what more can you ask???
Eric entertained himself and the locals with his remote control toys and we watched cute kids feed the swans. It was a good day.
I was chatting with some locals yesterday and they assured me that no matter how many years I live in England I will never figure out the weather. Their advice was to not even try but just know that always having something to talk about with strangers at shops can be a good thing. I enjoy British humor.
Today is a perfect case in point. Here's the weather and laundry report for Sunday October 19th:
8:00 a.m. Bright sunshine, yeah! I think it is a good day to do laundry and hang the clothes out on the clothesline
10:00 a.m. Cloudy. First load of laundry is almost done washing
10:30 a.m. Quite heavy rain. I put the clothes in the dryer and give up on the clothesline
11:30 a.m. The sun comes back out! Time to do another load of laundry
12:00 p.m. Beautiful sunshine streams back through the windows, laundry almost done so I can hang this one outside maybe
12:30 p.m. Still sunshining and quite windy so I go for it and hang the laundry outside and then go for a walk
2:30 p.m. Complete cloud cover again and looking like rain so I take down the clothes and put them in the dryer to finish drying.
3:00 p.m. Rain
So that is where we are right now, 3:00 and rain but I fully expect it will change a couple more times before the day is over. And I am enjoying chatting about it so I guess the locals were right!
I looked at he calendar today and realized it has been 2 months since Eric and I arrived in the UK. 2 months, really? Is that all? It feels like so much longer! There must be some phenomenon to describe the sensation that even though the weeks fly by quickly that when looking back in time 2 months feels more like 6 months.
I've been a little impatient to get completely adjusted, make lots of new friends and get my business up and running but today when I realized it has only been 2 months I relaxed a little. I confidently told my friends in the US before leaving for the UK that I knew it realistically takes 5 years to make a new place really your home, and now that I know we are only 1/30th of the way through that process it feels like things are progressing just fine. There are lots of things to like about living here in Bury St. Edmunds such as the great pubs, the beautiful town itself and the fact that I don't need to a car to get anywhere in town. I love walking everywhere and I can already feel it has made me healthier. Alex also has a much shorter commute which has made a big difference for him. These are big quality of life things and make it totally worthwhile.
Of course though, there always is the temptation to think about the things we miss in the US and Eric told me his list this morning: Chick fil A, good ice cream, swimming in the lake in the summer and 7% sales tax.
My list: dinners at my mom and dad's, Jordi, hanging out with my friends at the lake, my big sewing room, good chinese food, and reasonably priced restaurant food in general, I've been cooking a lot more these days.
It's good to keep a little list every now and then of the good and the bad, what we miss and what we appreciate to keep things in perspective. Sometimes there is just so much darn paperwork and logistical issues to figure out that it is easy to get bogged down. So I think tonight we'll walk on over to the pub, have a pint and some chips and celebrate 2 months of adjustment!
I love getting up early and having a bit of time to myself before anyone else is awake, especially when we spend the night on the boat because the morning light is so beautiful. We spent the night out this weekend on a mooring ball near The Ramsholt Arms and the sunrise was spectacular.
Alex got a bit of sailing done, that made him happy. Eva and her foreign student spent the night with us, I'm pretty sure he had a good time. Alex let him drive the boat for a bit and they rowed to the pub for a drink and a snack.
Most people we've talked to take their boats out of the water for the winter season but the weather has been so fantastic I guess they are waiting until the last minute because the moorings are still mostly occupied with boats.
I'm still entertained by photographing all the varied and cute little boats that populate the river.
In the afternoon we took a walk along the river in the opposite direction that we normally go and saw where it ends. There are lots of interesting barges and weird boats to look at, most of them occupied by live aboard couples.
Except this one I'm pretty sure.
My cousin, her husband and their niece came to spend the day with us yesterday, it was wonderful to spend time with family!
We showed them our favorite spots and our favorite pubs. The weather co-operated (mostly) it was great. So, I'm wondering, who's next? Who's coming to visit? Book your tickets now!!!!!
