Welcome Summer!

BREAKING NEWS: Summer is officially here! 

The past few weekends have been lovely but unfortunately Luke and I have not been able to enjoy them as we've been stuck inside decorating and doing DIY fun! It has been worth it but both of us are tired and going to take a break for the summer. This weekend was the first weekend where we didn't touch a paintbrush and man did it feel good!

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On Saturday we spent the day the Milton Keynes Rugby 7s Beer and Cider Festival. Luke's team, The Convicts, had entered nearly ten weeks ago and he has been looking forward to it ever since. Seriously, he was like a child on Christmas morning! 

Milton Keynes Rugby 7s Social Tournament Champions 2014: The Convicts

Luke was confident that his team would win the social tournament, in fact he stated "if The Convicts don't win, I'll do a lap of the rugby pitch naked." Thankfully The Convicts did win and he didn't have to treat the nearly 1,000 people to a laugh! Their winnings equalled £100 in beer money plus a package of beer from Marston's Brewery. Considering most of the team couldn't stay at the club late and they still had £80 left over from the kitty that meant a lot of celebratory drinks to go around.

Sunday left some of us feeling a little worse for wear, but that didn't stop us from enjoying the day.  Luke and I headed to our friends' new house for the first official barbecue of summer! This was not before a group shopping trip to Aldi. For those of you who aren't in the "know", Aldi is a supermarket that sells cheaper alternatives to name brands. I'll admit it, I've been a bit of a snob about going there, but in the past few weeks have found it amazing! You can find such great bargains, like Luke found a neoprene rugby ball there yesterday for £2.99 and he's already gotten his money's worth of use.

Sorry I digressed a bit there on my love of Aldi. Anyway, the point is we had an amazing barbecue filled with sun, sausages and a few gin and tonics. After our barbecue we went for a walk around the neighbourhood through the parks and around the lake. The perfect ending to a lovely weekend!

I leave you with this parting question...

Q: Who wore it best? Luke with his blue shirt and plain t-shirt or Pete with his blue shirt and print?

Erin x

Day 52 of the Olympic Torch Relay

The Olympics Torch Relay dates back to the ancient games.  A traditional ceremony would be held at the Temple of Hera in Olympia, Greece where the flame is lit from a mirror and the sun's rays. This tradition carries on in the modern games, with a series of torchbearers carrying it first around Greece (1,800 miles) before passing it to the host city.

The torch arrived in London on 18 May to be carried by a series of 8,000 torchbearers on a 70 day journey around the United Kingdom. On the morning of 9 July the Olympic torch passed through Milton Keynes on it's way to Oxford. To celebrate the occasion, work gave us the morning off (although I think most of my colleagues used the time for a lie in).

I joined the crowd of red, white, and blue supporters on Silbury Boulevard, finding the perfect spot right up front. We had a little while to wait but there was a great atmosphere to soak up. While some children were quite content waving their little Union Jacks, others were not as patient. It seemed whenever the parents would finally pacify the impatient ones, right on cue someone would walk by trying to sell flags, medals, or inflatable torches. The poor parents would then start all over again trying to calm down their children.

Waiting for the torch.

The procession finally reached Silbury Boulevard. The police drove past on motorbikes giving the children's outstreched hands a high-five (this was a particular favourite of the kids). Coaches with torchbearers who had either already done their duty or would be carrying the torch later in the day. Coaches of the London 2012 sponsors like Coca-Cola and Samsung. And finally the torch itself, carried by the surfer Gabriel Villarán.

Gabriel Villarán carrying the torch.

Although my glimpse of the torch was only brief, I'm so glad I saw it and am able to say that I took part in the celebration! You can find out more about day 52 or follow the rest of the route by visiting the BBC website. The last day of the relay is in 11 days time when the last torchbearer lights the cauldron and the games officially begin!

Erin x

My Easter Bank Holiday Weekend

As far as holidays go, Easter has never been one of my favourites, in fact it probably isn't even in my top 5. It's situated towards the bottom of the list right before Martin Luther King Day. Sure when I was little I enjoyed painting hard boiled eggs and searching for my Easter basket which I think I always knew was hidden by my mother and not some giant pastel bunny. But I've never enjoyed the decorations (excessive pastel always worries me) nor the food which for my family often included ham which I distest the most out of all meats. Easter also always conjurs up memories of playing Clue Jr. when my Grandma was watching me and her allowing me to eat an entire white chocolate bunny, which in turn made me violently sick. A bittersweet memory really as I fondly remember the Clue Jr. part of my evening but to this can't eat white chocolate.

Living in England I'm learning to enjoy Easter a bit more, as now instead of chocolate bunnies I get chocolate eggs (which for some reason I feel more comfortable with eating) and a four day weekend! Most bank holidays are just a chance to relax and hopefully, if the English weather system is cooperating, enjoy the sun. However, Luke and I experienced a rather productive bank holiday weekend, with some fun mixed in of course.

We spent our Friday cleaning up the house, partly for my mom's visit and partly because Neil and Nicola were coming over for dinner, and doing last minute grocery shopping. We had planned to serve them coq au vin, but that plan backfired when we discovered Nicola didn't eat meat on Good Friday only fish, a family tradition passed down from her grandmother. After trying to insist to her that chicken was a white meat, and therefore didn't count as the rule only pertained to red meat we were left to find a suitable alternative. To my surprise it was Luke who found the answer to our problems with a receipe he found on the BBC for monkfish chowder. The little star even cooked it all by himself with me acting as sous-chef, and upon tasting it I can tell you I was very proud of him. It was delicious! That evening we had a load of laughs, which greatly increased the more bottles of wine we drank. After dinner we played Trivia Pursuit, Nicola & Luke v. Neil & I and of course Neil and I were the victors. We didn't just win, we destroyed them! After which we watched 10 minutes of GoldenEye that mainly consisted of impersonating Tina Turner doing the theme song before Neil and Nic decided it might be time to call for the taxi.

On Saturday we really got down to business, mainly with tackling our spare room which we had, until Saturday, been using as a dumping ground for everything we weren't sure where to put or hadn't had a chance to put away properly; tolietries, clothes, you name it and it was probably in there. But after a full day of cleaning and organising I can happily report that we indeed now actually have not a spare room but a guest room! As it was still light out, we celebrated by going for a walk in the fields behind our house to see the little lambs, which are getting so big now! Perhaps they are starting to recognise our smell or perhaps as they get older they get braver but we're able to get much closer to them now. We were able to sit a mere two feet away from a group of as they were playing and feeding. I love lambs, they are just so cute and cuddly and their little bahs just make my heart melt.

Sunday was of course Easter Sunday, and we had arranged to go to Southam as Luke had been invited to play in a memorial match in honour of someone he used to know down the rugby club. As he didn't have a game on in Milton Keynes, and because after all it was his old club, he decided to go down and play for the laugh. I went down to watch from the sidelines with Lindsay and Ian. It was actually, I'm ashamed to say, the first time I've been able to watch him play. When he was playing heavily in Manchester I was in America, he only played a few games in Worcester so I didn't get a chance, and since we've moved to Milton Keynes the games have either conflicted with my plans, away, or I've been dumb enough to get lost en route and turned up too late. I throughly enjoyed watching my man play, and of course I most boast that he was certainly one of the best plays out there.

Luke and Pete

After the game we went to Pam and Mick's house (Ian's parents) to give our little 'nephews', Sam and Isaac, their Easter eggs. As I said people don't give bunnies, they give eggs, and the boys we eager to show us their collection. Another difference, instead of hiding painted eggs for the kids to search for, in England they hide chocolate eggs. So I suppose it shouldn't come as a shock to me that when Sam showed me their collection they had some 20 chocolate eggs. Now these aren't just small egg sized bits of chocolate, each one was about the size of my hand. Even three-year-old Sam knew he had an excessive amount of chocolate, which I'm guessing is why he kept trying to give me his chocolate and not eating any himself. At some point Ian got the brilliant idea to help the boys tie Luke up with gaffa (duct) tape. I'm not sure how exactly it started but next thing I know I have a husband lying on the floor with a three and six year old sitting on his back as Isaac giggled wildly. Sam was a little more reluctant to play, and instead kept putting chocolate in Luke's mouth, which was a nice gesture but not very helpful at the time. The day ended playing Uno with Isaac, who after learning it in Florence with us has gotten really good, while Sam fell asleep in my lap.

Luke and his captors

The next day we awoke to not a bright and sunny morning like we had hoped for, but instead to a rainly and cold one. Not at all what we had hoped for considering we were going to Warwick Racecourse to see some horse racing. Not really my cup of tea as the last time I went was the freezing New Years' Eve 2010. It seems to be a bit of an English tradition though, bank holiday means horse racing. I love horses, I just don't get enjoyment of watching them run around in a circle and contrary to popular belief just because I'm from Las Vegas doesn't mean I enjoy betting. I tried to make sense of the odds, but I might as well have been trying to read ancient Egyptian. While the people around me made bets, Luke and I were people watching. And let me tell you there were some sights to be seen! Girls wearing so much fake tan they looked like oompa loompas walking around in six inch heels and dresses so short had they bent over little would have been left to the imagination. Guys wearing suits three sizes too big for them were even more offensive. I kept finding myself thinking 'has one never heard of a tailor?' In an effort to be more politically correct, let's just say that the day was a cultural experience.

Luke, Lindsay, and I ended up leaving early as it was far too cold and too wet to carry on, and to be honest both Luke and I had had enough of the races by then. After a cup of tea with Lindsay we headed home, and surprisingly were not met with any holiday traffic.The weekend ended curled up in bed with a cup of tea watching Tangled.

My mom was supposed to arrive this morning, but unfortunately the flight she was supposed to take from New York was oversold, as well as the following two flights. Which means she's currently stuck in a dingy airport hotel outside JFK instead of here with us. Fingers crossed she'll be here tomorrow morning.

Erin x

The End of the Job Search

After months of applications and interviews, the job search has finally come to an end for me. That's right I finally have my first proper job in Milton Keynes, as a PA to Senior Management at a major international company, which shall remain nameless. It's not the most glamorous of jobs, but it's a great learning experience in multiple areas of the company. At the moment, I'm living with Neil and Nic during the week, while Luke continues to look for work down this way. Of course we miss each other during the week, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do, and in the end it's best for us as a couple. We just remind ourselves that we've spent far more time apart in the past and that this situation is only temporary.

I started two weeks ago, and so far am enjoying the role, but am completely shattered at night. I hope this will pass, or at least I won't feel like a total zombie when I return home from work and am able to manage something more than grabbing tea and going to sleep with Oli and Doogal for company. My role comprises the basic duties of any PA, things like the mail and arranging diaries. But besides the basics, I've taken on a couple of projects that have been neglected over the years and help out different members of the senior management team when they need. My favourite thing to get started with is the company newsletter. Not only will I be writing the articles for it, but I'll also be designing the entire newsletter myself, which will be distributed to roughly 2,000 employees on our site!

My Employee ID card and First Pay Slip!

Everyone has been really welcoming at work, and we all have a bit of a laugh. It is great to work somewhere with people who are serious when they need to be, but not all the time. Of course a lot of the jokes have been centred around me being an American, more specifically from Las Vegas. Someone said to me "I didn't realise that people lived in Las Vegas," to which my reply was "Oh no, those little twinkling lights you see surrounding the Strip are just there for decoration." One of my bosses has said within a year my 'broad' Vegas accent (never heard that one before) will be no more, and they'll have me speaking like a proper English rose. I suppose only time will tell.

Erin x and
Oliver *lick lick*

Oli, keeping me company while I write.

Station X

Bletchley Park, or Station X, is the historic site of the codebreaking centre which helped to secure a victory for the Allied Forces during World War II. It is asserted that were it not for "Station X" the war would have lasted for at least another two years. Winston Churchill himself called the codebreakers the "geese that laid the golden egg". And last Wednesday, I was fortunate enough to go and see where it all happened. For it being such a massive part of history, Bletchley Park appears to me a place that time forgot. Considering the nature of the work done at "Station X" was kept silent until the mid-1970s, I suppose this is understandable. And it wasn't until 2004 that Bletchley Park was opened as a public museum.

The Bletchley Park manor house

But before Bletchley Park was a code-breaking centre it had been a Victorian mansion belonging to a wealthy London financier. Originally an old farm-house, the eccentric style of the manor is due to the family's love of travelling. They would go abroad, find a house they liked the look of, and when they came back add an extension in that style. In looking at the manor house it is quite clear to see each of the different extensions, and although they are all quite different it does seem to work.

The working Bombe reconstruction

The codebreakers arrived at "Station X", as Bletchley Park became known, in August of 1939. The most famous of these workers, was Alan Turing, the head of the section for responsible for German cryptanalysis. Alan Turing developed a number of techniques for breaking the Germans ciphers, such as the bombe, a machine which allowed the codebreakers to decipher the Enigma machine (which the Germans believed to be uncrackable). Achievements such as these are what helped bring an end to World War II.

At the conclusion of the war, Churchill ordered that every scrap of evidence was destroyed. This is most likely due to the fact that England did not want their former ally the USSR to know of Bletchley Park's wartime accomplishments. Thankfully a number of photographs survived, and using these a number of working reconstructions of the machines have been created. I tried to make sense of these machines, but failed miserably.

Two days after my visit, the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh came to unveil a memorial statue to the work done at Bletchley Park. The ceremony was attended by some of the surviving codebreakers and would explain why I saw a number of workers fervently painting sections of the property. It appears Bletchley Park is finally getting the recognition it deserves. 

Erin x

This post is dedicated to my Grandpa - who has probably read every book on World War II in existence and whom I thought of the entire time while at Bletchley Park. 

For more information on the history of Bletchley Park please visit the BBC History Page.

Hounds of the Baskervilles

I went for my job interview yesterday, my first proper one in the UK. From my perspective, it went well - no curve ball questions, I didn't feel like I was under the microscope, and the ladies I was interviewing with were lovely. We actually had a few laughs. The only awkward moment was at the end when they both offered their hands to shake at practically the same time and I didn't know whose to go for first. It was laughed off though. I had to giggle at myself, for at one point the woman, who would be my direct supervisor, asked if I felt intimidated by working with foreign languages and for a split second I thought she meant British English. It was a blonde moment of mine that thankfully wasn't stated out loud. I hope I get the job, I'll be proper gutted if I don't.

Currently, I'm staying with Neil and Nicola and of course my favourite boys, Oli and Doogal. Doogal is currently snoring at my feet and Oliver off in a huff somewhere because Doogal wouldn't stop licking his ears. Bless, even dogs have disagreements with one another. These dogs never cease to put me in a good mood, you giggle just looking at them. They are after all Basset Hounds, with ears that drag on the floor and more wrinkles than the Queen Elizabeth II. (No disrespect intended to my dear Queenie.) And when they bark they sound like a couple of seals. Which would explain the odd dream I had last night about working at the 'seal reserve' with seal pups. Although perhaps not the dream I had about helping Angela Lansbury in a Murder, She Wrote mystery. Enough of trying to interpret my dreams, I'm off to the supermaket to pick up something for tea tonight. I'm cooking!

Erin x
and Doogal *lick lick*

The Silver Lining

My life these past few months has been a never ending cycle of looking for jobs and sending out CVs, with to be honest not much feedback. I've had a couple nibbles that never really went anywhere, a few emails saying sorry you have not been successful, but mostly just a lack of response. I did have one telephone interview, the woman had a lot of positive feedback on me but said unfortunately I didn't have quite the experience she required but would like to take me on in the future.

Today I had a proper bite, finally. I found the job yesterday, quite by accident, and applied. It was fantastic role for a global company based in Milton Keynes using all of my skills. I was really keen and decided I would send a follow up email today, just to make sure they'd received it. I got a response quickly saying that in fact yes they had received my application and would be very interested to have me in for an  interview. RESULT!!! This girl now has herself an interview for Monday afternoon! Everyone keep their fingers crossed.

As it happens, Luke is most likely going to have an interview next week, but in Manchester - the other side of the country! Wouldn't that just be our luck.

Erin x

Paint The Silence

I know I've been a bad, bad blogger over this past month, and it would be simply impossible to go back and write about all that I've done and experienced, my only option is to give a quick synopsis of everything and start again a fresh. So here it goes...

September 29th - October 2nd:

• Luke and I, with the help of Luke's mum and Grandad, made a mad dash to the finish certain things in the house before my mom arrived. These included: a second coat in the kitchen, the flooring in the bathroom, painting the bathroom, and more cleaning than I ever thought possible. All turned out well in the end, it all looks great!

October 2nd - October 10th:

• My mom arrived at London-Heathrow at 7 am on October 2nd (Luke and I had to get up very, very early) - it was so amazing to see her at the airport! I think the best word to describe it would be surreal.
• In a constant battle with my mom's jet lag I still managed to show and do a lot of amazing things with her. Showed her around Worcester and the Worcester Cathedral, participated in the pub quiz with Luke's family, took her up to Burton Dasset, went to the Cotswolds (something my mother has always wanted to do) and visited Neil and Nic.
• While in the Cotswolds we went on a walk (what the English more commonly refer to hiking as) through fields and woods to get to a over 2,000 year old Roman Mosaic. It was amazing, just covered up with a tarp, no signs to tell you where it was or anything of that sort. Absolutely incredible!
• October 9th was my birthday and for the occasion Luke, my mom, and myself went in to London. Spent most of the day getting lost in Harrods, walked around through the parks and past Buckingham Palace and in the night had an out of the world Italian dinner at Il Posto, right across from the theatre where we watched Wicked. The restaurant was just this little hole-in-the-wall but thinking about it now just makes my mouth water. Wicked was fantastic! Better than even I expected, I had the songs stuck in my head for weeks after.
• My mom had to leave early on the 10th, which was sad for me and Luke, I loved having my mom here, we all had such a great time!!!

Discover the Roman Mosaic in Spoonley Wood

It's over 2,000 years old!!!

Mom and I in the Cotswolds

October 15th - October 17th:

• The weekend of the 15th was great, Luke and I accompanied Neil and Nic in Liverpool (where Nicola is from and her parents still live). I wasn't sure what to expect of Liverpool, I still had visions of the dark and dingy dock city that it used to be. Instead I found it to be very bright, open, and clean. The city centre had a great atmos about it. I dare say I prefer it to Manchester as it wasn't as crowded and just had a more relaxed feel to it.
• Of course being in Liverpool we had to do some Beatles' stuff! We went to The Beatles' story which is an exhibit about the history of The Beatles. Went to the rebuilt Cavern Club (where The Beatles first performed in Liverpool) which by the way was a great place to sit around and have a drink. Also visited some of the childhood homes' of the boys, Strawberry Field and Penny Lane.
• While in Liverpool we went to a great Chinese restaurant looking over the river in which I ate so much I didn't know if I would ever be able to eat again! Absolutely incroyable!

Strawberry Fields Forever!

October 25th:

• Lindsay came over for a girly day! We did facials and face masks, ate a lovely salad that I made, and watched a girly film - Letters to Juliet. It was nice to have a girly day with a bit of a chinwag (see glossary).

October 30th - October 31st:

• Saturday the 30th, Luke and I had a few people over to the house. Played some drinking games, shared a couple of pizzas and then hit a few bars and a club in town. It was the night before Halloween so a few people were dressed up, not nearly as many as would be expected and the few that were I wished they would not have been, seeing fat through fishnets is not a pretty picture.

It has been a crazy few weeks, that have been made even crazier by the fact that I have been sick with a cold since my mother's visit. I have been to the doctor's twice to make sure everything is okay. What I've been told is England has different bugs than America (which of course I already knew) and what is a simple sniffle to an English person will be a constant sneezing and coughing for me for weeks. All I can do is take zinc and vitamin C and hope my body adapts to the bugs here quickly!

Erin x

Reverie

It is Friday the 13th and I am sitting in the conservatory with a cup of tea, listening to soft rain from overhead mingled with a little Debussy and, after I finish this entry, I'll go back to what so far promises to be a good book. The perfect rainy afternoon. As always I have been busy, sometimes I don't realize how busy I even am until I go back and reflect on my week.

Last Friday, Luke and I went and spent the night with Neil and Nic. Nicola made us a gorgeous roast dinner and for dessert we had a rhubarb and apple crumble that I think I could have eaten the whole thing if given the chance. It was nice to see them again, especially on happier circumstances as Doogal is now back home and going excellent! Doogal has made such a remarkable recovery that he is actually now a case study at Cambridge University, I've told him he's famous to which his reply was just a big lick on my face.

We returned to Southam Saturday evening because Luke's Auntie Julie and his cousins Becki and Katie had come down for the weekend which meant a barbecue on Saturday night before Becki, Luke, and I wandered down to the cricket club for some drinks with the boys. Perhaps a few too many drinks with the boys, as Sunday meant the three of us all awoke nursing hangovers and to a house full of people, including Ian's two nephews Issac (3) and Sam (1). Issac wanted to have a water pistol fight with Bob, Luke's granddad. This turned into all the adults and Issac running around the garden behaving like children while Sam sat on his grandmother's knee eating blueberries with wide eyes that suggested he thought us all crazy. In the end Luke went and filled a bucket with ice water to soak his cousin Katie through to the bone as she shrieked and Issac just laughed. All of us pretended the water fight was only for Issac's benefit but being honest I think everyone enjoyed behaving like little children.

Tuesday night as ever is the pub quiz at the 45 White Lion, and for the second week in a row we received 1st place which this time meant we won £45. I think people are probably starting to get a bit annoyed that a bunch of young people continue to beat them at the pub quiz. We're probably the youngest regular group by twenty years. I attribute our continued success to the fact that we are all reasonably intelligent and each of us has our own little area of expertise.

On Wednesday night I made dinner for Luke, Lindsay, and Ian this time using a recipe I found in an Ideal Home magazine but had never tried before. It was Salmon Ceviche served on a salad comprising lamb's lettuce, sugar snap peas, and fennel. I really enjoyed it and it helped me pacify my sushi craving... just a bit. At the moment I would kill for some I Love Sushi (my favourite sushi place for those not from Vegas) especially some Unagi and a Screaming Orgasm, don't cringe at the name it's lightly seared ahi tuna with a spicy ponzu/yum yum sauce. For some of you I sure it sounds as if I'm speaking a different language and since all this sushi talk is torturing me I'll diverge back to my original topic. The Salmon Ceviche was very good, I'd make a few little changes to it I think next time but at the moment I'm not sure how, it needed some zip like perhaps a little garlic.

My favourite day of this week has by far been yesterday, Thursday, for two reasons. The first being I finished the book I borrowed from Nicola last Friday: Sepulchre by Kate Mosse. It has been a long time since I was sucked so deeply into book. Whenever I read it, I was completely engrossed in the world of Selpuchre, I could see, smell, taste everything she was describing. I suppose for me it was especially nice because the story of Selpuchre takes place near Carcassonne, a town in the Pyrenees not so far away from Pau that I happened to pass through. The story jumps back and forth between two time periods 1891 and 2007 but the stories are intertwined. It is funny, I would get engrossed in one time period for a couple of chapters and then it would jump to the other, I would get annoyed because I wanted to know what was happening in the previous time period and then once it switched the same thing would happen. Luke was reading Selpuchre's predecessor Labyrinth and was really enjoying it but now that I'm done with Selpuchre I have taken over reading it since he reads at what I consider to be a slow pace and I cannot wait another month to read it. While Selpuchre is not the sequel to Labyrinth apparently there are some minor characters in Selpuchre that had larger roles in Labyrinth, which partly takes place in 2005 and partly in 1209. I'm only a few chapters into Labyrinth, but so far I'm loving it!

The other thing that made Thursday so special was Luke and I went up to Burton Dassett to watch the Meteor Shower. Words cannot describe how amazing it was. Luke and I lay on a blanket wrapped up warmly against the tower to block us from the wind and a thermos full of hot tea. The meteor shower was absolutely breath taking. I was expecting just a few small shooting stars but no, these looked like large fireballs in varying colours of blue, green, and orange. There were so many people up there as well, and nicely enough a lot of them were around our age or a little bit younger. It was nice to see so many people out enjoying nature!

Well that's my week, tomorrow is Lindsay's birthday and the family is going to to Piccolino's Italian Restaurant in Warwick, I have not been before but I'm sure it's going to be a good night and I'm looking forward to it.

Erin

x

Whistle While You Work

Sorry it has been so long between posts this time - to say I've been busy would be the understatement of the century. The past two weeks have been very eventful and at times a little stressful. I'll try to give a brief recap of it to the best of my abilities.

At my last post I was in Deanshanger, dogsitting for Neil and Nic's two basset hounds, Oli and Doogal. The first few days were lovely we went to Oxford, as previously discussed, and went for a 10 mile bike ride that Luke tricked me to taking by telling me it was only 5 miles, what a sadist! We also took the boys up to Burton Dasset, a group of hills with 360 views of Warwickshire. The day after Burton Dasset things went pear-shaped. Tuesday evening Luke and I went to the pub quiz as always but when we returned home it was to find Doogal trembling in the kitchen surrounded by his own sick. We called the emergency vets, they told us not to panic and if he was still ill in the morning to call our regular vet. To make a long story short, the rest of the week consisted of vet visits, leaving Doogal at the vets, Neil and Nic coming home early, thinking Doogal possibly had cancer, guilt that he was ill, and a LOT of tears. But I'm happy to report that Doogal is now happy, healthy, and at home! It turned out to not be cancer, but a severe form of pancreatitis. The vet working on Doogal has been a vet for a number of years and seen a large number of cases of pancreatitis, he told Neil that Doogal is only the second dog he has ever seen to survive it. Doogal is certainly a fighter!

Oliver and Doogal at Burton Dassett

It was not all stressful times, I have very good news to report as well, Luke has found a job, only two weeks and a day after graduating. The job is in Worcester, working as a Foreign Language Customer Service and Export Administrator for a company called Rigidal Systems (they make roofs and have made famous ones such as Wembley Stadium, the Hong Kong Conference and Exhibition Centre, and the Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid.) Luke is excited about the job because not only does he get to use his French every day but it also means he will have to make a few trips to France roughly every three to six months. Plus the job will also open a number of other possibilities for him down the line.

The job offer meant Luke could also finally get a car of his own, we spent all of last week looking at cars and on Friday Luke drove away in his first car, a 2002 Ford Mondeo (with only 36,000 miles) in Graphite. I'm very proud of him, it's a nice car with a massive boot and in immaculate condition! Which is good considering the drive from Warwickshire is about 50 minutes, and Luke will be doing nearly 400 miles a week. That is an awful lot, and after consideration and looking at finances Luke and I have decided to move to Worcester. Neither of us knows much about the place, but everyone we've told this too that knows anything about Worcester always responds with "Worcester is... [beautiful, amazing, great, etc. etc. etc.]" It has been my job to look at properties online. Tomorrow I'll be going to Worcester with Lindsay to do a few viewings, and on Saturday Luke and I will have some more viewings. Found a number of good prospects. Fingers crossed.

This past Saturday it was a fancy dress party for a family friend and the theme was "popstars". Originally I wanted to go as Lady Gaga, put a giant telephone on my head where some crazy spandex and I'm done. However, I thought everyone would think of this, so I decided against it. Regretfully no one at the party was dressed as Lady Gaga so I should have stuck to my first choice. Instead I went as Britney Spears from her ...Baby One More Time video. Luke and Ian went as Wham! And Lindsay went as Adam Ant, apparently he was an early 80s popstar who got a drug problem and fizzled into obscurity. I don't think he ever made the trip across the pond as I'd never heard of him before. But then again 80s and pop are two things I don't put together and associate with music.

Erin x

Here Comes the Weekend

As stated in my previous post, Luke and I spent the weekend at Neil and Nic's house near Milton Keynes (about forty minutes outside of London). It was a lovely weekend with a few disappoints: USA was knocked out of the World Cup on Saturday in their match with Ghana and England on Sunday in a crushing defeat against Germany, 4-1. Alas, there goes England's hopes for a victory for another four years. Football has been turned off in most households now, except for the die hard fans. No matter, like I said it was a lovely weekend and one should not focus on the negative.

On Friday, Luke received his results for his degree - he received a 2.1! I know this must not mean much of anything to the Yanks out there, but it's a very good result. It is similar to scoring a high GPA. Luke was convinced he wasn't going to receive a 2.1, but I always believed he had it in him. Very proud of him, and we will head back to Manchester next Wednesday to celebrate his achievement and watch him graduate. (Don't worry Grandma, I promise to get pictures of him in his cap and gown and send them to you!)

After we arrived at Neil's and said hello to the boys (Oliver and Doogal, their two Basset Hounds) we walked down to this Pan Asian restaurant (it serves both Thai and Indian cuisine). Neil and Nic were disappointed, apparently it was not as good as it usually is. I don't mind, Luke and I both enjoyed our meals very much. I personally think mine was the best, an Indian duck curry with caramelized onions and apricots -gorgeous!

The following day we went shopping at T.K. Maxx, the exact same store as America's T.J. Maxx but the name has been changed for the English market. Apparently there is already a store called T.J.'s, therefore the company changed it so no one would confuse the two. Luke found a number of nice shirts to get. Nicola and I ransacked the women's department, but I found nothing, alas it was just one of those days.

We went to Stony Stratford for lunch, a little market town which is where the phrase "a cock and bull story" was created. The Cock and The Bull are the two pubs in town, and during the coaching era people would travel from one pub to the other telling stories. Often, these stories would change between the pubs and thus the saying was invented. (See http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/cock%20and%20bull%20story.html for more information)

The pubs are still there and working, which isn't surprising considering this is England where they like to keep cultural treasures and not Las Vegas which tears down anything that is over 50 years old. We had lunch at Neil and Nicola's favourite shop in Stony Stratford - the Stony Wine Emporium. We had a bottle of rose and two anti pasti platters, an English one with local English cheese and meats and a French one with some pates and two of my favourite cheeses: Roquefort and Port Salut.

At the wine store, Neil and Nicola were also able to order a case Jurancon Sec, a local white wine from the area around Pau. It is Luke's and my absolute favourite white wine, I don't like many whites, and next to impossible to get outside the region. Luke and I are dogsitting for Neil and Nic the end of next week, so hopefully the wine will come in by then and we can have some!

Got all dressed up on Saturday night, because Neil and Nic were taking us out to celebrate both of our degrees. We went to Brasserie Blanc, a nice French restaurant owned by the famous chef Raymond Blanc. Started the night off with a bottle of Champagne, followed by two bottles of Rioja (a lovely Spanish red) and ending the dinner with a nice Port. I had escargots for starters and moules marineres (mussels) for my main, then Nic and I split Baked Alaska for dessert. It was an excellent meal with even better company. After dinner we sat in the back garden listening to music and drinking a bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape (an incredibly nice red) until the wee small hours of the morning.

Sunday morning was a little rough for some people, not to point fingers but LUKE. It was the hottest day of the year so far in England. We took Oli and Doogal for a walk around the park and then chased them around the back garden trying to give them bathes, which they did not want in the slightest.

The England match was to begin at 3 o'clock, so we had a late lunch comprising of a barbecue before watching the match, which I will speak no more of, the memory of the loss is still too painful. After the match, Neil drove Luke and I back to Southam.

Luke and I had another lovely barbecue waiting for us back in Southam courtesy of Lindsay and Ian, this one was with a Greek twist and I stuffed myself on Lindsay's homemade Greek salads (one with grilled vegetables and the other more traditional) and Tzatziki sauce.

Ended the weekend with a bottle of pink Champagne, a very satisfactory end indeed!

Erin x