"Beer Can" in an English Accent

They say that if you say "beer can" in an English accent, that it will sound like you're saying "bacon" in a Jamaican accent. Not possessing an English accent myself, I enlisted Luke to help with this experiment and he was willing to be filmed saying this so that you could be the judge. Enjoy!

Q: So what do you think? Does "beer can" sound like "bacon"?

Erin x

An evening of Clairvoyance & Mediumship

Luke and I did something totally random last Wednesday after work, we went to a psychic reading! It all started a few months back when Jodie told Nadia and I that her dad was getting married to a woman, Sam, who worked as a psychic. When Jodie then mentioned that her dad and girlfriend would be travelling down to her local pub in Olney, The Swan, to give a public reading we were eager to go. I'd never been to a psychic reading before and it sounded like it could be loads of fun. One thing lead to another and soon Luke and I were joining Jodie, Dean, Nadia and James at The Swan.

The place was packed, so packed in fact we had trouble locating each other until it was nearly time to enter the room. We all grabbed a drink and sat nervously around a table in the back, which we regretted almost immediately as we hadn't noticed it was perched next to a set of rather spooky-looking stairs. There were about 25 of us in the tiny room the pub had allocated to the reading, so it felt quite intimate. More intimate than I was expecting. We all felt a bit jittery when Sam closed the door and we realised it was all about to begin. I had no idea what to expect, I don't think anyone did really and the beginning was filled with uncomfortable giggles and furtive glances around the room.

It started off with Sam explaining what it was exactly she did, and that she would be going to speak to people as and when the spirits spoke to her (cue more nervous laughter). The first person she read was a middle-aged woman on the other side of the room from us. I don't remember exactly what she said to her but the woman got very emotional so it must have struck a cord. On the whole, some of the things she said could be seen as generic advice rather than psychic readings, while other things left me wondering how she possibly could have known. We thought, or at least hoped, we had escaped any readings until at the very end she looked at Nadia and told her she needed to stop worrying so much. 

After the public reading ended, Sam sat down with us for a while and talked more to Nadia (apparently she will be having 2 boys and 1 girl but not for another two years). It was interesting to talk about things you wouldn't normally speak routinely about like ghosts and spirits. Made even more amusing by the incredibly drunk local inserting words of wisdom such as "you are good" (directed at Sam) and asking James if Luke was his little brother. As we said good bye Sam had a few last words for Luke, "you will get where you want to be in life but you must stop being afraid to step on peoples' toes".

So whether you believe in psychic readings or are a born sceptic I encourage you to do something random with your nights whenever possible, you never know what sort of fun you could have!

Erin x

Rainy Day in Cambridge

My mom left early Saturday afternoon, family visits are always too short for my liking but that's life for an expat. She finally received her baggage, at the airport about an hour before she left. To make a long story short, we spent days being passed between different people some said the baggage was at JFK, others said Heathrow and no one could make up their minds which was correct. The day before she left it was finally confirmed to be in Heathrow and had been since Monday morning but at that point she'd bought new clothes and there really was no point of getting it delivered to the house (which they maintained we would have to pay for!) I did finally receive my stow away Hidden Valley Ranch dressing which of course was the main cause of distress with her lost baggage.

Fortunately our schedules allowed for Luke and I to both take a day off work the Wednesday she was here. We were hoping for a sunny Spring day but what we got was the embodiment of 'April showers'. There are so many places close by that we could go, the hardest part was deciding which one to choose (that and getting mom out of bed). In the end we decided to go to Cambridge, a place that all three of us had never been, a small city about an hour away from us, famous for it's medieval streets and of course the University.

By the time we set off it was gone 11:00. The scenery was pretty on the drive, apart from a view industrial parts around Bedford. That's England for you though - driving through countryside one minute, a city the next, and then before you know it you're back in the countryside. Once we reached the outskirts of the city we took the Park & Ride option to get into the centre of town. This allowed us to park up and pay £2.50 each to be dropped off by a double decker bus directly in the centre. The only sane option really given the narrow streets designed long before cars.

Cambridge University

To escape the drizzle we nipped into a pub called the Baron of Beef (English pub names still tickle me) for a spot of lunch. I choose the safe option of a Jacket Potato filled with coleslaw and cheese, Luke had a massive burger and my mom the roast beef wrapped in a massive Yorkshire pudding. I accompanied my mom to the bar to order, during the exchange I felt compelled to tell the barman I lived in England, after he questioned where we were from. Could he not tell I lived here by my choice of ale and helping my mom order a cider? I'll let it pass as I guess my accent was probably a big clue, although I'm told it's softened now  by my mom and others. I can't tell as to me I still sound like I always have, although I do pronounce tomato 'to-mah-to' instead of 'toe-may-to'.

After lunch, it had stopped raining and we walked around the city taking in the scenery and history. We stopped at the University book store and spent ages pouring through all the different texts. I love book stores, especially ones I've never been in before and I always find one hundred-and-one things I want to read before realising I have about fifty-two waiting back home. Being a good girl, I left the store emptied handed, although this was probably more to being overwhelmed by how many books I wanted rather than being good.

Although it was cold and rainy, Cambridge was a lovely day out and a place I'd love to visit again. Albeit on a warm Summer's day so we can go punting in the river or visit the Botanic Garden. But when it comes time for the Oxford v. Cambridge boat race I will still be cheering on Oxford, it is after all the birth place of Alice in Wonderland.

Erin x