Springtime in the Scepter'd Isle

I know I haven't written in ages, but here it is. I went to Josh's family's home in Dorset for Easter. There were hot cross buns (Remember playing that on the flute, Catherine?)! There was a Communist egg hunt (which means you split the eggs evenly among all searchers-Josh, me, his younger brother and sister and his sis's fiance). The egg hunt was really fun, and I bow to the hiding superiority of Mr. Naylor. There was even one in my handbag the next day!

We also ate Simnel Cake, which, according to Wikipedia, is "a light fruit cake, similar to a Christmas cake, which is eaten at Easter in Britain and Ireland. The cake is coated in marzipan and has 11 marzipan balls around the outside to represent the 11 true disciples and one in the middle to represent Christ." Our simnel cake had a puffy chick with glasses in the middle, so do with that what you will.



Easter afternoon, we went to Corfe Castle. It was built around 900 A.D., but Cromwell had it blown up in 1646. It is a MAJOR fortress on one of the tallest hills I've seen since I came to England.



This is the steam engine that goes through the town of Corfe. It is very picturesque and looks to me like Diesel from Thomas and Friends. Diesel was the bad one and was a troublemaker.


Here is a traditional cream tea with real Cornish or Devon clotted cream (as opposed to the fake kind I have ingested on several occasions).









On Easter Monday, we visited Josh's other Granny, Granny White. I now know THREE Grannies, which I think makes me very blessed. Here's her cute little dog, Ellie.


After working in Granny White's garden and making her lunch, we went to Windsor Castle. You can't take pictures inside which is a big ol' shame, but it was cool anyway. Just imagine the castles you've seen on tv: suits of armour, big paintings, things trimmed in gold. That was pretty much it. My favorite part inside was Queen Mary's dollhouse and the dolls that were given to Queen Elizabeth and her sister, Princes Margaret, when they were children by the government of France. The dolls names are Marianne and France, and they have the most bee-yoo-tee-full wardrobe. Lanvin, Cartier, Hermes and Louis Vuitton designed their immaculate attire, and they even had a real car that worked!



The Queen is in residence at Windsor Castle at Christmas and Easter, so of course, the royal standard flies instead of the Union Jack to show she's at home. I loved that all of the street lamps and even drainpipes and vents had crowns on them. Not economical, but really cool.






We went to a Garden Centre with Josh's mum for some plants, and there was a Wendy House there. A Wendy House is just a little kids' playhouse. Here's a Wendy in a Wendy House!



After two days of castles, we wanted to relax and do something fun, so Josh's mum and dad took us to Farmer Palmer's petting farm! I'm not going to lie: it was better than Windsor Castle. The lady at the admission counter laughed that there were only two very big children, and let all four of us in for the price of one adult and one child. Josh's mum decided that we were much more fun than children because we really enjoyed it and didn't whinge the whole time. Also, that's not a misprint, Brits say "whinge" instead of "whine". Josh would like to note that in every photo of me with a small, cute animal or baby, I have the same silly grin.





The very best part, maybe of the whole trip, was feeding the lambs. I had to refrain from using baby talk just then. At first the handlers didn't want to give us a bottle because we're grown, but there weren't too many kids there, so we got one each. Then, this lady goes, "Do you want to see the lambs?", and all the kids (and me) yelled, "YEAH!" Then, a dozen of the cutest fluffiest whitest lambs run out of their gate straight for the bottles. Imagine a running of the bulls but cuter and safer. They only take about a minute to suck down their little bottles, but it is soooo precious. You can't see the lamb's tail in the picture because they wag them really hard like little puppies. They had three different groups of lambs, so this was my face every time the lambs ran out:





In celebration of Josh's new job, his parents took us to Cafe Shore, which has a beautiful view of Poole Harbor. The food was okay (Josh said it wasn't as impressive as usual), but my dessert (a strawberry tart) was amazing.


Well, that's quite enough as I have essays to write and have to try to be clever yet again. To close I shall refer to the national anthem, in keeping with the castle-y, Easter theme. The second verse is brilliant. (Note: Josh did not know the words to this, shameful)

God save our gracious Queen,
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen!
Send her victorious
Happy and glorious
Long to reign over us,
God save the Queen!

O Lord our God arise,
Scatter her enemies
And make them fall;
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On thee our hopes we fix,
God save us all!

Not in this land alone,
But be God's mercies known
From shore to shore!
Lord make the nations see,
That men should brothers be,
And form one family,
The wide world o'er.

Another visit to Granny's

Josh and I visited his Granny again a couple of weeks ago, but this time, his brother and his parents (and Charlie the dalmatian) were there too. We took the dog on a long walk over hill and dale (quite literally). Charlie found a dead sheep and tried to eat it, which made me very upset.


On the way home we visited an ice cream farm. They grow the scoops on little bushes... Just kidding. It was a petting zoo that also sold ice cream. They had a Christmas Pudding flavor, but it wasn't that good, so I got a capuccino-flavored one. While eating my ice cream, I got to hold a sweet kitty and look at some afro-chickens (they really did have 'fros). Oh, and bebeh cows.



The next day we all went to Platt to church then my friend Lucy took Sam and the rest of us around the dorm where she's a tutor (the British word for an RA). Her hall is very old and prestigious-looking. It's no Hogwarts, but I could definitely see where it might look good in a Dead Poets' Society-like film.

Hmmm...not much else has happened except for going to shows. I saw the Ting Tings (from Manchester!), then the Kaiser Chiefs (both with Dorian). I went to see the Travelling Band Friday night with Josh. All three were good. There was a teeny tiny little girl at the Ting Tings show (about 4) who sang all the words and cracked me up, although by the last song she had passed out (it was almost 11).

At the M.E.N. Arena for Kaiser Chiefs, they had these awesome people with keg backpacks walking around, and all I could think was that a lot of my friends back in Atlanta would want one for personal use.


The lights at the Kaiser Chiefs were about the most elaborate thing I've ever seen stagewise, and I would have been pretty content to listen to a CD with the light show.




At one point, Ricky was in the audience on this big stand right next to me!

Valentine's Day(ting) and American Sweet(ie)s

First, I have found the Holy Grail. I feel sure that if Arthur, Galahad, Gawain and the other were really sure what they were looking for, they would have discovered Lucky Charms in the last supper's cup. At Selfridge's, a really expensive, Neiman Marcus-like department store, I found the following:

Skippy peanut butter
Double-Stuf Oreo's
Lucky Charms
Aunt Jemima pancake mix
Aunt Jemima syrup
Hershey's candy of all kinds
Willy Wonka sweeties**
Vosges chocolate bars.

It was like American heaven. They did not have Sour Patch Kids, but I'll just have to wait till Easter (maybe the Easter Bunny will send me some, hint hint). Here's a photo of the other delicious items I didn't realized I missed until I no longer had them:



The Lucky Charms were amazing, although Cinnamon Toast Crunch would have been better.

Last weekend, I went on a double date with Josh, Josh's (now former) flatmate** Jim, and Jim's girlfriend, Rachel. They were really nice, and we went to the Trafford Centre, which is essentially a ginormous mall. It's about the same as Phipps Plaza, size wise, but much prettier. There were lots of restaurants, but we weren't too keen on any of them. TGI Friday's had a pretty short wait, so that's where we went. I came to England to experience all kinds of new things, and we ate at TGI Friday's! Who knew? However, I had a margarita, and it was amazing. Yet another thing I miss from Atlanta. Also, I never noticed how everything at TGIF has some kind of Jack Daniels sauce with it. Josh and Jim both had some kind of monstrous four patty burger with back and onion rings on it. It was a little disturbing that they both ate them and still had dessert. Here are pictures:







Finally, last night was my first Valentine's Day. Okay, not my actual first Valentine's Day, but it was the first one I've ever had with a sweetheart. And what a sweetheart he is! He gave me the plushest, softest bathrobe ever and some pretty "posies". I got him tickets to see Blur in Manchester at the end of June. I wore a new dress that has a "carwash" skirt with black sequins, and it's beautiful. Thankfully, Josh did not wear a paisley shirt, and he even let me put a posey in his buttonhole.



For dinner, we went to Gaucho, and it was marvelous. The restaurant is a renovated Baptist Church with even the organ left in (appropriate), and there is cowhide just about everywhere. It was very politically incorrect, but I thought it boded well for the cuisine. I had a strawberry margarita, and it was absolutely AMAZING. Josh had the mojito. For starters, we shared the scallop ceviche and sweetbreads**. Josh had the rump steak and I had a fillet**. I have now converted someone else to the wonder that is the Pittsburgh/black and blue steak. My steak was perfect, and I did not have to send it back (which, for those of you who have ever eaten steak with me, is a rarity). For dessert, Josh had the chocolate truffle cake (lush), and I had the braised fruits and a dollop (definitely not a scoop) of ice cream.





Also, I've been put through to the semi-finals of Manchester's Student Pop Idol competition. I sang "Falling" from Smokey Joe's Cafe for my initial audition, then "Over the Rainbow" and "Tears of a Clown" for the last two callbacks. The semi-finals are Monday week, and the theme is "Songs of the Beatles". I chose "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" because I figure it's basic 12-bar blues and I can do a lot with it and actually be entertaining without doing 7 minutes of Hey Jude. If I get through this round to the finals, I'll get to sing with a big band, which is my aim (rather than winning the competition, although it would be nice).

** sweeties - any kind of candy, though usually sold at a convenience store
flatmate - the British term for roommate, which is actually more accurate, since no one shares a room
sweetbreads - fried glands of cow, yum! The waiter asked if I knew what they were, since sweetbreads does sound pretty non-gross, like escargot or osso bucco.
fillet - what the Brits call a "filet", but it sounds like "fill-it" steak

Snowdaze

Okay, it's now snowed (really good) twice. Monday, it snowed around 4 or 5 inches, but on Tuesday, it looked like it never had. Then, I wake up this morning and Voila! More snow. I made my first real snowman (not made on the trunk of my mum's car!) in the park with Lucy, and we saw the cutest yellow lab puppy in the snow. He kept trying to eat my snowballs! Of course, I forgot my camera, so there are no pictures of my awesome snowman, but here are some lovely vistas anyway. One other awesome fact I learned: Sometimes, snowflakes are so big that they make this kind of splatting noise as they hit the ground, but it's not sleet.

A "Wendy" visit with "Granny" on an "Estate" (and other January events)

I went to the lovely market town of Macclesfield last weekend to visit my boyfriend's Granny. I have a grandmother named Granny too, so it's nice to have a proxy in England who also makes yummy comfort food and has a sweet home filled with things to read and family pictures and knick-knacks covered in grandchildren's fingerprints.

Macclesfield is about 30 minutes south of Manchester on the train, so we were there in no time flat. Macclesfield used to be a silk mill town, but obviously that was sent overseas many years ago. Macclesfield is also on the edge of the Peak District, so it's always a little chillier than Manchester.

Josh's Granny lives on an estate, which I originally thought was some sort of manor or stately home. As it turns out, it's basically what Americans would call a subdivision. However, it's on a hill and has an amazing view of Tegg's Nose and some other big hills. We had a delicious tea (dinner) and pudding (dessert) on Friday night then watched tv. Saturday, we had a lazy morning then a walk near Tegg's Nose (a 380 metre hill named after a "teg" or sheep in Norse). It was so windy, I could lean backwards and not fall over. It was so windy that I had to hold on to Josh not to fall over. It was so windy that I had to hold onto his Granny for fear that she would blow away. Needless to say, we did not make it all the way up the hill, even though I did buy nice hiking shoes for the occasion.

Yes, this is me riding a stone sheep.

This is by some heather, which is apparently not always purple like in the Secret Garden or Wuthering Heights. If it weren't so cold, I'd have been sorely tempted to wear my hair down and run through the moors in an empire waist dress.


Saturday afternoon I took a nap (short due to Josh's snoring-I still love you!) and then we did crosswords and played Scrabble with Josh's Granny. You wouldn't think that Scrabble with someone's granny would be very dirty, but it was! I started it, sort of, by making "S-E-X", but of course, I needed the double letter score on 10-point "X" and I mean male or female, people. Then, on the very next turn, Granny made "P-U-B-I-C"! Don't worry, the raciest word we had after that was "QUESTS" on which I scored over seventy points, thankyouverymuch. I won the game of course, but I won't toot my own horn too much (especially since...well, keep reading). Sunday, we went to a lovely little church on a hill down the street from Granny's house. Josh's Grandpa Naylor is buried in the cemetery there, so it's very special to him. He was in the navy and Josh has his old scarves and sweaters and loves to wear them. Sunday afternoon we came (very reluctantly) back to the reality of school and class today.

As for other slightly more random events in my life:

1. A Question of Genius - As many of you well know, I am a "clever cloggs" as Josh says. Anyway, I entered the running for a BBC television quiz show, A Question of Genius. It's supposed to be harder than The Weakest Link and easier than Mastermind, if that means anything to you. I made it to the audition/callback portion of the tryouts and I was the only girl there, and the only American. Despite my incredibly poor showings in the categories of 20th century British politics, football, and British television, they have invited me to be on the show, which will be taped at the end of February. I have a chance (albeit a VERY slim one) to win £5000 and an even smaller chance to win 10K if I make it to the finals (which I won't). It would be nice to win the money, but being on the BBC is almost as cool to me. Here are some pictures from the audition:



2. The Inauguration - Of course I watched it, and I felt more American than when I first came to Manchester. Here was my beautiful outfit and lovely fellow citizens (and a couple of wishful-thinking Canadians).



3. Delta Spirit - The boys from one of my top 5 favorite bands were in Manchester, so I took Lucy to see them. They remembered the time that I made them pecan pie and recognized me from their couple of shows in Atlanta (and one particularly steamy one outdoors in July). Lucy and I chatted up the lead singer (pictured), and I predict, with my careful tutelage, that Lucy will have snagged a rocker boyfriend by summer.