Health and Safety??

I think England goes overboard with Health and Safety laws sometimes. 

My latest encounter was with an electrician who had worked too many hours the day before.

Our house is full of recessed spotlight fixtures that are constantly shorting out.

In these "100 days of darkness" of dreary, short winter days, having enough lighting in the house is very important.

I was doing my time waiting in the FIVE-hour time slot I was given for the electrician to come fix the wiring in two of these light sockets.

Two hours into my "sentence" I received a call saying the electrician could not come out as he had worked late the day before and Health and Safety regulations required him to rest today.

I'm thinking "You're kidding, right?"

He was not kidding.

This is the same country that doesn't require bicycle riders to wear helmets but allows them in the same lanes as cars.

Strange.

Special Treats

When you live in another country you adapt and do some things a little differently. What once seemed mundane becomes a special treat. For example, our daughter was thrilled to be surprised on her birthday with a wake-up visit from friends bringing.... Frozen Waffles! To find frozen waffles in England you either have to be able to shop on an American base or at the wholesale warehouse store of Costco. We don't have a Costco membership so it's nice to have friends that do and who are kind enough to share with us their American treasures.

Sometimes it's the little things that we miss (frozen waffles). Other times we are blessed to be able to experience normal activities in special places. I celebrated my birthday last year with a nice dinner and a play at a theatre in the West End of London.

This year my birthday falls on the day of the American Women in Surrey Holiday Homes Tour. Seven beautifully decorated homes are open for visitors to see and proceeds from the ticket sales goes to charity. Some of the homes are historic, one was built in 1740, another is a 120-year old cottage. Touring the homes with friends will be a special treat on my birthday.

Even attending a Christmas Carol concert turns into a special treat when it is held in the historic Kensington Palace in London. Kensington was the home of the British royal family before Queen Victoria moved into the current royal residence of Buckingham Palace.

As I sat in the dimly lit intimate space of the King's Gallery of The King's State Apartments, listening to the Choir from Hampton Court Palace Chapel Royal, I reflected on the history that gallery has seen. The room looks as it did when it was decorated for King George I in 1727. We were surrounded by marvelous paintings on every wall. One painting near where we were sitting depicted the Nativity scene, so appropriate for the Christmas carols we were listening to. I imagined the room being lit by candlelight as it surely must've been before the electric lights were installed. Royalty had been in that very space and now here we were in modern times still enjoying it.

Here is a picture taken at the concert:

Christmas Concert at Kensington Palace

This is what the Gallery looks like during the day:

The King's Gallery

Painting of Nativity Scene

Special moments in special places yield special feelings: Special Treats!

International Thanksgiving

The only Thanksgiving decoration I could find here

We shared our Thanksgiving celebration this year with families from four countries: England, Trinidad, Spain, and United States. It was our fourth and final Thanksgiving that we will celebrate in England.

Our friends were anxious to partake of the feast they had heard about and they were not disappointed. The cajun-fried turkey is always a success. Using cornbread mix and mini-marshmallows brought back from America, I was able to make the traditional cornbread dressing and sweet potato casserole. Pumpkin pie is something our guests were anxious to try as they don't associate pumpkin with dessert. To them it is a vegetable. They liked it.

Three years ago it was difficult to find canned pumpkin in the stores here but that is no longer the case. I have since learned that the stores even carry refrigerated rolled-out pie crust, canned evaporated milk, and bottled whip cream. I'm sure they had those ingredients when we first moved here, I just didn't know where to find them in the store or even what to call them. If you ask a store clerk where the "pie crust" is, they have no clue. You have to use the proper term: "shortcrust pastry". They also look at you funny if you ask for green onions, known as "spring onions" here.

Just as on the first Thanksgiving when the Pilgrims and Native Americans learned from each other and celebrated their harvest in a shared feast, we learned a few things from our Thanksgiving guests and they in turn from us. Okay that's a bit of a stretch, but I just can't help indulging my overactive sense of drama so play along with me...

We learned:

• that the English expect "custard" sauce on their apple pie, not whipped cream or ice cream.
• the proper way to prepare and present after-dinner tea using a teapot.
• "Time for Pud-Pud!" means it's dessert time (pudding).

Our guests learned:

• Pumpkin pie is not made from Jack-O-Lantern type pumpkins but from smaller baking pumpkins, or better yet from canned pumpkin.
• Turkeys can be deep-fried in about 45 minutes.
• the joy of one special day to give thanks with family and friends in a traditional feast.

Exciting that the card shops here sell Thanksgiving cards

Hollywood Comes to London

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for all the blessings in my life: friends, family, health.

I am also thankful for the excitement and opportunities that living near London brings.

Last week some friends and I saw an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum entitled "Hollywood Costume".

Appropriately, it was someone in America who told my friend about the exhibition. I'm so glad she did.

Imagine seeing the actual iconic costumes worn in movies such as:

Wizard of Oz

Titanic

Gone With the Wind

Saturday Night Fever

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Pirates of the Caribbean

Harry Potter

Superman

and so many more.

There was the dress Marilyn Monroe wore standing over the subway grate in "The Seven Year Itch".

Marilyn Monroe's "subway dress"

There was Dorothy's blue gingham dress from "The Wizard of Oz".

Dorothy

The actual ruby-red slippers were the grand finale. This was the first time they have left the United States. They were on loan for only a limited time. We got to see the faded real ones before they were replaced by bright red replicas.

Wizard of Oz red slippers with dress in background

Remember Alfred Hitchcock's movie "The Birds"? I loved watching that scary movie with my sisters when I was young. We saw the green suit worn by Tippi Hedren. I liked how the mannequin was posed as if falling backwards from being attacked by birds.

Costume from "The Birds"

The creators of the exhibit did a good job with the presentation and with educating the audience on the important role of costume designers. Hollywood-themed music played in the background. Actors' faces were put with the costume, sometimes a still photo, sometimes a moving video of the face.

Costumes from "The Addams Family"

Do you recognize any of these?

This assortment of characters share a gun theme:

I'm so glad I could experience the magic of Hollywood all the way over here in England.

Autumn Color... For Free!

Painshill Park, Cobham

Today I spent a total of 4 hours driving in the car. Not all at one time, just many trips here and there: taking Lexi to school, picking her up, driving a friend to the hospital with a badly sprained ankle, then back and forth to soccer training. I had plenty of time to add up the hours as I sat in traffic.

In between all that driving, I took advantage of the beautiful sunny Autumn day we had today. I headed to nearby Painshill Park for a nice hike through the colorful trees. This time of year the days can be dark and dreary. On a day when we are blessed with sunshine, it's practically a sin to be inside. The choice of Painshill Park was perfect, lots of color to brighten my mood, hilly paths to get my heart rate up and stress level down, and on top of that, it was free today. It is normally 6 pounds (about $9) to enter, but Wednesdays in November there is no admission fee.

You may wonder why there is a charge to go into a park, but this is a historic 18th century English landscape park. The entrance fee goes towards the restoration of the historical features of the park. Many of the trees and shrubs were sent from Philadelphia between 1738 and 1773. The park was visited by Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. You gotta love the American connection!

The Gothic Temple

Now I'll be quiet and let you enjoy some of the magnificent scenery I was fortunate enough to partake in today (when I wasn't on the road!)

A Year of Milestones

While Skyping our son last night and discussing Lexi's upcoming birthday, we realized that 2012 is a year of milestones for all of us. Ryan turned 21, Lexi is turning 18, and Chris and I are both 50 now.

It's interesting that these markers on the road we call "life" have converged in this year. Lots of changes are getting ready to happen in all our lives. Both kids are now of legal drinking age in the countries they live in. Both kids will graduate from either high school or college at the end of the school year. Both kids can now vote.

This time next year we will all be living different lives in different places. We don't know where we will end up, just that it will be different. Ryan will have a job somewhere with some company. Lexi will be at some school studying something. Chris and I will move back to the USA living somewhere in the Houston area. All of this is God-willing of course. So many questions. Will it be a different job assignment for Chris? What the heck will I do as an empty-nester? About all we know for certain is that change is coming.

It's a good time to stop and take stock of where we are and acknowledge the milestones in our lives as we also look forward to the future and wonder what is in store for all of us.

Box Hill

The Friday morning country hikes just get better each time. Our latest trek was a climb up Box Hill. This was the area where the Olympic Cycling event was held this summer. The Olympic men cyclists rode around the trail 9 times but the women were smart enough to get the job done in just two loops.  :-)

Carefully going down a hill

We were warned that this hike would be a challenge as it had a lot of ups and downs and slippery steps. I was almost scared away especially as Friday morning started out bleak and rainy. But the weather cleared up and I found my courage and decided to go for it. It was just under 6 miles and we completed it in about two hours. That makes it sound like we crawled along at a snail's pace of just 3 miles an hour. It sure seemed like we were going faster than that. We had several breaks to take in the scenery and let people catch up and most importantly to catch our breath!

The leaders of the hikes do a great job in planning out the paths and pre-walking them earlier in the week. They point out interesting sights as we go along which is good. Otherwise I would spend the entire time looking down watching my step.

There was a flock of sheep grazing in this meadow beside us. The sign says "Public Bridleway".

Grazing sheep

I wish my pictures had come out better. I traveled light and didn't bring my camera so these photos were taken on my small cell phone.

Huge yew tree

Apparently, I only snapped pictures on the paths where we were heading downwards. I guess I was too out of breath to consider taking pictures as we climbed upwards.

Coming down slippery steps

Our climbing was rewarded with a magnificent view at the top.

At one junction we were given a choice of an easier path taking a bridge over a creek or the more adventurous path of stepping stones right through the creek. Before I could change my mind I opted for adventure and was so happy I did.

Proud to say I crossed the creek on these step stones

We ended the walk with a delightful lunch at The Running Horses Pub.

Across the street from the pub is this lovely old church which can trace its history to at least the year 1180:

St. Michael's Church, Mickleham 

At lunch I found out that the wife of Mohamed Al-Fayed had been on the hike with us. He is the father of Dodi Al-Fayed who was killed in the car crash with Princess Diana. He used to own Harrods department store in London. He now owns the Fulham Football (soccer) club. My husband is a fan of Fulham and received an Al-Fayed gnome for his birthday. His wife is from Finland and is a former model and Miss Viking pageant winner. I didn't even realize I was so close to a celebrity. Her driver brings her to the walks and then picks her up afterwards. I wonder what she would think if she knew I have a gnome figure of her husband in my house?

Al-Fayed Fulham gnome

And on that strange note I will end this posting....