October 30, 2006

Good morning and a happy birthday to Ryan, my dad,
Sian, Leanne and Jaci! As I am notoriously bad with
remembering birthdays, but not so bad at remembering
lists, I wish more people would buddy up and share
birthdays like this. It is so much easier for me and,
quite frankly, isn't that what its all about?

We are celebrating Ryan's birthday by eating macaroni
and cheese (his birthday choice) and then off to a
wonderful restaurant for dessert. This influx of
carbs will, no doubt, have all of us crashing into
hypoglycemic despair by 8:00pm, but without trick or
treating the following day, it should all even out.
Halloween, we've been told, is merely a blip here.
The college kids, however, were out celebrating in
costumes over the weekend. Siobhan and I came upon
three "devils" peeing between two cars on our side
street Saturday night. I honked the horn hoping to
startle them and thus have them pee all over each
other, but they must have been fairly numb at that
point, because they hardly reacted. Siobhan asked why
college kids were so irresponsible. I said I didn't
know.

We enjoyed our week long half term break. The first
days were tough. Michael and Ryan produced gym bags
filled with wadded up wet swim suits, towels, rugby
socks, rugby shoes, rugby shirts, rugby shorts, gym
socks, gym shoes, gym shirts and gym shorts. If you
could have only smelled the towel Ryan was using to
"dry" himself off... I thought I had made my point
pretty clear three weeks ago, in a very loud and
animated sort of way, that sweaty and moldy gym bags
weren't my cup of tea, but apparently my message
didn't get through. The mold and mildew smell hung
around for days before all the items could be washed
and the gym bags bleached.

Without any definite plans for half term, I woke
enthusiastically one morning determined to get
everyone out of this very small house. When Aidan
woke up I told him that we'd be going to a castle
later that morning. He looked completely underwhelmed
and said, "Oh. A castle." Amazing that almost six
months to the date of our arrival in this ancient
country everyone is tired of castles. Even the three
year old. Needless to say, I dumped the idea.

We did spend two days in London, however. It was good
fun. We first hit the British Museum which is filled
full with stolen artifacts from countries all over the
world. Each section has a clearly chiseled gratitude
stone where they thank some important person for
"donating" all the items. For instance, in the
ancient Greek section (so large it becomes boring
after awhile) Lord So and So is commended for
securing a letter of permission from the TURKISH
government to go into Greece and take whatever he
wanted from the Acropolis and ship it back to England.
Hmmm. Jim and the kids were in Athens last May. The
Brits have a much more extensive collection of Greek
artifacts than the Greeks do. Most "bits" at the
Parthenon, for example, are reproductions. The Brits
still refuse to give anything back. It actually made
me really mad and plus it was gorgeous outside, so we
left the museum after a short time and headed out into
the warm and sunny weather (The weather report when we
left was calling for 90% chance of rain and cool
temps. We have enjoyed a warm and dry autumn here
mainly because I lug an umbrella around. If I have an
umbrella with me and wear a sweater, the skies clear
and it becomes warm.)

We enjoyed the open air double decker buses, parks and
meals outside. There was an obligatory stop at the
Hard Rock Cafe which didn't thrill Jim and I at first,
but we had the best cheeseburgers! I am not
exaggerating when I say that I have not had a medium
rare anything since moving here. I don't normally
order meat or french fries here because they are
terrible. This burger (cooked medium rare, but with
all sorts of eat-at-your-own-risk warnings) was so
good it made me homesick. I started to get all
sentimental and missing guacamole again. God bless
Eric Clapton for donating a guitar to his favorite
American diner in London. The rest, as they say, is
history.

Halloween will be tough for the kids to miss. I
haven't bought any candy as I am told no one trick or
treats (they don't sell fun sized sweets here). The
Brits are almost apologetic for this (as they are with
just about everything-like the weather), but we are
looking forward to Guy Fawkes night on Saturday.
We'll go to a celebration at school complete with a
huge bonfire, burning effigies, fireworks, hot dogs
(no, thank you) and mulled wine. Is there a better
way to celebrate the foiled gun powder plot? You
know, the one 400 years ago where the Catholics tried
to gain control of the English government by blowing
up the Parliament building but whose plan was
discovered and they were all shot, stabbed or hung?
This is why no one in the royal family can be or be
married to a Catholic to this day. Ahhh, those crazy
Catholics. I'll have another mulled wine, thank you.

I start painting lessons this week with my friend and
personal trainer, Kelly (I'm hoping to get her out of
the gym in order to introduce her to the wonderful
world of gluttony and sloth). The painting lessons
are a part of my elaborate get rich quick scheme that
involves not working evenings or weekends, when Jim is
out of town, half term break, term break and summer
break. Also Fridays.

The boys enjoyed watching the Bears play on Sunday
night. We get the games live, which is pretty
amazing. Jim tried to buy Ryan a Bears jersey for his
birthday while at home last week, but there were none
available. Chicago must be in Bear mania! Have a
wonderful American Halloween and eat an extra Dark
Chocolate Milky Way bar (or 13) for me.

God bless,

T-Ann