This Is Going To Be A Long One...
At the beginning of November, I thought I was going to blog every day. But then last weekend came and Clark Kent and I kept busy from morning till night buying a turquoise frying pan and bright green colander and other assorted household items. And then last week happened - the week I spent from morning till evening scrubbing grease from the walls, counters, and every crevice of the new kitchen. FInally, last weekend came and Clark Kent and I were busied with looking for cookbooks and fixing bank problems and buying new bedding. So much for blogging everyday in the month of November.
Today is the four month mark. As with most things, the wedding seems like yesterday - but it also seems like four years have passed. It feels good to finally have a place to call our own - even if it still is in a building prone to fire drills. We even have a doorbell here, guys! Clark Kent rings it every evening when he comes home and sometimes flips open the mail slot (which, sadly, isn't used for mail) and sticks his fingers through. I laugh every time.
Eating in fast food restaurants in Europe is fine dining. Linda and I discovered this on our three trips to Paris and Clark Kent and I have seen it here in Burger King, McDonald's, and KFC. Almost every fast food American chain (for this is not the case with the British chains, Mr. Cod and PFC - Perfect Fried Chicken) is pretty awesome - two stories, decorated to the nines, and super clean. And, the food seems to taste better than in America (except for at McDonad's because their food tastes pretty awesome anywhere). In McDonald's you can sit in fancy "leather" arm chairs that spin. There are fresh flowers on every table. And have I mentioned how incredibly clean these establishments are? They're CLEAN! The people are always friendly and eating at one of these places is such a pleasant experience. Furthermore, it's totally cheap and affordable to eat at one of these places- much cheaper than going to a more authentic place to eat lunch on a Saturday or Sunday in town.
I can't remember if I've mentioned this here or not, but the books in Britain are far superior to American books. Even the same book in Britain stands above his American cousin. The covers are just better. A couple of weeks ago we had dinner with Clark Kent's cousin and her husband, Stephanie and Harry. They've living in London for 9 years - Harry is some kind of bank/financial wizard and Stephanie (until October 31) worked at Kingfisher as a children's book editor. She's gone rogue now and is self employed. Naturally, I was interested in talking books with Stephanie and couldn't help but sing the praises of the beautiful British books and Waterstones. This whole time, I was thinking, "I'm probably just getting carried away - since I'm in England, I'm going to think everything here is better than in America (save the peanutbutter - no LIE!)." BUT, Stephanie told me that American books most always have different covers because the American part of publishing companies don't want their books looking so "fancy." She actually didn't use the word "fancy," but the basic idea was that British covers are awesome and fancy and Americans have a desire for a more stripped down cover. Anyhow, I feel that now my preference for British books and British bookstores has been validated.
Last weekend, we rode a new bus for its entire route and then got off at an agreed upon stop. It was a little part of Reading known as Caversham. There were several cute shops - a little gift store that sold handmade felt garlands!!, a really great book shop/toy store combo, a great Oxfam all purpose charity shop (the Oxfam store in town is mostly just a bookstore). The best part of our Caversham trip was the walk from Caversham to town centre. We walked the route instead of hopping on the bus quite by accident. We just kept walking until we found some place to eat. By the time we found The Griffin, we were more than half way to town - so after a glorious pub lunch (our first pub trip, really), we finished the walk into town which took us over the Thames.
We've found a great church that we both really love. We've gone the past two Sundays. It was the fourth church we tried, and ironically, the first church that caught my eye on the internet. I guess we were just saving the best for last. It's called Greyfriars and is situated right in the heart of town centre. It's a Church of England church - one that is so thriving and alive (some people have told me that the COE is dying). It was the first church we've been to that was actually full of people - friendly people, no less! Our first Sunday there was Remembrance Sunday and it was a lovely communion service. I guess in the COE, children aren't able to take communion (maybe it's a First Communion kind of deal), but they gave the children each a grape to illustrate how they are part of the body. I love that. A big problem I have with the Catholic Church is how exclusionary they are. Greyfriars also had a cup of grape juice along with the many cups of wine. I simply had to walk up with the bulletin under my arm to signal I wanted the grape juice. Again, I thought that was a wonderful touch. There was a wonderful blend of modern worship songs and traditional hymns - perfect! And, we sang about 7 songs - not all in a row (which I despise), but scattered about during the service. There was a sildeshow tribute to veterans set to "Gabriel's Oboe." Clark Kent and I looked at each other and smiled as I teared up. (That's the tune I walked down the aisle to.) Then, this past Sunday was part of International Mission week and there was a guest speaker. He was absolutely wonderful. He's from a charity called Barnabas Fund and he spoke about the persecuted church (Christians in Iraq, Burma, Sri Lanka - and several other severely persecuted areas). Anyway, we love it. The only picture I have of the church is from atop the number 17 bus on our way home. I would love to take a picture of the inside - it's absolutely beautiful.
That about wraps the catch-up up. Maybe I can now blog for the rest of the month.
Today is the four month mark. As with most things, the wedding seems like yesterday - but it also seems like four years have passed. It feels good to finally have a place to call our own - even if it still is in a building prone to fire drills. We even have a doorbell here, guys! Clark Kent rings it every evening when he comes home and sometimes flips open the mail slot (which, sadly, isn't used for mail) and sticks his fingers through. I laugh every time.
Eating in fast food restaurants in Europe is fine dining. Linda and I discovered this on our three trips to Paris and Clark Kent and I have seen it here in Burger King, McDonald's, and KFC. Almost every fast food American chain (for this is not the case with the British chains, Mr. Cod and PFC - Perfect Fried Chicken) is pretty awesome - two stories, decorated to the nines, and super clean. And, the food seems to taste better than in America (except for at McDonad's because their food tastes pretty awesome anywhere). In McDonald's you can sit in fancy "leather" arm chairs that spin. There are fresh flowers on every table. And have I mentioned how incredibly clean these establishments are? They're CLEAN! The people are always friendly and eating at one of these places is such a pleasant experience. Furthermore, it's totally cheap and affordable to eat at one of these places- much cheaper than going to a more authentic place to eat lunch on a Saturday or Sunday in town.
I can't remember if I've mentioned this here or not, but the books in Britain are far superior to American books. Even the same book in Britain stands above his American cousin. The covers are just better. A couple of weeks ago we had dinner with Clark Kent's cousin and her husband, Stephanie and Harry. They've living in London for 9 years - Harry is some kind of bank/financial wizard and Stephanie (until October 31) worked at Kingfisher as a children's book editor. She's gone rogue now and is self employed. Naturally, I was interested in talking books with Stephanie and couldn't help but sing the praises of the beautiful British books and Waterstones. This whole time, I was thinking, "I'm probably just getting carried away - since I'm in England, I'm going to think everything here is better than in America (save the peanutbutter - no LIE!)." BUT, Stephanie told me that American books most always have different covers because the American part of publishing companies don't want their books looking so "fancy." She actually didn't use the word "fancy," but the basic idea was that British covers are awesome and fancy and Americans have a desire for a more stripped down cover. Anyhow, I feel that now my preference for British books and British bookstores has been validated.
Last weekend, we rode a new bus for its entire route and then got off at an agreed upon stop. It was a little part of Reading known as Caversham. There were several cute shops - a little gift store that sold handmade felt garlands!!, a really great book shop/toy store combo, a great Oxfam all purpose charity shop (the Oxfam store in town is mostly just a bookstore). The best part of our Caversham trip was the walk from Caversham to town centre. We walked the route instead of hopping on the bus quite by accident. We just kept walking until we found some place to eat. By the time we found The Griffin, we were more than half way to town - so after a glorious pub lunch (our first pub trip, really), we finished the walk into town which took us over the Thames.
We've found a great church that we both really love. We've gone the past two Sundays. It was the fourth church we tried, and ironically, the first church that caught my eye on the internet. I guess we were just saving the best for last. It's called Greyfriars and is situated right in the heart of town centre. It's a Church of England church - one that is so thriving and alive (some people have told me that the COE is dying). It was the first church we've been to that was actually full of people - friendly people, no less! Our first Sunday there was Remembrance Sunday and it was a lovely communion service. I guess in the COE, children aren't able to take communion (maybe it's a First Communion kind of deal), but they gave the children each a grape to illustrate how they are part of the body. I love that. A big problem I have with the Catholic Church is how exclusionary they are. Greyfriars also had a cup of grape juice along with the many cups of wine. I simply had to walk up with the bulletin under my arm to signal I wanted the grape juice. Again, I thought that was a wonderful touch. There was a wonderful blend of modern worship songs and traditional hymns - perfect! And, we sang about 7 songs - not all in a row (which I despise), but scattered about during the service. There was a sildeshow tribute to veterans set to "Gabriel's Oboe." Clark Kent and I looked at each other and smiled as I teared up. (That's the tune I walked down the aisle to.) Then, this past Sunday was part of International Mission week and there was a guest speaker. He was absolutely wonderful. He's from a charity called Barnabas Fund and he spoke about the persecuted church (Christians in Iraq, Burma, Sri Lanka - and several other severely persecuted areas). Anyway, we love it. The only picture I have of the church is from atop the number 17 bus on our way home. I would love to take a picture of the inside - it's absolutely beautiful.
That about wraps the catch-up up. Maybe I can now blog for the rest of the month.