Our England Adventure

Top Ten Things

2008-08-19T11:48:00.002+01:00

We will be returning to the US in approximately a week and a half. This is a mixed bag for me. While I'm excited to be able to see my family and friends again, I am definitely not excited to be going from 62 degrees to 98 and I'm going to miss my new friends that I've made here. So, to sum up our experience, Sean thought we should do a Top Ten Things We Will Miss and Not Miss about England (We will not include friends since that is assumed). So, here's mine...

Top Ten Things I'll Miss About England:
1. Walking: Walking to get my groceries, to dinner, to get my hair cut, to the library, to the post office, to the bank, to buy some clothes, to the bookstore, to Coffee, and to Evan's school.
2. London: the theatre, the concerts, the city
3. The Trains: on-time, frequent, you can get almost everywhere
4. The Weather and Running in the rain: I am a pasty-white person. I like not having to put on sunscreen every time I go out.
5. The Airports: they are only an hour and a half away and will take you anywhere in the world (not just to LAX or SFO)
6. Being in a very old place where almost every building is beautifully detailed and Castles are a dime a dozen.
7. Fruit and Vegetables that taste like they should
8. BBC Radio (even though they talk too much and repeat music too often)
9. Location, Location, Location...You can DRIVE to France! It also exposes you to a lot more cultures and languages.
10. The English People: the accent, the politeness, the more formal dress (love that the school-kids have to wear ties/jackets/skirts).
Sorry, I have to add one more:
11. The NHS: Everyone should have access to health care and that's all there is to it. I've used it and it works, even if it's not perfect.

Top Ten Things I Won't Miss About England:
1. PARKING: We sometimes have to walk about a mile to get to our car and if you forget to fold in your side mirrors, you could lose the cover and it may get run over (this happened to us).
2. Almost Getting Run Over: Pedestrians just don't have right of way and there are not enough pedestrian crossings. I take my life in my hands every time I cross the street because people don't even slow down for you.
3. Harry: Our Nice but Noisy Neighbor
4. Breakfast Options: I like pancakes, and waffles, and french toast, and omelettes, and hash browns. You can't get most of these things here for breakfast.
5. Narrow Roads: Some roads just weren't made for two cars. I've actually been in a bus when I heard it hit the side mirror of the car traveling in the opposite direction and the bus never even slowed down.
6. Tiny Washers and Dryers: assuming you actually get a dryer, which is not assumed here.
7. The Weather: I know, it made the last list, but it would be nice to be able to plan for a sunny day. You never know when you will be able to play outside here.
8. The Bank: While I know and like my bank tellers here it really peeves me that I can't deposit money into the ATM machine, I have to go see a teller, and there are no weekend or evening hours. It also takes DAYS for transactions to show up into my account like deposited checks or transfers. Whereas my Bank of America account posts transactions within minutes and will credit my account.
9. Retail Hours: People like to shop Sundays and evenings and almost everything closes during those times.
10. Paying in Pounds: It's just a painful experience when you're earning in dollars.

A Rant about Music

2008-08-19T10:57:00.003+01:00

One thing that took some getting used to over here is the way you listen to music. Radio stations are not separated so much over here by type of music or era. You could be listening to Madonna one minute and Neil Diamond the next and the stations aren't by city, they can be heard throughout the entirety of the country. So, while Radio 1 is directed at a more youthful audience it will play all kinds of music (except country, no one plays country, which I think is a blessing. Sorry country fans).

At first, I found this frustrating. I don't want to listen to Kid Rock followed by Rihanna. In a strange turn of events though, it's grown on me. And the most beautiful thing about the Radio over here is that the DJ's are allowed to talk about the music. If they think it's brilliant they'll say so and if they think it's rubbish they'll say that, too. They actually seem to love the music which I think is something that the US has lost in the corporate take-over of the airwaves.

Now it's time to pass on some of the great stuff I've been exposed to.
The Fratellis album "Costello Music" absolutely rocks and pretty much anything by the Kooks will make you feel good (thank you Shaun M for the introductions). These are available through Itunes.

Now the part that makes me REALLY angry....

There are some new songs out here that are really popular both here and on the continent but when I went to Itunes to see if they were available, I couldn't find them. Not until I pulled up the itunes UK store. Then, when I tried to log in, it immediately pushed me back to the US store where I couldn't get the music. Does this make any SENSE?!! I want to share music with my friends and they can't buy it!! No marketing, no concerts, no airplay and they could be making money and you can't buy it (if you wanted to)!!!!!! So, I had to set up a UK itunes account with my UK address and bankcard. So, I have the music and as soon as I can figure out how to share it, I will.

A Last Look at London

2008-08-19T10:35:00.008+01:00

The last two weekends we've spent our Saturdays in London (check out Evan in front of the Paddington Bear statue at Paddington Station). The first time we went because it had been a good solid week of cold and rain and we just had to get out of the house so we checked out the London Science Museum. The London Science Museum is free and it's great! There are all kinds of cool exhibits about materials: the evolution of plastic was a great display (with thousands of the plastic strips you use to block the passage of contaminants/air between rooms), exhibits about space, cars, and best of all a place called Launchpad that is a hands-on activity area for kids where they can look through giant lenses, make giant bubbles, play with light, waves, pulleys, and build their own bridges out of foam blocks. It was a bit chaotic but lots of fun. Then we visited Covent Garden, a market area of London. It is also a place where the street performers congregate (sword swallowers, jugglers, etc..) so it was just an exciting place to be. We did a little shopping and headed home.

This last Saturday we drove to the London Zoo. It's on the outskirts of London so, while you can avoid the city congestion fee zone, you don't avoid the congestion. It was worth it, though. The zoo has a little bit of everything and it's laid out in a nice open plan so you feel a little closer to nature. There's a small aquarium there, the reptile house where they filmed a scene from Harry Potter (for you fans), there are animal shows where ferrets run around and parrots and hawks fly right over your head, and there's a playground, carousel, and butterfly house.

Disneyland Paris

2008-07-25T14:22:00.003+01:00

Monday morning we arrived at our hotel at the Disneyland Resort Paris, Sequoia Lodge. Sean found it amusing that we booked a hotel that was built to mimic being in California.

It was a Redwood lodge type hotel with a rock pool and lots of pines trees but we didn't have time to check it out if we were going to make our early entrance into Disneyland.

We got to the park about 5 minutes before the general public was let in and hopped on the first ride we could find, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". It was a little tricky figuring out which rides were which since everything was in French and we were in a hurry so we didn't notice until after the ride the warning about it being scary for younger riders. While Evan didn't cry during the ride, he definitely was not smiling and was probably concerned about where exactly his parents had brought him for the day. (He also didn't cry during Pirates of the Caribbean which we felt we had to take him on as a rite of passage but he did hide under his hoodie for parts of it.)

Things improved after we took him on "Small World" and the "Casey Jr. Circus Train". Soon he was into it and was pointing to rides and getting excited.

Sean and I were also able to use the "baby switch" feature (for anyone going with small children). Baby switch allowed me to wait in line for Space Mountain 2 while Sean stayed with Evan and then when I got off the ride, I took Evan, and they let Sean get right on the next car. It was a beautiful thing (except for the part about me feeling really old while on the ride and wishing I had brought some advil). A really cool thing about staying in the park is that you can request purchases to be sent directly to your hotel so that you don't have to carry them around and you can have everything billed to your room. You can also get in two hours early, stay late, and have breakfast with the characters if you have time. That doesn't even account for the direct transport to your hotel, not having to pay for parking, and being able to fall directly into bed after your day of fun.

One little historical note about Disneyland Paris: In the beginning, Disneyland Paris was called EuroDisney and shunned by the French community. The French farmers picketed because it was built on formerly agricultural lands, French park-goers were turned off by the absence of wine at the park and the largely American-style food options, and Disney hemorrhaged money for years. While the park, now Disneyland Paris, is currently one of the most popular European vacation destinations and there was no shortage of French park-goers when we there, the signs of the early park struggles were evident. The park was fun, well-maintained, the food was very good, and we were still able to watch a very costly fireworks show from our hotel window on a Monday night. However, they don't have nearly as many rides as the other parks (Anaheim or Florida) and they have some areas that actually look like space fillers with walk through displays, etc.

Overall, it was a great time and actually the perfect starter park for Evan since we were able to do both Disneyland and Walt Disney Studios parks in one day but I'm glad to be able to plan my next Disney vacation at Anaheim.

More France

2008-07-25T13:49:00.007+01:00

When we were at Mont-St-Michel, Evan had found some French kids in one of the grassy gardens who were playing hide-and-seek. He joined in immediately, despite the language barrier, and was soon bouncing with a small girl close to his age. Unfortunately, soon after we had arrived, the family had to leave and much crying followed. So, Sunday we decided to split our day between kid friendly and non-kid friendly activities. In the morning we went to a very cool War memorial, Musee de la Batterie de Crisbecq, where you could run around in one of the German's largest coastal artillery batteries with 1km of trenches and 21 linked blockhouses, renovated to show what they contained during wartime (checkout the picture of the bunker that received a direct hit). Evan seemed to enjoy it running up and down stairs and in and out of tunnels and into every random crevice and staircase he could find, even exploring the boxes and cabinets they had on display (which was allowed).

For lunch we went to the beach and played in the sand. After lunch we stopped by the Musee Memorial de la Bataille de Normandie, but Evan only got through about 15 minutes of the 25 minute informational movie and we had to leave, he was asking so many questions. Then he ran around looking at the trucks, jeeps, and tanks while Sean looked at some of the displays and I chased Evan. It was soon evident that not much was to be gained from the museum visit and we needed to move on to Paris anyway.

Sunday night we stayed at the Novotel Convention and Wellness Center at Charles de Gaulle airport and it was one of the best hotel experiences we had. The restaurant was excellent and child-friendly, the breakfast was wonderful (and included), and there was even a kid place in the hotel with a playstation and other activities. It was also great because we were able to completely avoid the Paris traffic and were only 30 minutes away from Disneyland.

Normandy

2008-07-24T13:48:00.008+01:00

Our hotel was technically within Saint Malo, France. It was a wonderful place directly across the street from the beach and a stone path that ran all the way to the walled city of Calcane.

On our first night in France, after visiting Mont-Saint-Michel, we checked into our hotel and headed out for food. We found a pizza place about a block a way that seemed to be well-liked by the locals and kid-friendly. The best part was that one of our waiters was about 12 years old. He was a very nice boy who was very accommodating with my rusty French and special requests (2 spoons with dessert, more napkins, etc.). He always looked so proud when he brought something that I had asked for and had gotten it correct. It made for a great dining experience.

The next morning we walked to Calcane and took the path along the walls of the city where we found great views of the ocean and beautiful parks. About midday we checked out and headed for our next stop, Bayeux.

Bayeux was the first city in France freed by the Americans which is probably why it is still so beautiful today (rather than the pile of rubble that many of the other local cities became). It is also a great central location for check out the WW2 memorials and seeing the beaches where the allied forces landed.

The thing that was truly amazing about visiting this area today is that it is still a very rural place. I can't imagine that it looks much different than it did then which gives you a great feel for the experiences of both the soldiers and the French farmers who were there during that time. Another great thing about Bayeux is that it has a market on Saturdays. We were able to wander around town, eat some gelato, and that evening we headed to Pointe du Hoc, one of the WW2 memorials.

Pointe du Hoc is a cliff located between the Omaha and Utah beaches. An important target during WW2 since the Germans had an entrenched battalion and guns on the cliff to literally keep the Allied landing forces at bay.

(The following was shamelessly stolen from Wikipedia) The plan called for the three companies of Rangers to be landed by sea at the foot of the cliffs, scale them using ropes, ladders, and grapples under enemy fire, and engage the enemy at the top of the cliff. This was to be carried out before the main landings.

Despite initial setbacks because of weather and navigational problems, resulting in a 40-minute delay and loss of surprise, the cliffs were scaled and the strongpoint was assaulted successfully, with relatively light casualties.

The costliest part of the battle for the Rangers came after the cliff assault. Determined to hold the vital ground, yet isolated from other assault forces, they fended off several German counterattacks over the next two days, until reinforced from Omaha Beach. The original plans called for an additional, larger Ranger force of eight companies to follow the first attack, if successful. Flares from the clifftops were to signal this second wave to join the attack, but because of the delayed landing, the signal came too late, and the other Rangers, mostly of the U.S. 5th Ranger Battalion, landed on Omaha instead of Pointe du Hoc.

The added impetus these 500+ Rangers provided on the stalled Omaha Beach landing has been conjectured to have averted a disastrous failure there, since they carried the assault beyond the beach, into the overlooking bluffs and outflanked the German defenses. At the end of the 2-day action, the initial Ranger landing force of 225+ was reduced to about 90 men who could still fight.

The earth is still scarred with massive craters and collapsed bunkers from the battle.

Go, Go, Go...

2008-07-24T12:54:00.013+01:00

Since we last posted we have been to Ireland, had an England family reunion, and gone to France. Evan got to meet his Irish cousins, and his English cousins and a fun time was had by all.

Then there was France. Ever since I can remember I have wanted to see Mont-Saint-Michel a rock island with a city built upon it. The coolest thing about it is that during certain times of the year the sandy areas around the island are submerged, so with the exception of the road. The city truly becomes an island again. The sign I took a picture of says, "Today, the sea does not cover this carpark."

The city has been there almost a thousand years. At the very top of the rock is an Abby where they housed prisoners during some periods. They would lock the prisoners in a room in the Abby (I would call it the dungeons but technically, the rooms are a few floors above ground). They would have some of the prisoners walk like hamsters in a giant wheel to load food from boats into the city. The prisoners would prefer this task since it meant they got a little more food themselves but many of them died there since there was no heat and they were next to a large open window area.

The city was fascinating. There were passageways that you would have to walk sideways to get through and there were doors in the passageways (escape routes?).

Unfortunately, it took us between 8 and 10 hours of driving to get there. We had originally scheduled to fly to Paris and drive but so many people told us France wasn't that far we decided to pack up the car and drive it instead. This meant we would have to take the Eurotunnel.

The Eurotunnel is an experience in and of itself. You drive on to the train cars (like in "The Italian Job") and you sit in silence while the train takes you under the English Channel in 36 minutes. The ride was so smooth that you don't even know you are going about 90mph. You get to France and just go (no one even checked our passports).

While we in the Mont-St-Michel region (Normandy) we also checked out some other fascinating sights: Calcane (a walled city) and The beaches at Normandy.

Marlborough Jazz Festival

2008-07-12T18:42:00.002+01:00

Sadly, the Royal International Air Show was cancelled due to rain. Sean was greatly disappointed and I was a bit disappointed as well since I had watched about 10 squadrons of fighter jets fly over our town so I knew it would be an impressive sight.

But there was one positive aspect of the air show being canceled and that was that we were now able to attend the Marlborough jazz festival. So, we found a parking space early Saturday morning and decided that we would not go anywhere until Sunday since about 300 people come in to town for the festival. They also close down the main road through town.

It was great! Even though the festival is technically a ticketed event they have tents and bands all over town and you don't have to go inside to hear the music. The restaurants also set up tables into the street so you can eat and listen to music.

Saturday morning we started out with a hike through the woods (a 7-9mile walk) and by the time we were finished we were starving. So, we grabbed some lunch, listened to some music and then went back to the house to rest. Then we headed back to town where we got some wine and bruschetta, listened to the brass jazz band and then wandered around town people watching, drinking, and listening to music. There aren't any open container laws so we were free to drink on the go and then the most beautiful part was that we could just walk back to the house when we were ready. It was like a more sedate French quarter in New Orleans and Evan could run around in the street without being hit by a car. It was a beautiful thing...

The Circus

2008-07-12T17:54:00.003+01:00

I was so excited about the John Mayer concert that it completely eclipsed the trip Evan and I took to the circus with our friends Josh and Gill. The circus was quite literally at the end of our street so there was no excuse not to walk the half-block to see it.

It was great fun! It was the old-school kind of circus with the "wheel of death", acrobats, and while they could no longer use elephants and lions in their shows, they did some impressive tricks with horses dancing and dogs riding on horses. It was good fun.

There were not a lot of people in the audience that day since it was the Thursday matinee show so, unfortunately for them, there were not a lot of people to choose from for the audience participation segment. So, when Bobo the clown asked me to toss some rings so he could catch them with his head it was not a very pretty result.

If you have ever seen me throw a frisbee you will know that my aim is less than perfect (unless I am very angry). Anytime I throw a frisbee it slices to the left at a fierce velocity and is nowhere near its' intended target. So, when I threw the rings for Bobo, the ringmaster, who was also in the ring actually had to duck to avoid getting his head taken off with the rings. I was so embarrassed but Bobo (silly clown) decided to give me another try even though I told him to find someone else. Bobo pretended to run to the left and then ran back. He should have stayed to the left because I did the same exact thing a second time. Finally, Bobo walked right up to me until he was a foot in front of me and had me place the rings on his head. I don't think I'll be welcome at the circus again. But Evan definitely had fun.

2008-07-02T15:10:00.001+01:00

So beautiful... and then it rains again.

The weather over the past few days here has been spectacular. My Dad has been here since Friday night and we have gone to see his old haunts where he came to after leaving Ireland. It was an absolutely perfect weekend. Which works out well for Dad as he rented a motorbike while here and is touring about during the week while I am at work.

However, this afternoon it has just dumped on us. It still surprises me how much the world looks different here between the sunny and the cloudy. I guess it would take even more getting used to before it seems normal to go from bright sun to pooring rain so quicly.

JOHN MAYER!!!

2008-06-30T21:29:00.008+01:00

So, I love John Mayer. Only because he has skills and his music speaks to me but I have never been to see him in concert because I always felt that he was not an artist to be seen in a 30,000 person arena and he never seems to be playing anywhere near where I was living. So, I was a little miffed when I found out that he was playing the mid-state fair in July and nobody told me (HELLO People! Didn't you see the giant billboards and think to drop me a note?). Sean saw them when he was back in June and offered to bring us back to the states for a time with him but by the time I found out there were only a handful of tickets left in the very last row (Not worth the 14 to 16 hours of travel time with Evan).

So, last Thursday night I opened my ticketmaster UK email (why must I torture myself?) and discovered there was a huge rock festival going on in Hyde Park (London) with Eric Clapton, Sheryl Crow, and John Mayer. When I started discussing the possibility of dropping a babysitting bomb on Sean's dad who was arriving on Friday from elsewhere in England and attending the 40,000 person festival Sean discovered that John was actually headlining his own show Friday night at the Brixton Academy (London), a 3600 person venue.

Most people don't know John Mayer here so we were surprised that the show was sold out. But that didn't stop me! I found one ticket on ebay and one ticket through Double8 tickets (a ticketing agent in London). The only big catch was we had to make it to London Friday before the Double8 ticket office closed at 6pm and we weren't going to be able to sit together. The other thing was that the ebay ticket guy was going do the ticket/money exchange at the show so we just had to hope he would show up.

Friday: Sean's dad arrives later than expected (2pm) in Swindon, Sean can't get out of work until 2:30pm, and we have to get on the road by about 3pm from Marlborough to drive to the train station and catch the train to London, then get the tube to central London to pick up the single ticket from Double8. Sean's dad takes the babysitting bomb in stride. We drive the 30min to Marlborough and we're on our way by 3:15pm. We've also heard from the ebay ticket guy and everything is looking good.

We basically have to run from train to train and all the way to the ticket office. We arrive at 5:40pm. We get in line to pick up the tickets and the Double8 ticket office is a disaster. There are tickets scattered everywhere, piles of what looks like scrap paper with notes tossed about the desks and counters. The girl who is there to "help" us is sorting through random piles of papers. After chatting with some of her co-workers and looking around a bit she tells us that though we were not the last people to purchase tickets for the show (4 tickets came up on Friday and I had purchased mine Thursday), they have lost the ticket and they have already handed out the rest of the tickets but she would be happy to refund my card.

To think this was the reliable ticketing option! I was FURIOUS! I don't get angry often but when I do it's not pretty. I went off talking about the two hours of travel to get to London, the one ticket we already bought, etc...etc.. and she just said- "there will be people outside the venue selling tickets..."(aka ticket-scalpers). I got my refund and was fuming all the way to the venue.

As we walked out of the tube exit to street level near where John was playing, sure enough, there were scalpers and at this point, we were already in London. So we found two tickets in the front standing area and got them for 35 pounds each. Not bad considering the ticket face value was 28 pounds and we would have had to pay shipping and service fees. Sean and I would also get to stand together!

So what about the ebay guy? Well, I waited, and waited and it was first come, first served seating. He was supposed to be there by 7pm and at 7:20pm when Sean finally had made it to the doors of the theatre I decided I would wait no more. About 10minutes later I get a call from the guy that he's out front. I told him I was in and that I would get back to him later, he should try to sell the ticket to someone else.

As we waited for John to come out to the stage that night I was telling Sean how unkempt John had been looking these days with his longish shaggy hairstyle and that he looked much better when it was short on his early albums. Well, John must have heard me because he came out with his short hair again. And even better than that he played an AMAZING, 2 hour set. Sean was also pleasantly surprised that he played blues guitar so well.

While Sean enjoys John's music and recognize his song-writing/singing/ guitar playing skills, I believe he also sees his music as more moody, chick music.

Well, John Mayer impressed everyone there and while the English audiences were very polite: not pushing to the front, quieting down to listen when he spoke, not screaming constantly and dancing like a crazy person while he was playing(that was me...) they did bring him out for an encore, chanting and cheering properly. The music was amazing, the venue was beautiful. It was a show to remember (and so worth all of the stress to get there).

The Lake District and Scotland

2008-06-26T16:01:00.006+01:00

I had to return to talking about Windermere in the Lake District because it was such a wonderful place. When we were there on Friday we walked from our inn down to the lake shore where we caught a boat that took us across the lake. From there we were able to take a train out to a small town where you can picnic or eat at their restaurant and then back. It was great fun for Evan to run around the train and Sean and I got some great views of the Lake District.

The Lake District is supposed to be well known for its' hiking. However, we had been so busy previous to our departure that we had no idea where to go and none of the trail heads are marked from where the public transport drops you. So, after asking around a while we made our way to a path and hiked for about an hour and a half through the woods. It was quite a hike since there was a bit of vertical. We were pretty tired after the effort but it worked out perfectly. Evan got to nap and we didn't have to feel guilty about the high tea we had in the garden of the Lakeside Hotel while Evan ran around chasing ducks. Overall, a perfect day...

Then, on to Edinborough (or Edinburgh?), Scotland. We got there a little late since there was an incident in the car on the way. The roads were windy. Sean drives fast and though Evan yelled, "STOP the CAR!" It was too late. We had to stop at the closest inn and someone was kind enough to give us a bucket of soapy water and a rag. Needless to say, the ride was a little slower and more stressful after this.

We made it to Edinborough okay and managed to wander around town and see the castle since Evan seemed to be feeling better. The castle was pretty amazing since it was the kind of Castle you'd see in a fairy tale with a drawbridge and great views of the city. I also loved that the street performers were 75% bagpipers and you could hear the beautiful sound as you wandered through the city. We got back to our hotel just before it started raining and ended up eating at the pub there. It worked out great since the Eurocup football finals were on and Evan enjoyed watching them. In fact, he woke up twice that night saying, "Football! TV!" and would immediately fall back to sleep. I think we may end up having a sports kid (HOW did that happen??).

A Visit in Review

2008-06-26T14:24:00.010+01:00

So, I'm FINALLY driving. I fought it for 3 months but my dad came to visit, and Sean was in the States on business, while our car was at the end of our street. I had no excuses.

So, I just did it and amazingly it hasn't been bad. I think being a passenger all those months made it a little easier.

Dad and I went to Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral. The Cathedral was pretty amazing and has one of the 4 remaining copies of the Magna Carta (one of the most famous of all documents, widely regarded as the cornerstone of liberty/constitutional law in the English-speaking world). Salisbury itself was a pretty impressive town with it's ancient walls, bridges, and pubs.

Then we went to Bath again. I have included a picture of their police station which became famous last year. It seems they had done some remodeling and added large planters by the doorway. Within the first week the plants had been replaced with those of a "doobious" nature and the planters were removed. (At least, this is the story the tour guide gave us...)

Then we went to Cotswold Wildlife Park again and were able to visit the Lemur enclosure. I felt this was worth mentioning since they let the lemurs run free in it. Obviously, this is not a country that has been over run with litigation. And check out the walls on the Penguin enclosure. Evan could have gone for a swim if I wasn't paying attention.
Finally, to Bournemouth, a south coast Santa Cruz boardwalk type place (minus the rollercoasters, plus a very cool aquarium). Look! There is sun in England! Dad didn't want to leave.

Travelling

2008-06-26T14:11:00.003+01:00

Shortly after our return from Italy my dad came to stay for 2 weeks or so, then we were off to the Lake District for 2 nights, Edinburgh (Scotland) for one night, came home Sunday and Sean's dad will be arriving on Friday. Then, in a week we're off to Ireland for the weekend and then an extended weekend in France and .....DISNEYLAND PARIS!!

Let me just take a moment to tell you how excited I am to give Evan his first Disneyland Experience. He has finally gotten to an age where we have really been enjoying having him on holiday with us. It's not just diapers, sleeping arrangements, and how are we going to lug his 50 pounds of stuff and him?? He actually gets excited about new places and things and talks about them to us. So, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to add a night to our extended weekend to take in Disneyland Paris. Begrudgingly, after days of pestering Sean with pleas of...but it's French Disneyland!...we'll already be there! It's closer to us than Anaheim is to Atascadero!! Sean gave in. So, while I look in anticipation to the weeks ahead. I think Sean may be in fear of the Disneyland induced Euphoria that I have experienced since I was a small child...but he'll have fun anyway.

2008-06-25T13:25:00.001+01:00

I havent posted in quite a while but we have been a fair bit of travel and entertaining. Last weekend we spent time in the Lake District and Edinburgh. Outside of the copious amounts of driving it was wonderful. I highly recommend a trip to the Lake District for anyone who comes over.

While we were in Windemerewe stayed at the most wonderful Inn called Ellerthwaite Inn (www.ellerthwaitelodge.com). The owner and staff were fabulously helpful and very friendly with Evan. Bull fry up each morning and a good family room to stay in made it an easy place to overnight.

They reccomended a great place to eat dinner as well that we would have never stopped in had we not known about it (www.francinesrestaurantwindermere.co.uk). They are a Michelin rated restraunt with very friendly staff and plenty of toys (Legos and such) for the little ones. It was so good we ate there 2 nights in a row.

Finally to Florence

2008-06-03T13:03:00.008+01:00

(Due to technical difficulties, this post will be in green and black.)
The last leg of our trip was a week in Florence with Sean, myself, my mom, and Evan. We had rented a house outside of the city. I was a little worried since I had to pay cash up front to reserve the place and they required a cash deposit and payment for the remainder of the stay. Luckily, instead of the empty lot or outdoor plumbing I had feared, we ended up with a spacious and modern three bedroom with a view of the city and surrounding vineyards and an outdoor brick patio and grass area.

We arrived late on Saturday but managed to get to a popular local pizzeria for dinner. The next day we had to get groceries but since it was Sunday, we had to go into the city to find an open store. The store was small but had pretty much everything we needed. However, after gathering all of our fruit and vegetables we realized that we had to weigh and label them with a special machine. There was a sign but the only English they put on it was that you had to weigh the vegetables yourself. Sean and I pushed buttons for a few minutes but were getting nowhere. An Italian guy was soon waiting for us to finish so I tapped Sean on the shoulder and told him to let the guy go first. When I motion to the guy, he shrugs, and makes it clear that he doesn't know how to work the machine either. So, the first Italian guy finds a second Italian guy in the produce area. They talk and we watch and finally figure out how to weigh our produce.

Now that we had food for the week we were ready to explore. The only unfortunate part of our week in Italy is that we brought the rain with us. We got about 3 sunny days but the rest were rather wet. So, one of the first sunny mornings we had we set off for the city. Our goal for that day was to see Palazzo Vecchio (a palace of sorts next the the Uffizi art gallery that once housed the Italian government), and the Duomo (one of the most beautiful and ornate churches in all of Italy. Historical note: when the architects originally designed the dome to be self-supporting they did not actually have the technology to create the dome. They were confident, though, that in the hundred or so years it would take to build it, the technology would become available. Pretty Clever!).

As we were wandering around the Duomo our sunny morning clouded over. We all agreed it looked like rain so I said I would take a quick run around the Duomo to get some pictures then we could leave. After splitting up, there was thunder, then the downpour started. At first it wasn't too bad but soon the rain was literally bouncing off the ground. I had to run back around the Duomo to find my mom and was already soaked. Of course, I had the backpack with the umbrella buried in the bottom and I knew Sean and Evan were probably getting soaked too. As I ducked into a crowded corridor with my mom some guy sees us both soaked and offers us an umbrella. I say no but he keeps trying to hand it to me. As soon as I take it he says "10 Euro." I say, in English, "You're Crazy!" He says, "How much?" I say, "2 Euro." He says "No." I say, "Ok." Since my mom and I agree that we're both already soaked and there's no point now in buying one.

Meanwhile, Sean and Evan are huddling as close to the building and shelter as they can but are still getting somewhat rained on. Mom and I arrive with the umbrella to cover them and decide that since we're soaked already, there's no point huddling in doorways with the other tourists. We should just head home. (Lucky for us we had worn dark clothing that morning and no one got a free show.)

We were the ONLY people walking in the rain. You would think it was toxic rain judging by the hundreds of people, even those with umbrellas hiding in doorways. People were so surprised to see our group walking the 4-5 blocks back to the car, soaking wet, that I actually heard them exclaim, "Oh My God!" or gasp when we walked by. One guy even took a picture of us. It was the strangest experience.

This leads us to my final topic: Clothes dryers. Since I have been in this part of the world I have learned that most people here line-dry their clothes. It's not that they can't afford a dryer, it's that it is just the custom to line-dry things. I have even felt a bit guilty for my personal carbon consumption by utilizing electricity and modern appliances to dry my clothes. Sean even suggested we get a clothes line for our house in Cali (because he wouldn't be the one hanging them all, I think). Well, after trying to dry my clothes for 4 days in Italy using house fans and lights, I just can't buy-in to the line drying thing. Thank you modern technology. I like my clothes dry in 60 minutes or less.

The rest of the week was wonderful. Too many beautiful places to talk about and I've already gone on too long. All I can say is: Go to Italy!! We will definitely go back again.

TII - This is Italy

2008-06-02T22:18:00.003+01:00

If you've ever seen the movie Blood Diamond with Leonardo DiCaprio there is a classic line in there that Sean and I adopted. In the movie, set in Africa, absurd and crazy things would happen and Leonardo's character would say, "TIA, this is Africa", since there was no other way to explain what was going on. So, on more than one occasion, Sean and I would say to each other "TII, this is Italy" and try to laugh about it. Car rental #2 was one of these occasions.

Italy operates on their own cultural clock. One I am deeply envious of but also a clock that makes me appreciate not having to actually live there.

The standard Italian citizen works 32 hours a week. So, Monday through Friday, business starts approximately 8:30AM. At about 12:30 most businesses close and the restaurants open. The businesses are closed until 3pm to allow time for pasta, wine, and napping. You go back to work until about six and then start dinner between 7:30 and 8pm. Even most retail businesses with the exception of restaurants are closed by 1 or 2pm on Saturdays and few things (including restaurants) are open on Sundays. Did I mention the 5 weeks, at least, of vacation a year? (BTW, 5 weeks is standard in all of Europe.) A great place for spending time with family but not so great if you actually want to be able to shop on the weekend or do any business.

So, here's where the car rental comes in...

After leaving Cinque Terre we were taking the train to Milan to meet my mom and Evan at the airport and then driving to Florence. The train arrived at the Milan train station at 1:50Pm. My mom and Evan's flight arrived at the airport at 3:15pm. Milan Bergamo airport is approximately 45 minutes out of Milan city center. So, we figured we would pick up the car in the city center instead of at the airport since we weren't sure how to get from the train station to the airport.

We called the Hertz rental line in Italy. Here's how it went:

Ring, Ring, (Voicemail system picks up, some introduction in Italian)
"For English, Press 2". I press 2. I get 3 minutes of options in Italian. Operator picks up.
Operator: "Buon Giorno."
Me: "Parla Inglese??"
Operator: (Pause) Yes.
Me: "I'm picking my car up at Milan Bergamo and I would like to change it to City Center. My reservation number is..."
Operator: "That's fine. Here's your new reservation number. Wait, I put in the wrong pickup location. Here's a new reservation number...Oh, I just noticed that the City Center location closes at 2pm on Saturday and you are supposed to be there 10 minutes before close."
Me: "But my train doesn't get in until 1:50."
Operator: "Maybe someone at the office can wait a few minutes for you. You will have to call them. Let me get you the new reservation number (Italian cell phone mysteriously disconnects the line and says the system is busy...)..."

Ring, Ring, (Voicemail system picks up, some introduction in Italian)
"For English, Press 2". I press 2. I get 3 minutes of options in Italian. Operator picks up.
Operator: "Buon Giorno."
Me: "Parla Inglese?"
Operator: "Um, a little.."
Me: "I was speaking with someone and got disconnected..."
Operator interrupts: "Let me transfer you to one of my English speaking counterparts."
(To make things clear: I pressed #2 both times)
Operator Number 3: "Hello"
Me: "I got disconnected from another operator."
Operator Number 3, who sounded like they were actually an English native interrupts and does not ask the problem but immediately transfers me back to Operator 1's line which is not surprisingly busy. I listen to busy signal for 5 minutes. I hang up in frustration.

Sean calls Avis in Milan.
Operator: "Buon Giorno"
Sean: "Parla Inglese?"
Operator: "Yes. Hold 1 minute."
Five minutes later.
Operator: "You have to call back in an hour."
Sean: "Wait! What time do you close Saturdays??"
Operator: "2pm"

Sean calls back Hertz.
Finally gets an operator who finds the new reservation number. Explains the situation. He gets the number for the City Center office, calls them and explains our situation.
Sean: "Can someone stay a few minutes later for us?"
Operator: "No! You must get your car from another office!"

I call back Hertz
Me: "Hi. I would like to change my reservation back to it's original pickup location..."

We find a bus from the train station to the airport and are luckily only a few minutes late. TII.

Venice is nice, Verona is lovely, but I'll take Cinque Terre

2008-06-02T21:48:00.004+01:00

After leaving Lake Country we dropped the car off in Verona and used our feet and the train for the rest of the week. Verona was a pleasant surprise with the Roman Coliseum and some beautiful bridges and castles. Venice was just as you expected it to be with the gondolas, crazy maze-like streets (with a tourist looking at a map at every corner) and the spectacular waterways. One night in each place was enough and we were pleased to travel back across the country to Cinque Terre.

We spent two nights in Monterosso (Cinque Terre), thanks to Fred and Marie's advice, and it was wonderful! Cinque Terre is a place on the west coast of Italy that's made up of five towns that are all connected by footpath over the mountains. The hiking was awesome! Sean and I started in Monterosso and then stopped in Vernazza and finished hiking in Corniglia (where we ate lunch and caught the train back to Monterosso). We got our two hour hike in, drank wine, ate pasta, and even got back to the hotel in time for a true siesta (which was almost totally destroyed by taking "a couple minutes" to change our rental car details - but that's another post...). Then it started raining.

The rain was fine but, sadly, it rained out the lemon festival that was scheduled the next day. Overall, we were incredibly lucky to get our hiking in before the rain started - the hiking was the best reason to visit Cinque Terre.

Welcome To Italy...

2008-06-02T20:17:00.006+01:00

Our Italy trip started off a little rough. We flew into Milan Bergamo airport and arrived about 3pm on Sunday. Our flight was pretty full but I figured that it's a pretty popular airport and despite the fact that there was a huge mob of people it wouldn't take long to get through immigration. HaHaHa... after about 30 minutes of watching the whole two employees they had staffed there get through about 10 people (they didn't even ask any questions, they were just stamping and checking passports) 2 very stylishly outfitted security guys show up and basically wave through all the EU citizens. All that was left was about 15 non-European Union people. After they finished, one of the Italian guards looks at me and says "UK?" So, I turned around thinking he must be talking to someone else, then look back at him and say "US." He shrugs apologetically and we continue to wait.(So far, people have taken me for being from Canada, the UK, and Finland...) Then, the guard who was processing the EU passports gets up and leaves since the guys just waved all of his people through. So, the one guy is left to process the 7 or so remaining people in line. Finally, after waiting almost an hour, they let us into Italy.

I tell Sean as we're waiting that this must be our introduction to Italian culture: forced relaxation, since getting agitated will get you nowhere.

We go to get our car. Luckily, all goes well but we are amused when the rental lady asks us if we want full coverage for the vehicle and says, "THIS IS Italy." Since we had heard that theft of any kind, especially car theft is a regular past-time of young Italians, we take the coverage.

We then set out on what should have been an hour-and-a-half drive to Besozzo outside Lake Maggiore. Two and a half hours later we finally arrive and realize that we had the GPS set to No Toll Roads and almost all of Italy's major highways are toll roads. So, we got the back streets, industrial tour of Milan.

But it was all worth it...we arrived to some of the most beautiful mountains and lakes we've ever seen and the wine, pizza, and gelato we had that night made us understand why so many people love to visit Italy.

KISS in Verona

2008-05-25T21:27:00.005+01:00

The evening we arrived in Verona we dropped the rental car off at the train station and I kept seeing all these "hard rock" looking people all around. You know the type. Long hair, black t-shirts from past concerts, black leather jacket, etc. No I am not talking about those strange programmer types. I didn't really think too much of it as we walked from the train station to find a hotel.

After we found a hotel and decided to walk around town to see the sites and find some dinner I kept seeing more and more of them. Then it clicked that most of them were wearing KISS t-shirts. It was obvious that there were too many to be some kind of coincidence. Particularly when we started seeing the t-shirt sales and ticket scalpers. It was so cool. As we walked into the piazza around the Roman era coliseum it was filed with people waiting to see the show. All of these people waiting to see a classic American rock band. The crowd was in great spirits and most were artfully decorated. If you have ever been to a KISS show you know what I mean.

We thought about getting some tickets from scalpers but decided against it. While I don't mind a good concert and do love some KISS songs I didn't think it worth the 50 EUR per ticket for a possible fake ticket. So we went on to dinner and came back later to wander around outside the arena listening to the music and have a cafe. I have to say it was a wonderful experience that we certainly didn't expect to have. If you haven't heard KISS in an ancient Roman coliseum I do recommend it.

Italy Trip

2008-05-25T10:40:00.008+01:00

So 2 weeks in Italy has gone by all to quickly. There is way to much to talk about in a quick post but I thought I should at least talk about the different places we went on this trip. Here is a quick over view:Overnight Cities/Towns
Besozzo (Lago di Maggori)
Verona
Lido di Venizia (Lido Island off of Venice)
Monterosso al Mare (Cinque Terre)
Scandicci (Florence)

Day Trips:
Laverno/Stresa/Isloa Madre
Lido island/Murano Island
Parco Nazionale de Cinque Terre/Vernaza/Corniglia
Ponte Vecchio/Uffizi/Palazzo Vecchio/ The Duomo
Fiesole
Chianti Region/Greve in Chianti
Pisa/Lucca

We took just about every means of transportation possible (car, train, plane, ferry, foot) but didnt rent a scooter or motorcycle. Will have to do that next time along with hiring a death wish.

Tracey and I had a week to ourselves (without the little man) and then a week with Evan and Tracey's Mom in Firenze. Had at least a half litre of wine a day.

Lots more to come we are still getting through all the pics.

Economic Stimulus Package

2008-05-10T23:09:00.002+01:00

While living over seas the currently weak dollar has been a bit... annoying. As we head out to Italy tomorrow for a vacation we found it quite wonderful that the government has decided to give us hardworking citizens an economic stimulus package. Obviously in hopes that we would be spending that in the US. Oh well guess not this time. That money will go over quite well on a another bottle of Vino.

Thanks George!

In the back of the pack, again...

2008-04-29T22:01:00.002+01:00

So, I have one non-Shopatron, non-imported from the States friend here. She's great, but that's a lot of pressure for one person. I have been to multiple playgroups but I have yet to really connect with anyone else. So, one of the teachers at Evan's school noticed that I run in the mornings and mentioned that one of the other moms had a running group. She connected us up and last Thursday I went running with them.

The running group does 7-8 miles every Thursday. I don't think I've mentioned that some of them run sprints on Mondays in an effort to increase their speed or that they also swim, do pilates, badminton, cycling, and pump (a weight lifting type class). Only 1 of them has a young child and none of them work full time if they work at all.

I run maybe 2 or 3 days a week for 30-45 minutes at a rather sad pace. I mentioned this to the running mom but she said, "Oh, you will do fine."

She stands corrected.

While I was able to keep them in sight, thanks to a stop they made for some racehorses (they run on a trail where local racehorses train), and a stop they made so I didn't get lost, it was rather depressing.

I will be going out again this Thursday because I am obviously a glutton for punishment, and they were very nice people. But it may take a while to actually catch them (if ever).

I did really enjoy the tea we shared afterward, though...

A Little Bit of California

2008-04-29T21:25:00.005+01:00

Saturday, the family ventured to Brownsea Island. This is a small island in Poole Harbour and the location where the Boy Scout movement began.

Sean, being a Boy Scout alumnus was interested in seeing the island during our time here and we couldn't have picked a better place or day to go.

We had forgotten how wonderful it was to smell the ocean and feel the sun and the 70 degree temperatures. As we hiked around the island (only about 3miles) through the pine trees it really made us feel like we were back in California!

It was also enjoyable eating lunch at there cafe since they seemed to have quite a population of tourist-fed ducks and peacocks. If you don't watch them closely they're likely to take your cracker out of your hand. In fact, Evan lost half a cracker that way. Of course, when he watched the duck push the cracker around the ground trying to eat it he thought it was so funny he threw the duck the other half as well. Then the challenge was keeping him from feeding the birds the rest of his lunch.

The place where you catch the boat to Brownsea is called Sandbanks. Strangely, this has become one of the most expensive places in the world to live (yes, it's oceanfront but it's still England and cold a lot). Recently, a home sold there for 10 million pounds. Sean's cousin's wife, Christine, told me that she rented there about 10 years ago and it used to be a really inexpensive place to live but there was a Cabaret nearby. The retired showgirls started buying property there, then word got out to the footballers, and now the house prices are astronomical. I wonder if the footballer's wives knew where they were getting their real estate tips.

This is the real football!

2008-04-24T22:11:00.004+01:00

Sorry, American football fans. Saturday we attended a Swindon Town football game and it was so much fun! I can understand why football/soccer way outranks American football in popularity here.

Swindon Town is by no means in the league of Liverpool or Manchester United. They're probably what would be considered a minor league team in our terms but they still put on a good show.

I think that the most beautiful thing about the game is that it was only 2 hours. It was fast-paced. There were not 20 time outs. There were no prolonged arguments with referees. It was a beautiful thing. I also loved the fans who yelled things like, "Take a seat ya moppet!" But don't be late. Shortly after kick-off they shut the doors, whether you have your tickets or not.

Unfortunately the football season is at an end here so we won't be able to attend another game but I'm very glad we were able to make this game.

Dragonfruit

2008-04-24T21:58:00.003+01:00

I was shopping in Waitrose the other day and spotted a beautiful piece of fruit. The dragonfruit, as I understand it is a flower from a cactus. It tastes kind of like kiwi but a little more bland. I have to admit that I was wooed by it's exotic appearance. Just had to share. Sorry the pictures don't do it justice.

Blenheim Palace

2008-04-16T11:26:00.004+01:00

While Sean was in the States for the weekend. Ben and Meike were brave enough to come hang out with Evan and I again. They even drove us! We went to see Blenheim Palace, Winston Churchill's birthplace. We met Rachel there.

Blenheim Palace consists of a main "house," multiple types of gardens, a small waterfall, a train, a hedge maze, a butterfly house, and a small but enjoyable "adventure" playground. We started by touring the house. It is an amazing place, of course, with ceilings and halls like Versailles but not quite so loud or ornate. Evan was in my "baby" pack throughout the house but I knew he could only tolerate a certain amount of confined "don't touch anything!" time. So, while Rachel, Meike, and Ben read about the house and Churchill's life, Evan and I searched the house for horses and examined mounted animal heads on the walls. We also tried very hard to avoid the guided tour groups but he was very quiet the few times we got trapped in them. So, we had the express tour, then made our way to the grounds where he threw rocks in the fountains and I worked very hard to keep him off the areas with the "Please stay off grass" signs. Overall, I would not recommend visiting the house or immediate grounds with a toddler.

The train and Adventure Area were a different story. The butterfly house was amazing (except that Evan kept trying to touch the all-too-friendly butterflies and we eventually left for fear that he would squish one). And I think the whole group enjoyed the hedge maze. Thanks to the group for having us along!

Home for a week

2008-04-13T00:37:00.001+01:00

This has been a busy week for me and infinitely tiring. I flew back to Cali on Monday to be in the office for the Shopatron shareholders and board of directors meetings as well as our 2nd annual client conference. It was really great to be back and see everyone in the office. I was really proud of all the work that had been done to prepare the office and to prepare for the conference. I noticed 2 main things about being home this week.

I really missed sleeping in my own bed. Damn it is going to be hard to leave that again
Living in California is really quite comfortable.

I have been in pretty much a perpetual state of tiredness all this week between the long hours and timezone differential. But I did love seeing all my compatriots and customers in SLO.

The other great crowning achievement this week was the release of the global Shopatron platform! A tremendous amount of final effort went in by the engineering team in conjunction with testing and support from others. My hats go off to Dave D, Nelson, Meike, Tony, Ben, Dave M, and Dave C. I know it wasnt fun but I do hope they feel a strong sense of accomplishment for getting this code out the door. I know I feel good about it.

Now its time to tighten all the loose ends up and get to the operations side of the EU launch.

I head back to my other home tomorrow with a bit of sadness. I will miss SLO and my friends and coworkers. I will miss the sunshine and warm weather which has been beautiful today. But I cant wait to see Evan and Tracey and I am totally stoked that we can finally push out some international catalogs like Hercules Stands and Ernie Ball.

You have to take the good with the bad and just keep moving forward so off I go again.

Dining With a 2-Year-Old

2008-04-10T22:25:00.000+01:00

Our friends/Sean's co-workers Meike and Ben took pity on Evan and I being alone here for the week while Sean was back in the states and invited us out to dinner. We went to one of the few kid-friendly places in town. A nice italian place. They have crayons, kids menus, and changing tables (surprisingly, I have only found changing tables in a handful of places and not even all kid-friendly places have them).

It was getting a little late for Evan since he didn't nap today and we had had a playdate in the afternoon. He has been on a Cheerio/milk/fruit bar diet lately refusing even Mac and Cheese and not even finishing his pancakes so I was doubtful that he would eat any of their standard kid pasta fare. He'd just finished a cup of Cheerios so when he pointed to the banana split on the menu, I said, "Okay!" (If that would keep him quiet and from escaping from the tables: this is a restaurant without booths to trap the children in).

He managed to stay pretty content until we got the banana split. Then he was excited! There were sauces on the side to dip his fork into. In fact, he enjoyed taking my fork, dipping it, and giving it back to me in between my bites of calzone. (So much so I got another fork to supplement while he was dipping mine.) Everything was going fine, truly messy with chocolate sauce dripping on the table and down his shirt, but he was quiet and content.

Then, for some reason he started shaking the banana he had on his fork. A banana covered in lumps of ice cream. I was just thinking I might have to intervene when a rather large glob of ice cream flies into the air and lands squarely on top of his head. Luckily, he was the only victim of the flying ice cream. He then puts his hand on top of his head and starts smearing it about. I am laughing so hard (along with everyone else at the table, fortunately) that I'm having a hard time concentrating enough to wipe it off his head.

Soon after that he decided he was done, whether the rest of the table was or not. So, after covering my leg with chocolate from his shirt we went to the bathroom to clean up. (Very difficult in a country with no paper towels.) I would wash his hands and he kept wiping them on his shirt to dry them and they would end up covered in chocolate again. I finally carried him like a wet dog to the table telling him the whole time, "Don't touch your shirt, don't touch your shirt..." We then took off his shirt and threw on his sweatshirt (the beauty of being in a country that requires layering.) We got some strange looks from the other diners but nothing more.

The sugar kicked in and he started to run out of the restaurant. We all made a rushed exit and Evan jogged most of the way home until he tripped and fell flat on his face, then I got to carry him up the hill, crying.

It just took a bath after that and he was out for the night.

Beating a Dead Horse...

2008-04-08T22:14:00.000+01:00

I hate to talk weather again but just a week ago it was too warm to wear a jacket. Last Friday it started snowing on Evan and I as we came home from the store and Sunday we woke up to the sights I've included below. I just can't figure this out...

The Bells of St. Mary's

2008-04-08T22:06:00.000+01:00

I used to believe that I loved the sound of church bells. I would like to think that I still do but the feeling is starting to diminish. I understand them ringing on a Sunday, for a wedding, even a regular "bong" for the hours of the day but what I don't understand is why you would need to play approximately 6 songs (I'm not talking a single ding-dong but an entire bell song) at 7:30pm on a Tuesday night with random intervals of quiet (making you think they're finished). I understand if they were calling the congregation to service but don't you think they would hear the first song and think, "I'd better get to church!"

I guess I'll have to find a more devout person to explain the logic behind this...

Longleat

2008-04-08T20:22:00.000+01:00

Last weekend we made it to one of the best places we've been since our arrival here: Longleat house and Safari Park.

The beautiful thing about this place is that it has everything for everyone. Drive through safari park, hedge mazes, teacups, trains, boats, art, and history. It's only an hour away and it has so much stuff that we weren't actually able to get through everything. Luckily, you can buy a pass for the year and keep going until you check off everything.

I think everyone's favorite attraction was what we called the "cheeky monkey" area where you can watch bored monkeys steal gas caps and do a celebration dance with them on their head and nose and pull bits and pieces off of cars until there are actually strips of metal hanging off the vehicles in awkward branch-like formations. We can laugh at this because our car completed the tour unscathed. (There was a warning sign and alternate route for those who love their cars more than the monkeys.)

Running in the UK

2008-04-08T20:06:00.000+01:00

I've been trying to get back into running. I'm not doing this just so I can continue to eat bread and cheese and drink wine but also because in a few weeks I have agreed to join a moms running group from Evan's school. They run 7-8 miles every Thursday.

This was a little intimidating, for sure, since my mileage has definitely been pretty weak lately and I've only been running 2 days a week or so.

But I want to make friends and I like to meet people who keep me challenged (and don't allow me to get lazy). So, I've started running regularly again and I've noticed a few things.

Running with a stroller around here is a bit of a challenge due to the cobblestone sidewalks, regular foot traffic, and a "cars have the right of way" culture whether you are in the street or not (I truly believe you would get run down if you weren't paying attention because cars don't even slow down for pedestrians).

However, the off-road trails are fabulous!!! There are pedestrian trails all over this country and the crazy thing is that they cross over private property! They are clearly marked footpaths and they go through fields and towns and even through church yards hundreds of years old. It is truly breathtaking!

I can't help but wonder if these were the paths travelled from town to town before the motorways were put in. The signs, which can be out in the middle of a field will actually point the direction to the town you are headed to. Pretty cool...definitely makes my runs a little more interesting.

What did they say?

2008-03-31T09:11:00.000+01:00

Some time ago our good friend Rachel put together a relatively humorous list of "translations" from english (UK) to english (US).

As I am continuing to work on translations I was reminded of this list and how we (UK and US) most certainly do not speak the same language. I thought I would share, thanks again Rachel.

lemonade/ 7up or Sprite
lemon squash/ lemonade
vest/ tank top
waistcoat/ vest
tank top/ old-school sweater vest
cinema/ movie theatre
film/ movie
tomato sauce/ katchup
fanny pack/ c*nt (don't ever say fanny!)
bum bag/ fanny pack
subway/ underground walk way
tube/ subway
plaster/ band-aid
pull/ make out
jumper/ sweater or sweatshirt*
cheers/ thank you
social security/ national insurance
tea/ dinner
dinner/ lunch
dodgy/ sketchy
pants/ underwear
trousers/ pants
jeans/ jeans
fringe/ bangs
trolley/ shoping cart
bit/ part (and they say bit for EVERYTHING)
chips/ french fries
aubragine (OH-bra-zsheen)/ eggplant
courgette (core-ZSHET)/ zucchini
mobile/ cell phone (they never say cell phone)
sorry/ excuse me (so when you bump into someone or you didn't hear what they said)
excuse me/ can I please have your attention (when you need assistance)
pound/ £
stone/ 14 lbs. of weight
boot/ trunk of a car
bonnet/ hood of a car
curry/ Indian food resturaunt (and also the spice)

Ah the sun

2008-03-30T17:52:00.001+01:00

The weather here is really quite a challenge at times, not so much because it rains all the time or because it is cold but mostly because it changes so rapidly. Basically you just have to pack a little bit of kit for every imaginable weather condition. Back on easter weekend I recall leaving Marlborough in the snow and then it didnt rain (or snow) on us for the remainder of the day. As we left the house Saturday it was not clear but there didnt seem to be anything threatening in the sky but that changed quickly and it dumped on us all day. But then you get days like Sunday and it was sunny all day.

Wow you just wont believe how beautiful this place is when the sun is out. Tracey and I were commenting Saturday, as we spent all of it in the rain, that we weren't really tired of the rain yet. It is still quite novel and lovely. Even when spending all day outside.

But today we spent all day outside at Cholderton Rare Breeds Farm and it was lovely all day. Full sun and warmish temperatures, about 15 C. The farm was a great experience with Evan as there were all kinds of young lambs, chicks, goats, piggies, and ponies. I am sure we will go back as Evan was in full glory running about the farm from one paddock or another. The farm had pig races, tractors rides, and lots of play areas. In fact we had a bit of a melt down taking even from one play area with a trampoline in it. He was quite fond of bouncing.

Sean forgot to mention the part about us getting attacked in the goat yard. It seems that if you go in with food they are not shy about trying to take it. There was a warning sign but it wasn't until after we were both covered in muddy hoofprints that we realized how pushy these goats really are.

In the end it was a lovely day out in the countryside and I am sure we will go again.

Thoughts on driving in the British style

2008-03-29T22:29:00.000Z

After 3 weeks here I think I am finally getting the hang of it all, driving that is. I follow three basic rules

Always stay to your left: I know it sounds stupid but forceably thinking about this really does help. Some interesting information about traffic directionality.
Always look to your right at intersections: Yield to the right, again DUH. But really scanning into a corner or roundabout on your right can save from a lot of abrupt hitting the brakes.
Know the width of your car: Some back country roads can be REALLY small. Knowing how wide your car is, including mirrors, can cut down a great deal of panic and stress. As well as save your mirrors.

With these 3 simple rules I have been able to stay mostly out of trouble. Not to say that I haven't had a few horns honked at me or lights flashed. Apparently I get a little aggressive with pushing into the roundabouts when it wasn't my turn. Guess I should read up?

To date we have successfully navigated to several fun destinations without breaking anything or anyone. There are some things I could do without:

"Safety Cameras", yeah right there for safety. Some people like them and some studies show that they work. I dont buy it.
Stop lights in roundabouts, WTF?!
Large lorries on small roads. Good god 2 cars are expected to drive on that?
Parallel parking over my left shoulder. Still not used to that.
Parking in small villages... there is none.

Those are the little niggles that really get me. But here are the things I love:

Roundabouts. You cant beat the pleasure of not having to come to a full stop when there is no one on your right.
Winding roads. Even at lower speeds they still seem fun and fast.
The yellow light before the green. Simply brilliant.
General overall politeness of drivers. They are really quite good about signaling, it must be the roundabouts.
Following the rules of slower drivers keep left.

Overall I am digging it. I probably would have opted for a smaller car as the Vauxhall. I recommend to you, should you travel here, rent a small one and pack lite. Not that I have any problem with Vauxhall or the Astra Estate model we have. It is just bigger than I want it to be when doing day to day stuff. It has been brilliant on the weekend trips as everything you could want fits nicely and has been comfortable to drive for hours at a time.

I look forward to riding motorcycles next. That is when roundabouts get to be fantastic!

Store hours

2008-03-26T22:09:00.000Z

I am not one for griping about work and I certainly dont shy from working lots of hours. But it is really annoying to not have 24 hour or at least open late stores here. If I work my normal US day (7:30 to 18:00ish) then go home I barely have time to get to the store.

The grocery stores in Marlborough, and most other smaller towns, close at 8pm during the weekday. Last night I got home about 19:00 had a quick dinner and then sent Evan up for a bath. But I needed to get some ibuprofen as my neck has been killing me recently. So I left T to finish up with Evan in the bath and ran down to the Waitrose. I got there at 20:03 and the doors were closed. They are dead serious about closing at 20:00, no ifs ands or buts.

Even today I left work at 18:20, got home, got dinner, and then ran down again and just barely made it into the store. I know that there are stores in larger cities that are open later (ASDA aka WalMart) and of course you can find a liquor store with longer hours. But forget it if you want a chemist or something like that after 20:00.

Just takes some getting used to it I suppose. You really have to plan your days accordingly as it is difficult to just pop out to the store for a quick something.

A Visit With the Queen

2008-03-26T21:28:00.000Z

I could've called this post, "I FOUND THE PUFFY-HAT GUYS!," or "It only takes 6 trains, 2 buses, and a Royal Procession to get Evan to sleep on time" but I thought the current title would be the best. Late Tuesday night Sean and I were watching the news during dinner. This is something we rarely do. They happened to mention that the following day there was going to be a Royal Procession in Windsor welcoming the president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy and his new former-model wife (also his 2nd wife who he dated for 80 days before marrying), Carla Bruni.

They hadn't had a royal procession in Windsor for 7 years. After some coaxing by Sean (since there was no other place I had to be that day), I decided to make the trek. It would take one bus and 3 different trains to get to Windsor (with Evan in tow) but I figured it would be worth it.

Wednesday: After approximately an hour and a half of uneventful travel Evan and I made it to the Slough station to catch the train to Windsor. We luckily met an English dad there with a boy Evan's age and the boys were able to converse in their own language of shrieking and "that's mine" until we got to Windsor. (I was also impressed by the very nice French boys on the train who were between 10 and 14 who happily talked to Evan and dove under some seats for a car he dropped without being asked.)

The streets were busy but not too packed and we were able to get a spot pretty close to the railing. There were military and police in the crowds, in the parade, and on the rooftops but all of them were super friendly saying "cheers" and "thank you" every time you moved for them to pass. The military band was great and played some songs while the crowd waited for the Queen.

First the Queen came from the Castle in a car with her husband to meet Sarkozy and do a very short ceremony at the train station. Then, the royal procession returned with Sarkozy to the Castle. Pictured Below (L-R): Queen in her car leaving castle. Prince Charles with Camilla and Gordon Brown(Prime Minister), and ?

The procession returned to the Castle in
their formal carriages at full gallop (for security reasons I'm sure) which made it a little more difficult to catch but I got pictures of most of the big names. The Queen and entourage were deposited at the Castle and the military then marched from the Castle to some point behind it where the procession officially ended. Pictured Below (L-R): The Queen in her formal carriage with Sarcozy, the Queen's husband with Sarcozy's wife, Carla Bruni, some goofballs taking pictures of themselves in the Procession car (obviously not Royalty).

The streets had been covered with sand for the procession so shortly thereafter the streets were filled with street cleaning trucks and people sweeping by hand. Evan was sleeping in my pack by this point so I figured I would take this opportunity to walk over to Eton College (where Princes William and Harry had attended school). Unfortunately, the students were on holiday but I did take a look around the grounds and see the chapel, which was beautiful. (Initially I couldn't actually open the chapel doors which was strange since I had to pay to visit the chapel. For a moment I hoped it wasn't some kind of bad sign, a concern I voiced to the school porter when I found him - a man who oddly-enough looked to be dressed like a priest which is even stranger since William ran most of the Catholics out of England in the 1400's. Anyway, he assured me I just hadn't been operating the antiquated door ring correctly but when he couldn't open it either he realized the chapel had not yet been unlocked for the day.) We got the train back to Slough from Windsor at about 2pm and I ran into the English dad again who mentioned that he had never seen the procession travel that quickly before. Everything went fine until the last train. Evan had been chasing pigeons and jumping in puddles at the Reading station during our 20 minute layover. (On a side note: I utilized the toddler leash today. I would highly recommend it. I swear that Evan would have chased those pigeons onto the tracks if I didn't have him leashed. Judge me, if you must...). When we boarded the Reading to Bedwyn train Evan was both exhausted and wound up and the train was crowded. The only open spots were across from a businessman reading the paper and we were trapped inside by two people sitting in the aisle seats (who were somewhat handicapped and not able to move easily for us). Evan was kicking and screaming and stepping on the businessman's shiny shoes (I'm convinced on purpose because the man kept moving his feet away) until I finally got him calmed down and he got very quiet. Luckily, the remainder of the trip went smoothly. I think Evan enjoyed the trains more than the Queen's Procession but I think the trip was worth it if for no other reason than, I found the Puffy-Hat Guys (and the Queen, of Course)!

I'm dreaming of a white...EASTER?!

2008-03-25T14:06:00.000Z

It snowed this Easter. It also hailed and rained. But there was sun! At least enough sun to get in an Easter egg hunt for Evan. We also dyed Easter Eggs.

Ben and Rachel joined us for our Easter meal. We had almost as much dessert as we had real food since I couldn't decide on the desserts. We also had cheese which was great except for the one that was so stinky that I couldn't get past the smell and I made Sean push it to the other side of the table.

Then we watched "The Commitments" since Rachel and Ben hadn't seen it, while Evan napped.

Overall, a successful holiday!

A Dinner to Remember

2008-03-25T12:38:00.000Z

Sean and I don't have a babysitter here but we do have a Rachel. A kind soul (our neighbors daughter) who happily watches Evan for us when she can, but she's only here for about another month. So, Saturday night I made a dinner reservation for Sean and I to go out alone since I don't know if we'll be able to find a sitter here.

Of course, if we were going out to dinner and we were going to spend a fortune (with the exchange rate) I decided that we were surely going to go someplace good. Shaun M. had told us that there was a restaurant not too far from us that was one of the few Michelin star rating in England. For those of you who are not food snobs this means that the restaurant has been recognized internationally as being exceptional.

So, I had to go.

I should have known when we drove up and there was a Lamborghini out front and little flames coming up from a pond that it was going to cost a small fortune but I have to say. IT WAS WORTH IT! (If you've ever seen Ratatouille, the way I love food is like that rat but without the skills to cook it).

The food was so good that I almost cried. We got the tasting menu which had ten small courses with the wine pairing (not something we thought about when we drank the half bottle of wine before the meal). There are people who take your coat, people who seat you, people who serve you food, the wine servers, and they even show you to the bathroom.

I told Sean that it was good we were happily married or I might propose to the chef.

It was amazing! And as Rachel liked to remind me, at least I didn't have to pay for a sitter, which made it okay to spend a little more on dinner. You can check out the place yourself at http://www.the-vineyard.co.uk/.

So f you are ever in the west Wiltshire county area I highly recommend stopping for dinner here. Just make sure you bring enough cash or plastic.

American Cookies

2008-03-25T12:27:00.000Z

Strangely enough, it's very difficult to find chocolate chips here. More importantly, Nestles semi-sweet morsels. Thankfully, my mom shipped me a bag of chips for Easter. So, on Saturday, Rachel and I made the cookies. They turned out pretty good considering I had to cook them in the Aga and the butter tastes a little different here.

I brought them to my neighbors. They seemed very appreciative. The mom on one side got a good laugh when I handed her the cookies and said, "Tell your son Thank You for keeping his music down." (Something that has been a bit of a problem since his room is right next to ours and he has a love for techno. This probably would have been okay a few years ago but Evan can't sleep. He just covers his ears and says "No Music".) It was also a bit of a peace offering since Sean was telling Rachel about our previous noise problems, mimicking the neighbors mom screaming for him to turn the music down, while walking out the front door, at exactly the moment the guy and eight of his friends passed our door. Uncomfortable...We hope he didn't understand the accent.

A Flustery, Blustery Day

2008-03-24T15:06:00.000Z

Daily life and tourist activities have been getting in the way of our blogging, so we'll cover last week today.

It has been a 4 day holiday in the UK. They have bank holidays for Good Friday and one on Monday as part of the Easter celebration. They are serious about their bank holidays here. Everything except amusement parks, video, and liquor stores seem to shut down.

So we decided to venture out to Legoland with Evan. Rachel came to stay with us for the weekend (which was great) and we chose to go on Friday since it seemed like it would have the best weather for the weekend.

Friday morning started out sunny, as we got into the car to leave it was very cold and raining. As we drove the hour to get to Legoland it went from about 40 degrees Fahrenheit to freezing to snowing within a ten mile stretch. By the time we got to Windsor it was sunny again and we had a great day at Legoland. Evan loved the train and spent about a half an hour in a Lego car that didn't go anywhere (I guess it doesn't take much to amuse a two-year-old).

We got a donut that tasted like white bread with chocolate frosting and a "New York Style" footlong hotdog which was a hotdog put on a baguette: rather disappointing. However, their chocolate dipped waffle with sprinkles was wonderful. Sean and I were reminded of a lesson we learned a long time ago and had forgotten to abide by: when traveling, don't get familiar food because it will almost always be nothing like you expect it to be.

After Legoland we decided to venture out to Windsor Castle (the official residence of the Queen and the largest inhabited castle). I was hoping to fulfill my desire to take a picture with the "puffy-hat guys" (what I like to call them). You know the guys who guard the castle and can't smile and are in every comedy film that includes London. But NO! There were no Puffy-hat guys, just a picture! Where are you puffy-hat guys???! I've been to Buckingham Palace, I've been to Windsor Castle, where do you have to go to find them???!! It's a question that plaques my mind. I've even researched it online and have found nothing conclusive.

When we reached the castle it was closed. We took some pictures (Rachel swears the "bobby" on the right of this picture kept moving over in order to be in it) and decided to walk down to Eton. Apparently the students there have to wear top hats and tails which I was equally excited about but they were not in school that day so I knew that I wouldn't see them.

About halfway there the sky went from sunny to thunder, lightning, and hail so we had to run all the way back to the car. Poor Evan was in his backpack and unprotected from the elements. (This picture is of Rachel, Sean and Evan running through the downpour).

Rainy weekends 2

2008-03-16T22:14:00.001Z

I guess I shouldnt keep titling my posts with Rainy Weekend there could be a lot titled that way.

When the rain started on Saturday night it really came down and rained continuously all night long until about 10 this Sunday morning. We have this skylight in the bedroom upstairs so we can clearly hear the rain pounding on it at night, which is quite nice. I am going on about the rain because of what it can do to the little roads we have to drive 'round 'ere.

We had a little bit of a lazy morning but had arranged with my cousin Julian to meet his family down in Shapwick which is south of us in county Dorset, so we had to get rolling before to long. I sure could have used some more sleep though. Julian and his family had been over to the states a few years back on an around the world trip so Tracey and I were excited to seem them again.

As we were navigating our way down there, again by way of Google Maps on the blackberry, I noticed that the smaller roads we had to take were not really holding up well to the abundance of rain. I had thought that in a country where it rains so much there would be better drainage or something. I came across quite a few places where the road was completely covered by standing water. Making travel all the more exciting.

In fact as part of our journey we had to drive some REALLY small roads. I thought I was used to the small roads but these were ridiculous. I dont think you could fit to carriages down them but we managed to squeek by several cars without scraping the left side of the car or Tracey getting all stressed out and yelling "CURB!" at me every few seconds. Curb is our signal for when I am getting to close to the left side of the road for comfort. There was a even a small part of our journey that we thought we might have a to make a water crossing as the signs pointed us across a small creek running at about 1.5 feet of water. Luckily we didn't have to wind up going that way as I have no idea how the Vauxhall would handle that.

Lucky for us the rain had stopped and most of the flooded section of the road we had to travel on the way down were more or less dry on the way home later that evening.

We had a great time at Julian's place. He and his wife Christine have 4 kids and one more soon to come in Sept. They have 2 older boys Jordan (12) and Conner (10) and then 2 girls Kate (6 in 2 weeks) and Tess (2). They were a most gracious family to stay with for the day and they had wonderful food to eat. It seems like we ate all day long and Evan played constantly with the other kids.

We did take a short trip to an old iron age fort which is literally at the end of the road from where Julian lives. In this google link you can see the concentric rings which were different battlements used to protect the local warlord (or whomever). It is a really cool view but we didnt plan very well on the footwear as it was VERY muddy. We did remember to bring Evans wellies (Wellington boots for the uninitiated) but Tracey and I were pretty much screwed. I wont be wearing those shoes to work tomorrow. At one point I wound up carrying Evan (which has the added benefit of getting his muddy feet on my pants and jacket) and slipped walking down one of the embankments. Made a right mess of my pants and Evan wasn't to0 pleased with me either.

He did however really enjoy stomping about in the mud puddles found everywhere you turn. I was worried he would wind up putting his foot in the mud and pulling his foot out. Making a mess of all his clothes not just his pants. But as fortune had it all we had to clean up was his pants. I however sat around for the remainder of the evening damp and muddy.

Luckily the kids all had a great time. I really enjoyed talking with Julian and Christine and playing with Kate and Tess. Kate seems to have an endless supply of energy and wanted me to put her on my shoulders regularly. I really enjoyed being immersed in a truly English family for an afternoon. It was warm and inviting in all the chaos of children, smells of good food, and wonderful conversation.

Tracey and I hope to go back to see them all again soon. Apparently Kate and Conner are in a dance show/recital soon. Maybe we will go down to see that.

Rainy weekends

2008-03-16T22:04:00.000Z

It was a rainy weekend here but we managed to have fun anyway. We took Evan down to see a steam locomotive line in New Alresford called the Mid Hants Railway (Watercress Line). It is only about an hours drive from home so we could leave in the late morning and still enjoy a good time. It is a remarkable about of work that this all volunteer group do to keep the trains rolling and give a really wonderful experience to young and old alike.

Evan of course was absolutely floored by the trains. He is a big fan of Thomas the tank engine and was convinced that this train we were on was a Thomas when we started. All of the cars and engines are restored and give a very classic feel to the short 4 stop journey. All staff members are also in period costume on the weekends.

I am sure this place is packed on the weekends but we were lucky to find it relatively empty on our journey.

At the first stop they have a train yard where they are repairing other engines and railcars. It looks like they also do a special weekend where "Thomas" will be there to pull cars. They have taken one of their older engines and painted it to look like Thomas which is so wonderful for the little ones. Evan was so happy he was making train sounds pretty much the entire way outbound.

We got to have a nice little lunch on the train and a spot of tea. The rain started coming down about 17:00 so we decided to pack it in and head for home as we were all very tired. In all it was a great day. I will make sure to post some pictures later.

Spotted Dick (I bet I have your attention now...)

2008-03-13T11:02:00.000Z

No. This is not a personal condition, nor is it a disease. It is an English dessert.

So, I had to try it. If this is not cultural immersion, I don't know what is...

I picked up a package of it at Marks & Spencer (kind of like a UK Trader Joe's). The packaging describes it as, "suet puddings studded with currants and topped with a creamy vanilla custard."

I found it to be a mediocre bread pudding with custard on top.

Sean still won't try it.
[SEAN]: Ok so I finally tried it. Yeah kind of unremarkable. And the name just still weirds me out. I think I would have preferred the lava cake that Tracey and Ben were eating.

So, now you know....

Weird Stuff

2008-03-11T11:25:00.000Z

Yesterday,
...someone (an English person) stopped Sean and I to ask us where to get a cup of coffee in town and we were actually able to help them.

...One of the moms in the playgroup I attended asked if I was Canadian.

...I saw a Renault Clio commercial that showed a tourist bus driving through Beverly Hills and when it passed, an American guy (who supposedly lives in Beverly Hills) yells to his neighbors that it's okay to leave and they all drive out of their garages in a Renault Clio (economy car). Why Beverly Hills? Why an American actor? Do they even sell Renault Clios in the US? (probably not)

...I watched a 15 minute segment on NASCAR on a British show that actually made me want to go experience the Daytona 500. And I learned more about the Daytona 500 in that show than during my actual trip to Daytona, or all my years living in the US. (Did you know that drivers originally raced in Daytona on the straight flat beaches and only built the racetrack when they ran out of room on the beach? Or that the cars were originally built to ferry liquor across the border during prohibition and they started racing after prohibition ended?)

Things I Love About England

2008-03-11T10:40:00.000Z

Things were a little rough the first week here but I don't want to give the wrong impression. So I decided this post to talk about all the things I love about England in addition to the inexpensive wine.

1. The produce smells and tastes like it looks. The grocery stores in the states like to sell a lot of imitation produce. Stuff that has been so engineered to travel and store well that it has lost its' natural smell and taste. Here, if it looks like a tomato it will also smell and taste like a tomato. (But, no, it won't last for two weeks, more like 3 days: okay with me.)

2. I can walk to get meat from my local butcher, cheese from the cheese shop, and produce from the farmers market. There's something nice about meeting and talking to the people you purchase your food from. You actually feel a sense of community and they are more than happy to advise you on what to get and where to go to get it, no matter the topic.

3. It only takes 20 minutes to get to a place where you can let your child run amongst the remains of a castle built around the time of the crusades. Crazy!

4. No guns (except for hunting).

5. The news is incredibly boring (see #4). Either they don't talk about it or the occurrence of : drug busts, drive-by shootings, etc.. is rare to non-existent. I feel way safer here than I do in the states. The only time I worry about random criminal acts is when I'm in London proper where I do worry about pick-pockets. Not a big deal as far as criminal acts go.

6. People are incredibly helpful and civil and always offering you tea. I have yet to witness a confrontation here. I think as a culture it is far less acceptable to lose your temper, yell, be rude, etc. Quite refreshing!

7. It's not hot! I HATE the heat! It's so much nicer to run in the rain than the heat.

8. Government funding. So, they are highly taxed here and I'm convinced the government has a hand in everything but there are some wonderful things that come from this. For instance, there is a place in town called the Children's house that exists solely as a resource for parents. They have playgroups there, listings of childcare facilities, you can "rent" out bags full of beautiful, practically new toys and activities and keep them as long as you want, then turn them in for a new bag and it only costs 2 pounds per bag. Thank you government subsidies!

9. It's clean. It is rare that I see trash, graffitti, or homeless people. Maybe it's the rain and the cold but maybe it's just the way of things here as well.

10. It's not home, but it's close to it. I can get pretty much everything I get in the states here from my cereal to my music and movies with the added bonus of being able to get to France in 2 hours, or hopping on a train to London to see a world class theatre production. Not so bad...If only I could find a good babysitter to help out through August...

To Stonehenge or not to Stonehenge

2008-03-08T22:41:00.001Z

Lots of people go to see Stonehenge when they come to England. I can see why it is pretty neat looking and has a wonderful mystique to it. But honestly I have seen better.

We took a drive out there today as we had some time in the afternoon and it is only about 45 minutes drive from Marlborough. After we got the new car, see previous post about fun with cars, we wanted to get out of the house for a bit. So we grabbed a map and hit the road.

Unfortunately our map did not cover that area so I pulled out the trusty and oh so wonderful Google Maps on my Blackberry which we have done quite a bit of navigation by. Tied in a quick search for Stonehenge and off we went. We had some lovely roads to drive on getting there and had no trouble at all finding it as it is a fairly large ring of big rocks.

We got there at closing time so we could not park in the car park across the street from the rocks. So we just pulled into a small road a bit further down and walked back. No paying for parking here! As the place was now closed we could not go inside the main fence but you can still see plenty. Even if you do get inside you cant go up and touch the rocks or anything you are kept back on a pathway about 100+ feet away from the stones. Not really all that much to see and do here. So we decide to head down the road to a town called Avebury.

Shaun M had taken Ed and I to see Avebury and have a pint at the Red Lion back in Sept so I knew it was pretty cool. Basically Avebury is a larger if somewhat differently organized version of Stonehenge. Supposedly the Avebury site predates Stonehenge by 500 years. In this site you can walk all around the stones and really experience the site. You can even touch them, just tread lightly please. It is a much cooler experience than Stonehenge in my opinion and you can have a pint right across the road.

So if you have a chance to see only one 5000+ year or stone circle go see Avebury. But I guess if you have more time go see both. They really are not that far from each other. We managed to see both in about 2 hours.

The troubles with cars

2008-03-08T21:26:00.000Z

Man I thought getting a car for our travels around the UK would be pretty straight forward, but I was dead wrong on that one. In the first week of our being here I have now driven 3 different cars. But I go too far let me back track a bit just so you can all learn from the fun.

Back at the beginning of Jan when we were lining up dates to move over here I looked into the purchase repurchase program that is run through Renault and Peugeot. Whereby a non EU citizen can "lease" a car for up to 183 days and at the end of that time turn the car back in for very reasonable prices. The car is brand new and can be driven anywhere in the greater European Community, even Italy which most rental car companies don't like you to do. The car I had found was a Peugeot 307. Which would be plenty big to take Tracey and Evan and I on our journeys with plenty of room for baggage and possibly guests from time to time. The monthly cost that I read on the websites and from calling different companies to run this program were about $1000/mo. If you haven't done any long term rental pricing you should know that this is a great deal. It is designed for people who are coming over for more than 2 weeks. They will even have a driver pick you up at Heathrow and take you to your new car.

So thinking I had it all in hand I was waiting until we knew the actual move date so I could schedule the pickup of the car. When I finally did call it was about 30 days before the move and to my dismay I learned that while I could get the car I wanted I could not get it in the right hand drive, RHD, that I need for the UK. Peugeot was happy to deliver a left hand drive to me. But then I thought of the sheer stupidity of getting a left hand drive car in a country designed for right hand drive. Can you imagine trying to pass on the lovely small roads out in the countryside from a left hand drive? What about going through toll booths? Obviously not a workable solution.

After pestering the companies I was talking to it turns out that apparently Renault and Peugeot are no longer going to support the RHD in this program. But yet they are willing to lease me a LHD. In my mind this means that they are no longer really supporting this program in the UK and Ireland. It looks to work fine if you want to go to the continent but not to the isles. Lunacy.

So upon telling my sob story to Shaun M he kindly offered to take on the task of finding me a car for while we are here. Silly man. He did some research and some price haggling and told us that he had lined something up for about 400 GBP per month. Sounded good to me, so began the next set of troubles.

If you have read earlier posts you have heard about the car issues. They began when the company that Shaun arranged with Wiltshire Car Hire, on Marlborough road in Old Towne Swindon, dropped off the Citroen C5 as arranged at our new place in Marlborough. It looked nice if dirty on the outside but reeked of cigarettes on the inside. But hey I have worked very closely with smokers for many years (Dave) I can handle the smell, and the price was right.

That evening I got my first taste of driving on the left side of the road as the Wiltshire Car agent left the car parked in a no parking zone and dropped me the keys with a lovely " 'ave a nice day deary". So I jumped in, before the Marlborough parking Nazis came around, and managed to find a parking spot about half a mile down the road. All seemed to be fine except for the hike back to the house.

The next morning (Sunday) as we headed about our day to get the house setup Tracey and I hiked out to the car to find that it would not start. Not even a click from the starter solenoid. Hmm... that means dead battery. I checked the completely foreign controls on the dash and found that in my haste of driving the previous afternoon I had tripped the parking lamps on. When I parked the car I did not notice any ding or beep that there were lights on. Oh well.

So we call David at Wiltshire Car Hire to get some help as there is supposed to be roadside assistance on this car. We get David on his mobile and tell him the story. He reports that he is "in the wild" today and won't be able to do anything about it until Monday. I ask for some kind of roadside assist program and he says that he has RAC (Royal Automobile Club) but doesn't have the account number. When asked if he could call and get them to come out he tells me that I should be able to just call the RAC and tell them it is with his account. I skeptically said ok and signed off to find a number for the RAC which David did not have either. Does his car never breakdown in the "wild"?

Surprisingly I did manage to find a number for the RAC and they even sent over a support van in about an hour. So if you ever need car service in the greater Swindon area just call RAC and tell them you have a rental through Wiltshire Car Hire and ask if they can look up the account number. Apparently that is good enough to get some help. AAA would be mortified by that I am sure.

The RAC bloke jumps the car. I grab Tracey and we head of for Swindon to run some errands. I stop and start the car 2 more times that day with no troubles. Drove it for about 50 miles or so with well over an hour of drive time to charge the battery. I even stopped and put in about 50 GBP in gas as it was pretty much empty when they dropped it off.

Monday starts nice and early as we want to head out to do more errands. We had managed to get a parking spot close to the house on the previous evening (which we were stoked about because I didn't have to take 17 passes at parallel parking over my left shoulder). We load up everyone in the car and it wont start. DAMN! No, I did not leave any lights on it just does not have enough power to turn the engine over.

We unload everyone from the car and call David at Wiltshire again. David says that he won't be able to get out to swap the car until the next day. I decide not to call RAC again for a jump but instead wait for a new car the next day. Which David said would be there by half 8, which is 8:30 for the rest of us.

Tuesday we wait for the new car. Call David at 8:45 he says the new one is on the way. At 9:10 the new car shows up a lovely little Rover with plush leather seats, a SatNav, and no gas in it. The lady who drops it off has a "mechanic" with her who speaks no English, she speaks no Polish by the way. He is Polish and is coming out to jump the Citroen with the Rover than take the Citroen back to Swindon. The lady ( I still don't know her name) and the mechanic bicker a little about how to get the Citroen jumped but manage to work it out. She hands me the keys to the Rover and off they go. No word about how to use the SatNav, about the 50 quid of gas I put in the Citroen, or even if we are getting the Citroen back or keeping the Rover.

We decide to go run the errands we were trying to do on Monday. After struggling with Evan's car seat for 30 minutes we come to the conclusion that there is no nice way to install a child's car seat in a Rover and buckle it in as best we can. Tracey is not amused by this and wants to get the Citroen back because the car seat fit beautifully in there. The Rover drives wonderfully this is a MUCH nicer car than the Citroen. Sunroof, indash SatNav, indash TV, plenty of power, it didn't smell like cigarettes and leather seats. I was happy to drive this one for a while. But Tracey is not and hounds me to find out when we are getting the Citroen back.

Wed goes by without much ado.

Thurs I drive into the office to help out with the setup and ring David again at Wiltshire to ask about swapping back to the Citroen. He says that they have put in a new battery to the car and it runs just fine. He would be happy to swing it by the office and make the switch. I tell them where the office is and where they can park at the office. Then about 2 hours later the same lady comes back with the Citroen which she parks across the street at the Co-op food store (grocery store). Which of course is private parking and they really don't like it when you park there and don't shop there. So I haul the car seat out of the Rover and hand over the keys. As the lady gives me the keys to the Citroen she has me sign a pickup form saying that we are exchanging the Citroen to the Rover and back to the Citroen. Why didn't she do that when she handed over the Rover? Then she asks if I have insurance for the Citroen. Um, no, isn't that part of the rental? Apparently not. I tell her that Shaun M arranged the hire and I would have call to clear it all up.

After telling Shaun this he gets a dour look on his face and says "that is complete Shite". Basically his arrangement with David was to include insurance otherwise he would never have rented the car through him. So Shaun calls David on Friday and tries to clear things up. Apparently it doesn't go so well. The short version is something like this:

Shaun: What do you mean there is no insurance on the car?! You said there would be at that price you quoted.
David: No, I didn't, and you are stupid for thinking so.
Shaun: This isn't working out and the car is really sub-standard
David: Your man driving it is a knob for running the battery down.
David then hangs up. I paraphrase here but you get the drift. Shaun then tells me not to drive the car any longer and that we will find another solution promptly.

Saturday Shaun drops by to pick me and the Citroen up and drive up into Swindon to drop off the car at our office. Shaun is personally insured so he can drive anything he wants so no worries about driving the Citroen. Shaun has to park in the back of beyond like I did on the first Saturday we were here as Marlborough is a very busy little town on Saturdays.

When we get in the Citroen to drive off, the car does not start. F#$@%@$#%@$K! Apparently there is an engine imobilisier on the car that pairs the key fob we have to the car so it will only start with this key. Now we are not sure what the exact problem is but we are 2 relatively smart guys here. We think the key fob battery is running a bit low and not actually communicating with the car imobilisier. So therefore we get the "Engine Imobilisier Fault" message on the dash when trying to start. Just Great.

So we hike up to Shaun's car. A lovely new Porsche Carrera S, damn that is nice. And haul donkey to Swindon to pickup a new car with a new rental company.

We make it just before the office is to close and start the necessary paperwork. At which point Shaun goes to fill up his car and leaves me to finish the paperwork. They chap behind the desk goes to run the payment and tells me it will be 950 GBP per month. After choking on my breath mint I tell him that doesn't sound right and that he should wait for Shaun to confirm as I, again, did not make the arrangements. We wait a few minutes for Shaun.

Shaun tells the guy we had a quote at 570 GBP per month. The guy can't see that price and can't apply any computer magic to make that price appear. So he calls for help. He explains the story with some facts coming from Shaun. No help forthcoming from the first call. So he goes up the ladder and explains the story again. Closing time has come and gone for this little one man office. Luckily he is very keen to stay and work this out for us. Eventually his persistence pays off and we get the rate locked in. After 2 hours of waiting I am now the new user of a Vauxhaull Astra.

All seems to be worked out now and I hope that we don't run into any more car issues. I think we have had enough. We took the new new car out for a drive to Stonehenge today and had a good time doing it.

My thanks to Shaun for continuing to find a car solution for us.

Taking out the Rubbish

2008-03-07T18:48:00.000Z

Where we live there are no rubbish bins(trash cans). There are 3 black boxes about beer cooler size where you can put cans, cardboard/paper, and glass out every other Monday. Instead of a roll-away trash can we are given county provided trash bags about the size of a tall kitchen bag. As far as I can figure out you are only allowed 1 per week curbside. So not sorting your recyclable goods is really not an option if you don't want to start your own personal dump in your garden.

There is also a recycling center in town that takes plastic bottles. I've already started smuggling non-bottle plastic waste into the bins at the recycling center. Soon I may be taking midnight strolls to park and city waste receptacles...

A Week in Review

2008-03-07T10:36:00.000Z

We've been so busy trying to adjust to things that I've missed a few days.

I would skip these stories but I'm sure that, in time, we'll be able to laugh about them.

Saturday, March 1st: Sean gets our car and accidentally leaves the lights on, kills the battery. This is not something I would bring up, since it's still a bit of a sore subject with him (it's not like he did it on purpose), but it ties into some of the other events of the week.

Sunday, March 2nd: Finally wake up at 11:30am and get ourselves together to go do the big shopping trip to Walmart (yes, they are taking over the world) though it's called ASDA here (still says Walmart on the building). Leave Evan with Rachel and go to the car. Car is dead. Wait for jumpstart from local AAA type company. Go to Swindon (should have been a 20 minute trip, takes 40 minutes). Get lost 2 times. Find ASDA delivery truck on the road and ask driver for directions. Driver tells us where it is and that it closed 10 minutes ago at 4pm (government regulated hours on Sundays). Go home with still no shampoo or toothpaste, etc... Also can not now buy groceries because the grocery stores are closed as well.

Go to local non kid-friendly pub for dinner. Rachel attempts to order a grilled cheese sandwich for Evan. Gets a non-grilled sandwich of cold bread and shredded cheese. Sends sandwich back and finally gets a passable grilled cheese (which Evan eats none of and just has fries, aka "chips" instead).

Monday, March 3rd: Attempt ASDA trip again with Evan. Car dead. Car company comes and takes car away for the day and tells us we can't get a replacement car until morning. Evan learns how to say "car broken".

We go grocery shopping instead. Thank god for "Waitrose" commonly understood to be the best grocery store in England and I find everything I want there. Unfortunately they tell me that they can not take my American credit cards, they only take "chip and pin" cards (European credit cards require a pin, like an atm card and are not swiped like ours). Empty barclays account to pay for groceries. Only 5 pounds left in account and 40 pounds in my pocket. Still no sign of wire transfer.

Tuesday, March 4th: The house is cold along with the towel racks. The towel racks in this house all have warmers that are plumbed into the house. I can't find the owners' number.

Mental Breakdown- No heat, no money, no car. Had to stop and cry. Felt a little overwhelmed and it all hit me at once. Sean thought I was losing my mind. We'd be getting a new car today, he would pick up his business card from Shaun M to tide us over on cash, we would find the owners' number.

Well, I didn't quite find the owners' paper with the phone numbers but I found the paper that was under it when she wrote them down. I am able to make out the indentations on the paper enough to give the owners a call. They are kind enough to walk us through re-lighting the pilot light on the boiler and are also able to tell me where the list of phone numbers is again. So, we have heat again.

We have found a school for Evan in walking distance from our house and the teachers there are wonderful. They allow Evan in with 1 days notice for a Tues/Thurs schedule. He gets involved with playing as soon as we arrive. He happily waves goodbye to us and we're off to Barclays to check on that wire.

1 Hour Later: Just leaving Barclays after getting no useful information. Still no money.

Go to Swindon. Sean tries to get 4 mobile phones for the office. They give us 1 mobile phone with a 100 pound deposit. The guy who runs the store tells us that getting credit in England is rather difficult. He had to have his dad get a phone for him when he returned from France at 30 years old.

Go to get Sean's business bank card to tide us over until the wire comes through.

Go pick up Evan from school. He stops to hug and say bye to 4 children from school. We're worried he's going to have to hug the whole class before we leave. The kids run to the school door and Evan yells "BYE!" all the way down the path to the buggy(stroller).

Finally, we get to ASDA(Walmart) and it is everything we dreamed it would be! We even eat dinner there, definitely not good but hot and affordable. Evan pushes a Tonka truck with a motorcycle trailer across the entire store so we decide to get it for him.

The newer new car, while much nicer isn't really made for child seats. Evan's seat practically tips over when we turn a corner. We'll deal with that later...

EVAN'S MENTAL BREAKDOWN. Evan screams inconsolably from bedtime until 4am with occasional bouts of sleep. Sean and I feel like we may die from exhaustion and that brings us into...

Wednesday, March 5th: Accomplish very little. Finish shopping for house stuff. Eat at McDonald's where they charge us for ketchup and the girl behind the counter doesn't understand what I'm saying when I ask, "Can I get a small beverage, fountain drink, soda???" There are no fountains in the common areas of fast food places because there are not free refills. She understands "Coke."

Thursday, March 6th: Here comes the sun...Finally, the wire transfer comes through. The box arrives that DHL has been holding in customs all week. Evan goes to school again. Sean goes into the office and I am able to stop by the local cheese shop. Things are finally coming together and we may all be sane again soon.

Friday, March 7th: Never thought I'd enjoy normal life so much.

You want me to cook on that??! and "Oh Water Pressure, how I miss thee..."

2008-03-03T21:58:00.000Z

Tracey: So, our new house has an AGA. A what?? Well, for those not in the know an AGA would be a cast iron stove. Look out you electric stovetop complainers! I have an AGA!

This stove is not just a stove, it also is the boiler for the house water. So you only really get half a stove and it takes so long to heat that even the "AGA" cookbooks tell you to never turn the stove off. Since there is no actual temperature given for the oven, the book recommends you get a thermometer and find out what the actual temperature is for the different settings. The settings are in Gas Marks 1 through 9. What this means is not truly clear. The other thing they tell you in the manuals is that 80 percent of your cooking should be done in the oven and only 20 percent on the stovetop since so much heat is lost when you raise the stovetop cover that you don't have enough heat to cook the rest of your food. When did you last cook in your stove? I can tell you that my in-oven percentage would have been well under the 80 percent mark.

The books did mention a great feature of the stove. You can dry your dishes on top of it, "hatch an egg", or "bring a pig with pneumonia back to health." You may think I'm kidding but, I'm not. So, I don't have to purchase that drying rack, Yay!

Which brings us to our next cultural change...water and its' consumption. The water pressure here is regulated by the government (much like store hours on Sunday) so while it is more than a dribble it is far less than the cascading waterfall I'm used to. Darn those eco-conscious people!! (I thought I was one of them until I experienced the European shower: May start having to take baths.)

Then there's the dishes. I like to wash them one at a time but since my kitchen is at basement level I'm starting to get a complex about it. Every time I run the kitchen water I have to listen to the "glug glug" of it getting pumped back to street level. I feel like the evil American consumer taking mother nature to her death.

On a lighter note, the wine is cheap!!!! And wonderful! Even with the 2.13 US dollars for every British pound exchange rate we have going on the good wine is still cheaper than in the US.

Maybe if I drink enough wine I won't care about the showers...HaHa!

A VERY LONG FLIGHT

2008-03-03T20:44:00.001Z

So, we were those parents...the ones with the child kicking the seats. The initial check-in at the San Luis Obispo airport and the flight to LAX went just fine. It was the 10hour flight after that that proved to be a problem.

Evan was in all his 2 year old splendor and, of course, in front of him and behind him were older couples. Not the patient grandparent types, more like the never-had-kids, easily irritated types.

So, for the first 4 hours or so there was Evan fidgeting (and Sean not noticing him kicking the seats because he was watching the featured film). [SEAN]: I was paying attention I just missed the first few kicks. I did however sit with him for 8 of the 10 hours of flying. Hence, the dirty looks from the passenger in front of Evan even while Sean was holding Evan's feet and telling him no.

Then there was 40 times I sang the "Winnie the Pooh" song which Evan listened to quietly just long enough to learn the words himself and sing along with me. So much for sleeping...

Then there were the 2 trips to the bathroom where I threatened the child with everything I could think of: taking toys away, time outs, bodily harm.

The 2nd trip to the bathroom started and ended with a lot of screaming until he finally went to daddy and fell asleep.

Though I have not experienced hell, this is close to what I would imagine it to be.

So, thank heavens it finally ended. Getting the 11 items we brought out of Heathrow and to the house went relatively well. Good thing Shaun M's girl friend got a bigger car.

Saturday afternoon Rachel (our US neighbors daughter) showed up and watched Evan while we were shown the house and met our very amusing landlords, who we had beers and wine with before they departed.

In all a successful 24+ hours of travel.

First few days

2008-03-03T09:43:00.000Z

It is quite amazing the things you learn when immersed in a culture in place of reading about or even just vacationing it one. Like 'grilled cheese sandwich' is not a universally understood concept at restaurants, or grocery stores that are open after 16:30 on a Sunday. I know it seems obvious that immersion allows you to learn more about a culture but what I had not realized is how much work it is to live somewhere you are not comfortable with or familiar with. But let me start chronologically with a quick review of major items for the first few days.

FLIGHT OUT
The flight out went pretty well the SLO to LA leg was no trouble at all except a little late. Evan had good fun with being in the airplane again. He had been a bit cranky recently but was ok for this hop. However the long haul was a different story. Lets just say that I dont think the people sitting in front of Evan and I were really pleased about their journey. He did however finally sleep for the last 4 hours of the flight. I however did not get any sleep.

CELL PHONE
It is surprising how much one can rely on a cell phone. Of course you dont really learn this until you dont have one or at least a working one. For some reason my phone didnt flip over to GSM coverage upon arrival which leaves it in a non functioning mode. Why do we really need so many different radio bands for cell phone coverage?

DRIVING
I got the car on Saturday afternoon. A Citroen C5, I think it is a model year 2003. It is nice looking and seems to drive ok except for the smelling like smoke. Obviously a smoker had it before me.

The first thing I had to do was find a place to park it. Which is no easy task on Kingsbury street. I drove around for at least 20 minutes working out the "stay on the left" issues and trying to figure out all the funny road rules and "best practices". I finally found a place up the road about half a mile by the rugby pitch, and then hiked home.

It is interesting to figure out the driving protocol of how to slip by another car on a "2 way" road when there are already cars parked on one side so there is effectively only one lane left to use. They do this all the time and it has boggled my mind how this can be an effective form of parking/driving. But everyone seems to get along with it. I think the protocol is that if your lane is the one with the parked cars in it you have to wait for a break in the on-coming traffic and then dash into their lane to slip by the parked car. If you are the on-coming traffic and come across a car coming at you in your lane while passing a parked car you must wait for it to slip by the parked car then proceed. As the car "in the wrong lane" you are obliged to wave politely at the on-coming car who is waiting for you and to slip back into your lane as quickly as possible as the on-coming car really doesnt leave you much room.

We did make one trip into Swindon on Sunday evening to Drop off Rachel at the train station. Which went well more or less. I havent hit anything or broken any major laws that I can tell. We also got to experience the Magic Roundabout. And we lived to talk about it. Only once did it seem that we were going to get crushed by a bus. Must remember yield to your right!

Last days in the US

2008-02-29T05:31:00.000Z

Wow the last day in the office/at home has come and gone quickly. Both Tracey and I have been busy cleaning, packing, preparing, and getting ready in general. It seems like the last few weeks have flown by.

My last two official functions in the SLO office were to give the International Expansion Webinar and ended with the Open Source at Shopatron speech at Softec. It was fun to bring the International Shopatron platform out in a more formal manner to the existing customers of Shopatron. I think it was well received as well. Then the evening talk at Softec was really fun as well. The turn out was pretty strong from what I generally remember of Softec meetings and I think most people actually enjoyed the talk that Dave D and I gave.

I can believe that we are going to be on our way finally tomorrow. I really wouldn't be that anxious about the flight if it were note for the 2 yr old bundle of energy. I am just not sure how he will handle the 10+ flight.

Wish us luck.

A wonderful send off

2008-02-26T05:52:00.001Z

Thanks to all those who were the send off party tonight. I really appreciate your kind words and festive atmosphere. I think the Black Sheep was a fine place to have it. Thanks to Jenny and Beckie for organizing and getting the wonderful hats.

I will post some truely frightening pictures as soon as I have them

International Implementation Insanity

2008-02-08T16:59:00.000Z

The international sales pipe is working well in the early running and now it comes time to getting it all pulled together. I am very excited by the deployments we have at hand. We will be launching stores in the music, sporting goods, and optics categories. It makes me think of the adage of be careful what you ask for. We have much to learn and adapt the existing Shopatron platform to, which is good.

Our engineering team has been working very hard to extend the existing Shopatron functionality to think globally in terms of language and currency. And now the implementations team gets to pickup and extend our processes into the global landscape. It makes me very thankful that there are so many smart and capable people here to solve the challenges and embrace the changes that are coming. We just started our first implementations person for the EU team, Ben Greenaway. He will be working with the US implementations team and the engineering team to change

Marlborough sites

2008-01-27T02:36:00.000Z

Sean: I thought I would send along some pictures of Marlborough which is where we will be staying while in England. These are pictures we took while we were looking for a house back in Jan.

As you can see Marlborough is a very cute town. The pictures are looking out onto the High street (main street) where all the shops are located. Marlborough has all the core amenities that you could hope for in a little town. It will probably feel much like living in Atascadero just much more rain.

All of these are taken from out our hotel window at the Castle and Ball hotel. Which is a fine place but has some really weird stairs. I guess that is what you get when the build dates back to the Spanish Armada. That is the late 1500s for those of us who dont know our history that well.

These two shots at the end are of their farmers market which they have 2 days per week.

Tracey: I've been admittedly hesitant about this move with my crazy 2year old and a little stressed about all the details involved in it. So, it was our 2nd night in Marlborough and Sean and I, still on California time were up at 2 or 3am when the pubs started to shut down and the drunken patrons were heading home. It was a warm night, for England, and the hotels windows were open. Quite unexpectedly, a drunken man started singing the most beautiful opera on the street. It was at that moment I knew that everything was going to be alright and this move would provide us with some pretty amazing experiences.

Start of the blog

2008-01-07T23:32:00.000Z

Sean: I thought it might be helpful to keep a blog of the upcoming travels and work in Swindon UK. I have so many people asking me questions:

How is the move going? - in progress
If I am excited? - yes and overwhelmed
Hows the food in England? - been great so far
Do you have a place to live? - Not yet but we will be working on it soon on an upcoming trip
Does it rain all the time there? - Surprisingly enough it has been quite pleasant on each trip there but I am not planning on that being the norm.

I thought I would put the core parts down in a blog for all to read. I hope that this allows you to understand what is going on with the Shopatron office expansion into Europe and get really excited by it. Feel free to ask questions and I will try to keep up with them.

This is my first experiment with blogging so bear with me as I get the hang of it.

Tracey: Okay, so I've been resistant to the whole blogging thing but it seems there is now a good reason to do it - keeping family and friends up to date on what we're up to and reducing the number of emails I have to send out. So, I'll probably cover most of the family and travel stuff while Sean focuses more on the work side of things. (You mean we're not just here to see Europe? Oh, that's right...)