Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Happy Halloween!



The British celebrate Halloween, but it's not with quite the same fervor as the Americans. I'm pretty sure I passed a costume shop in York, but it's not nearly as blatant as Halloween Express. There are very few window displays that capitalize on the holiday. With no Thanksgiving in their way, most are starting to move on to Christmas.

I didn't buy any candy because we had heard that trick-or-treating door to door isn't such a big thing here. Our place is a little tricky because you have to buzz us to come down. Of course, on Monday (yes, Monday) our buzzer did ring several times with some slap-happy people way too old to be trick-or-treating wanting treats. So now we plan to keep a low profile and pull the drapes to pretend we're not home. I might have to take the buzzer off the hook :)

So enjoy these confectionery treats by Betty's, famous all over Britain for tea and sweets. I suppose she's like the BonBonerie of England.


And I guess I should follow up the sweet with a Halloween-worthy cemetery shot--there are lots of these around here!

new feature

Check out the "good british commercials" on the right hand column for links to some of our favorites.

dinner and a movie

On Saturday, Pat made plans for us to have dinner with two of his co-workers who have started dating. One is a woman from Indiana who is also on a one-year assignment and came over about the same time as we did. The other is a guy from Turin, Italy who has been in Britain for 6 years. It all made for interesting conversation.

I learned that I'm not totally crazy--there doesn't seem to be an "easy" button on the washer/dryer that I've overlooked. (Or, at least none of the Americans can figure it out) We talked about the Italian vs. American view on white undershirts, speedos, and feminist perspectives. We talked about the American frustration with finding some things from home like a good margarita and baking soda--glad I brought mine from home--baking soda, that is :)

We had a really nice dinner at Plunkets in York. I think I've mentioned them before. Really weird combination of a British architectural shell, 50s-esque black and white Hollywood glam photography, and an assortment of Mexican, American, and British food. I'm happy to report that you can get a real margarita there and guacamole, although I personally think the guacamole was a little flat--more onion! They have a really great bar/waiting room on the third floor of their rambling, ready to fall down, ancient building. You can almost here the wench stirring the fire.

This weekend was also "Illuminating York." It's a relatively new thing to take advantage of the impending darkness (we'll get to that later) and they showcase different artists who create installations with light. For instance, they project multiple sound-driven lights on the face of the Minster. (Sorry for the blurry picture, I wasn't dragging along my tripod)



They basically rig up a couple of microphones to capture the sound of the crowd underneath and the lights react to the intensity or rhythm. As you can guess, you would think there's a bunch of lunatics on the loose as you approach--a lot of clapping, yelling, and kids screaming. It does look pretty cool, but I'm glad we don't live within earshot.

On Sunday, we stayed in. We hooked my computer up to the TV, which allows us to use it as a big monitor. Pat was able to find a cord so the sound comes out of the TV which greatly improves the experience. We spent a lazy afternoon watching Sleepy Hollow to get into the fall, Halloween mood.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Happy Birthday KATHY!!

Happy Birthday from Edinburgh Castle!



Congrats on turning 38, better you than me. Just kidding. I hope you have a fantastic day and enjoy the warm weather in Florida because once you hit England at Christmas you'll miss the sun.

See you in a couple of months,
Patrick

Friday, October 26, 2007

progressive Britain

I was excited to hear on the radio this morning that the UK is making a big step forward in womens' health...

The UK Department of Health is to authorize a nationwide vaccination for girls to protect from HPV (human papillomavirus), starting at the age of 9, according to an article in today's Scotland on Sunday.


They even talk about taking it one step further, although that's not agreed to yet...

Some scientists say the vaccine should also be given to males, regardless of individual risk factors. Dr. Bradley Monk, University of California at Irvine, said we need to move toward a paradigm where this is a universal vaccine. He says males can pass the infection on to women, who then go on to develop cancer of the cervix.


Hopefully the US will see the light and realize that there is no harm in protecting girls from one of MANY STDs. I don't know why they expect that this one vaccine will convince young girls to jump into having sex all willy-nilly. There's still plenty of dangers to make sex a serious issue--pregnancy, AIDS, and all of the perpetually uncomfortable, unmentionable STDs. The UK expects it to save 100s of lives a year. Yeah for them!

And for those of you that don't know, all public spaces in England and Scotland are smoke-free as of this summer. Good timing for us :) Northern Ireland will follow suit in April. Smoky pubs no more!

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Rugby World Cup Final

For those of you wondering how the Rugby World Cup ended, the last game was on Sunday. We watched England play South Africa and lose, as expected. It was a small miracle England made it to the final as they've gotten through each stage by the skin of their teeth. They had a chance to make history as the only team to hold onto the World Cup title two years in a row. They made a surprisingly good show and had a chance to take the lead at one point, but a controversial call by a ref took away their try (aka goal or touchdown).

We were really routing for England since we hate South Africa. Mostly because of Percy Montgomery (full name Percival Colin Montgomery). He looks just like he sounds, a human Ken doll with more muscles. He's a pretty-boy who looks too prissy and pretentious to play such a rough game. We don't like pretty-people :) To rub it in, they're always talking about him since he's good at everything.

The runner-up game was France vs. Argentina. Argentina won!! Go underdogs! I'm not sure if they were still considered underdogs at that point, but they certainly came into the tournament that way and then proceeded to beat France in the very first pool game when France was considered one of the favorites.

As for my favorite team, the New Zealand All Blacks, they were narrowly edged out in the quarter finals. I was disappointed, but their time is coming. They're a great team.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Brimham Rocks

This past Sunday we went to Brimham Rocks, an area about an hour away right outside of Harrogate. It's basically a natural playground. Packed with families on the weekend, everybody who can walk can scale a rock.


(You'll have to take my word for it since this is small, but there are people on top of most of the rocks in the background)



They are very unusual rock formations for the area. With a little internet research I discovered that they were formed from sand and grit washed here from granite mountains in northern Scotland and Norway. The debris was deposited in angles, ripples, and dunes depending on the river flow. Then there was erosion, sand-blasting at the bases, and some freeze and thaw action. 320 million years later, we end up with some pretty cool stuff to climb on and shapes worthy of druid and devil-worship. But be careful... it's still sandy.





Watch out for the native oompa-loompas--they're very active this time of year!

...just kidding, it's only a Pat-Jamie-backpack combo shadow!

Sunday, October 21, 2007

the York train station

While I'm on the subject of trains, York has a really nice train station. It's an outside, covered space that still retains some iron and glass architecture which is very cool.









And despite my travel delays, we love the trains. They are such a great way to travel. You can take them directly to city centers or into the airport themselves. It's so much easier and cheaper than car travel. Besides, you get to see some wonderful countryside as you whiz by. Not to mention that you can walk up to a train a minute before it leaves and get on. AND you can leave your shoes on--no 2 hour waits or security checks here!





trains, planes, and automobiles

It was an adventure getting home. Really everything went well considering. The bad storms we had in Cinci Thurs. night, hit JFK Friday night when I was trying to fly in. After sitting on the tarmac waiting to take off because of bad weather in NY, a pause over Columbus as we did a circle to kill some time, and some really bumpy turbulence on the way in, we landed. Areas of the airport were lakes so you could tell they had had some really heavy rain.

Although there were a lot of cancellations and delays at JFK because of high winds and strong rain, my flight boarded on time. Thank goodness for international flights getting priority. There were a lot of frustrated people at the airport--some talked of sleeping on the floor and some who literally cheered when boarding was announced for their flight.

So then the problem was the fog that developed from the rain. Visibility was .25 mile. We waited about 1 1/2-2 hrs. in line to take off. I think they build in an hour for the typical wait, so we were only an hour late getting in.

I got my bags ok and went to the train station in the airport to catch one to York, but there happened to be a problem with the line. They directed me to a coach to drive us to a station up the line, beyond the problem. Not knowing exactly what train I was suppose to take, I was lucky to find one 3 minutes before it was suppose to leave. Luckily, the platform was close by and I was able to force the doors open to get on.

So I finally got to the York train station and called Pat who was coming to pick me up. That was about 2:00, about 21 hours after I started traveling. Of course, he was wondering where I was because it never takes that long. But I'm home. And if for no other reason, I'm glad to be here because I don't have to look another plane, train, or automobile in the eye unless I want to.

Lauren & Jeff got married!

For those of you who don't know, Pat and I just got back from the states. We were there for Lauren's wedding. We now have a new brother-in-law and a great addition to our family. She also joins me at the end of the alphabet as Mrs. Szabo :)

Lauren and Jeff got married at the Cincinnati Observatory Center. The ceremony was outside and the reception was in a tent. We lucked out with the weather. After the previous weekend in the humid 90s, the weekend of the wedding was sunny and in the mid 60s.




Lauren did a really good job with all of the decorating--it really gave the tent a great atmosphere. For the centerpieces, they saved old wine bottles to use as sunflower vases, used the corks for place card holders, collected random candle holders, gourds, leaves, etc.


A tasty dinner was catered by Montgomery Inn. It was fun to see everyone slap on bibs over their nice clothes...

If you're interested in leftovers, check with my parents!

For the funny moments, you'll have to ask the bride, but I can tell you a fun time was had by all.






Right before we left, Lauren and Jeff flew out for their honeymoon. We hope they're having a good time in Hawaii!

Congratulations guys!!

We had a good time in Cincinnati. While we were in town, we also got to see our friends, eat some of our favorite foods, and shop for things we can't get over here or that are just a lot more expensive. And we got to stay in our house--thanks to the Galloways for some good hospitality!

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Edinburgh

Friday night, after Pat came home from work, we threw on our backpacks and headed to the York train station for a 2.5 hr. ride to the heart of Edinburgh. The old part of Edinburgh is the tourist's mecca consisting of a castle complex on a rocky outcrop and the Palace of Holyrood House (the queen's 1 week summer home) at the bottom of the hill. The Royal Mile connects the two.

As a big Braveheart fan, I loved to see that statues of William Wallace and Robert the Bruce flank the entrance to the castle. There's even a chapel inside with a stain glass window dedicated to William Wallace among the saints' windows. Now I know that the story in the movie isn't quite accurate, but the gist of it is on target and has obviously inspired Scotland. I especially love the inscription over the entrance "What you do to us... we will do to you." Talk about straightforward. Interesting note about the castle--there's a graveyard for the officer's canine companions and military mascots. The tombstones that we could read had names like Don, Major, and Scamp.


The Royal Mile is a street packed with a jumble of medieval skyscrapers (5 stories or so) and churches. A series of narrow allies or "close" connect the old main drag with courtyards and provide access to buildings downhill. Today, the ground floors are packed with Scotland kitsch. It's very obvious you're in Scotland. From the tartan carpet, bus seat covers, and menu backdrops, there's no mistaking it. We walked by average people, that didn't seem to be interested in posing for tourists, fully dressed in the kilt regalia more than once. Bagpipes were sometimes playing on the corner.


At the end of the Royal Mile, near the palace, are two interesting things: the new Scottish parliament building and Arthur's Seat.

The parliament building is a modern structure that integrates with it's natural surroundings and stands in stark contrast to the medieval stone structures nearby. It really struck us as unusual since it's a government building. We both thought it was a college at first.


Arthur's Seat is an extinct volcano that has some dramatic geological features. Pat and I walked around Salisbury Crags one day and to the top the next. It was probably my favorite place. From the top you could see the North Sea, the castle, the Royal Mile, ski slopes, an oil refinery, and farmland off in the distance. There's not one tree on it so you can see every little spec of a person as you climb.




Edinburgh is an impressive city and a lot more engaging than I expected. I thought it might be less sophisticated or less polished than some other big cities. Don't ask me why. Maybe it's the crap the Scottish get from the English. But it's no backwater town. It's actually "Europe's first great grid-planned modern city" and the interest in urban planning shows. They've done a really good job connecting major points of power (now tourist spots), creating beautiful parks nearby, and integrating transportation.

Other random things we learned about Edinburgh and Scotland... Lowland and Midland Scots wear tartan trousers while only the Highland people wear tartan kilts, the Scottish regiments in the English army wore kilts to war and fought to the sound of bagpipes, the crown jewels spent almost as much time in hiding as on display, lots of famous literary people came from there, more witches were burned in Scotland per capita than in any other country (17,000), Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde is based on a real guy who was executed in Edinburgh, and whisky marmalade is good.


It's definitely worth a visit.