the accommodations

Now that our place is as furnished as it will get, and it's nice and clean, I finally got around to taking some pictures. (For a reminder of what it looked like before, click on this link back to that archived post)

The back entry from the private parking lot (aka car park). Nicely done.


The common entry way. Yes, very impressive.


Our place. Second floor (aka first floor in England).


Our storage room/junk room/laundry-drying room (aka third bedroom). Unfortunately the first thing you see when you come in. Less impressive :)


Our living room/dining room. Nice open floor plan.


Our dining room/kitchen. Love the workspace in the kitchen, but storage is tough. I think there's actually more usable storage at our house. Especially since the tall vertical cabinets on the left are the refrigerator/freezer, the low cabinet under the toaster is the dishwasher, and the one next to that is the washer/dryer. Luckily we didn't bring all of our stuff!


Our bedroom. You can't see the wall of Ikea cabinets for all of our clothes--nice :) We have more clothes storage here than at home.


Our bathroom. Note the coveted large, fully-enclosed, non-leaking shower--truly an endangered species over here! We're willing to share when you come to visit :)


Our guest bedroom. After sleeping in here for the first month or so, I can tell you it gets bright in the morning since it's facing east. The double bed is very comfortable initially, but is so soft it tends to make you a bit sore. (It's a lot better if you don't sleep on your side all night) There's also an air mattress available.


Our guest bathroom. Nice amount of space and a great tub.


It's a nice place, no complaints. Ultimately our landlord wants to sell the flat vs. renting it. It can all be yours for around $800,000--jump on that bargain price! (It's not THAT nice) Needless to say, we can't afford to live here :)

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.

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

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!

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.