My New Digs

The house.

Front garden flowers.

Front garden.

A room with a view.

Neighborhood from overhead.

Living room.

Soooo, I don't think the dishwasher's been used in a while.

Very happy she doesn't have the 2-in-1 style. Drier's tapped straight into Earth's core.

My descent every morning.

That's right, it's an old school Land Rover.

Did I Mention...

My house mum,

Kate,

is a little shorter,

than I am.

Take A Walk With Me

Here are some stills from my walk:

A homemade shelter I found.

A ravine with a rope swing.

Blackberries. Yum!

What's a secret garden without snails?

Apple trees everywhere!

Allo! Come inside and meet the missus.

The end of summer & beginning of autumn.

Located right outside the back gate.

My English Home

It's just like my Texas home, but not.

Women still wobble around in high heals. Teenagers still creep around in fear of randomly thrown harsh judgments.

But they smell different. They talk different. And they don't wear sunglasses. Seriously, what's with the moratorium on sunglasses?

I've met 2 Daves, 50 Nigels, 1 Neil, and 1 Colin; 2 Alisons, 1 Kate, and 1 Vicki.

Changing lifestyles reminds me of the Detox ward at the Charlie's Place Drug & Alcohol Rehab Center. Detox is all about the violent withdrawal period when the client's drug or alcohol is cut off, cold turkey. There's thrashing about, cold flashes, hot flashes, violent vomiting, screaming, constipation followed by diarrhea, you can't call your family, and you're surrounded by strangers. But the gist of it is that Detox is the time to transition your body (not mind yet) from one lifestyle - and all its expectations - to another lifestyle. Rehab is for the mental transition. If I remember correctly, Detox is takes about 2 weeks.

I can't say I've experienced violent withdrawal symptoms of drug addiction, but these first 2 weeks have certainly been a detox time. I'm transitioning from my state-side lifestyle to my UK lifestyle. My nursing support team has been brilliant and I'm just about to emerge from the ward.

My closest compadre, Stable Mabel, has been a gem of nurse.

She doesn't care how late I go to bed, or how late I sleep in the next day. She cuddles, purrs, and gets in my way when I'm trying to reconnect with my old habits.

My latest manuscript & thumb drive... under her fuzzy derriere.

English Things

This is my cuddle buddy for the first week.

To the right on the wall, this is a towel warmer hooked to the radiator system.

People store their eggs on the counter,

...and store their butter & jam in the pantry.

This isn't necessarily English, but it's worth knowing about.

Can you guess which Communist leader this is?

This is a tea bag squeezer (open).

Tea bag squeezer closed.

This is just pretty so I thought you should enjoy it too.

This is delicious yogurt! (add honey)

This is a clothes warmer attachment to my room's radiator. Brilliant.

Waking up to a warm day.

Yoga to wake the depressed body, lift the depressed spirits.

Sun Salutations.

Slang, English: "They go together like cheese and chalk."

Translation: They don't go together.

Slang, Equivalent: They're like oil and water.