Party Time!

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Merry Christmas, everyone!  I thought I would write one final post before we load up and come back to the US.  We have had an exciting final week in Waltham on the Wolds. The girls wrapped up their fall term, which included a nativity school program on Tuesday (December 20th).  Olivia had a reading part, [...]

My Turn!

Only 9 days until take off and we’re still trying to fit in as much as possible.  Christmas is drawing near which means we’re trying to pack and wrap all at the same time, and then plan how we’ll pack what we’ve wrapped!  The girls had their Christmas dinner at school last week and will have their program this week.  Alice is very excited for this as she has been given the coveted role of Mary in the play.

Usually it’s Kelly taking off and traveling for work, but last week I got a turn.  Human Kinetics has an office in the UK so I took the train from Grantham to Leeds Wednesday morning for a visit.  Once I was checked into the hotel I took another train from Leeds to the New Pudsey station, and a short walk from there I was in their office’s back yard. 

They have a smaller office than we do in the states, but I loved being there.  After working for almost 5 months from my empty kitchen, I got to share the marketing office with two other people.  Also, as a visitor I think I got a little bit of special treatment in the way of arriving each morning to a hot cup of coffee sitting on my desk.  I was also treated to some local trivia  – Pudsey is where the name for the BBC Children in Need Bear came from – and a truly delicious ham and cheese panini  from the local coffee shop Delgados.

Since it was a fairly short trip we fit in as much business as possible and some fun too. On Thursday night we went out for supper at East for curry.  I think this makes my third time getting Indian food, so I was lucky to have someone willing to help me order something I would like.  I got the Chicken Bhuna with Pilau Rice and we shared a huge piece of naan.  And when I say huge, I mean bigger than your head huge.  It came on some type of a spear that sat on the table and was hooked into the naan so that it hung there over us like some type of bread tree that we would rip pieces from.  It was delicious and way better than my grainy cell phone picture gives credit.

After that I got to join the rest of the office at their annual holiday party.  It was at The Village Wine Bar where I enjoyed a pint, or more, of Peroni and a competitive game of trivia.  I was on the “upstairs” team and we won by one question which may, or may not have been “Chicago, USA is on the shore of which of the Great Lakes?”  After the pub closed down, we took a cab downtown to a place called Mojo where the music was so loud that talking was impossible, but where dancing up a storm was welcomed.  It was a lot of fun and I would accept an invite for a return visit any time.

 

Your oil is low

Christmas is definitely approaching.  The days are short, the temperature finally feeling more like winter (no snow, but have to scrape the car windows some mornings now), and decorations are everywhere.  The scramble to fit in remaining work, shopping, and packing for travel before the Christmas holidays is always a bit stressful and this year will be no different.  While the kids are excited about their upcoming sleepover and school break, Lisa and I are beginning to prepare for our remaining work, packing/shipping, and cleaning that need to be done before we move back home.  Several weeks ago I told Lisa that she could not freak out about these things until her birthday (December 19^th), but I was starting to feel the increased tension this past week myself.  Although we have a lot of fun parties and things planned for the days surrounding Christmas, I think we are going to have a lot of mixed feelings too.  We are all leaving some good friends behind.  We will be back to see them sometime, but sure that there will be some tears shed.

I saw a lot of shopping first hand last Monday, as I was in London for the Nutrition Society meeting.  My hotel was a few blocks away from Oxford Street, a popular shopping area.  I took the train up on the afternoon of December 5^th, did a little shopping, and met an old classmate from high school for tea (for her – I had a pint of beer).  The nutrition meeting on the 6^th and 7^th was held at the Royal College of Physicians, with most of the sessions focused primarily on how the gut and brain talk to each other to regulate food intake – a great topic before the holiday parties and feasts!  It was a very good meeting.

Thursday and Friday were filled with emails and meetings.  I can tell that the next 2 weeks will be quite busy as everyone tries to meet their deadlines and schedule meetings with me before I go back home.  Even though it was quite hectic at work, my Friday went better than Lisa’s.  We woke up Friday morning with no heat or hot water…we had used all of our oil up!  The guy that works for the landlords, who was supposed to check it regularly so this did not happen, told Lisa it was “pretty low” that afternoon.  Really???  Thanks for the heads up, buddy!  It is already empty!  I guess that’s what we get for relying on somebody else.  Lisa spent much of the day waiting for an oil delivery.  The oil delivery man finally showed up between 4 and 5 pm, but did not have a long enough hose……what?!?!?  Perfect story for a sitcom episode (would have been great for Seinfeld), but not really that funny in real life!  Lisa spent the day in several layers of clothing and then had to get ready for my work holiday party without any warm water.  Given the cold house, we were not sure if we would still go to the party.  Because we did have a babysitter (Tilly; teenager in Waltham) lined up and had at least one warm room because of the fireplace, we decided to attend the party.  The rental agency dropped off a few space heaters while we were gone.  Not ideal, but provided a little warmth to a few more rooms.  The oil arrived Saturday morning, but we needed somebody else later in the day to get the system up and running.  The heat was on by 2 pm.  It was very nice to have a warm shower again!!!

We had a fun time at the Christmas party so we were glad we ended up going.  The company had lined up taxis to transport everybody to and from the party so that was nice.  The party was held at Brooksby Hall, which was about 10 miles away.  We were picked up at 6:30 and back home about 6 hours later.  There were nearly 100 people at the party so there were a lot of introductions, questions, and interesting conversations for Lisa throughout the night.  We started the night with some bubbly, which was followed by a 3-course meal.  Once the food was consumed, we moved straight into the secret Santa game.  We were sitting at 3 big tables so 3 separate secret Santa games were going on at the same time.  It was similar to the white elephant games we have as a family, but not quite as crazy (less screaming and laughing).  We opened up the gifts and then rolled dice to figure out what to do with them (each number had a different rule).  The dice went around the table twice.  Because many of the rules were “pass to the left” or “pass to the right” and seemed to even each other out, the gifts did not move around too much, but fun anyway.  I ended up getting a pack of beer, cheese, and crackers, while Lisa got a “desk butler” in the shape of a dog that keeps pencils, paperclips, etc. in order.  After secret Santa, the food was cleaned up and the “disco” began.  With all wine, beer, and mixed drinks paid for by the company, fun was had by all (you could argue that some had a little too much fun!).  We were in the disco area for a little while and around the bar area in conversations the rest of the time.  A great Christmas party – now we just have to wait 2 more weeks until Christmas is actually here!

Not much was planned for the weekend.  Hannah and Alice attended yet another birthday party on Saturday and then Hannah had a sleepover at Tilly’s house Saturday night.  Lisa had originally planned for all of us to meet with Tilly’s parents at the Children’s Society Christingle Service at the Waltham Church this afternoon at 3 pm.  The plan was to attend the service and then take Hannah home with us.  As the day went on, our interest in the service decreased.  Lisa decided to go by herself.  Around 3:30 pm, I received an email stating that Tilly’s parents and Hannah were not there.  I told her to “enjoy the show!”, which made me chuckle as I typed it….but was not well received by Lisa at the time.  She walked home by herself in the cold rain a few minutes later, but with her own handmade Christingle candle (see picture).  Great job building your candle, Lisa!!!  Ha! Ha!  Not sure we are going to bring this tradition back home with us.

Christmas parties and concerts in Waltham

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Christmas is still 3 weeks away, but the holiday parties have already begun.  In addition to holiday parties, the girls have attended and have many more parties planned in their remaining time here.  We also decided to take the plunge and have invited 12 girls (6 from Hannah’s class and 6 from Olivia’s class) for [...]

Visitors, Liverpool, and Thanksgiving in the UK

It has been a while since the last post, but we have been pretty busy with work, travel, and more visitors. From November 16^th to 25^th, 6 of the students and postdocs from my lab came over to help with work at the Waltham Centre.  They had some very early hours and long days of work, but also met some important people at the Centre, learned about the research done here, and were able to share some of their research too, so it was a great experience for them.  Of course, they had some fun during their trip too, having several wonderful meals at pubs and restaurants in the area and seeing London for a couple days before going home.  The Swanson’s joined them for a few meals during their stay.  Because it was close to their hotel, we took them to the Cutting Room in Melton on their first night here.  Due to jet lag, it was a short night, but it was nice seeing them all again.  They were quite busy and we were too (more details below) during the midst of their stay so we did not see them much on those days.  The girls and I did have a dinner with them at the Royal Horseshoes one night.  Towards the end of their stay, Lisa and I joined them for a lovely dinner at Langar Hall and then the kids and I joined them at Berkeley Arms on Thanksgiving (while Lisa was off playing in Paris).

The meal at Langar Hall rivals the other great meals we have had over here.  Although the bottom line of the menu made me scratch my head and chuckle (see picture and comment below), the food and atmosphere was simply amazing!  Langar Hall is an old mansion and our dinner was in a room that used to serve as a study or library.  The fireplace was crackling and was interesting to look at the titles that filled the bookcase and the collection of stuffed (taxidermy) foul throughout the room (you can see that we were having a bit of fun with our pictures in front of the fireplace).  As for the meal…for starters, I had a twice baked cheese soufflé, while Lisa had celeriac soup, walnut gnocchi, apple, & stilton.  It was the best soufflé I have ever had!  For the main meal, we both had the Assisette of Langar lamb, smoked garlic gnocchi, salt baked turnips, & kayle.  Very tender and juicy!  Did we have room for dessert – of course!  We both decided on the hot caramel soufflé, salted peanuts, & banana ice cream.  Did not disappoint!  The wine was excellent.  With more wine, came a more entertaining conversation.  There we many great stories, jokes, and laughs.  It was a great night all around…and one that we could enjoy because my lovely sister-in-law agreed to babysit the kids that night.  Thanks, Sara!!!

On the menu, it states that “Some dishes may contain nuts.  Please inform the waiter if you have any allergies (including cats).”  While the beginning sounded pretty normal, the last bit about the cats threw me off a bit.  Cat was definitely not on the menu and I was hoping that cats were not helping prepare the meal in the kitchen.  Maybe they were tenderizing the lamb???  After a few minutes, I thought it was probably best just not to think or ask about it – just enjoy the food, wine, and conversation – so that is what we did!  Everyone at the meal really enjoyed themselves.  I guess it was good that we all had such a great time because the bill came to over 800 GBP (translates to about $1,300)!!!  Gulp!  I guess I am glad the company picked up the tab on that one!  The food and atmosphere at the Berkeley Arms the next night was great again, but was not quite the same because I was juggling the kids by myself.  The kids did a pretty good job, however, so we enjoyed our very unique Thanksgiving dinner in the UK.

If you read the previous paragraph closely, you probably noticed that Lisa’s sister, Sara, visited us during this same time.  Sara arrived at the Heathrow airport on Saturday, November 19^th.  Lisa met her in London on the 19^th to spend that day and part of Sunday seeing the sights and visiting Harrod’s.  A little birdie told me that some decent cash was spent during the visit.  Way to keep the UK economy going!  Lisa and Sara came up to Waltham on the train Sunday evening.  After a bit of a wild goose chase – due to work on the train line, the train did not stop at Grantham as expected, but did stop in Newark 20 miles up the road – they were home.

Sara’s time in Waltham was not long because she and I took a 6:50 am train from the Melton Mowbray Train Station to Liverpool on Monday (21^st) morning.   Earlier in the fall, I had scheduled a trip to Liverpool so I could visit researchers at the University of Liverpool.  Sara decided to go with me to see a few sights there before taking the train up to Newcastle to visit the UK office of Chamilia, the company she works for.  If you need some cool jewelry, now you know who you can talk to for advice!  Sara and I had 4-5 hours to look around before her next train.  Luckily, I was able to check into my hotel, which was right across the street from the train station, so we could drop off our bags.  Given the time we had, we decided to go to the Beatles Story.  I am not a huge Beatles fan necessarily, but it was a neat little museum.  As I walked through, I realized that I know many more Beatles songs than I thought I did.  On the way back to the hotel, we walked through one of the big shopping centres, including John Lewis.  We were not in a buying mood, but they had all of the Christmas decorations out so it was a nice atmosphere.

Once Sara took her train to Newcastle, I had a few more hours before my scheduled dinner so I walked around the streets of Liverpool a bit longer by myself. I walked around in the shopping centre some more and also found The Cavern, the club where the Beatles played in the early days.  After a little work in the hotel room (I needed to brush up on my seminar for the next day), I walked over to The Side Door where I had dinner with a veterinary nutritionist from the university.  On the way to the restaurant, I passed the Liverpool Philharmonic and St. Luke’s Church also known as the “bombed out church”.  It was dark while I walked by, but looking at the website, the church has a pretty interesting history of its own.  I had a full day on Tuesday, visiting a few researchers and their labs on the main campus in Liverpool, giving my seminar, having a nice lunch with my host, visiting the University of Liverpool Small Animal Teaching Hospital about 30 minutes out of town in Leahurst, and then taking the train home.  I first thought of driving to Liverpool, but I am very glad I took the trains.  Smooth rides and little risk of getting lost!

That brings us full circle to our Wednesday (23^rd) night dinner at Langar Hall.  Thursday was interesting for everyone too.  The entire family loaded up the car and took Lisa and Sara to the Grantham Train Station so they could catch their 7:00 am train to London and then Paris.  I successfully ran the kids to school before going to work.  It had been many years since I had worked on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday.  Without much email traffic coming in from the US, they were a couple good days to catch up on things.  Managing all things family by myself on Thursday and Friday were a bit tricky, but not too bad.  The eternity that was Saturday and Sunday, however, nearly made me pull my hair out.  Lisa, I now feel your pain during my travels!!!  We got out of the house – visited Melton Market for some fresh produce – on Saturday, but Sunday was just laundry, girl screams, and a homework battle with Hannah that lasted several hours.  After many “discussions” about the work, bouts of crying behind the couch, and 17 – yes 17!!! – facial tissues, the math sheet was finally done.  Ugh!!!  Needless to say, we were all extremely happy to see Lisa and Sara once they walked out of the train station tonight.  It sounds like they had a great time in Paris, but you will have to ask them all the details.

Happy Thanksgiving

At a time where we’re normally thawing a turkey and organizing Black Friday fliers we are managing to keep busy in other ways.

Hannah’s birthday was last week and we had a grand time.  She invited over some of her new best friends and they got to do crafts and have tea, just them with no older (or younger) sister around to bother them.  Then we went down to the Granby for dinner and met up with one of the girl’s family for desert and a pint.  It was nosy and chaotic, but so much fun!  There was a lot of laughter and smiles and that always makes me happy.  We even had them make extra Sticky Toffee Pudding for us so that we could put candles in that instead of cake.

Make a Wish!

If you can believe it, we’re down to our last visitor.  On Saturday I took the train to London to meet Sara.  Her flight was less than ideal and I was starting to try and figure out how to file a missing persons report in England when she finally showed up at the hotel.  We did a quick run to Loop – actually more of a long walk – and I indulged in some more yarn.  This time I also indulged for my friends Dorie and Kristy.  I hope they like what I’ve picked for them.  After walking the streets looking for a restaurant with empty tables, we found a cozy little French place where we ate Italian and were treated to a desert shot.

On Sunday we squeezed as much as we could into about 6 hours.  We went the the Tower of London, saw Big Ben, saw the London Eye, and then walked from the South Kensington station to Harrods for some very quick shopping.  Then it was a race back to the hotel for our bags and the Kings Cross station only to find that there had been a “major technical fault” and that they were announcing train times via white board.  On top of that, we missed the note that the train we were on was NOT stopping in Grantham where Kelly and the girls were happily waiting to pick us up.  Good thing I have a phone over here and I was able to call him and let him know where to pick us up.  Thank you, Neil, at the Newark Northgate station for giving us directions from Grantham so that it was “easy” for Kelly to come and get us.

Today was the big basketball tourney for Olivia and her teammates.  It was fun to watch and they were having fun playing.  It reminded me of my high school days when we’d go to an all day volleyball tournament and just keep rotating from court to court.  They played 9 games and then the top four teams played again for their places in the tournament.

Waltham won their game to take 3rd place.  It was a close game…2-0 courtesy of …..Olivia!  She was telling me this week how she daydreams about making the winning shot right before the buzzer.  I would say this is kind of close to that.

Talking strategy

 

Veteran’s Day Program

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Last Friday, November 11, 2011, Olivia and Hannah were both active participants in the Veteran’s Day program for the Waltham on the Wolds Primary School.  Olivia was one  of the readers from her class and Hannah was one of the kids selected to carry in a memorial wreath.  Go Hannah and Olivia!

Go Team!

Olivia came home very excited last night and couldn’t wait to tell us her great news.  The way I understand it there was a process of being recommended by your teacher and then the “coach” approving those recommendations.  It was all very official and we even got a letter from the school announcing the news along with details for the tournament.

Your child has been chosen to represent the school in a Basketball Tournament on Wednesday, 23rd November, at Belvoir High School.

Go Olivia!

A week with Lisa Matthews

Sorry for the break in updates over here.  We have had a busy time with work and another visitor since our Halloween post.  I got up early on November 3^rd and set off for Vannes, France so I could meet with people from a pet food ingredient supplier company about some potential research with them.  The trains from Grantham to London to Paris to Vannes took most of the day, but I did have enough time to have lunch by Notre Dame in Paris so that was nice, despite the rainy weather.  My hosts at the company treated me to dinner that night in Vannes – the seafood I had was great!  The next day was a bit exhausting.  I met with the company all morning, had a nice creppes lunch, and then was back on trains to London where I arrived around 10 pm.

I scheduled my trip to Vannes to coincide with the arrival of our next visitor – Lisa Matthews.  For those that do not know, Lisa has been our daycare provider since Olivia was about 6 months old so she is a very special person to us.  We are so happy she was able to visit us for a week and take in some of the UK life.  The night in London allowed me to meet her at Heathrow airport when she arrived around noon that day.  The subway work was a bit annoying again – many lines partially or completely closed – but was able to navigate ok.  I guess they need them running smoothly for the Olympics next summer, but it does make it a bit more difficult to get around certain parts of the city.  I was happy that Lisa’s plane arrived on time and that she had all of her luggage.  I was very impressed with her luggage-packing abilities.  She was able to get everything into 2 carry-ons so there was no risk of the bags getting lost somewhere!  Once we met up with each other, it was the same old drill to get home – Heathrow Express, subway, train, and car.  We made pretty good time, arriving home around 4:30 pm.  Lisa got the quick tour of the house before Hannah and I ran to Melton for some take-out food from the Jasmine House.  After the 3 straight days of trains, I was happy to be home again!

Taking the 128

Lisa (my wife) and I had a busy week with work and could not take much time off.  Lisa M., however, had planned ahead well and was fine taking the trains and buses to different villages and towns around the area.  She went on several interesting day trips during the week, including visits to Melton Mowbray, Stamford, Leicester, York, Cambridge, and others.  She saw the market in Melton on Tuesday, but sounded like the outdoor market in Leicester is even better.  In Cambridge, she went “punting on the river” like I did last fall and was able to do a little shopping too.  It sounded like she enjoyed York the best because of the architecture and shops that they have.  Not sure we will be able to make it up there with our time remaining this fall (only 6 weeks left!), but we may have to try another time.  In addition to some of the interesting things she found shopping, Lisa accumulated a nice pile of beer mats from all of the local pubs we visited.  I think she has some pretty unique souvenirs to bring back with her – you will have to ask to see them when she gets back.

Scotch egg at The Gregory

We worked every day, but we did manage to have some great dinners and evenings with Lisa.  We only ate at home one night, having chicken fingers, French fries, and a variety of cheeses and fruits.  The others were in local pubs, including The Royal Horseshoes in Waltham (we were back for Pie Night!), The Gregory at Harlaxton, The Berkeley Arms in Wymondham, and the Marquis of Granby in Waltham (aka Duncan’s place).  I need a serious week of working out to work off all of the great food before our next visitor!

Saturday morning came very early, as I took Lisa M. to the Grantham Train Station at 5:40 am.  It was early, but gave her the most time in her next location – Paris!  She had a few more hours of trains, but then able to see the sights and sounds of Paris for a couple days before going back to London and flying home on Tuesday.  She emailed us to say that she arrived safely.  We hope she has a great time and enjoys the pastries, fruit tarts, etc. that Paris has to offer!  Lisa – thanks again for visiting us and leaving us the mince pies (they were devoured this morning)!  See you in January!

The girls have been busy with school and growing the friendships they have started here.  One important activity last week was preparing our shoeboxes and gifts for the Samaritan’s Purse International Relief program.  Each girl filled a wrapped shoebox (thanks for wrapping them Lisa my lovely wife!) with toys, ponytail holders, sweets, and toothbrushes.

Yesterday was a play day for the bigger girls.  Hannah spent most of the day with her best friend, Tilly, and her parents.  At the same time, one of Olivia’s best friends, Lauren, came over a few hours.  Alice had the pleasure of shopping with me in the streets of Melton.  Now it is time to get our homework done and prepare for another week.  Some of my students will be visiting on Wednesday (and will be here for 10 days) and Aunt Sara will be arriving next Saturday.

Halloween in Waltham

Halloween isn’t quite as commercialized here as it is in the States, but according to our new friends the marketers are working at it.  Kids don’t walk every street knocking on every door either.  Here in Waltham, if there’s a pumpkin in the window it means you are open for visitors.  Either that, or some of the mums will call around to their friends to make plans to stop by.

Olivia and Hannah were invited to a party by their friends who are in the Brownies – part of Girlguiding UK, similar to the Girl Scouts in the US.  We walked them down to Tilly’s house so they could all go together.  Then Kelly and I got a treat!  We were invited to stay and have a glass of wine with Tilly’s mom and dad.  It was a lot of fun telling stories and comparing parenting woes.  I still can’t wrap my head around how lucky we’ve been to be dropped in this place so far from home, but to still be welcomed with such kindness.  It’s been really wonderful.

Olivia’s always a good sport when it comes to scary costumes and this year was no exception.  She decided to be a zombie so we bought a white tee at ASDA (the UK’s Walmart) for £4.  I’ll admit it…I rather enjoyed ripping up a perfectly good shirt.  Olivia wasn’t so sure at first.  She wondered about the person who spent time making this shirt with the intention of someone wearing it.  She wondered if it would make them feel bad if they knew what we were doing to it.  It took a bit, but she got past that feeling and then enjoyed using colored pencil and water to make her torn shirt look good and bloody.

After hanging out in the ASDA Halloween isle for longer then Kelly would have liked, Hannah decided to be a pirate.  She got the wig and a new shirt that she promised to wear again.  Of course no costumes were complete without some weapons – I again enjoyed my crafty side as I made knives and hatchets out of an old show box and some tin foil.