I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Off-Topic => Off-Topic: Talk about anything you want. => Topic started by: cariad on July 04, 2012, 08:59:26 PM
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OK! The questions that are foremost in my mind right now are about the kids' schooling. I want them to stick with the languages. Our Bristol friend claims I won't find anything like the immersion programs we have here in the UK, but I have read about specialist schools that concentrate on one topic and begin in secondary school? Does anyone know about these? I remember seeing that they even had them with sports as the specialty, and if this is so I must keep this secret from Aidan forever. It will be like the time Gwyn discovered that Germany hands out university degrees in brewing.
Is anti-American sentiment strong at the moment? Boys are actually as British as they are American, even speak a British language, but I don't want them to be bullied over their uncultured mother. I don't give a rip what people think of America when it comes to me, I am used to it.
I chatted with Barnes and Noble today and can charge and use my Nook there, so no need for that question. Need to contact Apple about our iPhones. Oh, internet! Are you still on some barbaric pay-per-use system? All internet here that I know of is one monthly fee for unlimited usage. We were warned that Australia is still on pay-as-you-go internet.
By the way, with getting a decent salary and all our healthcare covered, I say go ahead and tax the living daylights out of us, Britain. We welcome it!
Oh, I have dental questions - is there dental insurance there? Kids may need braces one day. I don't play when it comes to dental problems. Actually, our other Bristol friend (the wife of the couple) is a dental hygienist, so suppose she'd know loads about that.
I will be back with much, much more.
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Australia is not THAT backward. We have monthly payments for internet, too. I don't get unlimited because I don't use that much. I don't even use my monthly allowance.
I'm looking forward to the story of your move and wish you all the best.
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Hi when are you moving?
My husband Is a secondary school teacher as Far as i'm aware its only secondary schools that have specialisms not primary will ask him more bout It Later.
I haven't heard any anti Americanism I live in Bournemouth & am currently in Plymouth Where i was born.
No not on pay per use internet we pay monthly. We have sky tv So have a package that covers tv phone & net. my parents have a BT one that covers phone & net per mth.
Don't have dental insvrance, try to register With an NHS dentist Its cheaper. Children have Free dental care up to age 18 I had braces all free.
hope this helps!
Marie x
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Poor Cariad darling - you say England and then Australia - there's just a short distance between the two places - just ask Black Caviar !!!
I'd missed the news that you were moving - back to UK I presume?! if so.. CONGRATS if you can all be together and doing awesome!!!!
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All of the above, but steer clear of NHS dentists, go private if you can. NHS is OK but you seem to get better looked after private. Kids who need braces and my grand children have them are sent from private to NHS for this. This is through experience. Are you looking forward to our weather?
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OK! The questions that are foremost in my mind right now are about the kids' schooling. I want them to stick with the languages. Our Bristol friend claims I won't find anything like the immersion programs we have here in the UK, but I have read about specialist schools that concentrate on one topic and begin in secondary school? Does anyone know about these? I remember seeing that they even had them with sports as the specialty, and if this is so I must keep this secret from Aidan forever. It will be like the time Gwyn discovered that Germany hands out university degrees in brewing.
Secondary schools tend to be specialist schools these days (or not even 'schools' now ... they're all becoming 'academies' [both primary and secondary] which is the governments way of privatising education). The school in my town is a humanities specialist, but you can get sports, languages, science, performing arts etc. Now that schools are tending to become academies I'm not sure how the specialist status still works and I suspect it certainly isn't what you think it is. Lainiepop's hubby will be more informed; it's eight years since I worked in mainstream education, but I get the impression that a school is a school and you get the same rounded education regardless of where the most money is thrown. With regards applying to schools I don't know how it works these days. In my day you just went to the catchment area school and I think this is mostly what happens now. Savvy parents will move to the area (or just rent a house in the area so the school think they live there) of the school of their choice.
Is anti-American sentiment strong at the moment? Boys are actually as British as they are American, even speak a British language, but I don't want them to be bullied over their uncultured mother. I don't give a rip what people think of America when it comes to me, I am used to it.
Not at the moment, no. The current trend is anti-Polish/Lithuanian, but people are getting bored of that now. Not sure who will be victimised next, but I think it will be a while before we turn our attention back to you! ;D
I chatted with Barnes and Noble today and can charge and use my Nook there, so no need for that question. Need to contact Apple about our iPhones. Oh, internet! Are you still on some barbaric pay-per-use system? All internet here that I know of is one monthly fee for unlimited usage. We were warned that Australia is still on pay-as-you-go internet.
How backward do you think we are?! We have fibre-optic super-speed broadband here thankyouverymuch, and for a very reasonable monthly price with free (landline) evening and weekend calls; you'll just need to shop around for the best deal for you but DO NOT go with TalkTalk! We even have iEverything and Apple stores.
By the way, with getting a decent salary and all our healthcare covered, I say go ahead and tax the living daylights out of us, Britain. We welcome it!
Yep, anyone who says the NHS is free is a little silly. We all pay our National Insurance to cover it. Oh, but I don't, and I don't get taxed either, because I don't earn enough. *sigh*
Oh, I have dental questions - is there dental insurance there? Kids may need braces one day. I don't play when it comes to dental problems. Actually, our other Bristol friend (the wife of the couple) is a dental hygienist, so suppose she'd know loads about that.
Children are covered under the NHS for dentistry until the age of 19 (if they stay in full-time education). They also get free prescriptions for all their meds. If you can find a decent dentist you should be fine with the NHS for the children, but you can go private/get insurance.
I will be back with much, much more.
Look forward to it!
;D
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Oh, and Pip pip?!! Really?! The cool kids are all tally ho-ing these days.
;D
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All right, all right, settle down, Brits and Aussies! ;)
I researched moving to Australia late last year and pretty much the first thing mentioned in every discussion I found was "you'll pay a lot more for internet than you're used to and it is not a flat rate." Yes, the latest discussion I could find via google was from 2008, so I'd hoped things had changed, but could not find the proof. Also, a few years ago here, the cellular providers tried to set data limits and switch back to only offering pay-per-use. There was much fist-shaking in AT&T's direction. At the time, I was still happily mobile-internet-free so didn't care and remember laughing at all the iPhone users. Then my parents, perhaps Steve Jobs' most adamant supporters, bought us both iPhones and put us on their plan (because there would be no way on earth that I would purchase such a plan for myself.) Anyhow, it all adds up to a non-tech-savvy person (me) not really paying attention to what is going on around here, let alone in foreign lands. No offense meant, my dears!
Secondary schools tend to be specialist schools these days (or not even 'schools' now ... they're all becoming 'academies' [both primary and secondary] which is the governments way of privatising education). The school in my town is a humanities specialist, but you can get sports, languages, science, performing arts etc. Now that schools are tending to become academies I'm not sure how the specialist status still works and I suspect it certainly isn't what you think it is. Lainiepop's hubby will be more informed; it's eight years since I worked in mainstream education, but I get the impression that a school is a school and you get the same rounded education regardless of where the most money is thrown. With regards applying to schools I don't know how it works these days. In my day you just went to the catchment area school and I think this is mostly what happens now. Savvy parents will move to the area (or just rent a house in the area so the school think they live there) of the school of their choice.
Ah yes, I get fliers through the mail all the time about the various 'academies' round here. I always thought that was just pretentiousness. I went to a bona fide academy so I am a bit particular about the meaning ascribed to that word.
So, I guess I'm confused now. Wikipedia said that specialist schools were akin to magnet schools. Sport would never ever qualify as a subject to 'magnetize', but most definitely a magnet school is considered superior education across much of the country and these schools will have a theme or focus on a single subject, but of course also your standard subjects. My boys did not attend a magnet school, though, but the school has their mission statement posted in the front office and they take it very serously. I've been telling Aidan that his Spanish will save him from a crap education because at his age they will always have room for a semi-fluent child. He leaves a grade 5 spot open when we leave and the school will never be able to fill it. Yes, we have the postcode pressure here, too. We were told that even with Spanish immersion in SoCal we should do our best to live in a certain zip to increase our odds. As a fallback, Gwyn is getting a month-to-month in the proper area, just to claim residency there before September 1. Public schools are so dire and scary in Milwaukee that people use friends' addresses to get their kids into the last few decent schools standing.
Also surprised at the dental news. Gee, I don't know how to say this without causing another uproar, but the famously awful British teeth have been blamed on lack of coverage for procedures considered cosmetic, like braces. My god, this will save us thousands if the boys need braces. Actually, between the two of us, Gwyn is the one who got the good teeth naturally and I am the one who needed years of traumatizing intervention. Doesn't anyone remember the Simpsons episode where Homer fights for a dental plan because he knows Lisa is going to need braces? The dentist scares them into it by bringing out 'The Big Book of British Smiles'. (*ducks* Hey, take your complaints up with Matt Groening!)
We would be getting private insurance through his work, which Gwyn never had in Britain, but his brother does. I guess this would cover dental? Here, dental is a separate benefit, as are eyes, as is anything else that the insurance company decides to slip into the policy as not-covered. It will take me time to adjust to the idea that life really can be this simple. What will I do with my time not spent on the phone being sent from the billing office to Medicare to private insurance to HR at Gwyn's job and inevitably back to the billing office?
Does anyone know of a website like greatschools.org for Britain? A site that provides assessments for every school in the country?
Thanks! Hasta luego!
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Cariad, I have a question for you. I'm drawing on my own experience which is quite different from yours, I recognize, but these sorts of things interest me. I am interested in how you think you will feel having children who will grow up in a culture that is different from your own.
My son was born in the UK, but I brought him often to the States to visit with my parents. We spent a LOT of money on airfare and a LOT of time on airplanes. He became quite bi-cultural which I found to be intensely interesting because, as you know, he's mildly autistic and I really didn't anticipate this flow between cultures. I didn't think all that much about teaching him about his American heritage as there were more important problems we were dealing with.
Once we started looking for schools, it hit me for the first time that my child was going to grow up very differently than I had and that there would be no real reference points that we would be sharing. Instead of pictures of the 50 US states adorning the classrooms, there were pictures of the Kings and Queens of England. He would not be learning about the Declaration of Independence or the Civil War (the American version); his grasp of history and culture would not resemble mine in the least. We all know that culture really is handed down by the mothers, and realizing that I would not have this particular link with my son made me quite sad. He would never sound like me nor know the things I grew up with. Sure, I could have taught him, but to what real purpose if his home was going to be in the UK, anyway?
I know your boys are older, so the situations are not the same, but how do you think you will feel some years from now when the boys' American roots have dissolved finally away forever? Do you think you might find that you are missing some link to them? I feel that way sometimes, especially now that my son is working to define who he is, and that definition most definitely does not include "American".
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Not at the moment, no. The current trend is anti-Polish/Lithuanian, but people are getting bored of that now. Not sure who will be victimised next, but I think it will be a while before we turn our attention back to you! ;D
I'm glad to hear this because when I lived there, anti-Americanism was in full voice. Even my British then-husband got embarrassed. It was particularly bad during the Louise Woodward case, the Ryder Cup and the Olympics. And the Brits really have a bee in their bonnet about us calling baseball's World Series the "World Series" because only the Yanks play it. Every damn year, they'd go on a tear about this.
I vividly remember watching a panel discussion on TV about how British comedy translates to other parts of the world...or not. Stephen Fry said, "Americans understand comedy only on a level of black and white," or some such thing.
When I was diagnosed with fsgs, my then husband went to our GP and asked if, on my next trip to visit the US, I should get a second opinion. The GP replied, "Well, Americans like to throw money at everything."
One weekend, we walked along the Thames in London and saw dolphins! It was amazing! The next day, a Monday, I was listening to Radio 5 Live like I did every day, and the talk show host said that he had heard reports of dophin sightings in the Thames and to please call in if you had actually seen them. So, I called in and did just that. The very next caller derisively talked about the previous "American tourist" (me, although I was no tourist) being stupid or something, and I thought, "Here we go again."
I could write a book on this topic, but I won't because I can feel my BP going up. I enjoyed my time in the UK intellectually and would love to go back. I was always treated politely but never warmly, and it was often made clear that I was different. After 20 years of it, I left. I never in my wildest dreams thought it would end that way. I wouldn't trade my life in England for anything in the world, but it has left scars. I hope you will find acceptance and warm welcomes wherever you go.
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Cariad, I have a question for you. I'm drawing on my own experience which is quite different from yours, I recognize, but these sorts of things interest me. I am interested in how you think you will feel having children who will grow up in a culture that is different from your own.
My son was born in the UK, but I brought him often to the States to visit with my parents. We spent a LOT of money on airfare and a LOT of time on airplanes. He became quite bi-cultural which I found to be intensely interesting because, as you know, he's mildly autistic and I really didn't anticipate this flow between cultures. I didn't think all that much about teaching him about his American heritage as there were more important problems we were dealing with.
Once we started looking for schools, it hit me for the first time that my child was going to grow up very differently than I had and that there would be no real reference points that we would be sharing. Instead of pictures of the 50 US states adorning the classrooms, there were pictures of the Kings and Queens of England. He would not be learning about the Declaration of Independence or the Civil War (the American version); his grasp of history and culture would not resemble mine in the least. We all know that culture really is handed down by the mothers, and realizing that I would not have this particular link with my son made me quite sad. He would never sound like me nor know the things I grew up with. Sure, I could have taught him, but to what real purpose if his home was going to be in the UK, anyway?
I know your boys are older, so the situations are not the same, but how do you think you will feel some years from now when the boys' American roots have dissolved finally away forever? Do you think you might find that you are missing some link to them? I feel that way sometimes, especially now that my son is working to define who he is, and that definition most definitely does not include "American".
Oh, dear MM, you've just asked an anthropologist a cultural question. Rookie mistake, sweetie. Let me clear my schedule.... (*swoosh*) :rofl; ;)
I don't feel I get the bulk of my identity from culture, really. I feel like my core really sits within political boundaries, social justice centered. Without offending anyone, I would compare it to being adopted or growing up gay with straight parents, I really was a loner and an outsider within my own family. I tell people (probably even said this to you once) that I never learned to be someone's child and I only learned to be a parent through my breathtakingly wise older son teaching me. I've always described Aidan as a "social genius". He can hold court with a room full of adults and charm the socks off them. I once had a teacher grab me when Aidan was five, after he had had his turn at being interviewed by his class, and she said "It was like a press conference!" People must think I exaggerate when it comes to Aidan, I say Meet him and then tell me. He is a worldly little soul, that one. How many kids can remember the day both their parents went under the knife? Liot is profoundly smart and tremendously outgoing, but it is nothing like Aidan. He does not have that social ease. Aidan's sense of humor is sophisticated whereas Liot still will double over laughing at bathroom humor. So I guess what I'm saying is that I don't share much with my parents - neither of them went through a life-altering illness early in life nor went to prep school nor married a Brit nor had parents who were not particularly interested in them.
It's a different culture for Gwyn, too. This is often underplayed, but trust me, I'm sure you've heard what the Celts say about the English to their faces, now just imagine what they're saying about them when they're not in the room, or when speaking a language they know perfectly well no one around them can understand. The thing of it is, though, that individually, Gwyn has many English friends that he adores. Their humor is much more sarcastic, and biting, and maybe it's just Gwyn's friends, but he can insult the royal family or rant about 'the bloody English' and they don't seem to take it personally. One of G's best friends is Scottish, married to an Englishwoman. When Gwyn and I lived over there, I made some remark about my accent and she said "Oh, no, I think mine is even more reviled" or similar and she really meant it. The Celts take it as an enormous insult to be mistaken for Anglo, it is like asking an Englishman if they are Australian.
And the Brits really have a bee in their bonnet about us calling baseball's World Series the "World Series" because only the Yanks play it.
Yes, I've heard the World Series speech before, and I ask them when exactly Canada became part of the US. I seem to remember the response being "Canada plays in it, too?" I interpret the World Series term thusly: if a country has a team that can beat the top MLB team, let them show themselves. We can only hold the 'world's best baseball players' title until someone challenges it and wins. In other words, I can play semantics games too, but I find them mostly boring. I like to answer people who go off on some obsessive, nitpicky point with "What would you like me to say?" and then wait expectantly for an answer. They don't have one. I came up against a man who had barely been outside Los Angeles and his thing was the word 'American' and how we shouldn't call ourselves American. On and on he went, day after day, until I finally asked him "Why are you so uptight about this?" and he said he was scolded in Canada for calling himself American. (He also bickered with me for saying our supervisor was from Holland, saying i should call it The Netherlands. By this time I was getting exasperated at being constantly dragged into these discussions and had to point out that she always said she was from Holland. End of discussion.)
My brother-in-law thinks Stephen Fry is a gianormous, self-important, Oscar Wilde wannabe bore, and I'd be inclined to agree with him except he just comes off as a sad old pouf now. He's mellowed with age, as we do.
I don't know, maybe people over there would find it insulting to watch The Daily Show rip apart Britain whenever they get the chance.
I am not worried about my kids relating to me. We are very insular, the four of us. We speak our own Welspanglish (Spawelglish? I'll work on it....) and when we're not in that mode, we speak in private jokes. I always felt welcomed among Gwyn's friends, people would want to know about America (or Ireland! I got mistaken for Irish constantly!) and walking around I had so many strangers offer to help me. One tried to make me take his umbrella in the rain, as in keep it. Everyone I met there seemed to want to talk to me, joke with me, I have hundreds of sweet memories. I met one American there married to a Brit, she had a new baby and just seemed so very sad. She asked me if I missed Detroit. :rofl; :rofl; :rofl; :rofl; :rofl; (Misunderstanding, I'd never been there at that point, but those words hardly made sense to me then and certainly don't now!) I am sorry it was painful for you, and as I am so much older and far less flirtatious than I once was, and have so many more real-world concerns, and feel so very beaten up by life at the moment that i imagine people will seem less enchanting to me, and I to them.
I've told the boys if they call me Mum or Mummy they will be disowned. That just sets my teeth on edge. Gwyn says mam, and so shall they.
Anyhow, I've told the boys that this will just be a new adventure, to treat it as a sabbatical. As soon as we sell the house, bam, we're off to Australia. (Perhaps....)
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Any idea yet where abouts in England?
I came here 17 yrs ago, and found it a 'green, and pleasant country'. Still do. NHS dentists can be as good, and as bad as private one, just ask people in the neighbourhood you will end up in. And I personally love TalkTalk as internet, national, and international calling is 'nearly' cheap as chips. And what's culture anyway?
I hope all goes well.
love Cas
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Are you looking forward to our weather?
:rofl; :rofl; :rofl; :rofl;
Any idea yet where abouts in England?
I came here 17 yrs ago, and found it a 'green, and pleasant country'. Still do. NHS dentists can be as good, and as bad as private one, just ask people in the neighbourhood you will end up in. And I personally love TalkTalk as internet, national, and international calling is 'nearly' cheap as chips. And what's culture anyway?
I hope all goes well.
love Cas
Aw, thanks, Cas. What a sweet (and concise) reply. Indeed, what is culture? Ask that question in an introductory college-level anthropology course and they should grant you a full professorship. :laugh:
We'll most likely be in the Midlands, though East or West is the question. It depends on if Gwyn wants to work on the choo-choos or the cars.
Thanks everyone. Must dash now - baseball. Go Rangers!
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Believe me, my question wasn't a "rookie mistake". I haven't read your posts for several years now and learned nothing about you! LOL!
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I could write a book on this topic, but I won't because I can feel my BP going up. I enjoyed my time in the UK intellectually and would love to go back. I was always treated politely but never warmly, and it was often made clear that I was different. After 20 years of it, I left. I never in my wildest dreams thought it would end that way. I wouldn't trade my life in England for anything in the world, but it has left scars.
I find that really sad and I'm sorry you were made to feel different. I'd like to think we've grown up a bit recently and are more warm and open to people from cultures different to ours. At the FE college I work in we have such a diverse range of students; British-born Muslims, Indian Christians, Polish, Lithuanians, Filipinos, Chinese, Norwegians, French, travellers/gypsies and your usual bunch of English kids (who do make up the majority). They learn so much from each other (without realising) and are very accepting of each other and their little non-English quirks! I think this generation will have less hang-ups about non-English folk ... but then, they've grown up in a world which is smaller and far different to the one I grew up in.
Of course there's always going to be people who will grumble about other nationalities/races/religions (whichever is the flavour of the day) but they're usually fueled by such monstrosities as The Daily Mail and I ignore everything that 'news'paper says.
;D
And I personally love TalkTalk as internet, national, and international calling is 'nearly' cheap as chips.
We've been with them for two years but are moving back to BT because they can provide a financially better package for us right now (with faster Internet and free landline calls) ... we've also found that they have incredibly poor customer service, but that's just our own experience.
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Believe me, my question wasn't a "rookie mistake". I haven't read your posts for several years now and learned nothing about you! LOL!
:rofl; :rofl; :rofl; :rofl; You've got me there!!!
MM, I've been thinking about your experience in England. It is so opposite to mine, I think it might have to do with being in London. Big cities tend to be much meaner than outlying areas. I have been to Paris and found some of the people were every bit the stereotypical arrogant, condescending louts that we hear about. One of my best American friends insists that if I had just left Paris, I would have found a world of delightful, welcoming French people. Gwyn corroborates.
I felt much more welcomed by Gwyn's friends in England than in America. I hated every second of Detroit, and this was due in large part to the hostility I felt from his friends there. They were so possessive of him, and here I was this intruder who had the nerve to marry him and expect that he would give more of his attentions to me and not them. They took it very, very poorly. We left as soon as we could. It had nothing to do with being American (about half his friends there were British, but the other half were mostly Americans) it had to do with trying to come into a group of established friends who insisted on doing that childish bullsh!t where you try to prove to the newcomer how much closer and more important you are to that person. This has been done to me several times in my life, in fact I would say that the only time it was not done to me was in England. Oh, and I seem to continually find myself in the company of people who cannot have children, and the worst of the worst of that lot lived in Detroit. When we returned to Detroit on a visit, they refused to see us because we had Aidan. I have said to Gwyn "She [for it was the wife who was the real problem] will never forgive you for having children without her permission." She was married to one of Gwyn's oldest, dearest English friends, and thankfully, they divorced shortly after that incident.
I wouldn't want to be a foreigner in America. I don't know how Gwyn stands it, to be honest. It's much worse now than when we moved back here. There is this hoard of people, as you are well aware, who look for any little excuse to delegitimise a person's right to live and work here.
Anyhow, I could spend all day at this because I do find it so fun to talk about, but I'll leave it for now.
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Back to questions about adapting to the English life. Turning my attention to food:
Do you have CSAs [community supported agriculture] there, and if so, what are they called? In case you don't recognize the term, this is when you buy a share of your local farm, and every week, month, whatever, they divide their harvest amongst their shareholders, giving everyone a selection of fruit/veg/herbs/honey/syrup and anything else. We had a share in a meat CSA as well, and that one is year round and included eggs - the best eggs I've ever tasted.
Also, I am vegetarian, and when we were there, Gwyn's best friend (also vegetarian) lived off Marmite and chips. I cannot do this. However, the winter produce was just awful, it was such a contrast to the summer when I would start to think that perhaps England did not deserve their rather unflattering culinary reputation. To illustrate, we went to Rhodes in the Square twice, first in summer (divine!), then in winter I had the exact same dish and found it so disappointing. I have heard reports that it has got much better over the past ten years, but has it? I am assuming that most areas have their open markets and little co-ops and other off-the-beaten-path sources of food? I really prefer to buy my food as close to the source as possible. (And yes, I know this makes me sound like some insufferable snob, but over here, they are always trying to slip new chemicals into food. Now that high-fructose corn syrup has been scorned by the nation and is appearing in fewer and fewer foods, I noticed that high-maltose corn syrup has been appearing on the scene, even foods produced by once-trustworthy brands.)
Oh, and if you only watch television on your computer screen, do you still have to pay television license? That's not food related, but it just popped into my head.
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Sorry Can't answer your food Qs but as Far as i'm aware yes you Still have to pay for a tv License if you watch on Computer I Looked into this when I went to uni & that Was the Case, mind you that was 12 yrs ago :)
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Well Heck!
Okay, so I fell out of your bedroom window and smashed the flowers when someone knocked at the front door; is that a reason to cut out for Jolly Ole England? Without a note? Was I that bad? It was good for me!
Gerald
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cariad, trust me you will be fine when when you come and live in England. You must have lots of misgivings but aye give us a chance. Different cities, different towns, we all have our own quirkiness. just blend in like every one else that comes to live here. You might find you enjoy it.
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And there you go. Never heard of CSA's but find it a brilliant idea, and am surely going to suggest it at the next Parish council meeting........ We do have Farmshops though who sell veggies, and all agri produce for a reasonable price, 'nearly straight from the ground'. I'm sure you will be pleasantly surprised by the food.
love Cas
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Sorry Can't answer your food Qs but as Far as i'm aware yes you Still have to pay for a tv License if you watch on Computer I Looked into this when I went to uni & that Was the Case, mind you that was 12 yrs ago :)
Wow, they don't miss a trick. And you were ahead of your time, Marie. Watching television over the internet 12 years ago? 12 years ago I was still on dial up and it was hit or miss (mostly miss) when it came to being able to watch video.
Well Heck!
Okay, so I fell out of your bedroom window and smashed the flowers when someone knocked at the front door; is that a reason to cut out for Jolly Ole England? Without a note? Was I that bad? It was good for me!
Gerald
Excuse me IHD, I need a private word with Gerald!
:secret; Shhhhh, what are you doing?! It's taken me years to convince these people that I'm leaving because the automotive industry has all but collapsed in the US!
cariad, trust me you will be fine when when you come and live in England. You must have lots of misgivings but aye give us a chance. Different cities, different towns, we all have our own quirkiness. just blend in like every one else that comes to live here. You might find you enjoy it.
Oh, billy, I have no doubt I will have a spectacular time in England. I am going into this with nothing but high expectations for brilliant times spent with lovely people. If I can just get the kids sorted with school and get them back into their sports, martial arts, and music, I really am not too worried about myself. I can manage with whatever's thrown my way.
And there you go. Never heard of CSA's but find it a brilliant idea, and am surely going to suggest it at the next Parish council meeting........ We do have Farmshops though who sell veggies, and all agri produce for a reasonable price, 'nearly straight from the ground'. I'm sure you will be pleasantly surprised by the food.
love Cas
Oh, wouldn't that be cool, introducing the CSA concept to England. Here is a link to the farm where we used to have a share: http://www.rareearthfarm.com/index.html (http://www.rareearthfarm.com/index.html)They get a volunteer shareholder to host a distribution site at their home (front porch or garage) , or our local co-op hosts for one farm. There are many different ways that this can work, but the concept at ours is simple: everyone signs up for the full season and shares equally in each crop. Others allow people to only buy specific weeks or buy different size shares for different size families. They also throw two parties each year out on the farm, so everyone has a chance to see where their food grows. We never made it to that farm, but I know they have a salsa-making party in late September and maybe a Halloween party in late October? Oh, and you can get a work share instead of a paid share. My friends had a work share with them and I believe he worked on that farm 4-8 hours a week to earn his share. I would have loved to get a work share, but we stopped our CSA before I was healthy enough to give it a try. The work shares are very popular, so you need to sign up early to have that option.
Gwyn is on his way. Wave at him as he flies by tomorrow morning! :waving;
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I'll be waiving
:cheer:
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You need a telly licence if you're watching or recording 'live' telly shows, whether it be on the computer, on the telly, on your phone or via a games console.
You might find this site useful ... lots of info on lots of things: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/
Also, I was looking for something and found this, which made me think of you. I don't actually agree with league tables, but you might find it useful, although I expect you've stumbled upon it already: http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance/
;D
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Well, now I've learned something new. TV licenses. Speaking as an American, that has got to be one of the stranger uses of tax payer money I've heard of - an entire squad of people who make a living determining if you watch tv or not! ;D
American tax money does fund some public TV and radio - PBS and NPR - but they just take the funds out of general taxes. I don't expect that to last much longer if the Republicans get back in office, though.
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Oh dear Jbeany, its called 'creating employment'
Come to think of it,,,never saw a vacancy for that really.
Must look into that tomorrow.
love Cas
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Oh, how I used to rail against the TV license! That seemed to be the most bizarre thing to me, but like everything else, I just got used to it and now mourn the days of no commercials on the major networks. But then Sky appeared, and suddenly we had to pay both the TV license AND fees for cable.
Rupert Murdoch changed the media landscape in Britain forever. It really was because of him and Sky that the Premiere League was created.
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Doesn't anyone else in America remember Ma Bell knocking on the door to count your phones? I guess there was some sort of per-phone fee? I have a vague memory of my parents hearing the door and scurrying round frantically whispering 'hide the phones, hide the phones!!!'
I am fine with paying a television license. We won't be getting cable and it's only something like 300 quid a year, right? I think they should just tack it on to everyone's taxes and stop spending more money than they can stand to gain by hunting for freeloaders. You don't get excused from paying for schools just because you don't have kids, so why worry about giving a small break to people who shun television. But I suspect you're onto something there with the creating jobs comment, Cas.
OK, this is probably my greatest concern, and it's a general opinion question so may not be easy to answer. How have you or your friends/neighbours/acquaintances been affected by the austerity measures? Do you feel a real difference from it in your daily lives? Are services more difficult to access? Have they slashed school funding?
As an example, here is how Scott Walker's measures have affected my kids' schools: they lost SAGE funding, only to regain it in the eleventh hour. SAGE keeps the younger class sizes (grade 3 and below) at 15-18 max. Our librarian was supposed to be replaced by occasional volunteers, but la directoria pulled some magic out and found the money. She lost her AP (assistant principal) and we lost math and literacy aids who had years of positive results to show for their efforts. We lost our art teacher, so the individual teachers had to pick up that slack. Have not had music in ages, so I rang the Milwaukee Symphony and La Directoria listened to my information and managed to enroll the school in their community program. We lost physical education, but the PTA held a fundraiser for a program called PlayWorks that trains young people (Aidan was one) to be coaches, and they have an anti-bullying theme. In short, the school had too many kids in the older grades and no support staff, so the parents and administrators had to be creative and collaborate in order to piece together what they could. It's not as good as having an art or PE teacher, or math/literacy coaches, but I feel like my kids still got a decent (not brilliant) education. Then we pay for the afterschool program, and that is nothing short of superb, but is not really meant to be academic.
So, that is the sort of information I would love to hear - anyone with personal experiences in how austerity has changed schools, the NHS, or any other service/program that you might access there (and we will probably need one day).
Also, still would love to hear any further information about specialist schools for foreign language.
Thanks everyone. Gwyn made it and meets with his (presumptive) new employers in a matter of hours.
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You need a telly licence if you're watching or recording 'live' telly shows, whether it be on the computer, on the telly, on your phone or via a games console.
You might find this site useful ... lots of info on lots of things: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/
Also, I was looking for something and found this, which made me think of you. I don't actually agree with league tables, but you might find it useful, although I expect you've stumbled upon it already: http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance/
;D
Yay, thanks for the links, Poppy! The schools one was exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. Now if I can only find a site where parents review the schools as, like you, I think there's only so much one can learn from test scores and other stats. On greatschools.org, if the parent reviews aren't almost all 5 stars, I keep looking no matter how high the school is ranked academically. I imagine I can find parents writing their thoughts about schools if I just google individual school names. Otherwise, I'll ask the school administration to connect me with established parents once we're over there.
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I don't have kids, but when I did my workplacement for my Modern Language Teacher in some schools, I found them all below my Dutch language classes experiences, and very different per school. But still was impressed with the enthusiasm from the kids themselves. Most schools offered Spanish, German, and French. Think I also saw some offering Chinese. This was more than 10 yrs ago though.
TV license is £145 a yr at the moment.
I personally haven't noticed anything from the austerity measures here. I do know that my consultants in the NHS had to sign up to a knew contract though. They weren't happy about that, but I know they are still very well paid.
I have to prepare my 'I want to have Nxstage home hemo now' packet for my appointment Wednesday, otherwise I would Google some 'parent opinions about their schools' sites. I'm sure there's quite some around, as some parents are really involved.
Good luck with your preparations for your journey Cariad.
lots of love Cas
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TV license is 145 quid? Has it dropped, I thought it was over 200 pounds more than 10 years ago when we were there. Oh, British people. Our cable bills have all sorts of nonsense fees like Universal Something Charge - 12 pound per month seems entirely reasonable. OK, I'll shut up....
I am hoping to find an immersion program, a school that will be similar to what we are leaving, in that they will teach history, science, maths in Spanish. I find that the hour a day of going over grammar and having kids engage in mock discussions that I had does not really lead to true fluency. However, I'll take what I can get and look into tutoring. I think Aidan is overwhelmed with his 3 languages, Liot claims he wants to learn *all* languages, but he is also a kid who will say he speaks 'a bit' of French because he can say 'Bonjour'. I'd like them to learn Chinese or Arabic, might be a tough sell, though. French would be great, too, because I know enough to be able to help so long as I take a bit of time to refresh.
Oh! I just realised, I can take Welsh! Even if I have to drive over the border, but I would hope that England would offer the Celtic languages. (I'd also hope that America would offer some American Indian languages, but I've never seen it.)
Walker's policies have not affected us that much, but then we're middle class. (There are so few of us left!) If a person were to ask me if he/she should move to Wisconsin, I would advise against it though, especially if that person is a teacher. Our friend is a special needs teacher and he says that they now have the students grading the teachers via surveys and this affects their school record. Special needs or not, I don't think children should be given this power. How can a teacher do a proper job if any sort of discipline or challenges to the students can come back to hurt them in the end? It's idiocy. I had massive problems with my younger son's teacher, I could have lodged a formal complaint (when she did not escalate bullying reports) but I am an adult who has perspective on what matters and what is just holding a silly grudge. Anyhow, we have high property taxes and in return for that we are supposed to have some of the best schools in the country. Ha!
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Cariad, re austerity measures and how they affect people, you know my son still lives over there and is mildly autistic. He used to attend a special needs after school/evening club once a week. They'd play basketball or do all sorts of activities. The club lost funding for that, so he has lost that particular conduit for socializing which, for someone with autism, is critical.
He will also probably lose his DLA (disability living allowance). He has to reapply for that every few years so that his needs can be updated and reevaluated, so upon the current reevaluation, it is quite possible that he will lose it altogether.
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Cariad, re austerity measures and how they affect people, you know my son still lives over there and is mildly autistic. He used to attend a special needs after school/evening club once a week. They'd play basketball or do all sorts of activities. The club lost funding for that, so he has lost that particular conduit for socializing which, for someone with autism, is critical.
He will also probably lose his DLA (disability living allowance). He has to reapply for that every few years so that his needs can be updated and reevaluated, so upon the current reevaluation, it is quite possible that he will lose it altogether.
Oh, this makes me sad. My sons' afterschool is basically a social club for little kids, with some of the coolest adults you'd ever want to meet in charge. My kids get to go every day, and all day in summer, and they still hate it when I pick them up even 30 minutes early. I cannot imagine losing something so precious to them.
This reminds me of when the political group I was involved in had a letter writing campaign. We held a town hall meeting and had hundreds of attendees write letters about how Walker's school cuts affected them. We then divided all the names in the legislature among about 10 of us, and emailed them a few times a week, attaching these scanned letters as well. We were told not to bother translating the Spanish ones, but there was one that I just had to translate because I wanted to make sure that all of the reps on my list understood it. I just went back to remind myself what it said:
I have 3 kids in xxxxxx School and they want to take away the camp where they help them to do their homework and I, S-----, and my wife A----- don't have much school education and that's why I'm asking that you keep the camp. My kids are depending on you. [full name of daughter], [full name of son], [full name of daughter]. I am asking you, please, and may God bless you.
I remember I had to read the letter out to myself because he had written everything phonetically, the way he must pronounce it, and letters were missing or the wrong letters were used. To me, it just made it more poignant, but that's the difference between me and a politician.
I hope it all works out for your boy, MM.
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There's not much incentive to fund support for the disabled or the ill, no matter which country we live in, I suppose. It's a throwaway population. What I find interesting is that the Church of England often complains about how the nation is becoming more and more secular, while here in the US, personal religion interjects itself more and more into our political lives. Yet in both nations, the ill and the disabled and the poor are becoming more and more marginalized. The result seems to be the same whether you are guided by God or not. Maybe as a cultural anthropologist, you can shed some light onto why that is. ???
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Some of my guesses -
If you don't acknowledge it exists, it won't happen to you.
And there's always the Victorian belief that the poor and sick got what they deserved because they were being punished by God for their sins. That one still has legs, even if no one says it out loud anymore.
Here in America, there's the You should just get a job attitude that comes from generations of immigrants who left behind everything they know so they could come get a job.
The Republican election year theory that taxpayers shouldn't have to fund things because it ought to be "neighbor helping neighbor" cracks me up. After all, the ones saying it never have any neighbors who need help. The minute they do need help - they have to move to a cheaper neighborhood!
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Yeah, like neighbors can pay for dialysis care and all the paraphernalia that comes with it. I'm from the UK and live in the South where everyone troops to church each Sunday and seem to me be predominantly Republican. I always wonder where the neighbor helping neighbor goes when healthcare is mentioned and the help needs to come,out of someone's pocket. I am always surprised about the crap that is publicized by Republicans about the UK healthcare system, much of it factually incorrect. What they fail to mention when they are knocking our healthcare system, that it is also possible to purchase private health insurance if you don't like the wait on the NHS (not that everyone can afford it just as not everyone can afford I durance over here). Mind you private health care is very restrictive in what it will cover, and for any serious health condition, the NHS still does a pretty good. I never noticed any difference in care when it comes to ESRD.
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Amanda, when I lived in the UK, we had BUPA through my then-husband's employer. It was good for acute illnesses and accidents but wasn't really set up to deal with chronic conditions. But that was 10 years ago. Things might have changed.
I was in an NHS hospital for 6 weeks during my pregnancy and through delivery. I got great care, but the hospital wasn't fancy. I walked out of that place without being issued a single bill. That still amazes me.
Can you imagine having to rely on "your community" or your church to pay for your dialysis? Not gonna happen. I don't think any amount of fundraisers is going to pay for five years of dialysis. ::)
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When we first moved to Milwaukee, Gwyn had a job with a world-renowned company and benefits to rival Microsoft. I did not receive a single bill for having either one of my children and we paid no premiums, no co-pays, no co-insurance and had a zero dollar deductible. Then the company encountered financial difficulties (like all of automotive) and drove out many employees, including Gwyn. We were on their COBRA and so we continued to receive their employee literature about health care. They sent a glossy brochure out with the head of engineering on the cover, on a treadmill. Reading through the brochure, we learned that this company had found out that their benefits placed their healthcare plan within the top tier of American companies, and they stated outright that their goal was only to be in the top 50%. They were bringing premiums, deductibles, and all the rest to town, and this stupid brochure was, I guess, supposed to soften the blow. It softened the blow for us when we left their healthcare plan. In those intervening 5+ years, with each job change we pay higher premiums, higher co-pays, higher co-insurance, and higher deductibles - the indecipherable portion of insurance. (There always seems to be some moment in trying to follow all the math in this that an insurance agent will just hide behind the word 'deductible' and try to end the conversation.) We are now to the point where an ER visit costs $200, a co-pay for a GP costs $30, our family deductible is in the thousands, and UH has said it's in our plan that if Medicare pays more than what they would have paid as primary, then they don't pay anything. DO TELL ME HOW THAT MAKES SENSE, UNITED HEALTHCARE!!!!
We are leaving all this sh!te behind with no regrets.
When it comes to covering people who need healthcare, there is a prevailing attitude that I detect that if you really, really wanted to, you could get better. In my personal life I have not really encountered this, but I hear that insinuation constantly from the likes of Ron Paul. He made a statement that "Well, if you don't take care of yourself, then you're going to have to rely on your family and charities to help you." That man is a doctor, or as I think of it "doctor". He is a federal employee leeching off the system, by his own calculus. I think we taxpayers have a right to see his healthcare bills. After all, we're paying them.
I think the idea that people who get illness deserve it actually goes back to the beginning of human thought, the idea that there must be a reason for everything, and that the reason will support one's own worldview. Genesis says women deserve to be in pain when they are giving birth, and I am sure there are earlier examples of writings explaining why people suffer, and that it's fair and right that they do.
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I was in an NHS hospital for 6 weeks during my pregnancy and through delivery. I got great care, but the hospital wasn't fancy. I walked out of that place without being issued a single bill. That still amazes me.
Definitely not fancy. When we see shows set in American hospitals they're always beautifully maintained with bright colours and fancy flowers, but I never know if this is reality or for viewing pleasure. So the environment may not be classy and appealing (they do try sometimes though!) but the care is usually good to excellent, from professionals who want to do the best they can. I'm willing to never have to look at brightly coloured walls in the hospital if it means I never have to worry about getting a bill just because I stupidly had an accident or became chronically ill.
cariad, I worry that your children are going to be so disappointed with life in England after their amazing adventures with clubs in the US!
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The big, well-funded teaching hospitals tend to look as lovely as the ones on tv, with art work on display, and lots of plants and comfy resting areas. The little local hospitals - not so much!
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Poppy, I certainly didn't care about being in a fancy hospital. I was in hospital for six weeks, and for the first 4 weeks, I was in a small 3-bed ward for prenatal patients. I know this sounds weird, but that time gave me some of the most fun days of my life. Different women would come and go, and I witnessed some amazing stories and experiences. We seemed to have a slumber party every night. I got great care, and that's all I care about.
I used to volunteer at our local community hospital. They've recently built new patient rooms, and my God, they are spectacular. The hospital has a valet and a concierge service. There is a pianist in the main lobby. The nurses are award-winning, and the care I've received there has always been good. But the accoutrements are just sorta creepy to me. It just seems like the money for all of this could be better spent elsewhere. But the money for all of this does come from contributions and fundraising, so I guess it's OK. Still, I dunno...
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cariad, I worry that your children are going to be so disappointed with life in England after their amazing adventures with clubs in the US!
For them, it's the people more than the experiences. I am so glad that they got to go on all of these different excursions, but it would mean very little to them without their friends. I am hoping that we will find an extended care program and a summer program for them where they can forge these amazing bonds with other children. My older son taught me several of these dice games that he plays with his friends at the summer program. I keep dice in my handbag now because he says that he and his friends can play these games for hours and have a ball. Also, I think sports will be a key aspect of a smooth transition. Aidan has said he wants to move to the UK because "they take soccer seriously there". Liot wants to move to England because their uncle is a vet and I told them they could get a dog once we move overseas since we'll have cheap vet bills and won't have to put an animal through quarantine. (Must find a house to let that accepts dogs.) I am thinking Portuguese Water Dog (like the Obamas have). I met one in person and they seem really sweet and playful, don't shed, not overly large. Gwyn was thinking one of those Welsh dogs that herds sheep but I cannot remember what they are called, but we watched a competition with these dogs in Wales, and the dogs were all trained in the Welsh language.
I'd be lying if I said I'm not worried about the boys through all of this. Aidan is used to being Mr. Popularity, and I am not sure if his American humor will translate well. Liot, well, he can be so contrary and takes most things so personally, but we're working on that. He has never had a problem making friends, so I hope that will be no different in the UK.
None of this is official yet, but should be by Monday. Otherwise, I will start to be concerned.
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Costco UK - do they sell bedroom furniture and mattresses?
I make no secret of my undying love for Costco, so my father actually, of his own volition, went online and found that there is one in Birmingham! Woohoo! I went to their site and it appears that they are sticking to the original Costco/Price Club concept, that this is for business owners, however, the business owners that they claim they cater to include small hoteliers. The site only mentions 'office furniture' however.
We are trying to decide what is worth paying to ship over and what we want to sell here. I hope Costco start online ordering in the UK. I don't use the online service very often, but when I do they are superb.
Also, I think I've found a local school that looks wonderful for the boys, but it is not Spanish immersion. What I think we will probably do is rent in a postcode that has a top school and use that as a fallback should we be unable to find a specialist school that meets our needs/wants.
Amazon UK sells plasma cars! If we don't want to deal with shipping them - they are light, but bulky, we can get them over there for no more than the cost over here! Hurrah!
I think I will suggest to Gwyn that we get a new laptop, or maybe even two. Our latest laptop has a cracked screen and is now over 3 years old. Just checking briefly on Macbook prices, we could save 40% or more buying here with my student discount.
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The rain is really getting to me, but at least the sun has been making appearances and everything shimmers and seems hopeful again.
Aidan confided something in me - that even if we could do, he would not want us to get an exact replica of our house in Milwaukee built here because "that would be like living in Milwaukee and having all my friends move away and all new people move in."
We visited a school today. I sat in the car most of the time finishing American Pastoral which will now forever be seared in my memory as that book I was reading at the time of The Big Move. Anyhow, the kids played outside on the assault course while Gwyn talked to the headmaster whom Gwyn really liked. They have room and they think the boys won't be picked on for their American origins which is good because they both can give back pretty hard. I did not have that feeling of We are home that I am seeking, so the search continues. This was a school recommended by a letting agent in a village outside quite a large city. I did have that feeling while driving though another town, but then we got to the dodgy part of the city and it faded. I want to fall in love but then there's all that practical crap like can we afford it and will G be able to manage the commute. Sigh. I am terrible at settling for less than exactly what I want.
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Well surprise, surprise the sun is out, and its dry!!!! :bow; Cariad I still don't know where abouts you are, but if you need anything, or you think I can help, just let me know, and I mail you my phonenumbers etc.
Take care, and lots of love Cas
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Aw, Cas, how sweet of you to offer. We are in the Midlands. Things are slowly coming together for us but once things are more settled I would love to connect with you. I will shoot you a message once we are moved into a more permanent abode.
Speaking of, wasn't there to be some sort of UK IHD meet-up? Are we stalled on that?
The boys start school tomorrow at the most adorable place. :yahoo; :yahoo; :yahoo; First barrier cleared! The school is located in a medium-sized city and the headmistress said the children are really nice and used to new children as people often move in and out of the area. There will even be an American in Dylan's class. (Did I mention that Liot decided to go by his middle name because it's Welsh? We're still adjusting, but the school knows him as Dylan though they pronounce it all wrong and it makes him a little crazy.) There will even be an American boy in Dylan's class!
They also have extended hours there with different activities for the kids. PE twice a week!!! With a paid teacher!!! The highest years (Aidan's class) are going to learn rugby which is Gwyn's sport so Aidan can hardly wait. No Spanish, will have to have a long think about that. French instead which is OK I suppose. Music and art, also by paid professionals. It all makes America seem so backward.
We saw a property to let this morning and are going to put an offer in. Cute place, perfect location. We will hopefully be buying within a year.
I already have loads of advice for anyone else considering emigrating here. They have made it near impossible so truly, check with someone who's done it before you make the jump - you'll have less of a headache.
Yesterday the weather was beautiful and we decided to barbecue out under the stars. There was music, a fire pit, and great food which Gwyn prepared, including the most incredible potatoes. The boys were allowed to have Fantas and ice creams for dessert and I read a chapter of the children's novel we are enjoying as a family aloud by torchlight. The owners of this cottage could not be more welcoming and gracious and that has made matters so much easier.
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I'm glad to hear you are sounding so positive, and are getting 'settled'. I'll be waiting for your message.
Good luck for you and your family,
love Cas
NB I'll start looking for the 'get together' thread, now ;D
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Did I mention that Liot decided to go by his middle name because it's Welsh? We're still adjusting, but the school knows him as Dylan though they pronounce it all wrong and it makes him a little crazy.
How does anyone pronounce Dylan incorrectly?! Isn't there only one way of pronunciation?
They also have extended hours there with different activities for the kids. PE twice a week!!! With a paid teacher!!! The highest years (Aidan's class) are going to learn rugby which is Gwyn's sport so Aidan can hardly wait. No Spanish, will have to have a long think about that. French instead which is OK I suppose. Music and art, also by paid professionals. It all makes America seem so backward.
Just curious; is this a 'normal' public school (Local Authority/academy) or a private school, or even a new-fangled Free School? If the former then it makes many of the schools in the UK seem backward too ... ;D (... and obviously you don't have to answer; it's none of my business!)
The sun has come out just in time for the return to school ... huzzah!
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Did I mention that Liot decided to go by his middle name because it's Welsh? We're still adjusting, but the school knows him as Dylan though they pronounce it all wrong and it makes him a little crazy.
How does anyone pronounce Dylan incorrectly?! Isn't there only one way of pronunciation?
Yes, this was news to me when I first met Gwyn, too.
Anglo pronunciation: DILL-in
Welsh pronunciation: DULL-ahn
Go to Dylan Thomas' home in Laugharne and they will pronounce it this way. I don't know iif that is how Dylan Thomas actually pronounced it when he was alive, but the Welsh like to think it is and they are terribly possessive of their own.
The boys seem to have had a great first day at school. Don't think the attempt to get teachers and classmates to pronounce Dylan like a native speaker were successful, so Dyl will just have to decide for himself whether he wants to endlessly correct everyone or just accept it. I switch back and forth in my pronunciation and have asked him to please give them all a break.
As I was leaving the school this morning I heard "Where are you from?" I knew it was the other American from Michigan (which all the English teachers were pronouncing 'Mitch-i-gan' :)) I told her I had lived in Michigan too (did not mention how much I hated it) and we went to a cafe and talked a good long while. We have loads in common, down to her husband being offered a job at an electric car company in California - an offer they declined but since that was Gwyn's job in SoCal I knew exactly which company before she even said it. Her husband is British and they've had a nightmare of a time with this company sending him between England and America, so she was living alone two weeks out of every month for a while until the company sent her husband to England on an 8 week contract that has now been extended a full year. So her life is chaotic right now as well. They've also had some bad luck and she is too afraid to drive so she's a bit limited in where she can go on a daily basis, but she lives right around the corner from the school and is also minutes from a train station. She knows a few other Americans and says she wants to introduce me to them, so that should be helpful. I was trying to explain to her how to drive through a roundabout but I told her to ask Gwyn because he could explain the indication system best. I received my standing order prescription from Northwestern and the American mom told me that all I need to access the NHS is my passport but will need a proper visa to register with a GP.
I am a terrible driver here, but am feeling more confident every day. That might not be such a great thing, come to think of it, but there it is!
Thanks for the support you two!
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That's great that they liked school, it can be a huge hurdle if the don't!
I keep thinking of you, wondering what time it is - need to imagine what it's like - would love some photos!
Best wishes to you and the fam!
:waving; :-*
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Hiya, Karol! :waving;
It is 7:20 in the AM. Must go get ready and drag the boys out of bed. 8 hours ahead of CA, 6 hours ahead of Chicago.
Camara shy me, I'll have to see if there are any photos I could stand to post. It is supposed to be gorgeous this weekend and I would like to take the boys on a little adventure - thinking Stonehenge but not sure if they would be interested. I'll at least post pics of them if we take any and cheap computer bought out of desperation at Costco cooperates. (Hope to return this machine before 90 day policy runs out.)
Poppy, I think it's just a regular state run school, but still learning the system and still confused about what they offer vs. other schools we saw or read about. They have an annoying tendency to tell me about programs then hint that those are only for low-income families. I don't have the ability to manage hints righht now - just tell me straight because my interpretation skills are miserable at present!
Must run! Ta!
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I knew it was the other American from Michigan (which all the English teachers were pronouncing 'Mitch-i-gan' :))
That must be a west country 'thing'. I don't know anybody over here in the east who pronounces it like that. I thought it was common knowledge that the ch was like that in Michelle rather than church ... it is isn't it? (Questioning myself now!)
Interesting about the Dylan pronunciation ... I shall be asking my nephews when I next see them, although because they live in South Wales most of the kids they know are actually English, like them! So, they'll be no help ...
Blokey says that you should treat a roundabout as you would a junction when entering it. I could never do roundabouts when I was learning (the fact I stalled on a big one on my virgin roundabout experience probably helped put me off driving). However, I know exactly how to use one, which is more than I can say for most drivers (but I can't explain it because I get my inside and outside lanes muddled up!)
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a roundabout is not quite like a junction. you only stop before the rou dab out if there are cars coming from the right. if the roundabout is clear, you should go. the who.e idea of a roundabout is to keep traffic moving.
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a roundabout is not quite like a junction. you only stop before the rou dab out if there are cars coming from the right. if the roundabout is clear, you should go. the who.e idea of a roundabout is to keep traffic moving.
Well yes, obviously. My understanding of him explaining it to me as thinking of it in junction terms is that you're going to turn left and just need to be sure nothing is coming from your right before you pull out onto the roundabout. Oddly, despite being a non-driver and being fully aware that if I did drive I would be appalling at using roundabouts, I have an uncanny knack of spotting a driver who won't be able to use the roundabout properly (in the wrong lane, indicating incorrectly, shoddy lane control) before we even hit the roundabout. It's like my special superhero power. ;D
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I trust no one at roundabouts, it's my American cynicism. It takes me forever to cross the road standing at the side of one of them because I am perpetually thinking Turning left, eh? Yeah, I just bet you are! How many pedestrians have you mowed down so far, you big, li... oh, they've exited. Huh! Repeat with car behind them. Once long ago Gwyn took me through what I believe is referred to as the Magic Roundabout - that roundabout encircled by other roundabouts. I don't remember a thing about it, save the terror.
Rode the bus today - I think I was grossly overcharged because I could not accurately describe where I wanted to get off. It was also ridiculously late and I wish I had just walked. Oh well, I'll get the hang of it.
Everything in Britain seems a bit harder than America. It's like Los Angeles times one hundred, but I do believe this will all be worth it in the end, we just have to reach that stable place where we can start rebuilding everything that we've lost.
I have to get the boys haircuts today. I think I've found a place that is basic enough to not be too overpriced. Issues back in Milwaukee are massively stressing me out and I'm not sleeping well at night. Also, we have to find a school for Aidan for next year, and there's this 11+ exam that I am not sure he will do too well at given his very different academic background. My brother-in-law dropped by earlier in the week with his son who graduated from a comprehensive. He said there are potentially scholarships to independent schools but that his kids did not go to them and he did not either so therefore, my kids did not need to go to one. His son was sitting behind him the whole time shaking his head at me whenever his father claimed that his school was excellent. The teenager described it as 'rough'.
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This has got to be some sort of cosmic joke. Yesterday I was shaking my fist at the entire country. If you are one of those types who is hardwired to defend your homeland and the Queen, please don't torture yourself by reading any of this.
I cannot, CANNOT, make any sense of the school that my children attend. There are two entrances. One you have to be buzzed in to go through and the Scottish lass in control of the button is a stickler for rules. I walked two miles to get there and the back entrance where I was apparently supposed to go is just a little further away and requires walking up a winding garden path. I am far too knackered for this (was carrying a giant cooler bag of snacks for the boys). So she won't let me in, tells me I can wait on the chair there. (Wait for what? She never did tell me.) Finally, when two other parents were let in via a parent on the other side, I grabbed the door and ran for it. >:D >:D >:D OOOOO, aren't I just so naughty? I went in the front door of my children's school!!! And it wasn't even go-in-the-front-door time! *giggle giggle giggle* (While I was sitting there I am reading numerous posters syaing how much they welcome visitors. Oh, please.) I asked to check in on my kids on the first day and the receptionist (who is normally very nice, this must be her ISSUE or something) said no. Listen, I know it's a different country, but schools that lack an open-door policy give me the creeps. I had to be buzzed through for every school I've ever sent my kids to, I think it's some sort of federal mandate, but to refuse to let you in at any time is liable to spark another McMartin (google it. It ruined innocent lives and created mass paranoia and wasted about a billion years of the court's time and resources.) I am not OK with this but I am not sure what to do.
So, I collect my children and Dyl forgets his backpack. Of course he does! Because I only said 'go get your backpack' once when clearly, if I had been serious about this request, I would have been willing to say it no less than five times.
I don't notice he is without his backpack until we have walked up a hill and are in the town square by the barber shop. Aidan offers to go back and get the backpack but it requires crossing a busy street and I tell him he's too young. I should have just said go for it, but he doesn't know this town yet and I was worried I would cause a bigger problem for myself when he could not find us again. The school has an afterschool program, so we go to the barber shop. This is the only thing that goes somewhat according to plan. They can see the boys immediately and the barber is really nice and consults with me often about what I want for the boys. The cuts only cost £9 each! I told Gwyn I would phone him from there and I do but he is not picking up. He is our ride, plus he needs a haircut himself. Finally I get through to him and he says he is in a meeting with his boss and his boss's boss. OMG! Why did you not pick up the first time to tell me this? I probably phoned a half dozen times, thinking there was something wrong with the phone or Gwyn had brilliantly lost his phone or broke it or whatever that man manages to do to derail the plans we make. While we're in there, the barber gets all of these walk-ins and phone-ins so Gwyn can't get a haircut anyway. We arrange to meet at the school where I intend on getting Dyl's bag. We go to the front door but no one is there to buzz us through. Finally, the custodian comes over looking like I have just woken him at 3AM and demanded entrance to his home. No idea why he considered it such an affront to civilization that I needed access to the school and I frankly do not care. DON'T WORK AT A SCHOOL IF YOU DO NOT LIKE DEALING WITH ISSUES THAT COME UP AT A SCHOOL. Sh!te, life doesn't need to be this stupid.
We get home and the owner of the home we are renting for a week is in the garage doing his laundry. Except, whoa, wait just a moment, I left laundry in there because this is part of what we are paying for, the use of this house. He took my laundry out. I had not started the laundry because I could not find our bleach alternative, but people, is this disturbing or what? It turns out their washing machine broke down in the middle of a cycle, so he just decided to finish off his laundry there. Without asking us. Without thinking maybe he should just wait until he can at least warn us of his intentions. He and Gwyn are in the garage discussing business things and I am with them trying to keep my mind from obsessing over him touching our dirty laundry. WHAT SORT OF COUNTRY IS THIS? Thankfully, Gwyn thinks it's odd, too. If the man weren't so nice and apparently so completely unaware of how inappropriate this was, I would have considered calling the cops.
Then we go inside and Gwyn says "hopefully I forgot to take my wallet to work today." Huh? This is his not-at-all-charming way of telling me that he could not find his wallet at work. He also could not find it in the house. He returns to work to look for it. He comes back after wasting a half hour in traffic saying that he could not get back into work. Oh, I am so not amused but have lost the ability to care. Without his wallet which contains our only British bank card that we only just managed to get after hacking through red tape for weeks, we cannot get me a mobile and I will continue to spend who-knows-how-long cut off from society.
Oh, and the owner of the house, he has some students who want to possibly rent this place and apparently they want to look at it today. He did ask us first, but this is again not exactly cool as this should be no different from a hotel room. I was going to leave the house while they were looking through it but I've decided no, I want to make sure they don't go through the drawers or closets so I am staying right here. This had better be quick.
Massive issues out of Milwaukee, too. Exacerbated by not having a phone since I could deal with many of them with a phone that makes international calls. Still not sleeping.
Oh, just about to post and see that Gwyn texted me (this phones are so old it is a major production to do this.) He found his wallet in the conference room at work. Relief.
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Oops, I can feel the stress, just reading this. Sorry honey, I hope you have something to wind you down, cos I do need a Diazepam now. Yes, I would just stay there while students are in your house, and yes probably the 'landlord' is a bit.....weird to say the least. Where are you staying after the week?
Forgot to ask, how did you get on with your temporary visa exchange? :oops;
lots of strength, and love Cas
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Oh oh again, sorry hon, only just read your adventures concerning your visa, sorry for asking, good luck with that one too.
love Cas
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Oh Cas, my dear, you are so sweet! Thanks for the support. As for winding down, I'd be lost without my nightly glass of vino.
Things are better, slowly coming around to normal. Only have my Nokia so cannot update much. G in Paris on business and I'm in the local dojo watching Aidan assisting the sensei and it's only his second class. He's brilliant at martial arts, hopes to have his adult black belt in 2 years. Dyl is a bit distracted and spacey but hoping these classes sort him out somewhat. A new friend has a visa loophole that i will try. She successfully got hers without having to return to Oz so I think it will work.
Won't have proper internet for weeks but will keep in touch. Love to all of you. xxoo
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:waving; Hi cariad!
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your landlord is breaking the law by entering the property. we had a renter default on the rent at our property that is rented out in the U K and were told that until we had taken him to court that we could not legally enter our own house.
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I hate this computer! Wrote an update and it decided to shut itself down before I could post.
Today I have to go visit the school where we will probably send Aidan next year. Next Friday we meet with the head of the independent lower school (private school - which I was promised people would call 'public school' here but no one does.) Aidan will apply to their secondary school but I can only see sending him there if he gets a full scholarship since the local academy is supposed to be excellent and charges no tuition. He has to take an intense exam in January to see if the private school will offer us anything.
Very sick yesterday. Better today, just tired. Need to register with the GP across the road but probably have to wait until Gwyn and I can walk over there together. Aidan made the rugby team that competes in a tournament today, so will be off to that. We are so over scheduled. At least we have internet and a car I am allowed to drive. I told Gwyn that we should demand (as politely as possible) that his company pay for my visa. They have not agreed to that yet, but they are paying to send me to a consult with an immigration solicitor.
My American friend is driving me bonkers. It's a whole, involved story but she clearly has a shopping addiction. She is hiding debt from her husband which will catch up with her sooner or later and they have lost all of their savings but she still bought hundreds (if not thousands) of pounds worth of art at a gallery. As she was leaving there telling me she would never buy anything from anywhere but a charity shop again, she started telling me how she would like to buy a vase from the gallery because it would remind her of France. ??? But you'd be buying it in England? Huh? And do you need a £200 reminder of your trip to France? Don't you have photos? I almost lost it when she tried to convince me she needed a laminated alphabet poster because her child does not know his alphabet yet. £3 on something you could draw with him at home and he'd probably learn more? Thankfully she did not buy it.
Other than that, we have so many amazing similarities in common and she's a lovely person, I just see myself feeling obligated to do an intervention and I really resent being put in this position. She buys a coffee and muffin from the cafe every day! And she tries to get me to accompany her. I go once in a while, but it's £2 for a tea that I could make myself for pennies. She spends nearly £5 a day on this. Gwyn says she's lonely and I'm sure that's it, but she makes friends very easily and seems to have no shortage of people around her.
OK, let's see if I can upload this pickie of my little Dyl engaging in his morning ritual.
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cariad, Are you settling down a bit more now? Are the boys OK at their schools?
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Hey, Billy! Thanks for asking - yeah things are much calmer now. Aidan has decided he likes rugby and wants to carry on. People have been so welcoming here. We get lots of questions about how we're liking the city and I can honestly say I love it here. Even the crap weather days are not getting me down so much.
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:sos; Is there a UK equivalent to urgent care? A walk-in facility that's a step down from A&E?
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not that I am aware of.
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Yes, they are called "Walk in NHS" We have three in Nottingham and I believe most cities have them. So if you can not get to see a GP and you really need to see a doctor "Walk in NHS, if really serious A&E. There is also a national number where you can speak to a nurse the number is 08456064647 it is called Health Direct. They put you on to a nurse who will advise you whether or not to seek medical attention. It is there 24/7. They will also tell you where your nearest Walk in is. Hope this helps.
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Some local hospitals also have a open GP centre.
Glad to hear you are settling in a bit.
love Cas
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Thanks, you two! I am now registered with my local GP and seem to be mostly improved - still spiking fevers every night and getting massive headaches, but bigger issues to attend to at the moment.
Gwyn and I had a looooong day yesterday. I was left feeling shaken. We have to find a school for Aidan next year. His current school is OK, but it does not go past his year and I think we could do better by Dyl as well.
Last week we toured an independent school and were not overly impressed. For the fees that they charge, I want to be blown away like I was back home by UWM's children's center.
The only reason we toured that school yesterday was because I found myself talking to an art gallery manager a few weeks back who sent both her boys there, and she talked about this school the way I've always talked about UWM. It's an all-boys school, not a format I've ever wanted for my kids who count girls amongst their best friends, but she addressed that concern and so many others.
So we toured it, really expecting to be willing to sacrifice whatever we needed to to afford it, as we always did with UWM. (We used to joke with them that if it were between food and sending the boys there, we would have to think a good long while before making that decision.)
The place was posh as you would expect. We spoke to the junior school headmaster who gave us the party line and answered a few questions. Then we saw the boys in class. Every time we walked through a door, all the little boys would stand up like mini soldiers until the headmaster told them they could be seated. We watched them work and I walked by a boy who was so frustrated with a math problem, I really wanted to sit down with him and go through it. There was only the one teacher (very nice person it seemed!) for a class of maybe 20 boys? After seeing 3 classrooms we walked through the schoolyard where the boys were taking their recess. It was all blacktop out there, no playground equipment, no grass, no greenery (this is a school that must own a dozen sport fields) and the kids were all throwing these tennis balls against a wall. There was one little boy with a stoop to his back that was standing all alone, and he just looked so lonely I wanted to cry. Where was the teacher engaging them in games and activities?
Then we toured the senior school with a guide who was about to graduate and go off to Very Impressive U or something. I've never had anyone quote quite so many test scores at me. Again, perfectly nice individual, but really had no ability to assess our sensibilities and tailor his remarks around what I wanted to hear - what is the social/emotional life like here. The facilities did not measure up to my high school which was rather a shock. Their chapel was gorgeous - fat lot of good that does for us atheists. When I asked about non-christian kids, the student's answer was pretty weak. (Basically, yeah, if you want to be ONE OF THOSE TYPES you could tell the school that you don't want your kids attending weekly chapel, but everyone else goes and all we do is sing a few hymns and listen to a little talk, and all the muslim and chinese kids go, so it can't be too offensive to other beliefs, and in closing, TRADITION.) Sigh. He really did not get us. I just wanted to know if they went to any effort to include other religions in campus life.
We were going to have both boys apply there. Instead, I wanted to lead a mission-impossible style rescue of the younger boys, with Gwyn distracting the adults and me herding the children to safety. What am I missing here? There just seemed to be no joy in there, no chance for them to just be silly, crazy little boys. And I felt an arrogance from them that I was afraid I would encounter. There is a fantastic-sounding state school for Dyl but I've been discouraged by people telling me that it's really, really hard to get a kid in there. I tour them Wednesday. Aidan has a place that he is excited about attending next year, but Dyl would have to stay where he is or go to one of the independent schools we saw and I don't like either of those options for him.
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If you want your boys to have the chance to be silly and crazy you're probably best off just sending them to the local comprehensive (academy/state school.) I get the impression that you maybe have lots more choice of where to send your children to school in the US? This is one of those cultural differences that you'll be experiencing ... *grin* ... In my (somewhat limited, obviously) experience, independent schools aren't *that* good, although the smaller class sizes and longer holidays are a benefit.
Your friend spending oodles of money in the cafe everyday isn't unusual; in EastEnders they're always drinking/eating in the caf, even when they're moaning about the fact they have no money. You should watch it ... it's very educational, if you want to know what life is not really like in the UK!
Glad you're getting more settled.
;D
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I'm just catching up, Cariad.
And reading all of this makes me tired (again!) LOL.
You must have the energy of a hummingbird! You will get the school thing sorted out in time, I'm quite confident. It's good to hear what you are up to.
:grouphug;
Aleta
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I agree with Poppy. Our school system is completely different to America. Posh schools--You need lots of money. Academies There are different ones, some are sporty ones, some are science ones, my grand son goes to a sporty one. there are comprehensive ones which are all rounders. I know all parents want the best education for their children, but I think it is not just about the learning it is also about the camaraderie . Children need to also enjoy where they are. Our school system does not have a very good reputation but I think if children want to learn they will be encouraged to do so. I really think that you have to forget about the American system and ask your son what he really wants. just a thought.
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These comments are very helpful, thanks ladies.
Billy, I definitely always ask Aidan what he wants to do. When I told him that this school supposedly would expect a lot from him and require hours of work a night, he said he was willing to take that challenge. When I told him what we found upon visiting, he said that he wanted to go to the state school that plays football instead of rugby. I told Gwyn that this latest independent school is the type of place that churns out Mitt Romneys by the barrel and he agreed.
I think your comment, Poppy, that independent schools just aren't that good here has helped me make sense of all of this. The actual systems are not that different between England and America, but I think independent schools here have more in common with American military schools than private schools (not all of them, we saw one that was cute, just way overpriced). A friend of ours once listened to me confess that I entertained fantasies of Aidan attending Eton on scholarship, and he said "I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but they wouldn't have him. The purpose of Eton is to take the Prince Harrys of the country and do the best they can with them." Noted!
I have seen Eastenders in passing, I think, a good decade ago. It might have been Coronation Street. I would rather stare at a blank wall than watch a soap so it did not make much of an impression on me. My spendy friend is American, very, very much so. In America, there is a colloquialism called "the latte factor" which basically means all the crap you buy that you don't really need and are overpaying for. It is an American vice as well, and one of the primary reasons that the country is in such a mess - because people were told for years that they could have anything they wanted immediately. My favourite example of this nonsense is the old Citibank credit card slogan Live Richly. So sinister with its double meaning of 'live a life rich in experience and meaning' but also 'live as if you're rich when you're actually greatly in our debt'. Anyway, she has told me that she wants to rectify her situation and that her (English) husband has threatened her with divorce over her spending repeatedly, so I just find I get aggravated by the stupidity of it all. I think in general you Brits could teach Americans a great deal about managing money! I've always been quite impressed with how well Brits look after their financial affairs.
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I think your comment, Poppy, that independent schools just aren't that good here has helped me make sense of all of this. The actual systems are not that different between England and America, but I think independent schools here have more in common with American military schools than private schools (not all of them, we saw one that was cute, just way overpriced). A friend of ours once listened to me confess that I entertained fantasies of Aidan attending Eton on scholarship, and he said "I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but they wouldn't have him. The purpose of Eton is to take the Prince Harrys of the country and do the best they can with them." Noted!
I think that was what I was trying to say but couldn't find the words (I spent a while trying to write my response!); over here you're paying for the prestige of sending your child to a posh school, but any child who cares about his/her education will do well regardless of which school they're attending. As far as I'm concerned ten A* GCSE grades are worth far more when they come from Bog Standard Slightly Failing Comprehensive in Third Most Deprived Area of the UK (with an average class size of 32) than when they're achived by someone who has gone to an independent school.
Still, as billyb implies, the education system over here at the moment is a complete shambles ...
;D
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[
Bog Standard Slightly Failing Comprehensive in Third Most Deprived Area of the UK (with an average class size of 32)
;D
[/quote]
Poppy I loved this, my grandson goes to one of these along with thousands of others. What are we like. God help the country.
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Poppy I loved this, my grandson goes to one of these along with thousands of others. What are we like. God help the country.
Thank goodness for Eton and its ability to churn out Future Leaders, eh?! Where would we be without it?
;D
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Thanks for clarifying, Poppy. I think I took away from it that these schools are not (generally) going to make enough of a difference to justify the cost, unless the name is really important to you. It's not to us. We have no intention of pushing OxBridge on the boys unless there's a damn good reason for them to want to go to one of those schools. My husband did not go to either - those are not top level unis for his field anyway, so he did not even apply. Having the OxBridge acceptances quoted at us when it looks like my kids are interested in architecture and veterinary medicine just comes off as pointless, and somewhat antiquated, bragging. My kids are both phenomenal test-takers, but I want them to be more than that. They were born with that skill, which I also have, and that I always knew was a crap measure of intelligence.
Anyhow, I toured the local comprehensive for Dyl and all I can say after being led round the building and grounds by two of the most adorable and articulate year sixers in the country is Whatever it takes, Dyl must go there. They suggested I try to move him now because we are well outside the catchment and most parents will decline a mid-year move. It will be awkward explaining this to his current school, especially as we are leaving Aidan there, but never mind, Gwyn and I will handle it.
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Where is the difference between English comprehensive and American Middle school? my son is in sixth grade here in the U S and there are about 32 kids per class
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Huh! That's odd. I had originally planned on posting a few pics of Aidan at a rugby tournament he played for his school but the site told me that the files were too large so I reposted just the text but it appears to have decided to post one of the four photos I had planned to share.
Amanda, I think it's difficult to compare schools since both countries operate on the district level, so schools will vary greatly on a national level. There is always that one public school that everyone knows is the best in the area, and those that should really be shut down. In America, at least in the urban areas, you have the added stress of worrying that your child will be assaulted since violence is a much, much bigger problem there.
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It's half-term and Gwyn took the day off and we all went to the Monkey Forest in Stoke-on-Trent. 140 free-ranging Barbary macaques. We have the boys doing this 50 Things to Do Before You're 11 3/4 that the National Trust has brought out, and we counted today toward "Track a wild animal" (#34). As Aidan told the man when we bought our National Trust pass, "I'm already 10" and the man was great - he gasped and replied "Then you better run! You don't have a moment to lose!"
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We just purchased our big Christmas present to the boys: tickets to see Matilda in the West End New Year's Day. It's been receiving rave reviews, the set is an absolute stunner, and Tim Minchin wrote the score! It will be Dyl's first West End show and Aidan's second.
Of course, feel a little queasy over the £250 price tag (!!!!) but I'd much rather spend on this than more clutter for this overstuffed house.
We were going to see if we could go with our friends who are in town from America next week. Gwyn's conversation with the box office began like this; "Now don't laugh, but there are nine of us who'd like to see the show next Saturday...." She did go to the trouble of checking.
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I love the picture of Aiden! :2thumbsup;
And Matilda? WOW! Tim Minchin is one of my favorites. Saw him in DC in March right before I got ill.
That sounds like a lovely gift. :clap;
Aleta
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Thanks Aleta! I remember you saying you got to see him, at a rationalist event no less! How fun! I wish he were in the show, but I'm sure the songs will be brilliant.
We went trick or treating last night - to 3 houses, and only two of them had candy but we knew this would not be like America. We only knocked on doors on the way to our local castle for Halloween festivities. There were six boys in our group and five parents, and we brought candy of our own to give to the kids, as did another parent, so the kids were happy. The 3-year-old was so wiped out at the end and his father couldn't make it so when he fell asleep Gwyn and another dad took turns carrying him all the way home. Dyl went as Dracula and Aidan went as a skeleton - Gwyn and I wore silly hats to get in the spirit. I'll post a pic when I get the chance.
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I have some good news about my kids at least: Aidan is part of a choral group that is practicing every week to sing at the Royal Albert Hall next year. Dyl was too young by a year, but singing - music in general - is one of his true joys so we asked the vocal coach if Dyl could join and he said yes and so far it seems he is doing just wonderfully. He has not got into any trouble for not paying attention or talking or any of the usual behaviours that I see him get scolded for. Aidan auditioned for a solo last week and we will find out if he got it in the next week or two. I am so proud of him - singing is not Aidan's customary realm but he still accepted this challenge and did it. I told him that I don't really care if he gets it or not, it is just the bravery to try that I admire.
There will be 1500 kids performing the songs from a famous musical, and if you thought of the most perfect musical for English schoolchildren to sing - Oliver or The Sound of Music or similar - you would then only have to think of its polar opposite to come up with what these kids are singing. Go on, guess....
That's right, West Side Story.
You have not truly lived until you've heard Boy, boy, crazy boy, get cool boy, got a rocket in your pocket, keep cooly cool boy sung in a proper little English accent. It is something else.
I am so excited that I'll get to see both my boys singing on such a spectacularly renowned stage.
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How are things going now that it has turned into December?
I think of you often.
Aleta
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Things have been great even with the numerous challenges we still face, thanks for asking, Aleta. On a train to London to see Matilda tonight! Cannot wait!
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:beer1; Hope you had a great time! Happy New Year!
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:waving; We've seen Matilda!
We decided to spend the night in London after the show. We opted for our posh attire for the theatre which made it that much more fun, but we took public transport back and I walked down Convent Garden's 193 steps on the curly, endless staircase - in heels - and had no idea that it would mean I would barely be able to walk the next day. My legs feel like they can barely support my weight.
My capsule review: WOW!!!! This was 10 times the dazzle I was expecting. I really enjoyed it and Dyl was mesmerized. It was both more impressive and weaker than I thought it would be, but in all I would not have missed sharing this experience with Gwyn and the boys for the world.
I would have to give Tim Minchin and whoever wrote the script lower marks than the rest of the company. I wasn't disappointed, but I think I was expecting too much. I was not familiar with the story before seeing the show, so I don't know how closely they stuck to the original. Gwyn and I agreed that the tunes were very, very Tim Minchin and there is nothing wrong with that, it's just that musically his songs are a bit simple and tend to all sound similar after awhile. His lyrics on the other hand were almost universally superb. I detected one of his quirks, though, that annoys me a bit, but it was a very short portion of the play: he has a tendency to try to demystify and jab at anything that people find romantic, miraculous, or transcendent. I thought I was cynical, but after hearing the song he wrote about the mathematical impossibility of finding his one and only soulmate (not from the show, one of his earlier pieces) I realised I have a long way to go to match that level of cynicism. (Bizarrely, if I am not mistaken, he is now playing the title role in Jesus Christ Superstar. On our way down to the underground, I saw his face with unmistakable hair and eye make-up peering out from one of their posters. Is there an odder choice? Gwyn and I say no....)
The kids in the show - and there were easily a dozen of them - blew me away. They were polished, relentlessly professional and very talented, which I have found is not always the case, even on Broadway. It was quite breathtaking. The girl who played Matilda was jaw-droppingly focused and the boy who played Bruce had a sophisticated set of pipes on him.
The whole evening was a surprising, over-achieving spectacle from start to finish. Technically it was both complicated and flawless. The choreography was in a style that was brand new to me - both precisely synchronized and quite jagged, almost messy. It fit the tone of the show perfectly. Some of the more visually stunning moments involved amazing physicality from the actors - the villain spinning a girl by her braids and chucking her off into the audience, the kids dancing at the school gates as alphabet blocks are shoved through the irregularly sized gaps, which they then climbed upon in order to dance some more, and a number performed on (and with) swings that had the sweet and peaceful mood of the ballet.
The villain stole the show, as all great villains will. The message in the end was lovely - that kids are meant to be a bit naughty. I'd have to say that was my favourite song - the closing theme, reveling in being 'revolting children' and dancing like a pack of updated Johnny Rottens. (See for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTIvRSyFDQU These are different children but the number is identical.)
The whole theatre was geared toward children which I really appreciated. Inflatable booster seats were given out to all who wanted them. I asked the barmaid if anyone had spilled drinks inside the hall, or would my kids be the first, and she said "We spend our lives here cleaning up after children." It put me at ease. We let the boys have Glitter Berry J2Os whilst Gwyn and I opted for a beer and a wine. After the interval the ushers wore trays round their necks filled with slushies, so of course we had to buy two of those, plus a packet of Malteasers for Dyl and a packet of Unbearables for Aidan. They could have charged us any silly sum for those - I just wanted this to be an indulgence like none other. I still remember my first Broadway show and I hope they remember this for a lifetime and remember how their parents wouldn't find any price too high for that feeling of joy.
Pics below. In front of the theatre, on the underground, and in the hotel after having a laugh....
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Right! Now I'm frustrated.
My American friend (from Detroit) and I went to meet the new American (from Houston) in town last Tuesday. I drove. That was traumatizing enough in itself. When we first got in the car, my Detroit friend announced that her husband has said he wants a divorce. Jesus. I offered to call the Houstonian (Houstonite? Houstoner? Texan? Texan!) and tell her we wouldn't be able to make it, but Detroit friend wanted to press on.
Once we made it to the Texan's area alive, we sat in the car for 45 minutes talking about what on earth was going on with her marriage. Then we spent about 90 minutes with the Texan and her 3 kids.
What has me so shouting mad is that we once again got back to the subject of visas. I said that we have our plane tickets, I'm going back and that is just the easiest, most certain way to get on with life. The Texan said she was really concerned about what I had told her - essentially she does not exist in this country and if she were to try to leave via an airport, everything I know says she would be banned from re-entering the country. (She came over here with her Irish husband via ferry from Ireland where they had been living for the past 6 years.) I have taken the ferry from Holyhead to Dublin and back (without my passport because I forgot it back at the flat) so I know that it is the one way in and out of this country where you could get away with entering with no visa or anything (although if you're unlucky they will pull you aside).
So, I suggested that if she can, she should exit the country by ferrying back to Ireland and then get her visa that way. Well!!! Guess what!!! She happened to mention as an aside that as the wife of an Irish citizen, she has automatic rights to an Irish (EU) passport. She did not get one because she said it was too expensive (1000 euros, about £800, a fraction of what I am paying for my stupid, revocable visa!) Detroit friend and I both told her to get that passport and be done with it!
When I first told Gwyn about the Texan and how she did not have a visa, he said "that's probably because her husband is Irish, the UK and Ireland have an agreement." My response: "Gwyn, would you listen to yourself? You're Welsh! Surely your family should take priority in YOUR OWN DAMN COUNTRY." To which he replied: "Oh, yeah. That's right." So, an Irishman's wife is welcomed into the UK because she is married to him, I am sent back to the US at huge expense because I stupidly wanted to live in the country of my husband's birth, the country of my sons' ancestors.
I am not the type of person to resent immigrants, nor cry and scream about the injustice of immigrants' rights being of greater concern than natural citizens, but this is surely taking the piss here. I am now resolved to introduce myself to my local MP via a letter of complaint on this very backward system. I'm told the MP is Tory. Great. Just great.
:rant;
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Sorry Cariad, but who do you mean with immigrants, and natural citizens? I thought you are an 'immigrant' who applied for the wrong visa, who is married to a Welshman, and ,I suppose, is the 'natural citizen'?
Maybe the MP is really nice. :rofl;
Take care darling, to me it sounds as if you are really settling in :cheer:
Love, Cas
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Sorry Cariad, but who do you mean with immigrants, and natural citizens? I thought you are an 'immigrant' who applied for the wrong visa, who is married to a Welshman, and ,I suppose, is the 'natural citizen'?
Maybe the MP is really nice. :rofl;
Take care darling, to me it sounds as if you are really settling in :cheer:
Love, Cas
Not sure what I meant with the word 'natural' either. :P Chalk it up to being really tired, stressed, scared and fed-up I suppose. You've got the situation straight, except for the part about applying for the wrong visa since I applied for no visa. :oops; The Texan married to the Irishman applied for no visa either until she got to Ireland, then she applied for a work visa. She even worked 6 months past it's expiration and they just scolded her, then renewed it.
My main point was that my kids are British as is my husband. They do not have the right to live with me here until I go back to the US and wait for them to declare me worthy, which took 6 months for one acquaintance here. This is my husband's country, there is simply no way to argue that he is not being treated as if his rights are less important than the man from a completely different country. Gwyn is forced to pay much higher fees and is being put through more grief and risk to his income than someone who has contributed all of his tax up until the start of this year to ANOTHER COUNTRY. In the US, there are some recent state laws that are truly bizarre toward immigrants, but whether or not an applicant receives a green card or citizenship is done entirely at the national level, and therefore it makes little difference if you are a New Yorker or a Californian. The EU operates somewhat like the United States of Europe, but then Britain has it set up so that they are penalizing their own citizens. I know another member on here has an Italian passport because if you can claim Italian heritage, you can get a passport and so can your spouse, if I remember correctly you do not even have to ever step upon Italian soil! So this member and spouse could move here as an EU citizen and get a job and come and go as they please while my husband cannot do the same with his family. I cannot be the only one who finds this *BONKERS*. My husband's employers are terrified he's going to get ticked off and just move back to America because who needs this? What is to be gained by putting us through all of this? The Welsh, my husband included, already feel that England sees them as fourth-rate citizens - this is doing nothing to ease that tension. Crikey, my kids are fluent in Welsh, I have done nothing but support them and urge them to embrace their British heritage. Do they think the Irishman is going to suddenly become pro-UK? :rofl; Maybe they should let Wales decide if I can stay? Because I speak enough Welsh to charm any of the nationalists there.
The MP, well, my Aussie friend did not have such a great encounter with him when she asked for his help with her visa, but I tend to have better luck with Brits than most foreigners. I have no idea why.
When I mention visa issues to anyone here, I get the same response: a flood of acrimony directed at Indians, Pakistanis, or Muslims. I fear coming off sounding like that. I do not bear any bitterness toward my fellow immigrants, but I can now see more clearly why I've been subjected to some truly racist tirades and people are bewildered and annoyed when I try to suggest that I don't view these populations as packs of leeches. Still, the system is a mess, and keep in mind, I've seen the American system. I did not think it could get any stupider anywhere in the world, but behold! In the comparison, Americans really have no excuse for their immigrant-bashing. I'm starting to think that the Brits do.
(Wow, that was long. I guess I'm still wound up about this. Thank you, Cas, I am doing much better here and on balance very happy, despite the above spluttering. :rofl;) :thx;
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I know another member on here has an Italian passport because if you can claim Italian heritage, you can get a passport and so can your spouse, if I remember correctly you do not even have to ever step upon Italian soil! So this member and spouse could move here as an EU citizen and get a job and come and go as they please while my husband cannot do the same with his family. I cannot be the only one who finds this *BONKERS*.
Ah, that would be me though it wasn't quite so simple. Andy's citizenship was automatic on the day he was born and he's got his citizenship and passport (Italy's immigration laws operate on the principle of juris sanguinis - "by the right of blood" - which means any member of the Italian diaspora is automatically a citizen as long as no ancestor ever renounced their Italian citizenship or became naturalized somewhere else.) The process for Andy, then, merely involved recognition of his existing citizenship.
Me, on the other hand, I still have to request - and pay for - an FBI background check AND get letters from every county in which I've ever lived since age 18 saying I'm not some degenerate axe murderer. (Then pay to have them all translated AND have the various Secretaries of State attach an apostille to each and every one of them.) So there were/are a few hoops for me, as well.
I do agree it's completely bonkers, though. Your husband is a citizen as are your children and you're already THERE, for crying out loud. Are you supposed to just abandon your children and come back alone? Take them back to the States away from their dad and causing more upheaval in their lives?
Why isn't the company that brought him over there doing more to fight for you?
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Wow, DD, that is more of an expensive ordeal than I thought. If it's something you really want for yourself, though, I hope you go for it. With all of my whinging, I am still so thrilled to be out of America. I feel like Indiana Jones after he narrowly escaped being crushed by the boulder. All the same, I adore America, but to me the country is like that friend whom you love but could never live with.
I do think the criteria for granting visas should be more uniform across the EU. The wife of an Irishman should not have easier access to live and work in the UK than I do. Today I spoke with the ex-UKBA agent that I've hired to handle all the tedium of this application, she said that a client who applied on February 8 just received a visa today. If my application goes that seamlessly, this whole episode will just be blood under the bridge in a month's time. Fingers crossed.
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Fingers crossed, lots of love Cas
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Thanks, Cas!
My visa application is in, so now we wait. Yes, that means I'M BACK!!! The week's been a whirl. Gwyn was sent to France (with the car!!) just as we were trying to move house, so I spent all day every day packing, shuttling kids to their commitments, catching rides from friends when they offered. Then I drove us all down to Heathrow for our two nights in a hotel over the weekend (G was with us, just really tired so he slept). Next morning, loads of texts from Aussie friend imploring us to get to the Royal Albert on time. She had visions of us being locked out - that was not going to happen. Spent the afternoon with her and her husband and their younger son, watched the boys perform at the Hall, then since it was so amazing seeing them perform and it was also Mother's Day, we decided to just have a bite in London rather than eat at the mediocre hotel. We popped into a little chain called Wildwood. The boys wanted a proper burger and they said their's were fantastic. G had some exotic dead animal carcass, and I had wild mushroom pasta which was nice. Back at the hotel the boys went downstairs for a ridiculously-sized sundae and they offered me a complimentary glass of sparkling wine and a rose which I gratefully accepted.
Flight was actually pretty easy, roughest part was landing in LAX with no phone, no communication device and not seeing anyone I recognised. My father did eventually appear and drove us all back, doing errands all the way. Costco, Whole Foods, the usual haunts. It is just so gorgeous here, but I want to go home. I miss Gwyn and it is too emotionally charged around here. Saw my sibling yesterday - I don't want to talk to them, don't want my kids to know them. My kids don't seem to understand the relationships, so they call my sister "[cousin]'s mom" or "your sister". I don't think they realise there is a word for their relationship. I think my parents, especially my father, are trying to make up for all the years of abuse but my siblings would never address that and I am furious with some of them for their past and current behaviour. I don't know. I just prefer to not think about things that aggravate and sadden me, and here I am immersed in it all again.
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I just prefer to not think about things that aggravate and sadden me, and here I am immersed in it all again.
Do you HAVE to stay with family (or in L.A.)? 'Cuz if not, I'll come and get you. ;D
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I just prefer to not think about things that aggravate and sadden me, and here I am immersed in it all again.
Do you HAVE to stay with family (or in L.A.)? 'Cuz if not, I'll come and get you. ;D
Girl, is this an invitation? Because I checked flights and I can get to your little 'burgh and back again for about $150. I have to wave goodbye to my husband and kids at LAX April 5 (Friday) and then face 10 excruciating days on my own here. A weekend in Arizona would go a long way to restoring some sanity to my life (but not too much, I hope ;D).
Seriously, I've been back 4 days and I am already not on speaking terms with half the people here. How do they manage to sound reasonably normal when I am 5000 miles away?
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I just prefer to not think about things that aggravate and sadden me, and here I am immersed in it all again.
Do you HAVE to stay with family (or in L.A.)? 'Cuz if not, I'll come and get you. ;D
Girl, is this an invitation? Because I checked flights and I can get to your little 'burgh and back again for about $150. I have to wave goodbye to my husband and kids at LAX April 5 (Friday) and then face 10 excruciating days on my own here. A weekend in Arizona would go a long way to restoring some sanity to my life (but not too much, I hope ;D).
Seriously, I've been back 4 days and I am already not on speaking terms with half the people here. How do they manage to sound reasonably normal when I am 5000 miles away?
Yes. Yes, it most definitely is an invitation. If you can fly your butt out here I'll pick you up at the airport, you can crash on our sleeper sofa and we can have an all around blast! :bandance;
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Yes. Yes, it most definitely is an invitation. If you can fly your butt out here I'll pick you up at the airport, you can crash on our sleeper sofa and we can have an all around blast! :bandance;
:yahoo;
Watch this space....
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Yes. Yes, it most definitely is an invitation. If you can fly your butt out here I'll pick you up at the airport, you can crash on our sleeper sofa and we can have an all around blast! :bandance;
:yahoo;
Watch this space....
Woo-HOO! Do you have my email address? Or PM me and I'll shoot you my phone number.
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Visa-ed! As of today (though it's backdated to March 21). Consultant says it's the fastest she's ever seen.
I am all of a sudden feeling weird about it, melancholy. The American part of my kids' life has ended.
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Aw Cariad, congrats, and its only a visa, meaning no end ;D. Just a new beginning. Success with whatever else needs sorting (cos to me it all sounds never ending
:banghead; )
Here it's sunny, freezing, a lovely Easter Day. I hope you all have a nice one too.
Lots of love Cas
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It might be the fastest the consultant has ever seen, but it seems like it's taken forever!
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It might be the fastest the consultant has ever seen, but it seems like it's taken forever!
True, that!
As usual, Cas, you are there with just the right words. A new beginning, indeed, full of promise.
:thx; :flower;
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Right! So anyone who's been following the ridiculousness of trying to relocate to another country on short notice may find this interesting.
When I was on a visitor's visa, I was forced to return to the US in order to apply for my visa allowing me to live and work in the UK. It had to be the US as I was not allowed to apply from any other country in the world.
Well, I just realised that my boys' US passports expired yesterday. They have valid British passports, but now the only country in the world where they are *not* allowed to travel is the US.
Oh the irony!
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Then I don't guess you will be popping over for a bear viewing expedition to the Smoky Mountains any weekend soon. :cuddle; :cuddle;
Aleta
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Then I don't guess you will be popping over for a bear viewing expedition to the Smoky Mountains any weekend soon. :cuddle; :cuddle;
Aleta
Whoa, hang on there! I said *the boys* weren't allowed back in the US, my passport, however, is valid for another 5 years! :rofl;
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We've had our leaver's assembly, it was yesterday. Blistering hot outside, full house, the year 6ers all sat up on stage performing, reading short speeches, singing and dancing. If I ever hear that emotionally manipulative song "When I Grow Up" from Matilda again, I will not be responsible for my actions. What on earth did they sing in these assemblies before that show came out? To give you an idea of how many times we've heard it, Dyl knows all the words and he hasn't been in any performance of it. Aidan shocked us by saying that he plans to get his Ph.D in chemistry. Well, you kept that secret, Aidan!
I spent the day trying to get all the gifts for teachers together, secretly pulling the kids aside to write thank you notes that should have been completed the night before, making sure that I knew who was leaving early so that we got to give something to everyone on our list. They have a brilliant wine shop here that lets you freely taste their samples, but they have a 6-bottle minimum to purchase. We spent about £90 quid on bottles of rose for the women and cases of craft beer for the gents, with a £10 cinema gift card to the IT teacher who always rides his bike to work.
The instructors did not seem aware that Dylan is also not coming back, so I spared myself the grief that I would have received had I told the head. I did tell the PE teacher, Dyl's current teacher, and the teacher Dyl would have had next year. I barely survived that last one. Dyl adores this man, and he was finishing up his master's education by assistant teaching in Dyl's class at the start of the year, and then he left Dyl's class and Dyl was devastated. I handed this man his case of beer with a big bow on it, then we stood there in the sweltering sun and when I told him that Dyl was not returning to the school he said "Oh, no. I won't even get one term with him?" I explained that Dyl did not realise that he would have got to have him as a teacher if we were keeping him there, and as I was talking to the teacher and telling him what he meant to my son, all I could think was that I knew that card tucked under the bow closed with "I wish you were still my teacher." Then as we were walking away this man called out to him "Dylan, good luck at [next school]. You'll make friends quickly." It felt like living through the end of a beautiful but tragic novel. Everything that seemed so clear a few months ago isn't any longer.
The school year is just too long here. We slept until almost 9AM this morning, the four of us feel quite wrecked. Circus training starts Monday.
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The school year is just too long here.
I second that! And now they want to make the summer holidays even shorter. Ridiculous. (Is it really longer [190 days/38 teaching weeks] or do we have more days off throughout the year - a minimum seven weeks off between September and July, including half-term hols?)
Hope the boys enjoy their summer holiday!
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(Is it really longer [190 days/38 teaching weeks] or do we have more days off throughout the year - a minimum seven weeks off between September and July, including half-term hols?)
I don't know, to be honest. The number 186 is in my head for minimum number of school days in America, but I think with all the different types of schools it can vary a fair bit. One thing they do in America that they don't do here is make up snow days at the end of the school year. We had a blizzard in Milwaukee a few years back and the school year was extended by the two days that the kids stayed home. Of course we had the British equivalent of a blizzard here six months ago and those were just free days for the boys.
I suppose it's nice always having that week-long break on the horizon but it still feels so much longer. Sending my kids to school in July felt really wrong, it's the one month that I've never known kids to be in school for back in the US. Speaking of, my poor kids asked me what we were going to do on July 4 and I had to respond "Erm, yeah, you'll be in school...." I then briefed them on what exactly July 4 was meant to commemorate, and good job because sure enough the head teacher asked if any of the Americans (and there were 4 including my kids) wanted to stand up and tell the school about the day. The other American in Dyl's class called out "It's my country's birthday" and then Dyl and Aidan stood up and gave the detailed account of historical events, including addressing the elephant in the room - which country the Declaration of Independence declared independence from. :rofl;
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I so enjoy reading your posts. We had parents crying at the end of school this year. I understand the feeling of regret. :cuddle; But then, turn your face toward the sun and look forward to a new adventure for the boys in a new school. :2thumbsup;
I loved the bit about July 4th! :rofl;
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I've moved this discussion from here http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=2532.1150 because it has gone so far off topic, but I feel I need to respond to this.
"Linguistic competence" can certainly be shaped by perception, and I perceive Jo Brand as seeing herself as valiant and special precisely BECAUSE she is a rebel in a man's world, which I sometimes view as being smug. But that's OK. Sometimes I find it brave, but sometimes I find it, well, smug. She can be unkind, and I don't believe that raging against a stereotype should give her special permission to be so. But as I think about this a bit more, there is something about the quality of her voice, perhaps its timbre, that aurally conveys smugness. Yes, I think that's what it is. It's not so much what she says but, rather, HOW she says it. She is monotonal, and that is not a criticism. It's merely my own personal observation. In some people, monotonality conveys dullness, but that is certainly not the case with Jo Brand. To my ear, she SOUNDS smug. On some days, I find this amusing. On other days, I don't. But she never fails to entertain me on some level!
I can understand why you may hear smugness where I don't. That's just differences in individual perception. Comedy is so often cruel, while I've not heard anything 'unkind' from Jo Brand, I would only point to any male comedian (Any. Single. One.) who is undoubtedly frequently unkind and no one calls them on it. Frankie Boyle, while incredibly funny and quick in settings such as Mock The Week, is an unmitigated a-hole when free to do his own thing. These are people living much of their lives in front of an audience. Their image is their stock and trade, so they must be quite considered in which persona they choose. "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be very careful about what we pretend to be." (vonnegut) Jo Brand, Stephen Fry, it's an act, even when they pretend it's not, because frankly it's an act for most of us in our jobs and our lives, we just play to a smaller audience. We "prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet" (Eliot) and only a miniscule number of people will ever know us well enough to really be able to do anything more than wildly speculate about us.
Linguistic competence, as far as I've ever been taught, is the shared understanding that native speakers have about word usage that you cannot get from a dictionary, which is why I brought it up. For example, the Italian gondalier all those years ago who was trying to sell us a ride on his gondola, as we walked away he called to my sister and me "Lady, lady...." and my sister giggled to me "I don't think he realises how bad that sounds". No, of course he didn't, he had obviously learnt that 'lady' is the polite English word for female, and was not proficient enough to know that that's how people address you when they're being insulting. The dictionary lists smug and arrogance as synonyms and didn't address what I consider the difference between the two words. If it is just me and my perception, then it wouldn't be linguistic competence.
I don't need you to understand why this bothers me so much. All I can say is get back to me after you've lived there for 20 years. You already have an established family. I did not. I was pretty much on my own.
I really don't appreciate how angry this sounds, nor the dismissive tone. I never implied that you 'needed' me to understand anything and really don't get how yet another innocuous discussion has turned so defensive. It was just something I was curious about that you know perfectly well you could have just ignored or said "I don't really want to get into this." I thought you were difficult to offend, yet I seem to have a magic touch with that. I seem to be misinterpreted by many members here, and of course the accusations of 'attack' have lost all meaning to me ever since someone told me that he was reporting every post I made regardless of content.
When I first came over here to shack up with Gwyn for the start of our crazy, sexy, romantic years together, no, I didn't have an "established family", I wasn't even officially 'the girlfriend'. In the first months there was all sorts of focus on the speech differences, but that, thankfully, quickly got boring for all. The primary difference I saw between here and America was that his British friends were happy to meet me and include me in whatever, his American friends got their backs up and were ridiculously competitive with me over who knows Gwyn best and who is closer friends with him. I don't understand why I get this reaction every time I date someone, but I do (did) and it was just so refreshing to be accepted so quickly, and such a disappointment when we moved back to America and I met the American friends and hopelessly Americanized Brits. There is a reason I prefer the UK to America. Actually, reasons, a laundry list, some of which I've mentioned on here and don't feel the need to repeat.
And the things I heard were most assuredly NOT "taking the piss" nor as silly as jokes about who shags the most sheep. Has anyone yet approached you out of the blue to ask you to justify American foreign policy in some country or another? Have you yet heard that conversation on the bus about, say, how of course Americans are going to side with Amanda Knox? Or how about the talk with your GP when he says that Americans think they can throw money at a health issue and think it will go away when all you've done is ask if you could have a second opinion about a dire diagnosis? As you know, I'm a big sports fan and listened to sports talk radio while living in the UK, so it was always such fun when, every damn year, some radio host would rage about how it was illustrative of Americans' arrogance when they called their baseball championship "The World Series"!!! (And of course he never thought to research WHY it's called that.) Oh, and my God...the Ryder Cup! Yes, the wives of the American players were always the personifications of Barbie. As you see, I can go on and on and on and on. Stephen Fry's comments in and of themselves were just one small piece of a much bigger picture of arrogance/smugness/inferiority/superiority (whichever term you'd like to use) that I got to experience during my years as a resident of the UK. Suffice it to say, it really got on my wick. (Off topic rant, I know.)
I have had all sorts of experiences here centred around the fact that I am American, and yes, I have heard the assumptions and had the conversations and read the emails that are endlessly circulated, just as Gwyn has had a similar list of experiences in America (and usually it starts with his country being made completely invisible by the initial question 'what part of England are you from?' Often made worse by the follow-up question 'Oh, like the Prince of Wales?'). I simply don't have it in me to take these random encounters personally, and again, since you identify as being difficult to offend, I was just surprised by your reaction, with no judgement of you meant one way or the other. I don't get the sense that you want to hear any of my experiences, so I won't bother. They apparently wouldn't mean anything to you as I haven't been here an arbitrary number of years that will somehow validate them. I feel bad for you that you have these unpleasant memories surrounding this country. Socially, I have felt more welcome and at home here than almost anywhere in America.
I DO feel sorry for Stephen Fry and for his struggles. It must be hard to be him.
Mental illness is horrible. Statistically, his suicide risk is sky-high.
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I think I can officially say we're settled here. :P I am the happiest I think I have ever been since marrying Gwyn, and though it took 18 months or so to sort everything out, I wouldn't change it for the world. The struggle makes one appreciate it all the more I think. (OK, I'd change a thing or two if I could, but you get my meaning....)
It's been like a treasure hunt as I've tried to collect everything since we moved. I have a bank account and mobile phone (this was a much bigger deal than you'd think!), a full British driving license, my own car, a national insurance number, NHS number, a house and a part-time job that I surprisingly enjoy. My kids are in what we consider to be the two best schools in town and we don't pay any tuition for these.
Aidan is on a football team that gets positively crushed every week, but he has said he never wants to go back to the team he was on before that was undefeated (several of the kids would only pass to their friends and Aidan was ignored by about half the team, we assume because they are threatened by new talent). It doesn't seem to bother Aidan all that much that this current team loses every game - he gets on so well with every last teammate, and Gwyn and I just sit on the sidelines laughing nonstop with the other parents.
I have fallen in with a great group of friends (not that most of us have time to see each other these days, but that's OK!) as have both of my boys, Gwyn has made new friends and reconnected with previous ones. We see one friend every month or so to compete in a pub quiz, which I adore. There's no expectation that I will know much of anything, unless there's a question about America, so that takes much of the pressure off. (As is obvious from my actions on here, I do enjoy a trivia game now and again.)
Aidan has been getting involved with all that secondary school has to offer, so he joined drama club, and next thing I heard he had the lead in their play. This is pretty intense work - a preview, and then multiple performances. He's only 11, and he started out being given the lead to split with another boy - Aidan would play the character when he was younger, a year 8 boy would play him older, but the director moved the year 8 boy to another part and now Aidan has to play the part all through. He and Dyl are part of a choir singing with a famous opera singer in April.
Dyl learnt to swim! I never thought it would happen but his new school taught him and then gave him a certificate of achievement for it. I ran in to his Spanish teacher the other day and she said he is doing so well and that much of the language is coming back to him. He also had a speaking part in his school play about Africa, and I swear he did a perfect South African, it was spooky as he really has no reason to know what the accent sounds like. He also has memorized the witches' spell from MacBeth and not only recites it in a witchy voice, but with an English accent. It's amazing. Both of my kids say they are 'famous' at school for being 'the American' and have kids asking to hear them speak frequently.
So, it's coming together, getting better every day. Still plenty of stresses surrounding issues both here and in America, but I think with the feeling that our luck has finally turned, we can face it all more easily.
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What a delight to read! I'm so glad that things are coming together and life is treating you well. :2thumbsup;
:cuddle;
Aleta
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Cariad, I am a Brit living in America (been here for nearly 14 years). I get had very similar comments/questions throughout that time, an this is my perspective of from the other way around. At least one of these crops up nearly every time I go out, so I try to answer nicely because a I know that the comments are well-intentioned and it is a way of making conversation. Variations on a theme:
1. "Are you from England?" Or, "are you from England or Australia?" Or are you from "England, Australia or South Africa?" Followed by:
2. "I love your accent", or If their guess is correct, "oh, I am so good at accents", or "I knew that it was one of them", or "I can't tell the difference".
When my In-laws visit from Wales they get the same questions, and in their innocence tell the person asking the question how they are not from England, but from Wales, and then continue to tell that person, in great detail, all about the place, whilst completely failing to see the blank look on peoples' faces. I am from England, but even if I wasn't for simplicity's sake, would say that I did.
3. "Where are you from?"
When I reply, I get the same blank expression. May just make up some strange name and see if I get a response. Then there are some pretty strange place names in the UK anyway, so I could just try one of them. Usually I just say London, because most people have a) been there, b) want to go there, c) have a friend or relative who lives there or at least know it's relative location, and so we have an instant connection. Mind you, when I tell people in the UK that I live in The US, I get comments such as "I know someone who lives in New York" as I have should know them (I live in Georgia, have lived in California and have never been to New York).
Often it gets onto the Royal Family, who, like many Brits, I am not a huge supporter of. In fact, I am certain that I have met more Ametican supporters than I have British ones. The assumption seems to be that I love to talk about them.
4. As Conversation opener about Royal Family, "I was so sad when Diana died". My reply, "I didn't like her". Talk about Diana continues, moves onto Kate and baby. Meanwhile, my brain is glazing over, while I still to keep a look of interest on my face.
On a slightly less pleasant level, I had heard so much misinformation about the NHS, and how crap Brirish people's' teeth are. Funnily enough, I don't know many people my age in the UK who have a full set of dentures, but I have seen plenty of Americans (always poor ones) who clearlly do.
Despite my brain numbing up slightly when I get the same questions, we are happily settled here, have a lovely home in a beautiful neighborhood, my son was born here, and goes to a great school. We don't have any plans to live in the UK in the near future, although we still have a house there that is currently rented out.
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1. "Are you from England?" Or, "are you from England or Australia?" Or are you from "England, Australia or South Africa?" Followed by:
2. "I love your accent", or If their guess is correct, "oh, I am so good at accents", or "I knew that it was one of them", or "I can't tell the difference".
Every once in a while I confuse the Aussie accent for English, don't think I've made the mistake the other way, but possibly. I don't claim to be that good with accents, though. When I first heard Gwyn's accent I asked if it was Scottish, but to my credit, had certainly heard of Wales and proceeded to prove it by babbling to him about how much I love Richard Burton and Anthony Hopkins. (Especially Richard Burton - dreamy!) Anyhow, I've learnt to keep my mouth shut. I thought I had the accent of the woman who owns the tea shop next to work sussed - she sounded like Sarah Millican to me, so I thought, 'Ah, clever me, she's from Newcastle!' Then my colleague told me she's actually from Alberta, Canada. D'oh!
I was told today that I must be losing my American accent because a family from Portland were not sure that I was American. I've only been to Portland once but I did say "I've seen Portlandia, though, and I assume that's some sort of documentary!" To which the father said "Sadly, it pretty much is!"
When my In-laws visit from Wales they get the same questions, and in their innocence tell the person asking the question how they are not from England, but from Wales, and then continue to tell that person, in great detail, all about the place, whilst completely failing to see the blank look on peoples' faces. I am from England, but even if I wasn't for simplicity's sake, would say that I did.
Whoa, hold the phone! You're in-laws, and I assume your husband, are Welsh?! Why is this the first I'm hearing of this?! Trust me, if you were Celtic you would never, never, never take the easy way out if it meant saying you were English. Unless you happened to be a very different Celt from the ones I've known. They unanimously find being mistaken for English as a huge insult.
3. "Where are you from?"
When I reply, I get the same blank expression. May just make up some strange name and see if I get a response. Then there are some pretty strange place names in the UK anyway, so I could just try one of them. Usually I just say London, because most people have a) been there, b) want to go there, c) have a friend or relative who lives there or at least know it's relative location, and so we have an instant connection. Mind you, when I tell people in the UK that I live in The US, I get comments such as "I know someone who lives in New York" as I have should know them (I live in Georgia, have lived in California and have never been to New York).
I have it easy with this one. If I sense they've never heard of my hometown I can always say LA as it is still considered 'the greater Los Angeles area'. Milwaukee I always describe as 80 miles north of Chicago, I don't wait for them to ask. In South Africa this never worked, I think they've heard of New York and LA and that was pretty much it. I would tell them we were right in the middle of the country in Milwaukee. Who knows what they were picturing at that point.
Often it gets onto the Royal Family, who, like many Brits, I am not a huge supporter of. In fact, I am certain that I have met more Ametican supporters than I have British ones. The assumption seems to be that I love to talk about them.
4. As Conversation opener about Royal Family, "I was so sad when Diana died". My reply, "I didn't like her". Talk about Diana continues, moves onto Kate and baby. Meanwhile, my brain is glazing over, while I still to keep a look of interest on my face.
Gwyn detests the royal family, and I am indifferent. I go out of my way to not learn anything about them but it's inescapable at times. Did you hear when William said that being a dad was harder than being a pilot. I gave out a bitter laugh at that one. Are you trying to convince us that you don't have a teeming hoard of people helping you at every moment? And by the way, his son was THREE WEEKS OLD at that point. Sheesh, don't try to relate to us commoners, it only makes you sound condescending and more out of touch than I thought possible!
On a slightly less pleasant level, I had heard so much misinformation about the NHS, and how crap Brirish people's' teeth are. Funnily enough, I don't know many people my age in the UK who have a full set of dentures, but I have seen plenty of Americans (always poor ones) who clearlly do.
This doesn't surprise me at all. :(
Despite my brain numbing up slightly when I get the same questions, we are happily settled here, have a lovely home in a beautiful neighborhood, my son was born here, and goes to a great school. We don't have any plans to live in the UK in the near future, although we still have a house there that is currently rented out.
It's all about finding the spot where you feel at home! I am very happy you found it in my country and I found it in yours. :)
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My father in law is actually English but has lived in Wales most of his life. To the Welsh, he is still English. My mother in law and my husband are from South Wales, so to those in a North Wales would barely consider them Welsh anyway! :).
Britain is so small when compared to some of the States in the US, so giving a standard reply that I am from near London, when adked Where I am from, is not to far from the truth anyway.
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My father in law is actually English but has lived in Wales most of his life. To the Welsh, he is still English.
This is so true. I really think as a country they could stand to work on this. I know Gwyn dislikes the English as a concept, but on an individual level he has more English friends than Welsh. I am resisting the urge to write 'some of his best friends are English' (though this is true) because of course this is what people say when they've just said or done something racially idiotic and are now trying to prove that they are not hateful bigots.
My mother in law and my husband are from South Wales, so to those in a North Wales would barely consider them Welsh anyway! :).
Also true, at least in some circles. They do have every bit as much of a North/South divide as the English, although I think the status is flipped in Wales, at least the northerners would like to think so. It's mostly down to whether or not you speak the language - in answering the question of what makes a person Welsh, language is a big one. There is that long-standing example of how the North/South dialects are literally backwards in relation to one another. If you speak and know the word for 'now' in both dialects, the Southies say 'nawr' and the northerners (like my husband) say 'rwan'. I don't know how bothered Gwyn would be if the boys learnt southern dialect Welsh as they would still be able to understand northern speech. It is a very personal thing, one's language. I have used southern dialect and he will usually say "what sort of Southie bullsh!t is that?" but it's better than me using no Welsh at all I suppose.
Britain is so small when compared to some of the States in the US, so giving a standard reply that I am from near London, when adked Where I am from, is not to far from the truth anyway.
Agreed!
What a delight to read! I'm so glad that things are coming together and life is treating you well. :2thumbsup;
:cuddle;
Aleta
Thanks so much for reading, Aleta! Hope you are feeling well these days! I know that like me, the sunnier, warmer weather will at least help your mood. :)
Boys had a street dance exam yesterday, parents are not allowed to watch so we have to rely on the kids to assess how they did. Dyl was told by the examiner that he did 'great'. Aidan, of course, got the comment "I could watch you all day!" I think they both passed but not sure when it will be official. They were practicing in our back garden and it was so cool, I think Gwyn will be putting a video up on FaceBook.
Off to work....
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I was hired to work very part-time, 3 days a week, but so far I have been working five days a week, still part time, but with the pick-ups and drop-offs and generally shuttling of children every day, it doesn't leave me much free time. I'm not complaining, though, I've had far too much free time being ill! The exhausting thing about this job is it requires me to be ON at all times. Smiley, bubbly, witty. I get asked at least five times a day "Are you from America?" "Where is your accent from?" "You're a long way from home, aren't you?" We had a quick dinner with our Aussie/English couple friends, and I asked the Aussie (who had this job before me) if she got that a lot, and she said no. I said it must be the English obsession with America, then, because I could not understand why countless English people seem to want my attention.
Put my foot in it a bit with a regular who has some mysterious ties to the local boys' private school, and I was telling a co-worker about how little I thought of that school. :oops; This regular comes from a wealthy family and doesn't seem to do much all day but go from one tea room to the next (It's actually quite sad in my opinion. I don't think he has kids so I'm not sure why he feels such a need to defend that school. Perhaps he's an alum.) We left on a friendly note, I think, but he hasn't been back all week. We actually ended with a discussion of Stephen Fry's criminal record (when he was a teen) and mental illness, so I guess there was some use in me skimming a few biographical pages on the man. :rofl;
Went to parents' evening for Aidan's school. About a dozen teachers to see, each for only five minutes. It was embarrassing after awhile, but in a good way. The drama teacher gushed over him. I have told people that it is a rare 11-year-old who has that certain something that makes them a wonderful dramatist at such a young age, and I have said that I don't feel that Aidan is one of them. Well, she told us that he has "it" and she sees "a spark" in him that not all kids have. She said they don't self-congratulate as a rule in her class, but that all the kids up to sixth-form applauded Aidan at their last rehearsal as he was leaving to rush off to choral practice. Wow. She then noticed Gwyn's shirt (Welsh Rugby Union) and put on a wonderful Welsh accent. I told her that Aidan chose drama club over rugby (true) and that was probably the highest compliment he could pay someone, choosing them over a sport.
We got a similar reaction from the head of year who teaches him maths. He's two years above his expected age group. We crashed the music teacher's room since we could not pre-book an appointment with him, and he said Aidan is so charming that on the one hand he doesn't want to suppress his humour, but on the other hand, it can get disruptive. We told him that the moment Aidan is comfortable at a school, he has a hard time turning off the socializing. His English teacher, to my complete surprise, says he reads at a 14-year-old level, and I told her I was fed-up with all the Percy Jackson and no classics. She said (quite jovially) that she was going to start bullying Aidan to read those types of books, but did urge me to beware of some of the content as it could be too advanced for him. (I've read Animal Farm 3 times, so don't think there is anything too graphic or horrible in there.)
The RE teacher was also lovely, very shy man, it seemed. Dyl bizarrely sat down across from him and started talking to him, something he never does, so quite odd. We discussed how Aidan comes from an atheist household but that we were delighted he would be learning about these religions. I knew this man had a very sad story, which he brought up (I'm so glad I have training/experience in dealing with such episodes, because Gwyn proves to be useless in these situations.) The teacher's eldest son died, and I think it's all the more tragic that his son would be Aidan's age were he still alive. This must be one of the harder years for him to endure, but he has his faith, so whatever works.
History, DT, Spanish and geography were fine, art teacher went home without seeing us due to miscommunication, PE teacher was fully booked and couldn't see us, and the most hilarious was the IT teacher. I had to see her alone as Gwyn took Aidan to judo for his regular class, and I realised very early in our conversation that she had no idea whom I was talking about when I gave his name. She said he was very quiet which had me blurting out "Aidan [SURNAME]??" She then tried to cover with "Well, let me look him up. I teach a lot of Aidans." (No you don't....) She looked him up, saw his picture, and obviously that didn't help her much so she filled the five minutes with some of the most general rambling I've ever heard. I compared it to having your horoscope read: "He usually puts a good effort forward, but he could do more."
All in all, a lovely, tiring evening.
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Received a knock on the door yesterday. It was FedEx with tubes and paperwork from Chicago. I did say I would have chimerism testing done here is they desired, but they were supposed to email me and let me know that it was on its way. I feel strangely overwhelmed by this - we have lots going on here right now and I have no idea if I can trust the local hospital to not muck this up. Past experience says no. I also don't know if the chemicals in the tubes are time sensitive so if I don't get round to this for a month, will it render the results invalid?
Sigh. I know I need to just go through all the paperwork and suss out how to proceed. It appears that they don't need Gwyn's blood so at least we don't have to schedule that (it has to be drawn at the same time). I just hope they'll hand the blood over to me so I can ship it back, otherwise there is no way I can trust that it will be done. The local hospital reminds me of USC in the way they seem to have some sort of black hole that all of my results get sucked into for all eternity.
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Well, this sounds like a pain in the hat, especially during the Easter break. ::) Hope you can get it sorted! :thumbup;
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Well, this sounds like a pain in the hat, especially during the Easter break. ::) Hope you can get it sorted! :thumbup;
ditto to that!
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Well, I doubt the hospital would want to ship it themselves, but good luck with it anyhow
Love, Cas
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Great to read your posts from England, sounds like generally, things are suiting you nicely.
EXCELLENT NEWS
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Received a knock on the door yesterday. It was FedEx with tubes and paperwork from Chicago. I did say I would have chimerism testing done here is they desired, but they were supposed to email me and let me know that it was on its way. I feel strangely overwhelmed by this - we have lots going on here right now and I have no idea if I can trust the local hospital to not muck this up. Past experience says no. I also don't know if the chemicals in the tubes are time sensitive so if I don't get round to this for a month, will it render the results invalid?
Sigh. I know I need to just go through all the paperwork and suss out how to proceed. It appears that they don't need Gwyn's blood so at least we don't have to schedule that (it has to be drawn at the same time). I just hope they'll hand the blood over to me so I can ship it back, otherwise there is no way I can trust that it will be done. The local hospital reminds me of USC in the way they seem to have some sort of black hole that all of my results get sucked into for all eternity.
Ugh! I rarely trust anyone anymore. I am with you, I'd prefer to send it off myself.
Sounds like all else is going well. Love reading your updates!
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Ugh! I rarely trust anyone anymore. I am with you, I'd prefer to send it off myself.
Sounds like all else is going well. Love reading your updates!
Aw, thanks for reading, Karol! I am not the most optimistic person, so I am astonished at how much I like it here, and how all four of us seem to be simultaneously happy right now.
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Great to read your posts from England, sounds like generally, things are suiting you nicely.
EXCELLENT NEWS
Thanks, Nat! I'm trying not to take a moment for granted. :)
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Well, I doubt the hospital would want to ship it themselves, but good luck with it anyhow
Love, Cas
You'd think not, but California never let me handle my own tubes of blood. They seem more laid back here.
(Can't believe I'll be meeting you in a matter of days.... :yahoo;)
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I was only in England for a fortnight, and later I was in Scotland for about a week. But I LOVED THE UK! When I was there, it was lovely weather, and that might make a difference - but I found it sublime, the light, the colours, the green-ness, the flowers!!! I'm a big old softie when it comes to good gardening conditions...
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Me neighter. :yahoo;
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I was only in England for a fortnight, and later I was in Scotland for about a week. But I LOVED THE UK! When I was there, it was lovely weather, and that might make a difference - but I found it sublime, the light, the colours, the green-ness, the flowers!!! I'm a big old softie when it comes to good gardening conditions...
I am discovering the charms of gardening myself... never thought I'd see the day! We are trying to plant herbs but the basil doesn't seem to be doing all that well. I love the idea of gardening and having access to my own ingredients right outside my door, but it doesn't always work out for us in practice.
As I've already mentioned, Dyl handed in his half-term project - we recreated The Flower Carrier by Diego Rivera - and what was fascinating was hearing what the other kids had done. He said that there was one painting that is recreated by many kids, year after year, and the photo is invariably taken at our local castle, on a bridge. Dyl described it as being a bit 'wavy' and 'blurry' kind of like a Salvador Dali painting, and he said there was a person in it who was bald.
I never in a billion years would have guessed which painting this was, but a bit of lucky googling and I found the painting in question.... Edvard Munch's The Scream!!!! A bit dark for seven and eight year olds, but of course, it's easily recognizable and EASY. Dyl also mentioned someone who made The Mona Lisa out of Lego (how??!!) and a girl who recreated Banksy's Balloon Girl which Dyl described as 'clever'. I cannot wait for parents' evening when I can see all the different projects for myself.
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So, NHS Direct was decommissioned and now we're all to ring 111? Is there any measurable difference?
We learnt this news at roughly 3AM. Gwyn was so restless and when I finally asked if he was all right, he said he hadn't slept yet and was in agony and the powerful painkillers were not touching the pain. I told him to call for an ambulance (he couldn't walk) but he said he was going to wait until morning. The hell he was going to wait, I needed to sleep and couldn't knowing how much pain he was in. Tried to phone NHSDirect and found out it was shut as of end of March. There seemed to be little difference, possibly just that now someone screens the calls to see if you even get to talk to a health professional, and which type they put you through to. We could not get an ambulance without waiting an hour or so, so I got up and drove him (we live quite close to our local hospital).
He was seen immediately at A&E (doctor admitted that he was suspecting gout, but it definitely was not gout) they X-rayed his foot and now they are saying probably tendonitis. There isn't much they can do for him beyond the standard pain killers and anti-inflammatories. I got back to sleep at 4AM, and found out later that the silly man was done by about half four but just rested across some chairs in the waiting room until my usual wake up time of 6:45. (A&E allowed this?!) He said he couldn't sleep anyhow so he didn't want to wake me and then keep me up the rest of the night. (They're called 'taxis' and 'couches', Gwyn!!) I got Dyl to school in plenty of time but had to phone Aidan's school and tell them that he was going to be late and it was his parents' fault. They were quite sympathetic. I crawled through work today, buoyed by my lovely colleagues. (We make a great team, usually.)
Gwyn also remembered he had a dentist appointment today to have a filling re-done. The man is basically a crumbling mess.
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Hi Cariad.
I am not up to date on this thread and just read last post. Sorry to hear about Gwyn. I know all to well about tendonitis (4x in ankles, 3 x in left).
Northwestern had a conference about your transplant, but I couldn't go due to the time it was held. It would have been intersting to hear.
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I guess he was so tired he wasn't thinking straight by then. I can't think at all if I don't get a decent 7-8 hours a night. I'm impressed that you got through the day yourself. Hope you've all got some sleep since then.
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Any progress Cariad? I so hope so. When I had that the only stuff that worked (and then only 20 mins orso, but what a relief that was) was Arniflor, in combo with Ibuprofen of course (not arnica gel, that didn't do anything) I'm on machine now, will have look on ingredients later.
Good luck y'all, and love, and strength, Cas
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Any progress Cariad? I so hope so. When I had that the only stuff that worked (and then only 20 mins orso, but what a relief that was) was Arniflor, in combo with Ibuprofen of course (not arnica gel, that didn't do anything) I'm on machine now, will have look on ingredients later.
Good luck y'all, and love, and strength, Cas
Hiya, Cas. Thanks so much for asking after Gwyn. He took Monday and Tuesday off - I think Monday was pretty rough and he was knocking back the Co Codomal with wild abandon, Tuesday was better but he stayed out of work because he was still taking powerful drugs that made driving or operating machinery unsafe. He worked the rest of the week and reports that he feels much better with only a bit of pain now and again.
He should probably stop playing rugby for a good while, but I know if the opportunity comes up, he'll do it. The tendonitis first started when he began training for rugby in ill-fitting shoes, and was aggravated when he played in a tournament for charity. He feels lucky though, ever since we heard a friend's achilles tendon snapped while playing football! (Ow, ow, ow....)
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I guess he was so tired he wasn't thinking straight by then. I can't think at all if I don't get a decent 7-8 hours a night. I'm impressed that you got through the day yourself. Hope you've all got some sleep since then.
You're probably right, Nat. The older I get, the more I need a full night's sleep and will be unable to keep my eyes open after a certain point (specially if I've had a glass of wine). Gwyn's fallen asleep just now and it's only 4:30 in the afternoon, so I guess he still needs to catch up on a bit, but we've all got the next week off so it's a perfect opportunity to do just that.
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Hi Cariad.
I am not up to date on this thread and just read last post. Sorry to hear about Gwyn. I know all to well about tendonitis (4x in ankles, 3 x in left).
:waving; Chris, it's been so long! Sorry to hear you're a tendonitis veteran. Is rest for the ankle the only treatment? Gwyn's doing much better now. I have given him supplements from my mother (The Queen of the Homeopathic Remedy): Glucosamine and MSM. He is hopefully taking them faithfully. He is much improved at least.
Northwestern had a conference about your transplant, but I couldn't go due to the time it was held. It would have been intersting to hear.
Hey, they didn't tell me about this! It does sound interesting, I so enjoyed hearing about the results in London last September. Was Dr. L the primary speaker? I'll see if I can find a summary of it somewhere. I am curious if there are any new findings over the past months. Thanks for letting me know. How are you doing? Last I remember, you were in the midst of a long hospital stay. :( How's Whitley?
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Cariad all I was told was to rest and use Flexal or use ice and heat for my tendonitis. Hard to do when I was working 2 jobs. However resting did help it. I have had other problems creep up since being hospitalized in August of last year. Lot of test, some physical therapy that did not help.
As for Dr. Leventhal speaking, I believe it was him. I no longer have the invitation because it fell on my mothers birthday. I have to check my email for the contact information of someone who maybe able to get the information you want.
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Cariad, do you have the same email address?
I am not sure the information that I do have will help. There is a Northwestern Patient council now who may have the information from April 6 that is not listed on their website.
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Cariad, do you have the same email address?
I am not sure the information that I do have will help. There is a Northwestern Patient council now who may have the information from April 6 that is not listed on their website.
I do have the same email address. OK, so this is something patients/the general public were invited to attend? I wonder if they were recruiting? Last I heard they had used up all the grant monies and would perform the procedure again if a patient were willing to pay out-of-pocket. (!!!!!!!!!!!!) However, I also heard they were moving into Phase III, so I'm a little confused where things stand. Thanks for letting me know! Gwyn thankfully felt much better after only a day or so of resting his foot but I am pretty sure the problem will eventually resurface. I am urging him to take supplements from my mother - she has suggested krill oil, MSM, and glucosamine.
Sorry to hear that you are still battling health issues. :(
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I am not sure if the public was notified via the hospitals health newspaper, or signs in the building. The letter I had was to all transplant recipients and probably open to any doctor associated with the hospital.
I will forward what I have left cariad.
Tendonitis is a pain! I could not rest when I had it and it is probably why it returned several times, worse than cramps during dialysis for me.
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Tendonitis is a pain! I could not rest when I had it and it is probably why it returned several times, worse than cramps during dialysis for me.
Wow, that's bad. Really, really bad. Hope it keeps away from you and Gwyn from now on.
I am so nervous. Tomorrow I see Aidan play the starring role in a very difficult piece. I received preliminary reports from a teacher's aide who was at the sewing party I attended this evening and saw the performance they put on for all the year 6s. When she found out who my son was, she exclaimed "Oh, he's gorgeous!" Then she advised that I 'bring a box of tissues' and she kept saying how good he was in the role. She told me she was trying to place his accent and decided he must be Irish. I used to get this all the time, still do occasionally, and now the boys are getting it too.
I am also going to see the show closing night. It only runs for three performances, and when people ask why I would see it twice I tell them that my boy is the lead, who knows if I'll ever have this opportunity again, in fact, they'll be lucky to keep me away from the third performance. I am so very proud of Aidan, and I just love theatre so I am ecstatic.
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Tendonitis is a pain! I could not rest when I had it and it is probably why it returned several times, worse than cramps during dialysis for me.
Wow, that's bad. Really, really bad. Hope it keeps away from you and Gwyn from now on.
I am so nervous. Tomorrow I see Aidan play the starring role in a very difficult piece. I received preliminary reports from a teacher's aide who was at the sewing party I attended this evening and saw the performance they put on for all the year 6s. When she found out who my son was, she exclaimed "Oh, he's gorgeous!" Then she advised that I 'bring a box of tissues' and she kept saying how good he was in the role. She told me she was trying to place his accent and decided he must be Irish. I used to get this all the time, still do occasionally, and now the boys are getting it too.
I am also going to see the show closing night. It only runs for three performances, and when people ask why I would see it twice I tell them that my boy is the lead, who knows if I'll ever have this opportunity again, in fact, they'll be lucky to keep me away from the third performance. I am so very proud of Aidan, and I just love theatre so I am ecstatic.
Oh, this sounds absolutely lovely, Cariad.
We have been going through lots of things and organizing since we are in the process of selling our school. I came across some "pictures" Dylan had drawn in one of my spiral notebooks. Brought back precious memories.
:cuddle;
Aleta
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Oh, this sounds absolutely lovely, Cariad.
We have been going through lots of things and organizing since we are in the process of selling our school. I came across some "pictures" Dylan had drawn in one of my spiral notebooks. Brought back precious memories.
:cuddle;
Aleta
Aw, that's so sweet, Aleta! Thanks for mentioning it, I don't even remember him doing that. Cannot believe he was only 4 then, and he just turned 8 earlier in the month.
I am on a cloud of joy. Saw the play last night. This was proper theatre, such talented children, very clever staging. Aidan was run off his feet through the whole show - stage fighting, singing, dancing, hauling scenery and props around, running laps and doing press ups. The show opens with him sitting on a swing made of other students - he also rides a horse made of other students, and gets piggyback rides from at least two other actors. He looks so tiny out there. Some of the other kids blew me away, there wasn't a weak link among them, and several incredibly brave performances. Aidan himself is only 11 and I am not even sure how well he understands some of the subject matter in the show.
The curtain has risen on tonight's performance, but I am home as Aidan wants to have one performance without his parents in the audience. I'll be holding him in my thoughts for the next 90 minutes.
Show them what you can do, Aidy! :kiss;
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My mother was here and had perhaps the most English experience possible. Elliot's school was having their summer fete, and I explained the tombola, tried to, anyhow. I explained that they get donations from students by exchanging a prize for a uniform-free day. So every child donates a prize and then you pay for a chance to get tickets that are already matched with specific prizes (how it differs from a raffle). At the first school we went to they only did bottle tombolas, and you could choose adult or child, so any winner from the adult one was guaranteed to be an alcohol prize. :) :) :) :) :)
This school's tombola is guaranteed to be hilarious, though. People have been donating back their crap prizes for years, so the non-edible gifts are well-traveled. We won five items, and at the end of it all I held them up and said "this could not be more demonstrative of what I was talking about". The prizes were: a bright pink plastic ice cream scoop in the shape of an ice cream cone, a soap in the shape of a cupcake, some Christmas mulled wine spices (that expire October 2014, so must be ancient!) some sort of multicouloured light that I believe was meant to be placed outside (this was either already broken when we won it or broke in transport) and a box of chocolate mints. I kept letting the boys play until the boys won something halfway decent, so I do believe the school made close to 10 pounds on that box of mints. The boys also performed in a street dance demonstration for a huge crowd there.
We left there and went to our CSA. We found one in England! It is absolutely brilliant! We go to the farm each Saturday and weigh out our share ourselves, and they have extras we can buy like quail eggs for 10p each and locally milled flour. If there is a veg you don't like (plenty of kohlrabi to go around) you can leave it in the free corner for another member to help themselves to. Their shitake mushrooms are the best I have ever tasted, the boys adore the carrots, and their beetroot is out of this world. We got to tour the farm, and of course it was tipping it down and my mother was wearing her brand new short wellies from Joules, so the whole day was as Englishy as it gets.
She also saw Aidan win his dance school's tap award which was nice. The boys actually took a day off school and we went to see the Shakespeare properties. I'd been to the birthplace with Gwyn many years ago but had never seen the gravesite which I think is oddly haunting with its pleading little poem engraved on top asking for peace for his remains. Almost like there was a sense even back then that some people would have an unhealthy fixation with celebrities.
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Sounds like a lovely time!
:2thumbsup;
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It's Independence Day in the motherland! I am suited up in my Levis, red leather PF Flyers, and my American flag t-shirt. There shall be no "So, where is that accent from?" at work today! I think this is my fifth or sixth July 4 outside America, losing track but I won't miss the pressure to go find a decent seat to watch the fireworks. On our last July 4 in America the boys and I found the most brilliant spot to watch the fireworks only to later learn that there had been a brutal, racially motivated attack on white teenagers there the year before, thus it was rather deserted.
I prepped Dyl for the inevitable questions about what today is at school. I sent him with a bicentenial half-dollar, a nickel so they could see what Thomas Jefferson looked like, sort of, and an ordinary quarter because it has the classic eagle and the George Washington face. I didn't tell him anything about Thanksgiving last year or the year before because I hate that holiday and try to forget it every year (but British people have started bringing it up and I wish they'd stop). Sooooo, last year Dyl was asked what Thanksgiving was all about in America and he essentially said "you sit around eating turkey".
Two more weeks of school!
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Oh, and Gwyn and I have another issue with the way things operate in the UK as opposed to America. I would be especially interested if any other humanists on the site have any thoughts. I will preface this with a very clear statement that this is not going to turn into a debate about religious beliefs - if you want to talk about that, there are an abundance of threads on IHD that should meet your needs.
Please do not read the following if you are offended by differences in religious beliefs.
Aidan texted me the other day to say that he and his friends were going to a local club. I know a little about this club as a friend of his had his birthday party there, so I knew it was in a church and that they have a pool table and video games for the kids. I happened to run into Aidan and his friend on their way to the club, and when I asked where they were going (because Aidan's texts are often nonsensical) the friend tried to sell me on the idea of the club by saying 'it teaches us life lessons'. I was in a rush when we were standing out on the pavement, so I just told the friend it was fine, I just needed to be clear on where they were going, but certainly the phrase 'life lessons' and 'church' did not sit well with me.
I asked Aidan about it after he returned home. He immediately gave up and said "I won't go there anymore if you don't want me to" He then told me that they tell them that their problems can be solved by learning from the Bible and tell a story or two about Jesus. I said I was fine with him going so long as he doesn't sell his rationalism for a few video games. I said I found what they were doing exceptionally sleazy and treading a very fine line ethically. I never signed anything saying they could proselytize to my child (he is only eleven!!!!) and I would bet my last pound that many parents don't even know this is happening. Fairly certain that this would end up in court if we were in the US.
Aidan and I closed the conversation by agreeing that if he is ever asked about his own world view, he needs to say he is a proud humanist, he can say he is interested in their belief systems (I suspect he doesn't really care so long as he gets to hang out with his friends, but never mind) and that his parents are both atheists and are only seeing this as a good anthropological lesson for him. I don't expect him to be confrontational with adults but if they try to pressure him to say or do things that he doesn't believe, he needs to tell me immediately. Right now there is an uproar over what is being called a 'radical Islamic takeover attempt' at schools not too far from us, so this little church group should know how seriously people take it when adults try to circumvent parental authority. I don't know if I should go down there and tell them that I take a dim view of them preaching to my kid, or if I should just let Aidan handle it. It is not the information that bothers me (he already takes Religious Education in school) it is the underhanded way they are going about it.
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I assume it's a youth club which is probably most frequented by children and young people who already attend the church? I know my mum's church has a club which meets once a week or so, and there are a couple locally to me; I get the impression that it's a safe environment for the young people and children who do go to church, and as such the activities or discussions may be partly based in religion and on the Bible. I'd therefore be surprised if a lot of parents didn't know what went on at the club and I suspect that the people who run it would probably be horrified that you think they're trying to put pressure on children; if most of the children do come from church-going families then they're probably just reiterating what goes on in church on the Sunday. Maybe you could contact the organisers and ask them questions. There's bound to be plenty of other local youth clubs which aren't church-led.
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Agree with Poppy, I was gonna the same thing!
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Thanks for the thoughtful replies. I wish I could say that the theory that this is wholly innocent makes sense to me, but having spoken to Aidan further this morning, I just don't see it. Yes, I do believe it is a church youth group that Aidan discovered through his friend B who probably attends the church. Of Aidan's friends, 2 others identify as atheist, so I do doubt that the family attends this church. As I was discussing this originally with Aidan, I thought I was probably being faintly ridiculous worrying that an adult would interrogate Aidan about his religious beliefs, but it turns out that Aidan's friend S was already asked, to which he responded, after much hesitation "I'm an atheist.... but I've been baptized." (Props to him for being honest, this is not easy to do and every American atheist knows what I am talking about.) Later B hurt his finger playing basketball and the church leader who was there prayed over it, then asked B if it felt better, B answered no, so she prayed over it again, asked him again, he said no again.... Aidan doesn't remember what she said next, something about what to do if it didn't stop hurting after 24-hours. This is worrying! Perhaps "see a qualified medical professional" should have been her next suggestion?
I asked Aidan to tell me what a typical few hours there is like and he said it involves prayer. I asked what would happen if he just turned up a bit late and he countered that the prayer takes place at the end. So what if you leave early? His response was that he tried that and she told him it would only take a few minutes. I asked if they held hands and he THANKFULLY said no. I asked if he had to recite anything and he responded "Not if you don't count 'amen'" (which I do!!!) I explained that while amen literally means 'the end' it is more accurately translated as 'I agree with you' in the way that it is used both in religious environments and as a colloquialism.
Yes, he could find another club, but his friends wouldn't be there. I think other youth clubs charge a small fee, but the 'fee' to go here seems to be that you must listen to someone lecturing you about Christianity. I imagine most of the parents only have a vague idea of what is going on, but perhaps they wouldn't care if they do, and that's the cultural difference between us. Most likely they've never been atheist parents in America where you have to fight constantly to keep your kids from being taught complete nonsense in science and history classes. What my cultural background and personal experience have taught me to find rude and aggressive they might see as harmless. I think at least one of Aidan's friends - the Sikh boy - is not allowed to go to the club.
Thanks for taking the time to read about my dilemma. I'll take a wait and see approach and hopefully won't ever feel the need to confront anyone there. I love that Aidan has these friends with such varied beliefs and backgrounds. He has a friend who is a hardcore creationist who asked him for proof that evolution existed. Aidan's response was "I don't want to argue about this with you." which I think showed a remarkable amount of maturity on his part. They are still friends and I admire that Aidan cares more about keeping the friendship than winning an argument.
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Dear Cariad,
I've never encountered "innocent" even mild religious indoctrination here in the US, so my experience is slanted. Having lived through numerous attempts on many fronts from many groups to "encourage" my daughter to find Jesus, I cast a wary eye on any and all adult led church oriented activities.
The culture is most likely very different where you are, but it doesn't hurt to be careful.
:cuddle;
Aleta
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I agree with willowtreewren that the culture on this site is in the main less indoctrinating. Everywhere is different. I'm from Holland, went to a christian youthclub etc, just nice games, and friends. However nobody ever prayed over a hurting finger either. And I nearly fell of my chair when my Canadian 11 year old niece said she wanted to become a missionary to bring the word of God to the poor people in Africa!
If it would be that extreme at that club the answer from Aidan's friend would have been enough to get him excluded already. I would keep an eye out, but I don't expect this situation to last long either, as Aidan sounds like quite a clever little boy.
Love. Cas
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Thanks Aleta and Cas! It's nice to get some validation that I am not overreacting. So many people seem to miss the fact that these things matter to humanists as much as they matter to anyone else. I cannot think of a parent who has ever said anything to the effect of "Well, I hold these sets of beliefs and/or values, but someone else stepped up and indoctrinated my child into their own ideology and I'm completely cool with that!"
School is almost out and then most of Aidan's friends will scatter for six weeks anyhow, and then returning to school in autumn is kind of like pressing a big ol' reset button as the kids learn their new routine, catch up with old friends and make new ones. I know that Aidan and B will remain friends - they are both outsiders in a new country and they've known each other from jump street - but I imagine the youth club will be an infrequent setting for Aidan. Fingers crossed anyhow.
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Bugger.
I'm pretty sure my little guy has Fifth's Disease. I'm pretty sure that I've caught it from him.
He has a raised, sandpaper rash across his face but nowhere else. It doesn't itch or really bother him, it's just a bit uncomfortable. He's been putting lotion on it and says that stings a bit. It looks exactly like my allergic reaction/possible scarlet fever rash, except thankfully he has no fever or any other sign of illness. I would suspect contact dermatitis but everything that he's put on his face he's also put elsewhere on his body (sunblock, not-terribly-clean river water) so it doesn't make sense that it would only be on his face. I don't have a rash but am fatigued and have the symptoms of a cold, and I've resigned myself to the fact that I contract everything.
We are all so worn out. Four more days of school. What's the point, they're not really doing anything this week in class because all the kids are so knackered, so why have them in school at all?
We just spent an hour at dinner discussing literature and what books Aidan will read over summer. He asked me for suggestions, but I asked him to mention any book titles he's heard that he's curious about. It was a sobering lesson that Aidan does not know a work of great literature from what we call 'fun reading' here (not that the two are mutually exclusive, I guess 'light reading' would be a better term). So Aidan was suggesting works he could read and he would say "What about the Hunger Games" (No) "The Lord of the Rings, does that count?" (Yes) "The one they just made a movie about, The Fault in Our Stars?" (Gah!) "Something by Charles Dickens" (Dare I even hope....)
I want him to be realistic and pick two books he might actually finish over the next 6 weeks. He's settled on Great Expectations (yay!!!!) and The Hobbit (yuck, but he could do so much worse than becoming a Tolkein fan.)
Off work tomorrow. I'm going to the leaving assembly for year 3 at Dyl's school. Apparently the headmistress will say a few words about each child in the year and I don't want to miss it. I feel I've missed too much of their lives already because of my stupid illnesses.
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Enjoy your day free tomorrow, and Dyl's headmistress's speech, and the sunny day
:waving;
Love, Cas
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Thanks, Cas! Dyl won an award for his projects - all those arty/crafty assignments that we've helped him with through the year. The way they did the ceremony was wonderful, with all the kids who won an award for a specific category called to the front, the headmistress read out why they were being recognised for this particular activity, and then the teacher would talk so enthusiastically about what was special about this child. They truly hit the mark with Dyl, the teacher said that she loved his projects because she would always learn something new from Dylan. The headmistress said it was a bit of role reversal, and that is so very Dyl. Every adult who comes into contact with him seems to have the story about how they had to concede that he was right and they were wrong about some bit of knowledge.
My coworker was teasing me about how it was just like the Simpson's 'everyone gets a trophy day', and I did find that bit funny, and it is true of many activities here, but this was so not what this ceremony was about. It was an excellent way for the school to demonstrate that they find talent in every child and see them entirely as individuals. I loved it!
Summer holidays have officially begun. I feel much more relaxed and it's nice to suddenly have a chance to work on this house and actually sort through everything from America. The boys already have a fairly full agenda for the summer, with a week of circus, a few kayaking courses that they want to take, a surprise visit from Aidan's best friend from America (over his birthday no less!!!) a trip to London to see Stomp with the American friend and then join a small group of kids that get to go up on stage to learn a few of the routines from the cast, a week in Wales staying at one of my brother-in-law's flats, and possibly a trip to Spain or Portugal over the final week if Gwyn is successful in finding a good excuse for his job to send him there. May throw a week of tennis or horseback riding in there if we can find the funds - we usually can when it comes to the kids and their activities! :)
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I so love reading about how life is treating you! This move has been a boon for you! :2thumbsup;
I bet the boys are growing like weeds, especially since you and they are thriving.
:cuddle;
Aleta
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I so love reading about how life is treating you! This move has been a boon for you! :2thumbsup;
I bet the boys are growing like weeds, especially since you and they are thriving.
:cuddle;
Aleta
Ha, funny enough, a football coach asked me today 'what do you feed them?' Elliot especially is gianormous for his age. Thanks for your ongoing support. Are you officially retired now? You mentioned selling the school, and I think I remember 2014 being mentioned from way back as being the big year, or am I misunderstanding something?
I love how sophisticated Aidan and his friends are. They released a yearbook for year 7 at Aidan's school, and the kids went around having their friends sign it, similar to how it's done in America. There is a fringey political party here called UKIP that spews hypocritical hatred for immigrants everywhere. (Hypocritical in part because one of the party's leaders is married to a Belgian, and he employs her as his personal secretary whilst ranting that immigrants take all the jobs. True story.) So, many of the messages Aidan's friends wrote to him were UKIP satire, he being their resident immigrant. My favorite note had to be H's "I don't hate fora... fouri, GO BACK TO THE MIDDLE EAST!!!" Aidan explained: "He couldn't figure out how to spell 'foreigners'. I told him I'm not from the Middle East and he said 'you are now!'" At 11 and 12 they are already young experts at pointing up the ridiculousness of it all.
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I love it!
No, I'm only semi-retired until May of 2015. I'll work part-time this year to help the new owner figure out everything he needs to do.
:2thumbsup;
We just returned from a camping trip (it is lovely in the middle of the week when everyone else is at work). Just think, this time next year I'll be FREE!
Aleta
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I love it!
No, I'm only semi-retired until May of 2015. I'll work part-time this year to help the new owner figure out everything he needs to do.
:2thumbsup;
We just returned from a camping trip (it is lovely in the middle of the week when everyone else is at work). Just think, this time next year I'll be FREE!
Aleta
Wow, May seems far away now, but at the same time, it's closer than we think. I assume the new owner is also Montessori trained? Sounds like the perfect way to ease into retirement, guiding someone else through their first year at the helm.
Aidan attended a sleepover yesterday. After he'd gone we got a packet through the post for him - it was a program from the Michael Morpugo play that he starred in, and there was an inscription on it that said "Hey, Aidan, guess who I ran into today?" and then it went on to urge him to keep drama in his heart, and was signed 'Detective Inspector May' which meant nothing to us, but the writing style was obviously his former drama teacher, the one who is off to a new school in September. There was a scrawl of writing next to the one paragraph. I handed it to Aidan and asked if he could make sense of it, and he said it was his drama teacher and that Detective Inspector May was an in-joke from rehearsals.
"Yes, but who did she run into?"
"Oh, Michael Morpugo. See?" and he pointed out that the unintelligible scrawl was his signature.
Such an amazing souvenir from an incredible teacher. I think I'm more delighted than Aidan (but only just). I keep warning him that 2015 is going to be quite the let-down as it seems that this has been Aidan's year in every conceivable way. :)
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We finally have a chance to just hang out as a family and today we sent our Ankarsrum on its maiden voyage making blueberry scones. Like most Americans, I was raised on the KitchenAid mixer - everyone had one in their home, and I always saw it as a kitchen basic, like a good set of knives. We sold ours when we moved because I didn't want to deal with moving it and having to use an adapter, and they had improved them so much in the 10+ years we had owned ours that I was looking forward to buying a new one.
They are freakishly expensive here, though. A great model in America might set a person back $300, while here the same model costs over £400, more than double the price. My employer uses a Thermomix, and those are around £900, and I was going to book a demo for when my mother was here (they cook you a 5-course dinner for free) but the timing did not work out so we blanked it. Meanwhile, Costco started selling the Ankarsrum at a phenomenal price, and it used stainless steel where the Thermomix uses plastic. Ankarsrum has a 5-year warranty to Thermomix's two-year guarantee, plus Costco backs everything they sell pretty much forever, so I know we could use this for a couple of months, decide it's not for us and return it no questions asked.
It is such a joy to have a mixer again! The design of the Ankarsrum is so clever, and one feature it has that KitchenAid does not is a timer. It will shut itself off if you want it to- as far as I know even the newest models of KitchenAid do not have that capacity. Our Ankarsrum also came with an extra plastic bowl for making batters, a variety of attachments, a cover for the bowl to keep dust out when it's not in use, and a blender jug that cleverly attaches to the side of the machine. It comes in a rainbow of colours, but I went for classic black as I usually do. So far, the kids are utterly fascinated with it and I was able to trick them into making the scones for me! May the novelty never wear off.
I do have a KitchenAid kettle that is simply gorgeous, quiet, adjustable, and makes a soft, lovely ding when it has come to your desired temperature. In Welsh, the word for microwave is 'popty ping' or essentially 'the oven that pings' (so adorable). I've started calling our KitchenAid 'tegell ping' or 'kettle that pings' because it suits it.
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Ooooh. Your mixer sounds like "da bomb." I have always wanted a KitchenAid. Once I'm fully retired and have more time for cooking, Ill finally get one.
The new owner IS Montessori trained (I trained him), and is a really good fit. I think this year will fly by!
We are already planning our travel agenda for the following year. In July a trip to Del in Newfoundland. Then in September a river cruise in Europe. After the holidays we are thinking of going to New Zealand to visit Hanify's family. Molly is graduation high school. It is hard to believe that Hanify (Bern) has been gone for over two years. :'(
Anyway, don't rule out a trip to England in the near future!
Aleta
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Anyway, don't rule out a trip to England in the near future!
That would make my year! We'd love to get together with you, either in our little shire or we can take on the big city together. That's so lovely that you keep in touch with Molly still, she certainly always struck me as wise beyond her years and I think we'll see big things from her in future.
It's been busy, and now that school is back full force we have all we can manage just trying to get to every appointment/activity in a day. This week has been especially challenging, and so very sad. Aidan came into my workplace sobbing, unable to catch his breath. His much-loved music teacher passed away suddenly and no one knows why at this point. Gwyn and I only met him the once, but found him such a charming individual, I remember clearly what he said about Aidan at parent's evening and how much he thought of him as a student and a person. I mentioned the encounter here:
We crashed the music teacher's room since we could not pre-book an appointment with him, and he said Aidan is so charming that on the one hand he doesn't want to suppress his humour, but on the other hand, it can get disruptive.
My heart sank when I asked Aidan if he seemed at all ill at school last week and he said "It was just a regular class, he talked about what we were going to do next time."
Football in an hour. Dyl played yesterday, and their team had their first win. Then we went with a group of parents to the local pub - this team has been so great for Dyl, it almost makes the nightmare he went through last year with a certain vile football club worth it.
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Thinking of Scotland today. As a member of a family of hardcore Celts myself, we'll stand with that country whatever they decide.