How very fascinating

Despite being awake (if only just) at 6:30 this morning, it took us a long time to get out the door this morning. It was pretty much afternoon by the time we got in the car...we'd wasted loads of time watching the grand prix qualifying and then Saturday Kitchen. I am going to ban TV in the mornings!

We were heading for Cheltenham, but got as far as the New Bridge across the Severn, took one look at the queue of traffic and did a birlie round the roundabout and went to Worcester instead. It was the first time I'd paid more than a fleeting visit to our local city since we got back. It hasn't changed a great deal! We had a quick look in a couple of furniture shops as I'm looking for some new side tables, then we split up...Stephen went to the guitar and hi-fi shops and I went looking for an outfit for Eve's wedding.

With only about 6 or so weeks to go I felt that I couldn't really afford to waste any time, as wedding outfit shopping is usually a severe trauma! And my mammoth trying on session in the first shop bore that out. I was trying on summer dresses and that patterned and floaty vibe is SO not me. I think they look fab on tall, willowy people and I am certainly neither of those! I was feeling pretty down when I hit the second shop, and wouldn't you know it - I found a lovely tailored dress. Okay, its black so perhaps not the most weddingy colour, but with the cream jacket I bought recently it looks pretty okay. I bought a fascinator too...so the only dilemma is whether to fascinate or not. Stephen did struggle to keep a straight face when I showed him the little froufrou creation perched atop my head!

I made a Thai red curry for dinner. Probably the first thing I've cooked from scratch that was more complicated than a bacon butty since I've been home. It had butternut squash in it, and I'm lucky still to have all my digits after trying to cut it up and peel it with the collection of fairly blunt knives in the kitchen! Is there a way to deal with peeling these things that doesn't put you in severe danger? The curry tasted fab! Stephen was lapping it up despite his reservations about the squash and coconut milk. Perhaps I've not lost all my culinary skills...

Where am I?

We had a really delicious meal last night. We had tried to get into Ask, but after standing for 5 minutes being ignored a server told us it would be about 40 minutes for a table as we hadn't booked. The place was busy, but there were empty tables which I have to presume were for people who were more organised than us.

We toyed with the idea of going to the Anupam, but we've had a lot of Indian food recently, so we went into The Fig Tree which must be quite new, and has taken over one of the cafes off Church Street. It has been transformed into a really lovely space and the food was absolutely wonderful. It was some of the best food I've had in a restaurant in a while. We'll definitely be going back soon!

I was obviously tired and confused this morning. Stephen had woken up and was checking the time.
"What time is it?" I sleepily mumbled.
"6:30". He then proceeded to get out of bed.
"Where are you going? Are you gong to the football? I thought Rangers played tomorrow"
There was something of a pause before he asked "What are you talking about?"
"Are-you-going-to-the-football?"

Where else would he be going at 6:30am on a Saturday morning in Alexandria? At this point my bleary befuddled brain began to pull itself out of the depths of sleep it was still settled in....helped along by Stephen's sniggering. Okay, so we're not in Old Town, we're not in the US, we ARE in the UK and the football doesn't start at 6:30 in the morning. Its obviously taking me longer than I imagined to get my brain round being home!

You ARE kidding me...

I had a call from a very nice lady from BT's call centre this morning to confirm my order, and to tell me that there was a good chance that I wouldn't be able to keep my phone number. WHAT THE %$&@?? WHY is this so difficult?? We've told them that Mum won't be taking the number. We've told them that it was my number before. We've told them that we didn't have this problem when we did this 2 years ago. I feel like I'm living in some slightly mad parallel universe where people are determined to make life as complicated as possible!

Are you kidding me??

I do not believe this. After days and weeks of pain setting up utilities in the US as a non-American you would think that it would be simple for me - a bona fide Brit - to set up/reclaim control of utilities on my own home in my own country wouldn't you? Well, on the whole it was actually pretty straightforward as long as Mum and I both spoke to them and confirmed what was happening. Until we tried to change the phone.... then it got bad. REALLY bad!

Mum got through to someone who wasn't really sure what she was doing, and who (when passed to me) told me I had two options - I could take over the line which would entail being without a phone for 11 working days, or I could disconnect Mum and reconnect me, but this would mean being without a line for 2-3 working days. As we didn't want to be without a phone line for ANY length of time, and hadn't had to go without a phone line when we transferred it from me to Mum 2 years ago I carefully questioned her, then asked to be put through to customer service (which she said was her last resort). After a couple of minutes of listening to the automated voice apologising for keeping me waiting I got a person, who told me that what I wanted to do was perfectly reasonable but not his department. He put me through to someone else. Who put me through to someone else. Who put me through to someone else. After 40 minutes of being passed about from department to department (via Mumbai twice) I finally got someone who gave me a number to call and told me what option to press on the automated menu.

It turned out to be the same number that I had spent 40 minutes dialled into. And the options turned out to be totally different from what I had been told, but I was rolling with the punches by this point. I had difficulty in controlling myself when I finally got through...to the department I had originally spoken to, and to which I had been passed at least twice since then!! The urge to break into hysterical laughter was overwhelming! Fortunately the woman I spoke to this time knew what she was doing and I was able to take over the service - which will take 11 working days - but which does not involve a break in service and certainly not a break of 11 days!!!!

The reason I had to go through all the pain tonight? We found out when trying to sort out our car finance that we don't exist on the system as we're not paying for any utilities. After 2 years out of the country we seem to be suffering from our perennial US problem - we don't have a credit rating!!

Our air freight has arrived

Woohoo! The air freight has arrived this morning. I have a few more clothes now!! Only about another 4 pairs of shoes though as I had to take most of them out in order to make space for the essentials in life - Stephen's golf clubs.

It's only another few weeks before I'm reunited with the other few (hundred) pairs of shoes and the rest of my (more non-essential) clothes. I just hope we don't have a snow storm or a black tie event before it arrives!

WooHoo - Starbucks! Oh, and a trip to Hereford

We drove 15 miles to Hereford this afternoon in order to get our first Starbucks fix in 14 days. It was FANTASTIC! Its kind of a long way to go for a coffee though...

Enjoying his Americano fix

Whilst we were in Hereford we did a little trawl round the shops. This was the first time I've hit the High Street since my return to the UK and I was a little shocked at the number of shops that had closed down. The recession is obviously biting hard. I did a little recessionista shopping in TK Maxx, but didn't see anything stunning for my wardrobe...I did get a Buddha sculpture for the back garden though.

It would seem that the UK is trying to save the planet one carrier bag at a time. In an effort to reduce the number of plastic bags going to landfill shops are now charging 1p for "bags for life" which you are supposed to take with you when you shop and re-use until they fall apart (at which point the shop will replace them). Of course, I have not yet remembered to take them when I've gone to do any kind of shopping! It's a habit I have yet to form. Its bad enough remembering that you have to pack your own groceries here without having to remember the bags too! Annoyingly, having bought one in TK Maxx I had to buy another in WH Smiths as the Buddha head took up all the space and I couldn't squeeze the books in. D'oh!

We also rectified the cultural oversight of the past 15 years and went to Hereford Cathedral to see the Mappa Mundi. It is a Medieval map showing how 13th century scholars interpreted the world in spiritual and geographical terms. Jerusalem is at the centre of the map and the Garden of Eden is at the top. The Cathedral is pretty impressive and dates back to Norman times. It was begun in 1079, when work began to replace the cathedral that had previously stood there for around 200 years but had been razed by the Welsh in the 1050's. Okay, that's the history lesson over! It's enough to say that it was exceedingly impressive and very old...

The black and white house in the middle of the high street which dates back to 1620.


The front of Hereford Cathedral

The back bit of the Cathedral

The rear of the Cathedral and the Cloisters

Sudeley Castle

We are very determined that, after 2 years of doing a lot of "stuff" at weekends, we are not going to fall back into the old ways...get up, have a bacon sandwich and read the papers, do the so duku, go to Worcester, have a coffee, do some light shopping, buy a DVD, come home, open a bottle of wine, watch the DVD.... So in the spirit of investigating the bits of the countryside that we'd failed to visit in the 13 years of living here before, we headed off to Sudeley Castle yesterday.


Of course, we did have breakfast before we went...but not bacon butties...we went with the two other foods that we missed terribly in the UK...crusty bread and proper English Cheddar and lots of Lurpak too. Yummy!! Its good to spread your horizons and not get stuck in a rut...


We stopped in at the Audi dealer on the way to Sudeley. We'd seen a car there last week and Stephen wanted another quick look. There was a bit of nit-picking over a couple of minute scratches and the state of the rear tyres. I did some eye rolling to express my deep boredom, and we left the salesman with some homework to do on the price and the cost of the finance. He called halfway round our walk of the gardens at Sudeley and I'm pleased to say that it only took another small amount of negotiation before we bought the car. No more car shopping - yay!


I am ashamed to say that we drove down through some local towns and villages that I had never been to before. How could that be? I thought that I'd covered all the A-roads in the vicinity...we used to bomb around here in our little MX-5 for years, so how we managed to not drive through some of these places is a mystery!! We did manage to avoid the dirt-track pitfall of the satnav on the way to Winchcombe...it was determined to take us down the same single track roads that the satnav took us down in November. Luckily we spotted the mistake quickly this time!! Perhaps the car was just wanting to prove its off-roading pedigree...


Sudeley Castle was beautiful. They must employ an army of gardeners. Each hedge was precision clipped and there wasn't a weed in sight. It was lovely now, but I imagine that its totally stunning in summer when all the herbaceous plants are in bloom. The buildings are gorgeous too. And there is plenty of history attached to it. It was mentioned in the Doomsday Book. King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn visited there as did Elizabeth I and Lady Jane Grey. It was bestowed on Thomas Seymour, who rekindled his romance with Catherine Parr after the death of Henry VIII, and it is where she died and is buried.


In more recent times it is where Henry Dent-Brocklehurst (son of the owner) and Lili Maltese got married and where Liz Hurley outshone the bride by turning up in a dress slashed to the hip and a pair of sequined knickers! On further digging last night (Hello!) it was also where she married her hubby.


Pants were also on display yesterday. A mummy was bending down to take a photo of her little boy and in doing so flashed a lot of her pants to the world. She was wearing low-ride jeans and when she crouched down her grey thong shot up out the top...this was extreme builders bum and not something one would wish to see!!

Sudeley Castle viewed through the arch of the Tythe Barn

The shaded woodland walk near the tythe barn

The castle

The knot garden

Looking across the Queen's Garden - based on the garden that existed
during the time of Catherine Parr

The Secret Garden

These are in no particular order - back to the rather lovely setting of the Tythe Barn

Reflecting in the carp pond

The ruins of the 15th century banqueting hall

St Marys Chapel where Cathrine Parr is buried

A detail of the chapel

Stalking his prey....Stephen the (small) game hunter

The rather extravagant bird in the Pheasantry