Not a bad wake up call if you ask me.
Luckily my plan of not sleeping for two days straight worked, and I'm not jet lagged today. Probably the first time I haven't awoke at 3am hungry for dinner.
After PG Tips (the most delicious british tea) and some toast with butter and jam, I was greeted by Meg and Charlie, my almost 7- and 9-year-old cousins. They bounded up the stairs as I was brushing my teeth and promptly dragged me downstairs to shoot me with a bow and arrow and teach me how to make a butterfly carpet for Meg's fairy house that hangs chic-ly from the banister in the front room.
This morning brought many simple pleasures, such as tasting salad cream for the first time in two years and eating cheese sandwiches with my grandparents in front of an antiques television show.
The biggest simple pleasure, though, has been listening to my grandma recount random, scattered events from her seventy-odd years of life. She aptly describes the selfish, affluent inhabitants of the "Big House" adjacent to their smaller countryside house where she lived when my mum and her siblings were young children, and how the lady of the house would complain when she hung her nappies out to dry on the clothesline.
"Her window didn't even face our garden," she pointed out indignantly.
As I've gotten older, I've come to appreciate such simple things: just the very activity of spending time eating and drinking tea and grocery shopping with my grandparents.
Speaking of, while grocery shopping this afternoon, I was purchasing shaving razors at Morrison's, and was accosted by the self-checkout supervisor who asked me if I was 18 and if I had my ID on me. I nervously proffered my Canadian driver's license which she looked over skeptically (I had to point out where my birth date was printed on the card) while I explained that yes, I was 18, but I was from Canada and not used to shaving razors being treated like alcohol and hunting knives.
~
Just returned from the beach with Charlie, Meg, Auntie Nat, and the grandparents. Got pulled under the icy English waters and fell back in love with the ocean after our three days apart. Weird to be thinking that just three days ago I was swimming in the Pacific.
Honeycomb ice cream avec a flake. OMG.
Also witnessed some lovely child-gambling at the arcade and played on the two- and ten-pence pushers.
~
Had tea tonight at a lovely little pub which made a delicious vegetarian lasagna. Lemonade in England is apparently Sprite, I had forgotten about that.
I miss everyone, but it sure is nice to not have to go to work every day!
love always
coral
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrTS5c20Jdg
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