These are a few of my favourite things

Not sure what I find more amusing here in the UK; the switch for the bathroom extractor fan above the doorframe outside of the bathroom, the way I have to remember to look left when I cross the street and bolt like a maniac to get to the other side, how a sales clerk always calls me “love” or “lovie”, the alarm on Rick’s cell phone that says, “It’s seven o’clock; time to get up,” with a British accent, or our combined washer dryer tucked underneath our kitchen cabinets that spun at helicopter speeds for an hour and a half and the clothes came out damp and the colours bled. So much for Rick’s favourite Hawaiian shirt. Looks like I got my Canadian Ass into hotwater.

You're Not in Kansas Anymore, Dorothy

Channing and I headed down to the town centre for our usual daily shopping trip which generally starts with a stop at our coffee shop. Rick discovered this place a couple of days after he arrived. They made a decent cup for cheap. We have decided that the Canadian concept of coffee and Uk’s is quite different. I have to say that Canadians are nuts about their coffee and there is no shortage of places to go to get a good cup of Joe. The guys in this particular shop were quite fascinated by our accents and when they asked where we were from and they tried to guess, one of them said Russia. Russia?! We let them know that we were from Canada and they thought we were just visiting. So we told them that no we had in fact moved here. Then when it came time to pay for our coffee, they gave them to us for free.

Today when we made our stop, I got tea for a change. Then off to the library we went to use the internet. However, Channing was trying to hand me my tea and the lid was not secured to the cup, and the entire contents spilt onto my hand and wrist and scalded it. I dumped the last bit of liquid from my water bottle but I knew this wasn’t going to help my wrist that was now most definitely on fire. I ran to bathroom in library only to find it is occupied. Between my sobbing and my accent, the girl behind the counter wasn’t sure what I was asking for. Another lady, I will call her Amanda the angel, took me to the staff bathroom and ran cold water on it and gave me directions to the Boots Drug store to get it looked at. When I told Amanda that I had just moved here on Monday, she said, “Welcome to Dartford.” She was such a sweetheart and really tried to help me.

Walking to the counter at Boots was like showing up at a walk-in clinic. The pharmacist was amazing. She whipped out these cooling pads and gauze and together she and Channing bandaged me up. Not sure that I would have received that kind of service at a drug store back home.

Back in the town centre, I had to collect my thoughts and rethink our plans for the day. As we stood outside in the square a group of at least five uniformed men and one woman suddenly marched past us. “What the heck? Is that the swat team?” Channing asked. But as they continued on their way, I could see that they had “UK Border Agency” written on the backs of their black vests and they were heading into, oh my goodness, our coffee shop.

Lesson for day four of living in another country; give soda a try.

To Dance or Dine

I delivered our 5 boxes to be shipped out a couple of days ago from the local post office which is located in our General Store. When I stopped by the store a day later, Chris, the owner, said, "I hope you are sitting down," when I arrived to pay for the packages. The total was going to cost nearly $500! I was on my way into town to drop the boys off, so I told him I needed to think about it. It wasn't exactly $100 like Rick thought it would be for all five boxes. When I got in the car and told the boys how much it was, Chan said, "That could buy A LOT of groceries, Mom!" That kid is a practical boy. Either that or he is afraid he won't be able to fill that hollow leg in the near future.

After I finished my running around in town, I went back to the store and Chris let me rummage through the boxes in the back room and I managed to narrow it down to two. I tried to make sure that each of us had a winter/fall coat, some of Rick's ties, his dress pants and a couple of dress shirts, school binders, and important paperwork, . Janet, the girl from the post office, weighed the remaining two boxes at least two more times and I still kept taking stuff out. When I finally reach a price that I was comfortable with, I confessed to Janet that I had sacrificed my tap shoes. “You'll have to hit a thrift shop over there, Bev,” she suggested. I wonder how many other women in my situation would have been willing to sacrifice their favourite pair of shoes.

Family Ties

Rick left tonight. He was like a kid on the first day of school dressed in his favourite Hawaiian shirt and khaki pants, his back pack stuffed, and hair neatly combed. It felt so strange to see him off. I wasn't quite sure what to do after Chan and I waved goodbye and went back inside. It seems that we have been constantly on the go for weeks now putting all of the necessary arrangements in place. With Molly at her mother's now, Keaton moving stuff to his dad's and hanging out with friends, I turned to Channing and said, “Well, I guess it's just you and me now, Bub.” The dynamics of our family was changing again.

The UPS Guy

So I just returned from town doing a ton of running around in the blistering heat and the UPS truck pulled into our drive. “Hey, Chan!” I yelled. “I wonder if this is your passport?” I didn't want to get myself into a knot about this since I only just returned all of the paperwork five days ago. Not to mention that the last time the UPS guy showed up, he was returning my rejected passport application. But being this close to leaving for the UK, I couldn't stand the thought of dealing with another rejection, more delays, and not knowing when we would actually step onto a plane. Channing was in such a hurry to open the envelope that the delivery man had to ask him to hold on a second. “I don't care what you do with it once she signs for it,” he joked. With the UPS guy satisfied that my John Hancock was affixed, my boy ripped the cardboard tab and fished out.........the approved passport followed by a couple of loud Woo-hoos.

The Countdown

Well, Rick's departure is only four days away and we have accomplished so much. Our house is in the best shape ever since I moved in eight years ago. We have rearranged, purged, dumped, recycled, and donated a garage full, two basements worth, as well as, one out building. It is amazing the junk that we have collected (really it is Rick's junk, not mine) over the years. What did we need all of that for anyway? We finally took a breather for the first time this summer and hit the beach in Lakefield. The weather has been deathly lately, and it felt so good to dip in the lake and sit on the beach. Tomorrow we are heading to the marina to wrap up the sailboat and say our farewells to our good friends, Sophie and Stan. I have found that as the days pass and our departure approaches, I am more mindful of how much I love our home and how appreciative I am for the terrific friendships we have acquired. But you know what? There is no reason why we won't find those things in the UK too!

The Waiting Game

My long form birth certificate finally arrived from the UK today, 15 days after I placed the order online. Gee, I am sure glad I paid the extra cash for what I thought was express delivery. In actual fact, what I paid for was not to have it delivered quicker, but processed quicker. Kinda frustrating. So I booted into town and sent Channing's passport off, yet again, with several stickies attached saying, “Rush. Urgent. Please process and return asap.” Not that that will make any difference. It is what it is at this point. Just like with everything else that we have had to plan for our journey. It eventually gets here. Just not always within the time frame we would prefer. Now we sit and wait...again.