One of the difficulties of living in a country where they drive on the other side of the road is remembering which way to look for oncoming traffic. Of course, you look both ways, but when you cross into the middle, you need to know which side to watch. I am starting to adjust. However, my problem now is always remembering “the other side of the road”.[ad#ad-1]
When I first came here, I used to remind myself that I have to look the opposite way that I was used to. I have become adjusted to being a passenger on the left side and seeing cars going down the left side of the road. However, that reminder still pops into my head, and now it’s gotten to the point where I am looking to the opposite of the opposite and I have to stop and really think it through. It becomes very frustrating, especially because sometimes you have a very narrow opportunity for crossing the road. (Though most places have crosswalks, sometimes it’s too far out of your way to cross there.)
I don’t know when I’ll have adjusted enough to just take it for granted that I am looking in the right direction. Sometimes, I see people, whom I consider natives, who make the same mistakes. Of course, they might also be foreigners, or they might just be careless/forgetful.
It’s taken almost a year for me to get to this point. And I’m not even driving. It’s so appropriate that I bring up this topic today because the people of Samoa are about to experience what I’ve experienced this past year. Only, they will all experience it collectively and will have to adjust in a shorter time period.
The people in Samoa have to make the switch from right-hand driving to left-hand driving in one day – today. They will have a two-day holiday to get people adjusted. Some critics are complaining about the lack of preparation, with the roads (not to mention the people) not being ready for the change, and the resultant increase in car crashes. I really feel for them. I can’t imagine what would happen if the UK were to ever decide to switch like that. Since Samoa is many hours ahead of us, I wonder how things went over there today.
It’s a good feeling to know that I have a job. Or, will have, very soon. After my second interview, I feel somewhat drained. Not that it was particularly gruelling, but the anxiety associated with interviews and the tremendous relief afterwards can leave you feeling like you’ve been hit by a truck. Then, I get excited knowing that we can stay in England, we can move house, etc. Then, I get anxious again because we have to move house, etc.[ad#ad-1]
Anyhow, my two interviews have renewed my confidence. It’s not a good feeling when you’ve sent out two dozen CVs and not get word for a long time. But, being offered a job on the spot is a big booster. I went ahead and did the second interview just to see how I would do (besides the fact that it was a little late to cancel on them). Though I wasn’t formally offered a job, I was asked if I would accept if it was offered and when I could start. They implied I was overqualified, and seeing that the only other interviewer at the time spent only 5 minutes with them, it was enough to convince me they were trying to see which way the wind was blowing. I had to admit that I couldn’t accept, but I wanted to know how I did. The main interviewer told me he could not see how I could not be successful in whatever I decided to pursue.
Of course, as soon as I received my first offer, I got called for two other interviews. One was very tempting. I have to make a lateral career change and I have chosen two areas of expertise. The job I chose is in the field of my first choice. But, the job is a temporary one, and I will be starting out part-time, moving to full-time in a few months’ time. However, it’s a step towards my goal, and it gets me a foot in the door. My second job would be doing what I had done years ago, so a definite step down. The third interview, which I turned down, is similar to the second. All three are temporary. But, the fourth one would have been permanent and would lead me down a path towards my second choice of a career change. It’s tempting to go for it and see how I do, but I think it’s probably best to concentrate on finding another house and a new school, etc. There’s still that slight twinge of regret, but I know that the position would be a lot more competitive.
It’s not that I regret my decision. But, the cost of living is a lot higher at my chosen job than if I chose any one of the other positions. On the other hand, there would be fewer transitions. For example, our daughter will still be able to go to the same gym and have the same piano teacher. They’ll stay in their school until mid-term at least.Â
But, we’re moving because our lease will be up soon and we’ve had enough of all the problems in this house. I’m not sure how much longer before the rest of the floor in the kitchen will cave in. We have enough trouble walking around the areas that have already broken through. There’s also a hole in the bathroom. All the work that the landlord was supposed to take care of since we moved in has not been touched. In addition, they (agent and landlord) have not resolved this issue with the electric meter. As it turns out, we were right when we complained that we must’ve been paying for more than our fair share of electricity. So, until October, when I start my job, we will need to take a good look at our housing and schooling options.
I was also very excited about my pay. I had been informed by several institutions that because I am new to this country, I would start at the lowest pay level. However, this place argued that with my experience, I should be offered something closer to the top (not the very top due to my inexperience in this country, but close). It means we will be able to maintain our current standard of living, which is by no means extravagant in any sense. But, to find a house in our price range will be very difficult down in that area. We will have to live a little ways out.
My excitement has been tempered by the fact that next year, when I have actually worked a full year, my salary would be at a level such that I might have to pay double taxes – UK and US! I’ll have to look into this. To have to pay taxes to two different countries means that the take-home would be even less. And what makes it even more unfair is that the US uses an exchange rate of 2.1 (based on the currency exchange from several years ago), and not the current rate, which is closer to 1.6.
Our biggest trip of the summer was going to Scotland. We wanted to get to Inverness, and possibly all the way up to John O’Groats. But, the amount of driving finally took its toll, and we didn’t even make it to Inverness. It didn’t help that we only had one driver. And, it didn’t help that although the kids begged to go to Scotland (because everybody was going somewhere far for the holidays), their primary goal was Build-a-Bear Workshop.[ad#ad-1]
We realised early on that if we didn’t go to BABW, we would never hear the end of it. There are several BABWs in Scotland and we really had no clue where they were. After perusing the map, we decided to head towards Edinburgh. As we approached Edinburgh, taking the scenic route and passing through some quaint little towns and villages, we saw signs for Park-n-Ride. We opted for this, since we didn’t want to get lost in Edinburgh. We parked up and took the bus. Luckily, the bus driver was well-informed enough to tell us exactly where BABW was, and even took the time to make sure we got off at the right stop. It was a very hot day and the BABW was stuffy. I was very disappointed that they used all their money to get a bear. And, instead of dressing it up in traditional Scottish dress (since we were in Edinburgh), our younger daughter spent her remaining money on a simple T-shirt. After that trip, we thought they’d focus on seeing a bit of Scotland, but all they wanted was to get home as soon as possible to log their new friends into the computer. Uugh!
We walked around the square, took some pictures of the castle and the Scott (Sir Walter Scott) monument. There was music coming from the castle and we wondered if there was a festival or some event going on. We didn’t see any advertisement anywhere, though. The streets were crowded, and it didn’t help that they were doing construction work on a light rail in the city. The heat was making all of us tired, so we go back to the car and drove out of town.
Since we saw Edinburgh Castle, we thought, “Where is Balmoral?”. We had just purchased a new map book, and it showed the location of Balmoral, so we decided to head in that direction. We headed out towards Perth, crossing the Firth of Forth bridge (the Forth Road Bridge, that is), one of the longest suspension bridges in the world. At Perth, we took a wrong turn and started heading towards Dundee, but we eventually found our way to Braemar, in the middle of the Cairngorn Mountains. Balmoral is in the heart of the Cairngorn National Park, near Braemar. Though the mountains of Scotland may not be as rugged and high as the Alps or the Rockies, we could sense the desolation of the High Country as we drove through. Besides the ski resort, we saw no signs of habitation for miles and miles. The only living things were sheep, some grazing right next to the road, and some birds of prey flying overhead. Nearer to Braemar, some campers had pitched their tents near a river. It was quite cold, but we regretted not bringing a tent.
We stopped in Braemar for a bit and walked around the town. Then, we got back on the road towards Balmoral. At one particular bend in the road, a few miles away, we saw the top of what looked like the tower of a castle. But, we couldn’t see it again, so we couldn’t be sure. When we drove up to the road to Balmoral, we discovered that the castle had been open to the public, up until two days before we arrived. We drove down there to see if we could see it, but the gate was closed and a guard was nearby, looking rather laid-back and playing with his phone. We drove on down and turned around again, and the guard looked up at us questioningly (we must have disturbed his texting). Back on the main road, we were just about to turn onto the road to Inverness when we decided to start heading home.[ad#ad-1]
The kids half-heartedly protested. But, they had been asleep on the drive through the Cairngorns, so we told them they missed the tortuous, hilly roads that made their stomachs turn. It was like a roller coaster ride for them, and by the time we reached Perth, they wanted to go through the mountains again. We stayed at a B&B in Perth and spent the next morning looking around the town. It was quite nice. After that, we headed once again for England.
My kids love going on the buses, especially the double-deckers. They enjoy sitting on top at the very front and watching the roads and the scenery from there. They imagine all kinds of adventures up there. And, it’s thrilling when we go under low bridges or hit some tree branches.[ad#ad-1]
It’s nice to think that public transportation in England is available, even in the remotest parts. However, it is not always very economical. Unfortunately, it has become even more expensive, as public transportation has become privatised.Â
There was this romantic notion that I could just hop on a bus and go anywhere and I could give up driving over here. We’ve discovered that this idealised notion is extremely impractical. Both from the financial perspective, as well as the time aspect. We’ve had to rely on buses, whether we’re in a rush or relaxed, but it’s definitely a lot more fun when we’re relaxed. But, even so, the cost of taking the bus for a family of four may outweigh its benefits.
We discovered that today. We’ve used the buses before to travel to Tunbridge Wells, but we didn’t recall that it was that expensive. We thought it might be a little more than if we had decided to drive and pay for parking. But, because the kids enjoy the buses, the extra cost wouldn’t be too bad. Well, it was too late to jump off after we’d boarded and found out the cost was more than five times what we expected. Yikes! And double yikes!
Not only that, but we had to wait around for a while after we had run our errands, for our bus to take us home. After all, it’s a tiny village, so the bus only stops in the village once an hour, if necessary. Even when you factor in the hassle of driving in town, I don’t think the bus was worth the cost today.
It’s August Bank Holiday weekend. We are avoiding going out today. The traffic report on Friday was enough to convince us that this is the biggest travel weekend. Of course, the 35-mile traffic back-up outside Bristol was not related to an accident, but to a man on a bridge, yet the amount of traffic speaks volumes.[ad#ad-1]
Nevertheless, we opted to head for the beach yesterday. This time, it was to Camber. We figured it wouldn’t be as packed as more popular places, like Brighton or Eastbourne. And, we were right. The traffic was pretty bad in a few spots on our way down, but it was very clear on our way back. We wanted to stop first in Rye, but couldn’t find a parking spot, so we went on into Camber instead. It would have been nice to stop and look around. Maybe next time.
Camber is located just to the east of Rye, a small medieval town. It is in the Walland Marshes and very nearby are “Danger Areas” that are fenced off. From what I understand, it is where they did some testing during WWII and there may be landmines still in there. But, Camber itself is just a small seaside village. There is a Pontins there. To those Americans who may not know what that is, it’s like a chain holiday resort.
Camber is the first beach we’ve been to with sand dunes. I’ve seen images of beaches with sand dunes and I’ve been to some with one or two dunes, but this is the first one I’ve experienced with dunes stretching the entire length, with a golf course on the dunes at the very end. It was also very low tide, so the beach stretched out very far. We went wading in the water and found lots of shells. Even in the small shallow pools in the sands, my husband and kids spotted little fishes. And, guess what? The water was lukewarm. On the opposite end to the golf courses was a shingle beach and the people there were engaged in parasurfing. It seems to be a very popular sport along the southern coast of England, but there were many more people doing it in Camber than we have seen at the other beaches.
The kids played horse and camel in the sand dunes. They had crawled up the dune and down to the beach. They did not change into their bathing suits and got their clothes very wet while they went wading (they wore capris). Afterwards, when they got down on all fours again to play in the dunes, they were extremely filthy. But they had fun doing so.
They have a parking lot at the beach, though there really are no marked parking bays. Pretty much, you park somewhere on the grass and try to keep some order. It is gated, you pay at the front, and they lock up after hours. Considering that you have to pay everyday, including Sundays and Bank Holidays, we were surprised to find that the entrance was closed before closing time, which is 6:00pm. We didn’t park there, objecting to having to pay to park everywhere we go. We parked on the street outside Pontins and walked down. I don’t understand why the area had to be gated. Do they not allow anyone in after 6?
I have two job interviews this week and I’m a little anxious about them. It’s been over 6 years since I’ve been on a job interview, so I’m a little out of practice.[ad#ad-1]
Having been on interviews on both sides of the Atlantic, my husband has concluded that the interview process is much more serious and gruelling in the UK. He recalls being shortlisted for a job and was put up at a 5-star hotel for two days during the interview. The weekend comprised a series of panel interviews and tests. Not a story to reassure anyone.
I do know that at the end of the second interview, I would receive an answer at the end of the day or the next day. Seeing that it’s a Friday, I may have an answer by the end of the day. However, my job preference is for the one on Thursday and at this point, I don’t know when they would inform candidates of their success/failure. All I know is that I will meet a panel of three interviewers.
My other dilemma is that I still have not heard from the many other positions I applied for, and since some of them have not closed on their applications, I may not hear from them for a while. Yet, some of them are for positions I prefer over the one on Friday. Therefore, if I do not get the Thursday position, how do I approach the Friday one? I wouldn’t want to lose out on the chance of a job, but I also don’t want to rush on an acceptance if there’s a chance at my getting a better one.
The only certainty right now is that we will have to move. And the girls start back to school in a few days.
The kids’ holiday is almost at an end. Because it is so short, compared to what they are used to, we really had to take them to a lot of places to compensate. Yesterday, was probably the most jam-packed day we’ve had. They wanted to go to Scotland and the Isle of Wight this year. We already did Scotland and northern England (I have yet to write about it) and yesterday, we went to the Isle of Wight.[ad#ad-1]
The weather forecast had said “sunny intervals”, which usually means a mix of sun and clouds. We were supposed to have rain Monday and Wednesday. Well, it didn’t rain on Monday. It came in early Tuesday morning. However, it cleared up by the time we arrived in the IOW. Driving through the downs of West Sussex, however, the clouds were worrying.
We took one of those humongous car ferries over. When you see the number of cars and lorries crossing, you think to yourself, “How in the world will all these get on there?”, but once you drive through, it looks a little like a multi-storey car park. It also explains why it takes 40 minutes to cross the Channel. The kids have been on boats before, but not on a ferry like this, so it was a new adventure. It was quite windy sitting on the deck, so we moved inside. The rain came and went, forcing people in and out, several times.
Gardens at Osborne House
Our first stop of the day was Osborne House, Queen Victoria’s family retreat, now an English Heritage property. Parking was free, even for nonmembers. We didn’t see all of it, because we wanted to make our way around the island, but we could have stayed all day. The house was absolutely wonderful, though many rooms were unavailable. But, like many of these stately homes, you have to line up as you walk around all the open rooms. You cannot just view things at your leisure, and it would have been difficult with so many people. Although, I must say it was not as crowded as when we went to Windsor Castle over 10 years ago. We also went inside the Walled Garden. Though the blooms were on their way out for most of them, it was still very nice. I loved being around the fragrant flowers, especially the lavender. They had several kinds of apples and pears growing in alternate trellises. The highlight of this garden was when I spotted a hummingbird. It was so small I thought it was a large bee at first. But it made no buzzing and as I approached I could see the fluttering of the wings as it flitted from flower to flower. My husband took several pictures and I hope at least one turns out well. It was very difficult keeping up with it. We did not take the little carriage ride, nor visit the Swiss House or walk all around the grounds. The views across the Solent were absolutely wonderful. Parts of the ground have been given over to a golf club. We also learned that as members, we could book a cottage on the grounds, but there is an 18 month to 2 year waiting list. Wow! Like we can ever plan that far in advance.
We took the main road that forms a ring around the island. We did not stop in Yarmouth, though it looked like a very nice town to visit. Instead we went on into Alum Bay. That was a mistake in a way, but we learned for next time. Alum Bay is very touristy. That says it all. We paid to park – not too bad if you planned to stay all day, but with “one price fits all”, it was not ideal for us. From there you could walk up a steep hill and get a great view of the entire place, or even visit the old Battery at the end, which is now a National Trust property. They have monopolised the area, so that if you are a member, or willing to pay, you could get in and get good views and good pictures. The kids did not want to do much walking, so we went into the center of the little tourist hot spot, where they had amusements and shops. We wanted to walk down to the beach, but the kids saw the chairlift and wanted to ride down on it. It was again more money out (we always like to limit our expenditure on unnecessaries). At first we couldn’t see a footpath to the beach (it was cleverly hidden). On our way down the chairlift, we could see the path and it may have been arduous, but it looked like a nice walk. Anyhow, the kids enjoyed the little adventure and the thrill as we made a steep drop down. It was quite windy at the top (several people lost their hats) and they both got a little scared. The view of the Needles as we rode on the lift was amazing, but we couldn’t get any pictures. we were told there was not much beach because it was high tide. There was very little room to move, but we saw the coloured sands of the cliffs – shades of red/pink/yellow/white/green. After riding back up (we had a moment when the lift stopped and we were at the very top), my husband went on his own to the top of the hill and took some pictures, while I stayed in the car with the kids while they ate some hot soup. I should mention that every time I passed the candy shop there, I could smell the candy. They must make it on site. I didn’t want to explore it because I know the kids would have wanted some, and we really have to cut down on their sweets. Next time, we would park in the free car park in Totland and take the bus up to the top, explore, and walk back down into the town. It would have been more of an adventure and encouraged the kids to do more physical exercise. Of course, we would need better walking shoes.
The older one wanted a sandy beach to play on, so we drove on, enjoying the wonderful scenery of countryside and seaside as we went from the western edge to the southern tip and around to the east. We stopped in Shanklin and they ran around the sand like crazy kids just released from bondage, making sandcastles and digging for treasure. Despite the chilly wind and the late afternoon/early evening hours, I was surprised to find that the water was quite warm. When we lived in New Hampshire, I don’t think the water ever got warm. And, in England, I have found that the water may not be very cold, but I couldn’t describe is as warm. Afterwards, they played in the amusements, had a bit of dinner and we were on our way again.
It was getting dark, but our ferry was leaving very late. We stopped at Ryde and while the kids played on the sand, my husband took some night shots of Portsmouth, lit up across the channel. Then we walked around the little paddling pond where they had swan boats and literally, dozens of swans making their residence. The swans swam towards us as we walked (they must have hoped for food) and our younger daughter got scared. She is easily frightened. It didn’t help that we saw a big rodent walking along the edge of the pond, then running into the grass. We also saw another rodent popping its head in and out of one of the holes in the grassy verge along the pond. I wouldn’t want to be that person we saw sleeping in one of the benches.[ad#ad-1]
We were tired but the kids wanted to continue playing on the sands. We debated waiting out for our ferry or arriving early and seeing if we could cross. Either way, we’d be arriving home very late, but it was a two-hour difference. We tried to call the ferry office, but they had just closed. They allowed one free change of itinerary, but after that there was a small administrative charge. We chanced it and arrived early. We had no difficulty getting on. This time, we were aboard a newer designed ferry with TV screens showing ads for the Isle of Wight. It seemed to help pass the time. The kids were still playful, but by the time we got out of the port, they were asleep. They were tired and a little sad that the little injured butterfly, that they picked up in the grounds of Osborne House and named Leopard and tried to revive with a piece of grape, finally died. They had carried this butterfly all around with them all day and refused to let it go. We reached home at about the same time we would have arrived at the port had we waited for our ferry. We were exhausted and went directly to bed, after carrying the sleeping kids in, nearly 19 hours since I woke up.
We didn’t do everything we would have liked, but we had a little taste of what the island offered. Next time, we’d need several days, possibly a week.
Well, England has won the Ashes. I felt that coming into the last match, it would more likely be England or draw than Australia. After all, the results were Draw-England-Draw-Australia-… To complete the pattern, it should have been draw, but I still thought England had a better chance because it’s hard to win two in a row. That’s just me, using the fatigue factor. Of course, it rarely factors into the equation.[ad#ad-1]
Anyhow, before the final match, there were rumours floating around about a conspiracy, as evidenced by irregular betting patterns. Though it’s been done before, I cannot conceive how a game can be thrown unless everyone was involved. I’m not a big fan of conspiracy theories, so I couldn’t swallow it. But, apparently, a certain part of the Australian press are claiming otherwise. To say they were disappointed is an understatement. The Australians had been cricket leaders for a long time, so to lose is very bitter.
Well, the next Ashes will be in Australia, sometime in a little over 18 months time. Already, we know several players won’t be back – I can’t believe how young these guys are when they retire. Wonder if they’ll continue in the amateur league once their professional careers are over?
We had gone to a jumble sale when we stopped at a playground for the girls. While we were there, the local cricket team was preparing for a match, so we stayed to watch for a while.[ad#ad-1]
You might hear about a softball team here and there in the US, but there were no organised amateur sports. Here, each town/village would have a cricket team and they would form leagues and play against each other throughout the year. It’s not just cricket, but football and rugby as well. Every time you drive through a town, regardless of size, you’d find lots of cricket greens and football and rugby clubs. It’s a part of life.Â
It makes me wonder why they keep reporting that the UK is the least active country in the EU. Yes, I can see that obesity is on the rise (the size makeup in this country is definitely larger than it was 10 years ago). But, seeing that adults are still staying active, I don’t understand how kids can grow up couch potatoes.
Now, I’ve talked about the falconry and birds of prey, but I didn’t mention all the other things at the heavy horse show. Unlike the regular horse shows, this featured draft horses. These animals were built to do heavy work, not for show and display. Yet, the idea was to show that these animals can perform feats of agility and grace as well as doing work. You can see their power and the lack of speed. My girls have always loved horses, so it did not matter that they were draft horses or showier ones.[ad#ad-1]
The first display we witnessed was the dressage. It was quite playful. Then we had the dog and carriage training from the British Carriage Dog Society. These were dalmatians trained to run along behind the carriage with their head under the carriage. They had up to three dogs under the carriage at the end, with a couple running alongside. There were supposed to be some minkhounds but they were suffering from diarrhea, so they did not come. Later, they had the hunting beagles. They were so adorable and my kids went out to play with them when they were invited. One particular beagle was not very well-behaved. We were warned that beagles were easily distracted by food and this one kept running out of the ring looking for food. He was finally sent back to the pen in disgrace. Then there were the competitions. They were timed courses. The first involved different tasks performed by horse and rider. One of the tricks was a jump. I did not see all the competitors, but one horse was obviously too big to jump so he tried to step over, but the sticks were knocked over. The last was the cone driving competition. There were one-horse and two-horse carriages and they had to go between about 10 sets of cones. I also did not get to see all of them. The kids went around to look at displays and spent a lot of time just petting the beagles. The older one experienced driving a draft horse, while the younger one and daddy went on a wagon ride. The line for horse rides was so long that they did not get to do it. We finally left right after the cone competition and just before they were ready for the grand parade because it was getting so drizzly and cold and the girls were sneezing a lot.
All in all, it turned out to be a very interesting day with a lot to see. We were glad we had decided to come at the last minute. And it was much cheaper than a regular horse show.
