The Amazing Adventures of Evie in the UK!

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 13:00:47 GMT

I will update more later on but for now, I just wanted to tell everyone of the weather. We are having a HUGE thunder and lighting storm with hail the size of well... I don't know what but it's pretty big!! And poor Chris went out metal-detecting this morning and is still out there!! Last night the winds all over Britain were so strong that they cancelled so many new years celebrations (even Hogmanay in Edinburgh was cancelled!!). Walking home was like walking through a blizzard but with heavy rain instead of snow. The wind is so strong that you sometimes have to hang on to something not to fall over.

Sun, 24 Dec 2006 17:07:55 GMT

Merry Christmas everyone!
I officially finished work yesterday at 11 am and spent the rest of the day shopping with Sadie (Chris' sister). Today I spent the entire day baking cookies. I feel really sick. I think I ate too many cookies.

This is for mom:

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 18:32:45 GMT

This is mostly for Mickey and Bob but it's for anyone that likes alpacas. It's a commercial here that I see all the time and it is so cute that I wanted to share it with you.

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 11:28:14 GMT

Mom was asking me where I lived. I was waiting for a nice sunny day to take a picture but since those don't exist around here lately, I had to settle for a gray rainny day.
This is the street. It's the salmon-coloured house (if you can see it):

Work has been going okay. It is really really boring but easy. I won a prize on Saturday for being the most accurate keyer in my group! I had a day off yesterday so that was nice since I only have one of those a week. Chris and I went to see Pan's Labyrinth. It was pretty good but a little yucky and scary at times. After that we went to this tiny pub called "Minerva". It's a proper local's pub. It was really nice to be out though. We usually spend any free time watching tv at home.

I went to the post office today to send some Christmas cards out. I went to the bank first and the bank machine short changed me £5. I complained but didn't make a big deal of it since I've been on the other side of that argument before. Apparently they will let me know tomorrow morning if I get the money back. I got to the post office and the lady was really rude as most customer service people are here. Instead of taking offence to it like I used to, I make it a challenge to make them be nice to me. I smile lots even when they're rude, I appologize for things I don't need to be sorry for and I am generally super nice. By the end, I usually get a smile or a bit of small talk in return. It worked well today and she smiled and said "You must have a lot of family in Canada!" I made the mistake of choosing giant, super heavy cards and so I ran out of money and wasn't able to send them all. Hopefully I'll get the others sent later on this week.

First Day at MDEC

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 10:43:14 GMT

I arrived to work early as they had asked us to do so. We all ended up waiting about half an hour outside until we were allowed to enter the high-security building. I had no idea mail sorting was such a secure procedure. Since there were hundreds of us starting today, it was painfully slow to get everyone organized. We got our id badges and went to the keying floor. Sat around our computers and waited another half hour or more for the other group to be finished with the projector or something... Went through the normal stuff like more security issues and dress code and whatnot. We then had an "eye break" even though we weren't actually on the computer. The rest of the day pretty much consisted of these eye breaks. We get 10 minutes off every hour. I can see how this will be great when we actually get keying but during the training, it seems like a waste of time. Whenever I was getting into something, I had to stop what I was doing to have an eye break. Dinner break was a bit like being back at school. I wasn't in a very social mood and didn't want to sit with strangers at the canteen so I sat in the small break area, ate my sandwich and read my book.
I misunderstood the instructions at first and they made us to a test without practice and I failed so miserably! They have all these annoying rules like no backspacing more than once and if there is an auto-complete option and you don't use it, you fail! I'm sure today will go a bit better...

Tue, 28 Nov 2006 22:45:31 GMT

Just a quick little update.
I only have one more day of freedom. I start work on Thursday and then work 6 days a week, full time until Christmas. It should be ok...
I'm going to see a nurse on Friday about my dog bite. At least I think I am. I have to see a nurse for my registration check up. I don't really understand how this works. I had to register to a GP even though I have no intention on seeing this doctor for anything other than my dog bite. Hopefully the nurse can take care of it and I won't have to see the GP at all.
Also, Chris' mom has made me hooked to another reality show. It started with Big Brother a few months back and now I'm hooked to "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!" It's not a weekly show... it's daily! So I waste an hour of my life everyday to watch "celebrities" live in a jungle. Oh well I guess after tomorrow, I won't be watching it anymore since I'll be at work.

That's it for now!

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 23:42:51 GMT

Went to St. Ives yesterday. It's a beautiful Cornish town that is crazy-busy in summer but completely dead in the winter. It was so cold but there were two surfers that didn't seem to care at all. I will try to show you with pictures and a video but it really doesn't show how nice it is. We didn't spend very long there. In fact, we spent more time on the train than in St. Ives.

A very friendly bird that came up to my feet and begged for food.

Does anyone know what this is? The beach was covered in them and they were slimmy.

Look how clear the water is!

Chris having fun with some kids in an arcade.

The train station.

Good News!

Mon, 20 Nov 2006 11:47:08 GMT

I have a job! It's not a great job, but it pays well and it's easy. I will be entering post codes in the system for Royal Mail. I start next Thursday and I only have to work until Christmas (at least 40 hours per week). It will be boring, but the pay is worth it for a month. I think I was a bit over-qualified for the job since most people came in for the interview/assessment in jeans with a hand written CV and struggled on the criminal record question... I guess I really didn't have to go out and buy an interview outfit for this... oh well.

Sun, 19 Nov 2006 20:19:24 GMT

Went for a drive in Dartmoor today. Chris' friend, Steve, drove us. We went to Merrivale Stone Rows and then had a meal in a pub.

Fri, 17 Nov 2006 17:40:22 GMT

Time for a much over due update. Lots has happened since the last time I wrote here. I will quickly recap in pictures.

First off, Halloween. Nothing special there. We had the day off but spent it in the caravan... probably played video games or something I don't actually remember. The veg man gave us free pumpkins at the pub and Chris carved one and displayed on the side of a dark country lane by the pub.

Then... umm we worked. I don't really remember anything in detail.
After that was our birthday. We went to Bath to celebrate. Bath is absolutely beautiful. It's like New Town in Edinburgh. (Although my favorite part of Edinburgh is Old Town but it still brought back nice memories) We went to the Roman Bath and then a costume museum (Chris slept on a bench for most of the costume place.) Unfortunately, my batteries died when we were in the Roman Baths so I only got a picture of a drain and not the actual bath.

Trying to look at the Roman bath without paying...

The last few days at the pub were difficult. We just wanted to get out! Here are some pictures of us in the kitchen. I was helping Chris make a meat pie for the bird shooting club that comes in every week. (Notice the design on it of a bird with a bullet about to hit it.) Everyone in the area hunts and shoots. I really had a hard time making conversation with people when all they talked about was killing animals...

So the time came to leave and I was actually a bit sad. They had to tell me to stop working because I had a hard time leaving the place a mess (it was a Sunday so it was really busy). One girl bought me a drink. The staff got Chris and I a bottle of bubbly for our birthdays and then we were off. We took a taxi, bus, train and another taxi to get to Plymouth. We did it all with a ridiculous amount of boxes and luggage. I really didn't think it was possible! Here are some pictures in the train trying to show just how much luggage we had.

So that's about it. We've been in Plymouth for about 4 days now. I have an interview on Monday for a data entry job. I don't feel like working with the public at the moment so we'll see how that goes.

Hello Hello!

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 13:34:08 GMT

It's a beautiful day here! The sun is shinning and it is actually quite warm. The days have been really nice lately until the sun starts going down. Then it get real cold, real fast! But it's to be expected in November. The caravan, however, is not somewhere you want to spend a winter. We wake up several times in the night from the cold. It is really unpleasant. But! We only have just over a week left here before we move on. The house will not be much warmer but at least it will not be a tin box so it shouldn't get quite as cold.
I haven't been on very much because it's been too cold to go outside to get a signal. I was very amused to read a paper I found in the pub that warned the British population of the "Arctic Winter" they will experience this year. They are expecting overnight lows to go "as low as minus 10 degrees C"! Hahaha! There is even a 40% chance of a white Christmas (which I am very happy about). When I showed people the article they reacted in the, "No surely not! No one can survive such a harsh winter!" Well... not that bad but they were horrified at the -10C.

This Sunday is Bonfire Night but around here, things are done a bit differently. Sure there will be bonfires, fireworks and maybe even a few "Guy Fawkes's" on fire but being so close to Ottery St. Mary, we might get a chance to see a 300 year old tradition: Tar Barrel Racing! This is apparently fantastic (though a bit dangerous) to watch. Only real locals are allowed to participate in the event. You must be born in Ottery St. Mary (or even be second generation... I'm not exactly sure). The event brings crowds in from everywhere similar to cheese rolling. (You gotta love strange English traditions!) To sum it up as best as I can with my limited knowledge, they take barrels with tar inside (small ones for kids, medium ones for ladies and young men, and giant ones for men), light them on fire and then the people have to carry them around on their shoulders with only burlap "gloves" to keep the flames away. There is no crowd conrol and people can walk among the tar barrel racers. One of the bartenders is participating tomorrow for her second time.
Here are some videos of it if you are curious: Youtube

I don't know if we'll be able to make it. Chris and I are both working but the men's one (giant barrels) doesn't happen until midnight. So as long as we have a way there and back, we can go. Ottery St. Mary is pretty easy to get to but getting back is difficult. We are on top of a large hill and it is in the valley. It's a steep climb at 1:00 am to go back home...

Also, my dog bite has not healed yet... It's been like two months! I don't know if I should got to a doctor or not. For one thing, I don't know if I'm covered under the NHS and my insurance has run out. Also, I feel like I'd be wasting a doctor's time if I were to go in for something so small. Maybe I'll just wait until January and see my family doctor...

rain rain rain rain rain rain rain and more rain

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 16:31:58 GMT

This weather is killing me! We had one nice day in the last 2 weeks! Luckily it fell on a day off. I know I've said this before but I don't understand where it comes from.

Today, the top wire came of my teeth. By "came off" I actually mean I pulled it off with a pair of scissors (classy, I know). It had come off one of my teeth since I've been eating so many apples lately and it was driving me insane. Now though, my teeth are still covered in cement but at least I've been able to floss my front teeth (Something I haven't been able to do properly in over a decade!) Ok, enough tooth-talk.

I don't really have anything else to talk about. I'm just counting the days until we get to leave. I am so bored here. I know I should work when we move to Plymouth but I really want some time off. I might just work part time or something... at least until after my exams.

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 11:37:36 GMT

It's getting awfully cold for outside-internet time. My fingers, toes and nose are frozen.

I am happy to announce that so far, there has been no rain today. Not even mist or the crazy fog that's so thick you can barely walk through. I don't know how long this will last but it is a nice change from the non-stop torrential downpours of the last week. I don't understand where the rain comes from and where it goes. How is everything not under 2 meters of water? We must have very good drainage. The funny thing is that this is not abnormal at all for this area. This is just winter... well the beginning of anyway. Real winter is like this excepts the roads turn to ice. I used to defend the stereotype of England being nothing but rain and fog... it turns out it's true in certain areas. So leaving here seems like a good plan. We have to stay an extra week now because the head chef wants a holiday and he can't have one after Chris leaves. Although I don't see why we should give him one since he treats Chris like dirt. I suppose it just means one more week of pay. We have to work until the 13th now but at least we've asked for our birthday off. I think we will be going to Bath to celebrate. I'm very much looking forward to going away even if it is just for one day.

I don't know when to go home. I can leave on January 1st (£119) or January 9th (£79). If I go on the 1st, I get to see family before everyone goes back into the work/school routine but I screw up Chris' new year plans. He hasn't been home for Christmas and New Years for at least 5 years and was looking forward to going out with his friends. I always complain about not doing anything for New Years and this could be my chance to do something.
The other option is to leave on the 9th and I save £40, get to spend New Years with Chris and his friends and get to spend a bit more time with Chris before I leave. But, I don't get to see the family during the festive season and classes start on the 8th so I'll miss two classes.
What should I do???

We're Moving!

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 12:51:13 GMT

Not completely official yet but I think we'll be handing in our notices tomorrow and then within 2 weeks, moving to Plymouth to live with Chris' family. We've decided that my last two months in the UK should not be spent in a caravan in a junkyard... especially not Christmas. It will be a pay-cut but happiness is more important than money, right? I think so anyway. I'll probably get an easy job in the new mall or work at Subway with Chris' sister or something like that. No more crazy hours or stress and I can spend more time on school work with a normal internet connection.
Speaking of school, my psycholinguistics class is slowly killing me with grammar and syntax. I had no idea how much grammar would be involved. I thought the class was supposed to cover all language aquisition. I don't know why we are spending so much time on English grammar.
I better get ready for work.

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 12:27:56 GMT

My updates have been few and far between but I assure you that you are not missing much. I found out that adventures are nearly impossible when trying to juggle working full time and school. My days involve working from 10 am to 10 or 11 pm with a 3 hour break in between that I usually spend talking to Vicky and or mom on msn. At night I either try to cram in a bit of reading for my courses or on nights when I am especially tired, I watch an episode or 2 of House with Chris. My days off consist of catching up on some sleep and studying.
I have most of today off (I have to work at 5:30) which is lucky since I have to finish a critical book review by midnight (EST) or 5:00 am tomorrow (BST). Although it may sound like it, I'm not complaining. I actually get quite a bit of satisfaction from my studies. What doesn't give me much satisfaction, however, is work. We've thought of leaving and have discussed it quite a bit lately but money is the main reason for staying. Moving to Plymouth and getting a job there would cost us a lot more money than staying here. I think I can stand working for another 2 and a half months with people who don't particularly like me. I find it difficult since I've never really experienced that before. What will be especially difficult is spending Christmas here. I missed Christmas last year but we were still with lots of friends and had a big Christmas dinner and everything. This year we will most likely be working.
I don't want to end on a down note so I will talk about weather. Yesterday was beautiful! It was warm and sunny. At the moment we're having a bit of a thunder storm... What I'm wondering about is the weather at home. I get two automatic weather forcasts: one through the UofG website for Guelph and one through MSN today for Toronto. Today, the Guelph one said it was -3 and the Toronto one said it was 14. I doubt that there is a 17 degree difference between Toronto and Guelph, so which is right? Are you below freezing or is it nice out?

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 10:06:13 GMT

Going back to work after being away took some getting used to. The first day I thought, "There's no way I can do this for three more months. I need to get out of here NOW!" The second day was, "This is boring but I need money," but now I am back in the routine and have decided to make a bit more of an effort to socialize with my coworkers. What really got to me was Thanksgiving. It's funny because I never really cared that much about Thanksgiving. I suppose it's because we only started celebrating it when we moved to Ontario. (Right? Or did I just forget?) I was talking to Vicky on msn using Chris' sister's webcam and it was great but I really really wanted to be there. I'm so torn. I really miss home but I can't look forward to going home in January because it means leaving Chris for at least 4 months. I have to choose my courses for the winter semester in the next week or so and that just makes it so real. Sunday was also our one year anniversary and we spent it working split shift on the busiest day of the week and watched House MD until about 1:30.

Munich!

Fri, 06 Oct 2006 20:32:52 GMT

Back from Munich on Wednesday. We had an amazing time! The pictures are taking ages to upload so I'll start the update while I wait. Before I start though, to (try to) answer Amy's question of "what are english muffins called in England?" I asked Chris and he said they were just "muffins" but I don't think he understands the question. I've seen them called "muffins" or "English muffins", I think both are acceptable.

We arrived to Munich after an uneventful flight but a stressful bus/train/bus ride to get to London Heathrow. Sabrina and Johannes greeted us at the airport with open arms. We went back to their place and Johannes cooked us a very delicious Bavarian dish which was a really nice type of macaroni and cheese. Their place is amazing! It's like an Ikea show room. We sampled some local beers. The next day (Sunday), we went to Oktoberfest. We started off with a traditional breakfast and I decided to spend the whole day eating meat so I could enjoy the local delicacies.
Oktoberfest was great! Luckily, we had Johannes there to teach about where to go when so we were able to take full advantage of all the "Bavarian's Heaven" had to offer. Since we started at around noon, we had to pace ourselves when drinking our beer (which is served by the litre). The beer was so good that you could drink large amounts without feeling ill. So the beer was flowing and the "oom pa pa" music was playing. After the "oom pa pa" band the "good" band came on, we stood on our benches and danced and sang along to Brian Adams, Bon Jovi, and various German football songs. We met quite a few people. It's amazing how well Germans speak English just from learning at school. We left the beer tent at around 10:00 or 10:30. Stumbled around in the fair. Ate some sausages and visited the fun house. Chris, Sabrina and Johannes got stuck in the glass maze. Chris won me a rose by shooting a metal rabbit.
The next day, Sabrina went to work and Chris and I went sight seeing. We walked all over town. We then had to go back to the apartment to prepare for Johannes' surprise party. His sisters came by and Sabrina returned from work. Then all the guests showed up. It seemed to work well and Johannes was surprised.
The next day was a national holiday (reunification day) and so both Sabrina and Johannes were not working. After a long lie in, we all went to sight see. We climbed St. Peter's to see a bird's eye view of the city.

It was a fantastic holiday and I'm sure I forgot to write about lots of stuff. The pictures are being posted on my photobucket account here.

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 13:38:09 GMT

It's a cold, windy and slightly drizzly day and I am sitting in the laundry shed since it is the only covered area where I can get a decent signal. The connection now only lasts about 30 seconds in the caravan so it looks like I will have to do my homework outside from now on.
I haven't updated in a while so here is a recap of everything that has been going on around here (there really isn't that much...)
Last Tuesday I decided I would walk the coastal path from Sidmouth to Branscombe. Chris decided to take the easier (but less scenic) foot paths to do some detecting and we planned to meet in Branscombe for a meal. I started up the first of many cliffs on the path. I was out of breath, sweating and felt like I was going to die. All I could think about was where my horse was since horseback riding would have been so much more enjoyable. (I was glad later on to not be on horseback since it would have been extremely dangerous on these paths.) When I made it to the top of the first cliff, I felt so accomplished. I could see the town of Sidmouth below me and it looked so tiny. I then noticed that all the people that were up there and that I had met on the way where at least 30 years my senior. This made me feel very unfit and made me realize I have to do more things like this. To be fair though, they were all seasoned hikers with walking sticks, hiking shoes and socks that went over their trouser legs. These people knew what they were doing. I continued on my way going up and down more cliffs. The view was incredible! At about the half way point, as I was going down a hill I hear my name being shouted in the distance. By coincidence the coastal path and one of the other footpaths met just as Chris and I were in the same spot. So we decided to walk the rest of the coastal path together. When we got to Branscombe, the pub was not yet open for dinner. We had the option of waiting 40 minutes outside or just going home. We weren't that impressed with the menu so we were on our way. We missed the last bus out of town but one of the locals told us where to catch a different bus. We had to walk another 2 miles uphill. At this point I could not feel my legs anymore. We got to the busy road and had no idea how long we would have to wait for a bus so Chris decided to hitchhike again to my protest of "we're going to be murdered!" After a few minutes a car stopped and the man inside was thankfully not a murderer. He was about Chris' age, grew up in the same small Cornish town as Chris and was a chef. So he and Chris had loads to talk about while I just sat in the back seat and enjoyed the free ride. He ended up driving us right to our door at the pub.

and just for fun here is a picture of the peacock sleeping:

So that was Tuesday. Then there was work. Nothing special there. Then we had two days off in a row! We took advantage of this by getting far far away from the pub. We went to Plymouth and just relaxed in a real house with Chris' family. Chris and I went to see the film Children of Men which I highly recommend for anyone who wants to see an apocalyptic film that is actually good.
Other than that we've just been working everyday. I get a few half days which are great for school work. I have lots to do before we go to Munich on Saturday. I really hope the weather is better over there. Last night Chris and I both had an evening off so we went out for dinner and a nice romantic stroll in the moonlight on the beach in Sidmouth.

Look at me! I am a motorist!

Sat, 16 Sep 2006 15:04:26 GMT

Under the hedge again. We have good wireless days and bad wireless days. Today is obviously a bad one since I have to sit outside to get a signal. No matter though. Today is a good day because the pubmobile is finally available for us to use! The pubmobile is used by whichever staff member's car has broken down (seems like there is always someone with a car in the shop) but now it is back to the pub! It's an old station wagon that makes strange noises and I've been warned to not exceed 50 mph with it but it is no worse than the old civic in it's last days. We decided to explore a few of the neighbouring villages and go down to Seaton since we had never been (other than going through it on the bus). Seaton is actually an uglier version of Sidmouth. The view is nicer with large white cliffs in the distance but the actual town is nothing special. The beach is a stone beach like Sidmouth. What is it with boys and stones? I think it's physically impossible for a boy to sit on a stone beach without throwing stones into the water. Try it! Either go with a male to a stone beach or if you are a male, try to not pick up and throw the stones. Our nice sit on the beach in the warm sun turned into Chris trying to put stones in my clothes and shoes and drag me out into the sea. Anyway, we also went out for lunch and I got the saddest excuse for a caeser salad. It was a bit of shredded iceberg lettuce at the bottom of my plate with some dressing, shredded cheese and the world's smallest croutons. All for the low price of £6.50! I know you can only do so much with a meatless caeser salad but they could have at least used decent lettuce and nice croutons for that price.
We had a bit of a panic when we returned to the car with only half an hour before Chris' shift started and could not get the car started. After a quick phone call, I found out that there is a strange ritual of locking and unlocking the passenger door in order to start the car but only if the back door or trunk have been open. How strange is that?
I'm starting to get used to the tiny tiny roads and driving on the left side again. Give me a four lane highway with a speed limit of 70 mph and I know what to do but these one lane, two-way roads with no shoulders and huge hedges on either side scare me so much. How do people do it? And when you encounter a tractor that barely fits on the road, that's even scarier.
I'm about to lose battery power so here are a few pictures from our day out:

Notice the "PUB" licence plate. Also, if you're wondering what the bumper sticker in the window says, it's "The millenium is Christ's 2000th birthday".

A fantastic picture of me.

Fri, 15 Sep 2006 14:11:15 GMT

Having a nice relaxing day off today. It's actually supposed to be a school work/cleaning/laundry day but it's not going so well. The essay I have due soon is taking away all my Munich excitement. I'd like to at least get a rough outline done today. Chris is gone to town and will metal detect his way back here by foot. It should keep him busy for the bulk of the day. I asked him to bring me back a surprise and he agreed. I just hope it's of the chocolate variety and not the "rusty metal from the ground" variety. Although while we were in Plymouth, he found a really nice old style one penny from 1917 that he gave to me. It's very pretty.

I heard great news last night. Starting October 1st, half of the bar will become non-smoking! Yay! I will no longer get physically ill from having smoke blown in my face while I work. I'm going to have to deal with a lot of complaining I'm sure but too bad for them. They can all cram in the tiny smoking bar. I think my extreme enthusiasm for the non-smoking bar might have further alienated me from the rest of the staff who are mostly smokers. Oh well... they weren't about to befriend me anyway so no big loss I suppose. Still... it would be nice to have some work friends. I've never worked anywhere where the staff have been so indifferent toward me. It's not that they don't like me (I don't think anyway), I'm just there. There to take all the crappy split shifts, to stay late at night when everyone else is gone, and to come in first thing in the morning to set up the tables and roll the cutlery. I am here strictly here to make it easier for them at work. There are no personal feelings toward me, good or bad. I've always had work friends before. I always found that work was a good way of talking to people you would normally never talk to.

Better get cleaning!

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 12:37:29 GMT

In Plymouth again. We had the evening off yesterday and the day off today so we thought we would escape the pub. I have mentioned before the troubles we have with the only bus we can take (the dreaded 52B) which is always late. We waited and waited for it. Chris finally gave up and stuck his thumb out while I insisted we would be murdered in a horrible way if we hitchiked. The second car to pass us by stopped for us. It was a lovely (very wealthy) couple who had just had a meal at the pub and saw us waiting as they went in and out of the pub. They were antique dealers who own an antique business and frequently travel to France and around the UK to fill up their warehouse and catalogues. Chris took advantage of their expertise to get an appraisal of his bronze eagle by a famous French sculptor. Needless to say we were not murdered and arrived at the train station and had to wait half an hour for the next train. We were met at the station my the railway station cat. She seems to be pregnant. I gave her some cheese from Chris' sandwhich and she seemed very grateful. I suppose we will have many railway station cats soon. It's kind of sad but she seems happy and healthy enough.
We got to Plymouth pretty late, watched the Just For Laughs Britcom Special and went to bed. I spent all morning researching the Bignell family tree after getting the comment from Lynne and Amy about my great grandfather Charles McGregor Bignell. Thank you for that! :)
Hastings is not that far from where we are. It would be considered quite the journey in British terms but in Canadian terms, it's just a short drive away. It's in the South East of England and we are in the South West (East part of the South West if that makes sense). I will suggest to Chris that we visit St. Leonards on Sea at some point. Any other information about spouses, siblings, parents etc. would be appreciated. I am enjoying this research.

Must go meet Chris downtown. Will update more later!

Sat, 09 Sep 2006 12:07:30 GMT

I am currently sitting under a hedge in order to get a wireless signal. For some reason, we can no longer go online in the caravan. I have to find a way to fix this soon since school officially starts on Monday and I don't really feel like sitting under a hedge outside everytime I need to get some work done. Any suggestions on how to increase the strength of a wireless signal would be greatly appreciated.
We had a nice relaxing day off yesterday. Went for a walk, finished my book while sitting under a tree in a field. It was a beautiful day!
We then went into town to pick up some groceries and have a meal.
The doctor dropped by a few days ago to check on my bite and give me money for the perscription. He told me they gave the dog away which I found very sad.
Nothing much to write about at the moment. I am considering not coming home for Christmas and arranging to take my exam here. It's very disappointing and makes me really sad but I really can't afford the flight and taking a whole month off work when I have debts to pay. I do have to be realistic.
Anyway, I just received some mail from grandma and mom so I'm very excited about that and am going to read it now!! Yay, mail!!

Happy Birthday Chris!!

Mon, 04 Sep 2006 20:53:27 GMT

I woke up today to hear the sad news of Steve Irwin's death. A stingray of all things... I suppose it was only natural that the Crocodile Hunter would die young with the type of lifestyle he lead but part of me also thought that he must be invincible to have survived so many close calls. His poor family...

I am sick again. I have no idea why this time. I just get really dizzy and nauseated. I really didn't want to miss any more work but I had to. I spent most of the day sleeping (or trying to). Hopefully it won't last.
Chris' friends from Plymouth are here visiting. They went for a drink in the pub. I obviously have to stay behind since I was supposed to be working.

I have nothing else really to talk about. I've just been working everyday, all day. I've realized that although I say I'm traveling, I'm really not. All I'm doing is working with British people. There is no traveling involved. Except... We're going to Munich at the end of the month!! Yay! We're going to visit Sabrina and Johannes and catch the end of Oktoberfest. I'm really looking forward to it. Finally! I'm actually going to take advantage of the fact that I'm in Europe and can get cheap flights!

Yesterday

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 14:25:04 GMT

It began like most days off with plans of going out and looking at the weather forecast. The plan was as follows: Chris would go treasure hunting in the woods of the River Dart, I would go shopping in Exeter and find a spot to read on the green grass/old graveyard of the cathedral where all the uni students and tired shoppers rest. We would then meet up in Exeter later in the day for dinner. It was a great plan. Chris left before me as he had further to go and I was dying my hair. Just as I was about to head out he came in the door and announced that the railway people were on strike and there were no train services. This was very disappointing and ruined all our plans. Instead, Chris suggested we go out for a long walk to the next town over where he could metal detect on the way and we could have lunch at the pub. The rain cleared up and we head out through beautiful trails, through fields of sheep, in the woods and up and down hills. The views were spectacular and we found a few clearings in the wood where Chris could treasure hunt and I could read.

Some very friendly cows that wanted to come out to see us.

We then saw in a distance a large family out for a walk. There were 3 adults, 4 children and two of the most beautiful dogs I have ever seen. They were like german sheperds but completely white. When we approached them, one of the dogs (the loose one) came running up to us, tail wagging and quite happy looking. We pet him a bit and it went off again to the family. We exchanged greetings with the family and as a walked past the other dog (the one on a leash) he looked at me with golden brown eyes and sunk his teeth in the back of my wrist. I quickly pulled my hand back, covered my wirst with my other hand, mumbled, "It's okay, I'm alright," and quickly walked out of view from the people. Chris was upset. I had to stop him from yelling at them when he saw my wrist with the skin all peeled back and bleeding. He told me we can't ignore it and have to let them know what their dog is capable of. I didn't want to cause a scene but when he said they might have a car nearby and be able to drive us somewhere, I agreed to talking to them about it. By that time I was getting very light headed and nauseated and my vision was in and out. I think the shock that I dog would bite me out of nowhere got to me more than the pain of it. They were very appologetic. The woman walking the dog was the Au Pair of the family. She was a very pretty Austrian girl with one brown eye and one green eye. She explained to me that the owner of the dog was a doctor and they would call him and he would be able to fix everything. We waited about 10 minutes on the road side in the middle of nowhere. We had walked over 2 hours by this point and we really needed a lift back. The kids were getting bored and entertained themselves by hitting sticks on a metal fence which hurt my head. The doctor arrived (still don't know his name) in his car. He looked like a darker version of J.D. from "Scrubs" and was wearing a "Property of Canada" t-shirt. What are the odds of that? Not only is the owner a doctor but he is also property (or at least a fan) of Canada! He took a look at my wrist, decided it was not too deep to require stitches but thought I should still got to the hospital to get it cleaned properly and put some paper stitched on it.
On the way to Sidmouth hospital, the doctor spoke to us of his travels to New Zealand and Canada. Like so many people around here, he has family in Vancouver and is very fond of the place. I sat in the backseat nodding even though I have never been to the west coast. He was a very interesting man and while I was filling out the paper work for the Minor Injury Unit, talked to Chris about concrete sculptures he builds in his garden. People always put down the NHS (National Health Service) but I have never been in and out of a hospital so quickly and efficiently. The nurse cleaned my wound, patched it up and insisted I take a ridiculous amount of antibiotics in case it was infected. I'm surprised she didn't give me any lemsips but then again Penicillin is to doctors what Lemsips are to the British public. Doctors love giving antibiotics. It's the answer to everything. Seems a bit over the top to me for what seemed like just a bite but I took them anyway.

I will be billed £6.95 for them because I'm an out-of-towner. The doctor said he would drop by the pub and take care of the bill by giving me a perscription or something... I'm not too sure what he was saying and I didn't want to ask for details since it involved money and I didn't want to seem greedy. After all, it's only £6.95... just over an hour's work. We left the hospital and he offered to drive us home but we got a free ride to Sidmouth and we were going to take advantage of it! We thanked him for his trouble and went off to get a meal somewhere. We ate at a pub/inn by the sea. Chris had duck (as usual) and I had a Cornish Yarg tart which was delicious. We then walked between the sea and the cliffs for a bit. I took a few photo opportunities and then decided to go home.

We've taken the bus to and from Sidmouth before and although the 52B is always late, it usually comes eventually. Yesterday was not the case. We waited an hour, 3 52A's came, one 52B going the other direction and 2 52B's that did not stop. We tried to get a taxi but there are only 3 taxis in Sidmouth none of which were available. We walked back and forth from the bus stop to the taxi rank and seemed to miss both of them every time. After three hours and a few tears we arranged for a taxi to pick us up in 25 minutes.
We had a drink at the pub and then went to bed.

Sun, 27 Aug 2006 21:39:20 GMT

Today was a record-breaking busy day at the pub. We worked split shift as usual so we were there all day. Tomorrow is a bank holiday (which explains why we were so busy) and so we will get paid double time!! I'll get paid £12/hour (over $24!!) so I'm going to try to work as long as I can.
Yesterday I was congratulated on my very good English. It's good to know. They thought I was in England to learn English. They felt a bit stupid when I said I was Canadian saying something like, "Oh... well that would explain it..."

I briefly met another Canadian. A west coaster. There is a group of twenty-something locals that seem to all have Canadian girlfriends (the one from Laval is one of them). It seems to be the hip thing to have Canadian girlfriends around here.

My text books and course materials are slowly arriving from Guelph and Amazon.co.uk. I'm getting the August/September school excitement where I look through all my books in giddy anticipation. I wish the excitement lasted throughout the semester. I've even started reading my psycholinguistics book because it's actually a very interesting read and not at all like a text book. I think having only two courses to worry about will help keep me interested.