Happy 4th of July everyone!
We hope you all had fantastic 4ths at home! How were the fireworks. Mat had to work a full day (and then some) but came home with some american style barbeque food and managed to put together a hamburger and ribs dinner on the patio.
A few brits even wished us happy independence day... the first time it was a little surreal but then we realized that they could care less as they alternately consider us the UKs largest county or themselves the 51st state, or so it seems culturally at least.
Taylor and Lily put on their annual Old Navy American Flag 4th of July shirts (thanks for sending them over mom!) and went to play at the park, check out the pictures to the side. Mat of course put his shirt on too when he got home.
Sunday 6 July 2008
Scottish Highland Weekend
Where to begin...we started the weekend by missing our flight and heading out for a 10 hour drive to the Highlands of Scotland at 2:00pm. With the major bumps out of the way our trip was great. We drove by Edinburgh and through Glasgow and past almost every loch (lake) in the Highlands. It was absolutely beautiful in the hills, with all the little winding roads along the loch sides, speckled with castles and old stone houses. Mat swears he's going to come back some day with a kayak and spend a week or two paddling around the huge lochs. We spent our first night in Fort Williams, a quaint little harbor town alongside a loch. We then continued north to Skye at 9:00 in the morning after a full Scottish breakfast; beans, fried tomato, bacon, sausage, egg, toast, and tea. We drove through one of the prettiest series of valleys any of us has ever seen, through winding gorges covered in green grass and with streams tumbling over rocky beds, through meadows and down waterfalls. We passed an old rock crofters hut at one point.
Skye is a beautiful island in the Highlands of Scotland, a bridge connecting it to the mainland was built in 1995. It was breath taking! After being in the flat farmland for the past 3 months it was nice to be somewhere that looks like the foothills of the Cascades. It rained off and on the whole time we were there, but we are use to that.
We then spent Saturday evening at our friends wedding, which was in a castle (Eilan Doonan (?sp?)). Mat eat and enjoyed Haggis stuffed chicken, in his defence he didn't know until after he finished it. Her wedding cake was a carrot cake smothered with caramel and chocolate. Most of the men wore kilts (Mat briefly considered buying a kilt in his ancestors, Macalister Clan, tartan but reconsidered when he found out they cost more than $500) and there was a bagpiper.
On Sunday we went to the northern most tip of Skye for some locally produced and hand-dyed yarn (dyed with organic traditional materials). It was an hour and a half drive across the island and by the end we were driving down an 8 foot wide road through tiny village after village where you had to pull off the road any time a car came in the other direction. The women who owned and ran the yarn shop was American, but had been there since the 70's. I bought a ton of yarn and have no idea what I'm going to make with it. On our way back down to the Midlands we stopped and walked around Stirling Castle (the castle of Robert The Bruce of Braveheart fame as well as the castle of the Scottish Stewart kings). It was the neatest castle we've seen so far high above a broad farm valley on a rocky promonotory with expansive buildings and a series of walls and keeps. You could see across the valley to the large Wallace Monument Tower dedicated to William Wallace.
The Highlands and Skye are the most beautiful places in the UK! Mat and I are trying to figure out why more people don't live there. We would relocate there if we could for the remainder of our stay!
After the yarn we headed southeast to Loch Ness and searched for Nessie, Lily swears she saw it! See if you can spot it in our pictures.
We love and miss you all,
Taylor, Mat and Lily
Skye is a beautiful island in the Highlands of Scotland, a bridge connecting it to the mainland was built in 1995. It was breath taking! After being in the flat farmland for the past 3 months it was nice to be somewhere that looks like the foothills of the Cascades. It rained off and on the whole time we were there, but we are use to that.
We then spent Saturday evening at our friends wedding, which was in a castle (Eilan Doonan (?sp?)). Mat eat and enjoyed Haggis stuffed chicken, in his defence he didn't know until after he finished it. Her wedding cake was a carrot cake smothered with caramel and chocolate. Most of the men wore kilts (Mat briefly considered buying a kilt in his ancestors, Macalister Clan, tartan but reconsidered when he found out they cost more than $500) and there was a bagpiper.
On Sunday we went to the northern most tip of Skye for some locally produced and hand-dyed yarn (dyed with organic traditional materials). It was an hour and a half drive across the island and by the end we were driving down an 8 foot wide road through tiny village after village where you had to pull off the road any time a car came in the other direction. The women who owned and ran the yarn shop was American, but had been there since the 70's. I bought a ton of yarn and have no idea what I'm going to make with it. On our way back down to the Midlands we stopped and walked around Stirling Castle (the castle of Robert The Bruce of Braveheart fame as well as the castle of the Scottish Stewart kings). It was the neatest castle we've seen so far high above a broad farm valley on a rocky promonotory with expansive buildings and a series of walls and keeps. You could see across the valley to the large Wallace Monument Tower dedicated to William Wallace.
The Highlands and Skye are the most beautiful places in the UK! Mat and I are trying to figure out why more people don't live there. We would relocate there if we could for the remainder of our stay!
After the yarn we headed southeast to Loch Ness and searched for Nessie, Lily swears she saw it! See if you can spot it in our pictures.
We love and miss you all,
Taylor, Mat and Lily
Twycross Zoo
Lily and Taylor found a somewhat local zoo. It was a privately owned zoo up until 1972 and they are still trying to update the facility to make it more than the "personal menagerie" that it was before. We saw Gibbons, Gorillas, Oragatngus, Elephants, various Lemurs, Giraffes, and some new animals we had never seen. Capybaras, a jackalope looking animal (Maras), Asiatic Lions, and Binobos (over sexed chimpanzees) :)! It was pretty fun and great to be doing something other then seeing castles or large houses. Lily's favorite zoo animals were the Pink Flamingos. All she could do all days was point and say "OH!" at everything she saw.
London...forever ago!
Crap! We totally forgot to blog about going to London! In early June we took the train to London and stayed in the Victoria Station area, which was quite nice and very low key.
We then went to several, if not most tourist attractions. Big Ben and Parliament were great, but we didn't know at the time that Westminster Cathedral was Parliament. Shakespeare's Globe was fun to do a tour of and Lily practiced her stage voice the whole time. Buckingham Palaces was nothing to write home about, if people want to see the Queen they go to Windsor Castle in the countryside. We did get to see the royal horses getting exercised because with a toddler you are up that early. Taylor got a picture with a Beefeater and even made him smile a half smile. Mat was able to see Trafalgar Square and get nostalgic over the Master and Commander book series. It was a great place to see and very picturesque. After all that sight-seeing it was time to go look at the shops.
Harrods, Soho, Piccadilly Circus, and all the stores that live in those areas. Harrods is a country itself and very over priced, but we did buy some loose leaf tea there and a couple of clothing items that Taylor just conveniently forgot to bring that weekend.
Oh, I almost forgot we went to the British Museum. This museum is full of "liberated" booty from the various countries the British kingdom interacted with. The museum even states that Egypt asked for artifacts to be returned and the British said "no". I was shocked, especially since we know that not all artifacts were gifts. It was very cool and we have to go back and see more of it as we only got through Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Oh, and one more thing, Taylor got to see Harry Potter's train platform in King's Cross!
We will go back to London and we'll let you know if we find anything new. Mat's scheduled to spend a day in London to watch the Arsenal/Emirates football tournament featuring Juventus from Italy, Hamburg from Germany, FC Barcelona from Spain and the Gunners from the Premiereship. Also if you feel we should see something leave us a suggestion so we don't miss anything.
Take Care,
Taylor, Mat, and Lily
We then went to several, if not most tourist attractions. Big Ben and Parliament were great, but we didn't know at the time that Westminster Cathedral was Parliament. Shakespeare's Globe was fun to do a tour of and Lily practiced her stage voice the whole time. Buckingham Palaces was nothing to write home about, if people want to see the Queen they go to Windsor Castle in the countryside. We did get to see the royal horses getting exercised because with a toddler you are up that early. Taylor got a picture with a Beefeater and even made him smile a half smile. Mat was able to see Trafalgar Square and get nostalgic over the Master and Commander book series. It was a great place to see and very picturesque. After all that sight-seeing it was time to go look at the shops.
Harrods, Soho, Piccadilly Circus, and all the stores that live in those areas. Harrods is a country itself and very over priced, but we did buy some loose leaf tea there and a couple of clothing items that Taylor just conveniently forgot to bring that weekend.
Oh, I almost forgot we went to the British Museum. This museum is full of "liberated" booty from the various countries the British kingdom interacted with. The museum even states that Egypt asked for artifacts to be returned and the British said "no". I was shocked, especially since we know that not all artifacts were gifts. It was very cool and we have to go back and see more of it as we only got through Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Oh, and one more thing, Taylor got to see Harry Potter's train platform in King's Cross!
We will go back to London and we'll let you know if we find anything new. Mat's scheduled to spend a day in London to watch the Arsenal/Emirates football tournament featuring Juventus from Italy, Hamburg from Germany, FC Barcelona from Spain and the Gunners from the Premiereship. Also if you feel we should see something leave us a suggestion so we don't miss anything.
Take Care,
Taylor, Mat, and Lily
Monday 9 June 2008
Chatsworth
Chatsworth is one of the many castle/manors/houses in the UK and has been my favorite this far. The grounds are amazing and the sheep roam freely. There is a book written about one of the many people who have lived here called Bess of Hardwick, if anyone wants to read it. The family there now is the Cavendish family.
The Duke 1790-1858 who made the most out of his life in the house was the 6th Duke. He was a confirmed bachelor and therefore spent all his money and time on the various homes his family owned. A rock garden which you will be able to see pictures of, a wall conservatory, Egyptian statues, and numerous other things that will be pictured in the slide show. He was able to accomplish some amazing things for the period he lived in.
Sorry about the time in between posts!! We have been very busy and had a visitor for two weeks.
The Duke 1790-1858 who made the most out of his life in the house was the 6th Duke. He was a confirmed bachelor and therefore spent all his money and time on the various homes his family owned. A rock garden which you will be able to see pictures of, a wall conservatory, Egyptian statues, and numerous other things that will be pictured in the slide show. He was able to accomplish some amazing things for the period he lived in.
Sorry about the time in between posts!! We have been very busy and had a visitor for two weeks.
Friday 16 May 2008
Paris Entry
Hi All,
Mat took us to Paris for Mother's Day and it was great! We stayed in a nice area called Saint-Michel with a view down on to the street and cafe. It was perfect for people watching!
On our first day there we trained in to the city, found our hotel, and then hunted down some food. We accidentally ended up eating at a cafe we had eaten at five years ago and got nostalgic (on our trip five years ago Mat had proposed in France). We then went to the Arc De Triumph and the Champs es Lycees (not sure how to spell that). We window shopped and walked around. We went in to a store and were mistaken for Germans by the sales people, perhaps our French had a German accent.
The next two days were spent at the Louvre and it was amazing! We could hardly believe the colors that artists were able to create back then. We saw the Mona Lisa and Lily slept through that part. She'll have to see it another day. The huge paintings were breath taking, not to mention the Louvre itself. We had arrived early were able to walk through "The Heart of the Diamond" (courtyard) almost entirely by ourselves. The size of the palace was just...words can't describe it. It really made us want to learn French history.
Look at our pics and see some of what we saw or took pictures of. Our love to all and enjoy your great weather!!!
Love,
Taylor, Mat and Lily
Mat took us to Paris for Mother's Day and it was great! We stayed in a nice area called Saint-Michel with a view down on to the street and cafe. It was perfect for people watching!
On our first day there we trained in to the city, found our hotel, and then hunted down some food. We accidentally ended up eating at a cafe we had eaten at five years ago and got nostalgic (on our trip five years ago Mat had proposed in France). We then went to the Arc De Triumph and the Champs es Lycees (not sure how to spell that). We window shopped and walked around. We went in to a store and were mistaken for Germans by the sales people, perhaps our French had a German accent.
The next two days were spent at the Louvre and it was amazing! We could hardly believe the colors that artists were able to create back then. We saw the Mona Lisa and Lily slept through that part. She'll have to see it another day. The huge paintings were breath taking, not to mention the Louvre itself. We had arrived early were able to walk through "The Heart of the Diamond" (courtyard) almost entirely by ourselves. The size of the palace was just...words can't describe it. It really made us want to learn French history.
Look at our pics and see some of what we saw or took pictures of. Our love to all and enjoy your great weather!!!
Love,
Taylor, Mat and Lily
Wednesday 14 May 2008
Mother's Day in Paris
No time to leave an entry now, but thought you might like to see the pictures of our Mother's Day in Paris.
Sunday 4 May 2008
Weekend in Nottingham
Hi Everyone,
Sorry it's taken us so long to write. Work has gotten incredibly busy and I hardly have time to check my email there anymore. Unfortunately, we still don't have the Internet at home yet. However, we do have a home phone! Yeah!!!! You can call us anytime between 7:00 a.m. and 7 p.m. our time (which is 11:00 p.m. to 11:00 a.m. your time) at 00 44 147 6879353. If that doesn't work, try dialing 00 44 0147 6879353.
We were able to make an appointment to have broadband set up for the house though so these will get much more frequent soon. If all goes well we should have Internet on May 12th.
Now, down to our daily lives... Last weekend was Lily's 1st Birthday, Yeah! The slide show running to the left are some pictures from the big day. Be sure to click on the slide show and then blow up some of the pictures. Taylor took a walk with Lily around the village while I decorated the house for her birthday. When they came back in the house Lily was totally amazed at the decorations. Check out the look on her face as she points around the room. She had a really great time. Taylor made her an organic, all natural cake from scratch (with no sugar, just orange juice and maple syrup) and it was great. Lily really loved it, as you can see.
Our neighbors have a 5 year old daughter, Harriet, and she and Lily just love each other. I think this is in part because Harriet has a Nintendo DS game called something like Babyz and Lily reminds her of the baby in her game. In any event, they get along really well. Partly through Lily's present opening Harriet stopped by with a hand drawn birthday card for Lily. It was awesome. An English accent on a kid is just unbelievably adorable and it was one for the ages to hear her wishing Lily a happy birthday. Imagine Oliver asking, "Please sir, can I have some more?" But instead imagine a 5 year old girl wishing your daughter a happy birthday in the same voice... priceless!
That same weekend we also took a drive to Nottingham. The weekend prior we had bought a big road atlas book and we were so proud about saving the company money and not buying a GPS like all the other ex-pats have done. However, our 1 hour drive to Buxton turned out to take 3 hours and involve an astounding number of wrong turns and roundabout exits.
Last weekend we embarked for Nottingham, thinking how much wiser we were for having made so many mistakes the previous weekend, sure we'd make the half hour trip with no difficulty. We had our Atlas, directions printed off Maps.live, etc and we were prepped! 4 1/2 hours later we were so flustered and upset we realized that we weren't helping anyone by not having a GPS. If you've ever read the Bill Bryson book, Notes From a Small Island, recall the first 6 pages in which driving and directions in England are discussed at length and you'll understand. If you haven't read it, or if it's been a while, grab this book again. It's hilarious! Just read the first 6 pages even, it's classic.
We've already been to York this weekend ( a two hour drive that, thanks to the GPS took us two hours) and walked around the downtown. It was really beautiful. We haven't been to Westminster yet but we did go to the Minster in York and it was astounding! We've been to Sacre Cour and to Notre Dame in Paris and I have to say, as much as we think Paris is the most beautiful city in the world, York Minster put any other cathedral I've seen to shame. Check out our Picasa photo's if you'd like and see some of our pics. The shopping/outdoor market section of the city lies within the medieval walls of the old castle and it was really neat to see the shops that were hundreds of years old.
Today I think we're going to go to Chatsworth (http://www.chatsworth.org/) and Ikea so she can get a rocking chair for getting Lily back to sleep in the middle of the night. Oh yeah, huge news... Lily is in the Crib by herself every night. She's been doing it for a full week now. We're so excited. She still wakes up at least once per night but with some holding/rocking/singing she falls back asleep before too long.
Tomorrow, the castle 4 miles down a country road from us, Belvoir (http://www.belvoircastle.com/), where the Duke and Duchess of Rutland live, will be hosting a jousting tournament. I think we're going to check that out and then go use our newly purchased bbq and enjoy a nice dinner outside in the evening before returning from our three day weekend. Did I mention this was a bank holiday over here?
Anyway, we'll have more pictures and news soon.
Love,
Mat, Taylor, and 1 year old Lily
Sorry it's taken us so long to write. Work has gotten incredibly busy and I hardly have time to check my email there anymore. Unfortunately, we still don't have the Internet at home yet. However, we do have a home phone! Yeah!!!! You can call us anytime between 7:00 a.m. and 7 p.m. our time (which is 11:00 p.m. to 11:00 a.m. your time) at 00 44 147 6879353. If that doesn't work, try dialing 00 44 0147 6879353.
We were able to make an appointment to have broadband set up for the house though so these will get much more frequent soon. If all goes well we should have Internet on May 12th.
Now, down to our daily lives... Last weekend was Lily's 1st Birthday, Yeah! The slide show running to the left are some pictures from the big day. Be sure to click on the slide show and then blow up some of the pictures. Taylor took a walk with Lily around the village while I decorated the house for her birthday. When they came back in the house Lily was totally amazed at the decorations. Check out the look on her face as she points around the room. She had a really great time. Taylor made her an organic, all natural cake from scratch (with no sugar, just orange juice and maple syrup) and it was great. Lily really loved it, as you can see.
Our neighbors have a 5 year old daughter, Harriet, and she and Lily just love each other. I think this is in part because Harriet has a Nintendo DS game called something like Babyz and Lily reminds her of the baby in her game. In any event, they get along really well. Partly through Lily's present opening Harriet stopped by with a hand drawn birthday card for Lily. It was awesome. An English accent on a kid is just unbelievably adorable and it was one for the ages to hear her wishing Lily a happy birthday. Imagine Oliver asking, "Please sir, can I have some more?" But instead imagine a 5 year old girl wishing your daughter a happy birthday in the same voice... priceless!
That same weekend we also took a drive to Nottingham. The weekend prior we had bought a big road atlas book and we were so proud about saving the company money and not buying a GPS like all the other ex-pats have done. However, our 1 hour drive to Buxton turned out to take 3 hours and involve an astounding number of wrong turns and roundabout exits.
Last weekend we embarked for Nottingham, thinking how much wiser we were for having made so many mistakes the previous weekend, sure we'd make the half hour trip with no difficulty. We had our Atlas, directions printed off Maps.live, etc and we were prepped! 4 1/2 hours later we were so flustered and upset we realized that we weren't helping anyone by not having a GPS. If you've ever read the Bill Bryson book, Notes From a Small Island, recall the first 6 pages in which driving and directions in England are discussed at length and you'll understand. If you haven't read it, or if it's been a while, grab this book again. It's hilarious! Just read the first 6 pages even, it's classic.
We've already been to York this weekend ( a two hour drive that, thanks to the GPS took us two hours) and walked around the downtown. It was really beautiful. We haven't been to Westminster yet but we did go to the Minster in York and it was astounding! We've been to Sacre Cour and to Notre Dame in Paris and I have to say, as much as we think Paris is the most beautiful city in the world, York Minster put any other cathedral I've seen to shame. Check out our Picasa photo's if you'd like and see some of our pics. The shopping/outdoor market section of the city lies within the medieval walls of the old castle and it was really neat to see the shops that were hundreds of years old.
Today I think we're going to go to Chatsworth (http://www.chatsworth.org/) and Ikea so she can get a rocking chair for getting Lily back to sleep in the middle of the night. Oh yeah, huge news... Lily is in the Crib by herself every night. She's been doing it for a full week now. We're so excited. She still wakes up at least once per night but with some holding/rocking/singing she falls back asleep before too long.
Tomorrow, the castle 4 miles down a country road from us, Belvoir (http://www.belvoircastle.com/), where the Duke and Duchess of Rutland live, will be hosting a jousting tournament. I think we're going to check that out and then go use our newly purchased bbq and enjoy a nice dinner outside in the evening before returning from our three day weekend. Did I mention this was a bank holiday over here?
Anyway, we'll have more pictures and news soon.
Love,
Mat, Taylor, and 1 year old Lily
Wednesday 23 April 2008
Walk around the village
We also wanted to put out a quick post to let you know what we're up to so it's not all nuts and bolts.
We've now fully furnished and mostly cleaned up the house so we took a little time yesterday after dinner to take a short walk around the village. Monday and Tuesday were actually really beautiful days with a lot of sun and with temperatures getting into the low 60's. I actually walked around the village in a tee shirt and flip flops. We took a quick walk up to the old church, drawn by a referee's whistle and intermitent shouting. Now that we finally have a minute to stop and breathe and relax we were really struck by what a beautiful little village we really live in. The streets are very narrow and some of the buildings must be at least more than a hundred years old. it was amazing to see the sun on the green rolling pastures dotted by sheep and criss-crossed by hedges or rock walls, to hear the song birds, and to stroll by two story brick buildings that loomed over the slim sidewalks on the narrow country lane.
We discovered a football pitch behind the church and we took a few minutes to watch an organized match between what we assumed were two local school teams. It was a really nice evening.
Of course, Lily fell asleep on the walk so we went back to the house and Taylor brought her up to her bedroom and laid down with her to get her fully asleep at the house again while I washed dishes (our dish washer still isn't working) for an hour and then folded laundry before passing out exhausted at the incredibly late hour of 9:00 p.m.
Taylor would want me to report that earlier during the day she and Lily rode the bus into Grantham and met me at work around 3:30. I took 15 minutes to walk a block down the street from the office into Grantham to the locally owned baby/toy shop to see what we might find for Lily's birthday.
We bought a crock-pot (slow cooker to the English) this weekend as well and when we got home Taylor had made a really incredible Thai Green Chicken Curry recipe that we found in an english cookbook. It wasn't anything like her specialty curry but it was very very good. The recipe actually called for sherry so you should have seen me when I waylaid a clerk in the Morrison's grocery store the other day and asked which sherry would be best for cooking. She didn't quite no what to do with me.
We've now fully furnished and mostly cleaned up the house so we took a little time yesterday after dinner to take a short walk around the village. Monday and Tuesday were actually really beautiful days with a lot of sun and with temperatures getting into the low 60's. I actually walked around the village in a tee shirt and flip flops. We took a quick walk up to the old church, drawn by a referee's whistle and intermitent shouting. Now that we finally have a minute to stop and breathe and relax we were really struck by what a beautiful little village we really live in. The streets are very narrow and some of the buildings must be at least more than a hundred years old. it was amazing to see the sun on the green rolling pastures dotted by sheep and criss-crossed by hedges or rock walls, to hear the song birds, and to stroll by two story brick buildings that loomed over the slim sidewalks on the narrow country lane.
We discovered a football pitch behind the church and we took a few minutes to watch an organized match between what we assumed were two local school teams. It was a really nice evening.
Of course, Lily fell asleep on the walk so we went back to the house and Taylor brought her up to her bedroom and laid down with her to get her fully asleep at the house again while I washed dishes (our dish washer still isn't working) for an hour and then folded laundry before passing out exhausted at the incredibly late hour of 9:00 p.m.
Taylor would want me to report that earlier during the day she and Lily rode the bus into Grantham and met me at work around 3:30. I took 15 minutes to walk a block down the street from the office into Grantham to the locally owned baby/toy shop to see what we might find for Lily's birthday.
We bought a crock-pot (slow cooker to the English) this weekend as well and when we got home Taylor had made a really incredible Thai Green Chicken Curry recipe that we found in an english cookbook. It wasn't anything like her specialty curry but it was very very good. The recipe actually called for sherry so you should have seen me when I waylaid a clerk in the Morrison's grocery store the other day and asked which sherry would be best for cooking. She didn't quite no what to do with me.
TAYLOR HAS A CELL!
Hi everyone,
Taylor has a cell phone and would LOVE to hear from you! One quick note, I was off by an hour yesterday when I said when it was safe to call. Lily has been waking up at 6:30 a.m. our time so feel free to call us by 7:00 a.m. our time, that would be 11:00 p.m. at night your time. Lily is definitely asleep by 7:00 p.m. these days so please try not to call later then 11:00 a.m. in the morning your time.
Taylor's cell number is: 07530167505. To dial that number fromt the States you need to dial 011 44 07530167505. Call her today, she's waiting!
If you have any questions about what time in England it is I'll email out a conversion table I created earlier.
Taylor has a cell phone and would LOVE to hear from you! One quick note, I was off by an hour yesterday when I said when it was safe to call. Lily has been waking up at 6:30 a.m. our time so feel free to call us by 7:00 a.m. our time, that would be 11:00 p.m. at night your time. Lily is definitely asleep by 7:00 p.m. these days so please try not to call later then 11:00 a.m. in the morning your time.
Taylor's cell number is: 07530167505. To dial that number fromt the States you need to dial 011 44 07530167505. Call her today, she's waiting!
If you have any questions about what time in England it is I'll email out a conversion table I created earlier.
Tuesday 22 April 2008
Taylor has a cell phone but...
Hi Everyone,
Great news, Taylor has a cell phone... or mobile (mohb-aisle) in the Queen's English. Unfortunately, we haven't figured out the phone number yet. We just bought and now we're headed home for the evening to read the instruction book. I'll post Taylor's number here tomorrow and you can start calling her then. We wanted to be sure and have a phone so people could wish Lily a happy birthday this Sunday.
Because we were only able to get a pay as you go phone she won't be able to make calls to the states on the mobile (for that we'll have to wait until the land line gets installed on May 1st) but she can get calls on her mobile from all of you. If you'd like to call her or Lily you can start doing that tomorrow after I post the number.
Keep in mind we are 8 hours ahead of Pacific Time. Lily generally wakes up around 7ish to 8ish and goes to bed at 7 p.m. That means that safe hours to call us from the Pacific Time Zone are 11 p.m. to noon.
More coming soon!
Great news, Taylor has a cell phone... or mobile (mohb-aisle) in the Queen's English. Unfortunately, we haven't figured out the phone number yet. We just bought and now we're headed home for the evening to read the instruction book. I'll post Taylor's number here tomorrow and you can start calling her then. We wanted to be sure and have a phone so people could wish Lily a happy birthday this Sunday.
Because we were only able to get a pay as you go phone she won't be able to make calls to the states on the mobile (for that we'll have to wait until the land line gets installed on May 1st) but she can get calls on her mobile from all of you. If you'd like to call her or Lily you can start doing that tomorrow after I post the number.
Keep in mind we are 8 hours ahead of Pacific Time. Lily generally wakes up around 7ish to 8ish and goes to bed at 7 p.m. That means that safe hours to call us from the Pacific Time Zone are 11 p.m. to noon.
More coming soon!
Monday 21 April 2008
How to receive automatic updates from our blog
Hi Everyone,
If you'd like to receive automatic updates from this blog, just click "Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)" at the bottom of this page and follow the instructions.
Cheers!
If you'd like to receive automatic updates from this blog, just click "Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)" at the bottom of this page and follow the instructions.
Cheers!
1st entry
Hi everyone!
I just wanted to drop a quick line apologizing for and explaining the paucity of emails and phone calls.
Unfortunately we're not going to be able to do a whole lot of emailing or calling over the next 2 to 2 1/2 weeks. We don't have the internet at home yet. In order to get a phone in the UK you have to call British Telecom (BT), the national government service phone provider and set up a time for them to come out and turn the line on. They take anywhere from 1 -3 weeks to do that. Once you've done that, you can call them or any private provider and make an appointment to set up the internet or TV but no one will even speak to you until you've actually turned your line on with BT. We've applied for a phone line to be installed by BT but they couldn't come install it until May 1st. On May 1st, once the BT technician has been out to the house and given us a phone connection (on which we can make and receive free calls to the States!) we can call BT back and make an appointment for them to come out again and set up broadband for us. I know what you're thinking... yes... we have to make 2 seperate appointments and they have to come out twice... ahhhh beurocracy! It's enough to make me re-think my socialist tendencies!
This means that our only internet connection is at Mat's work. Now, there are some critical differences between work here and work in the States. Many things are exactly the same, but a one difference I've noticed already is that everyone works from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. They have a 37.5 hour work week here and no one comes in early, and no one stays late (except for a VERY few hardy committed work-a-holics, maybe 1 in 100 people)... (Actually, when I think about this, strike what I said earlier about socialism, Viva La Revolucion!) This presents a problem becuase the front door at work has a security alarm and it gets set around 5:00. I don't know it and if I'm here after 5:00, chances are I'm going to set it off when I leave the building and cause a lot of trouble. That means I'm only around an internet connection from about 8:15 to 5:00 (I may not be able to stay late, but someone gets here around 8:00 who knows the security code so I can come in a little early).
I just don't feel comfortable doing much personal emailing on company time and until we have an internet connection in May, there aren't too many other options.
However, I've created this blog to try and make it easier to send updates out. Go ahead and book mark the blog and check back for updates. I'll add pictures and post updates for newly added photo galleries. Taylor may actually get a mobile phone today as well. She won't be able to make calls to the States on the phone but she will be able to receive them. We'll definitely have that mobile phone by this weekend though so anyone who wants to call and wish Lily a happy birthday this Sunday will be able to do so.
We're really sorry about this and we miss you all terribly!
Mat, Taylor, and Lily
I just wanted to drop a quick line apologizing for and explaining the paucity of emails and phone calls.
Unfortunately we're not going to be able to do a whole lot of emailing or calling over the next 2 to 2 1/2 weeks. We don't have the internet at home yet. In order to get a phone in the UK you have to call British Telecom (BT), the national government service phone provider and set up a time for them to come out and turn the line on. They take anywhere from 1 -3 weeks to do that. Once you've done that, you can call them or any private provider and make an appointment to set up the internet or TV but no one will even speak to you until you've actually turned your line on with BT. We've applied for a phone line to be installed by BT but they couldn't come install it until May 1st. On May 1st, once the BT technician has been out to the house and given us a phone connection (on which we can make and receive free calls to the States!) we can call BT back and make an appointment for them to come out again and set up broadband for us. I know what you're thinking... yes... we have to make 2 seperate appointments and they have to come out twice... ahhhh beurocracy! It's enough to make me re-think my socialist tendencies!
This means that our only internet connection is at Mat's work. Now, there are some critical differences between work here and work in the States. Many things are exactly the same, but a one difference I've noticed already is that everyone works from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. They have a 37.5 hour work week here and no one comes in early, and no one stays late (except for a VERY few hardy committed work-a-holics, maybe 1 in 100 people)... (Actually, when I think about this, strike what I said earlier about socialism, Viva La Revolucion!) This presents a problem becuase the front door at work has a security alarm and it gets set around 5:00. I don't know it and if I'm here after 5:00, chances are I'm going to set it off when I leave the building and cause a lot of trouble. That means I'm only around an internet connection from about 8:15 to 5:00 (I may not be able to stay late, but someone gets here around 8:00 who knows the security code so I can come in a little early).
I just don't feel comfortable doing much personal emailing on company time and until we have an internet connection in May, there aren't too many other options.
However, I've created this blog to try and make it easier to send updates out. Go ahead and book mark the blog and check back for updates. I'll add pictures and post updates for newly added photo galleries. Taylor may actually get a mobile phone today as well. She won't be able to make calls to the States on the phone but she will be able to receive them. We'll definitely have that mobile phone by this weekend though so anyone who wants to call and wish Lily a happy birthday this Sunday will be able to do so.
We're really sorry about this and we miss you all terribly!
Mat, Taylor, and Lily
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)