Eat, drink and be merry - a photo journal of my trip to England

Back home!

I arrived home yesterday after a loooooooong 9-hour flight. Since a picture says a thousand words, here's a little photo journal of the trip.

Here's a picture of my cousin Elaine, sister Tracy, other cousin, Jean with Claire and Alistair (Jean's son) on the far right. We are at Basildon, a historic house that was used in the filming of Jean's favorite movie, "Pride and Prejudice".

After that we went to the pub for a family gathering. It was the first time we met a few new members of the family, including Lewis (age 3.5), Amber (age 2) and Theo (just a baby).






Here's another family gathering at the pub. This one is with a different set of cousins (Elaine, in the pink, and her son, Adrian, at the far end of the table), along with Adrian's girlfriend, Shelley, and her two children, Sophie and Cam. My sister and I are in there, too, of course. We stayed at Adrian and Shelley's for the first few days of the trip.


After that, we went to stay with Jean for a few days. She lives up in the Peak District. Here's a photo taken by my sister of me with Jean one night when we were out for dinner.



We also spent a few days with yet another set of cousins in Kent. On our first night with them, they took us out for ...











And even though I was quite full after a large helping of both fish and chips, and declined to have any "pudding", as they like to call it, my dear cousins took the liberty of ordering me a traditional English dessert - spotted dick with warm custard sauce. No, I am not kidding. The photo quality isn't great on this one, but still, I had to provide evidence of this!



My sister came home to Canada a few days before I did. I spent my last day in England with my cousin, Emma having a "girls' day" including lunch at (where else?) the pub! We did eat food, too, including apple and blackberry crumble with custard for pudding.

Sounds like all we did while we were there was spend time at the pub, eh? Well, just to prove that isn't true here's a picture taken at my hosts' home with my two cousins, Rachel and Emma. Believe it or not, we were not just home from the pub!

Guess where I'm going today, now that I'm back home? The gym! And tomorrow I'm hitting the river pathways for a run. Boy, do I need it!

Vacation ramblings...

Ramble #1

We spent a few days up at my cousin Jean's house in the peak district. She said that lots of people go jogging there and I wouldn't look at all out of place. So, I did, following the route (more or less) that she'd showed me. I did get a bit lost one morning and when I saw an older gentleman say "Hello!" and wave, I waved back and said, "Morning!"

He gave me a bit of a funny look and I quickly realized that what I thought was a lane road was actually a rather long driveway - his. So I turned around and made like I was doing a hill sprint back up to the main road.

Ooops.

Ramble #2

I also took the opportunity to debut the new running skirt that I bought at the fitness fair at the race before I left. I remembered the rule "Nothing new on race day!" and I've been aching to try it out ever since. Works well. Cute. But running skirts are definitely not popular (yet?) in these parts of England. So, the running didn't get me funny looks, but the skirt did. We'll save the skirt for when I go back home now...

Ramble #3

My cousins all sound very 'posh' to me; except when they say 'ate'. It comes out more like 'et', with a very enunciated 't' at the end. It sends me off into peels of laughter and I make fun of them by saying, in my best hill billy accent, 'Yeah, I et me some cow and 'den I et me some corn.'

They seem amused, but only politely so.

Ramble #4

Everyone here, regardless of their age, sends text messages - compulsively, like a bunch of addicts. Seeing my more... er... 'mature' cousins sending each other texts is quite endearing, really. My sister said the other day that she didn't know how to text. I thought my cousins were going to fall off their chairs in disbelief. Our cell phones don't work here, but I do believe that a tutorial is being arranged as we speak.

Ramble #5

I am delighted by the clothes lines that people have outside their houses here. My one cousin doesn't even have a dryer; said she's never had a dryer and never planned to. She takes her clothes out of the washer, puts them into a different machine called a spinner, that removes much of the water and then line dries everything. Delightfully quaint, IMHO.

Jolly Ol' England

I've been in England almost a week now, having left two days after running the half marathon. I've been planning the trip for almost two years and it is great to finally be here, visiting with family I haven't seen in a long time.

My sister, Tracy, who lives near Toronto is also here visiting we are getting the chance to see each other, as well.

I've been out running every day, except for today (Sunday) which is my usual rest day. I usually run every other day, and often on the treadmill. My knees aren't used to pounding on pavement every day, so I've kept the runs short, just to keep my legs loose and to act as somewhat of an antidote to the holiday diet, which has included:

• pints of ale (Badger's Champion ale, to be exact)
• pints of shandy
• beef and ale pie
• ploughman's lunch (with a hunk of cheese that would normally take me about 2 weeks to eat!)
• roast lamb dinner with Yorkshire pudding
• biscuits of various kinds
• and my new favorite thing in the world - cream tea (scones with clotted cream - OMG!!)

My best running anecdote from England so far is that I don't think there are many people who run where my cousin Adrian lives in Earley, Reading. I noticed that I hadn't seen any runners around his area. As I was out in the residential area where he lives, a bus almost passed me and then came screeching to a halt. The driver thought I was running for the bus!

It took both of us a second to realize what was going on and then we both half chuckled, embarrassed and awkward about the misunderstanding... and on we went on our respective journeys. Then I realized that indeed, that was definitely not a common area for runners at all!

Needless to say that I will resume proper running and working out schedule when I get home, and in the meantime, I plan to continue enjoying the English cuisine (if that isn't too much of an oxymoron!) Besides, the act of breaking bread with my family, exchanging stories and sharing meals is part of the joy of being here.

The other day day ten of us got together at a pub and we got to meet new additions to the family, including spouses and children who've joined the family since the last time we were here.

I arrived last Tuesday and I said to my cousin, Jean, today that I finally feel like I am starting to unwind - for the first time in about two years, actually. I've done nothing but eat, visit, sleep, do a bit of sight seeing, shop and relax. It's been fabulous.

Tomorrow is a girls' shopping day in the town, so best I get to bed so I can be well rested for it. Don't know how much shopping I'll do, as things are hideously expensive here compared with home, but just being out with my sister and cousin in the shops will be fun. And with that, off to bed I go...

PS: Not been visiting blogs much, but I'll try to catch up soon.

Various countdowns

I have not been blogging much lately because life seems rather ordinary lately. That can be a good thing... and I've been enjoying it. I have needed the break.

There are, however, a number of things in the works.

In less than a week
I will have my PhD oral candidacy exam. It's a two-hour exam, conducted by 5 professors and one neutral chair. After that I find out if I passed. The big paper I wrote and the oral exam are a package deal... pass or fail both at once. And the examining committee's decision must be unanimous.

After that, I'll share the exam questions and tell you what the oral was like. Until then, I am doing more preparatory reading. The reading never ends, I tell you!

In less than a month
I'll do the half marathon. It's on July 8. I am totally stoked about it! So far, training with Kevin is going well. I look forward to each day of running with exuberance and bubbly anticipation.

Today I did interval training. God, I love intervals! I finish wanting more... and in a way that only runners would appreciate, feel a bit let down when it's over. I want to keep going, but I don't. I follow the plan.

I went a bit over the top last weekend with my long run and planned a route with some seriously tough hills on it. That was my idea though, not the trainer's. When I told Kevin about it, I got a gentle reply about not overtraining... Oh yeah, and Dr. Mike, the chiropractor, expressed both respect and concern in a similar manner. He said something to the effect that I was a "serious runner" but, "Maybe it's not a good idea to do that again."

Anyway, it was just shy of 12 miles, with half of it being up hill. I was happy that I did it. I like the gritty runs!

I went for my annual physical last week. My doctor was asking me how training was going. She got all excited when I told her about the half. She's an Ironman athlete herself and she likes to talk about training. She said, "Well, once you're done the half you can start training for a full marathon!"

I replied tentatively, "Well, um... you know... one step at a time."

She smiled and nudged further, "If you can do a half, you can do a marathon. No problem!"

I seem to be getting nudged from various directions about moving up to a full... and I haven't even done this half yet. And the only road race I have done since I was 15 years old was the Forzani's 5 km race in May. I think I need some more road race experience before I even think about doing a full marathon... Let's see how the half goes in July.

Oh, I do have a question for fellow runners out there. Has anyone found a lip balm that's good for running? Specifically, I'd like one that I can open with one hand, rather than having to fiddle with two hands. My lips get really dry on my long runs and the one I'm using just doesn't seem to work that well... and I'm always afraid of losing the little cap too. Anyway, advice is welcome!

Also in less than a month
I'll be in England visiting my family there. I have been looking forward to this for a long time! My sister and I will be travelling together. I haven't seen her in a while either, so it will be good to catch up all around.

I leave two days after the half marathon. I'm not sure that my legs will appreciate being stuffed into an airline seat for nine or so hours after that kind of run, but I'm sure I'll survive. There are times when having short legs is good... and travelling is one of those times!

So, there you have it... Many things are "in progress". I'll keep you posted.