Corgi Flop

Monday!!

Now I am not one to "come down with a case of the Mondays" or dread going to work on Sunday nights, but after a day like today I just may start. I mean damn!!

First off lets talk about this weather. Record low temps were never the selling points we signed up for. I remember getting up last Sunday and thinking "nah cold weather will be gone in a couple of days". Ha boy was I wrong. Its been brutal for over a week and no end in sight. The 10 day forecast doesn't get above 41 and there is snow predicted 6 out of 10 days. And the weather is tricky too. You wake up and its super cloudy and you think its going to be freezing, but its not, its 38 and will stay that way all day. But if you wake up and its sunny, well just wipe that grin off your face. Oh no, its not going to warm up, oh no, its going to be 25 and get up to a blistering 33. Average temps are supposed to be 48 everyday, and we move into the coldest November in the history of record keeping. Again I can't understand how the Brits handle it. Kristen wore a stocking hat, the hood to her sweatshirt, and a scarf around her head like a turban. I mean yesterday we saw a guy driving around with the top down on his convertible, while I was wearing three pairs of pants.

Oh but it gets better.........stupid transport workers called another strike last night. 15 minutes at 27 waiting for my train just about froze my nose off. I didn't think their strikes were very effective in the past, but now I am on their side even if it is just to avoid frostbite.

Usually I don't mention anything about work because well its super boring, and nobody really knows what I am talking about anyway. I mean if I told you I spent half the day reviewing hedge documentation you would just stare at me glassy eyed. Unless you are one of the few who actually knows what I am talking about, and then you would feel even more sorry for me. Anyway I digress. Today though I feel that there were points worth discussing. Some good, some very very bad (I will save that for last).

So I had to attend a course called living and working in the UK. Sort of my cultural introduction. I can see how it would be super useful if I spoke a different language, but it turned out to be more of a comedy special than anything else. I am sure the Asian guy who said his goal for the day was to "make all you friend" actually learned some valuable info, but I didn't get much out of it. Our instructor was named Dougel, yeah not a spelling error, Dougel. Like bugle, or google, but with a D. I even did a double take and asked him twice to repeat his name. He didn't seem put off by it till I told him I was from the U.S. then he must have thought I was just stupid since I couldn't understand what he was saying. I swear to you, cross my heart, that this guy was who Mike Myers must have must have modeled Austin Powers off of. The bad teeth, the bad jokes, which he laughed at more than anyone else, and even the chest hair. Had is shirt unbuttoned easily two buttons too far. It was funny though to hear all of the other Europeans say how rude and unpleasant the British people were, while I find them all super nice. Maybe its the accent that makes everyone sound excited to talk to me or maybe I just have that effect on people. Either way I laughed about it.

Finally, just let me say that if you are considering buying or building an office building I have some very important design hints for you. DON'T CARPET THE STAIRS!! Seriously how puts carpet on stairs? Its a McDonalds coffee burn just waiting to happen. I know this because as I was retuning to my desk with my lunch (the highlight of my day mind you) I biffed right in the middle of aforementioned carpeted stairs. Not only was there the humiliation of the whole episode, but to top it off I spilled my grapes. So there I was hands and knees picking up runaway grapes, trying to help others avoid a similar slippery fate. I can only imagine that the smushed grape carpet stair combination would have been deadly if left unchecked.

Tower of London

We set out in the morning with the agenda to visit the Tower of London and one of the many museums around the area. Our trusty guide book said that the Tower of London was a good way to spend 3 or 4 hours. I will save the suspense and just say it now. The guide book easily underestimates all time by at least 50%. By the end of the day we spent closer to five hours and didn't even see all there was to see. So stay tuned for Tower of London II - The Bloody Return!!! Anyway, back to our visit. I can't say it enough, just how mind blowing it is to visit places where so much history has taken place. I will point out some of the bigger items here, but if I gave a full run down of the day and the Tower it would take pages to write and hours to read.

Ok so here we go...The Tower dates back to the eleventh century and has held just about every royal and government role imaginable in its time.

Looking out over where the moat used to be.

When we arrived we killed some time till the tour with the Yeoman Warders. (Beefeaters, or guards of the Tower of London. 22 families of Warders actual live within the Tower walls today. So we wandered through the majority of the outer ward, which housed many prisoners and occasional royalty. Strangely with all the stories about torture and prison, the only prisoners that were actually put into the Tower were those considered upper class, and were given what appeared to be some pretty nice accommodations. Scratched into the walls in all the rooms were the names and other religious remarks from the prisoners.

Next we visited the oldest tower, or castle, and the centerpiece of the entire Tower of London. The White Tower was initially built to strike fear into would be attackers, and I can only imagine how imposing it would have looked at nearly 100 feet, nearly 1000 years ago. This is where the history really hits you and makes you think. Originally it was built by William the Conqueror. I can't stress enough the value of taking the guided tour within the White Tower. Our guide was great, and as a side note she brings her two dogs to work with her everyday. One of the main attractions in the White Tower currently is the royal armor from 5 centuries of Kings. This suit was made for Henry VIII toward the end of his reign. Needless to say he was a big boy. They say the cod piece was grossly exaggerated, but when you are the King I guess you get what you want.

Upstairs in the White Tower were the residences of the Royals, including the Royal Throne. I tried it out, but can't say I was very impressed with the accommodations. Funny though because it was open to the ground below, and I can only imagine people always dodging Royal poo.

Also upstairs is the Chapel of St. John. Probably the best-preserved interior of anything within the Tower of London. The Chapel has seen Royal weddings, and was where Henry VII's wife was laid in state for days before her funeral. While we say in the little Chapel and heard the stories from our tour guide, it was hard not to feel a little overwhelmed. The way it looks today is probably similar to how it originally looked, however little discoloration in the top of the picture is actually unrenovated and is the only part of the Chapel that contains traces of the red paint which is thought to be from Henry VIII's reign.

It was time for our tour by now, and we joined our Yeoman for what turned out to be more of a comedy show than anything else. Kristen really like him, because he didn't like children and said we could push them over if they got in the way. He shared some of the more colorful facts about the Tower, and was very adamant about the fact that the Tower was a castle first and foremost and not a dungeon. With that said we stopped off at traitor's gate, which was the entrance for many of the prisoners and those on their way to the gallows. This entrance used to open directly to the Thames, but like the moat the water has pushed back since. Sorry movie fans this is where the Hollywood history of the Tower meets fact. In Braveheart William Wallace was led through this gate on his way to being hung drawn and quartered, but since he was considered a commoner the Tower of London was out of his league, and he was actually killed at Smithfield. The Tower did however have its share of executions, and standing in the courtyard where queens where beheaded was surreal.

Speaking of those that were beheaded, within the Tower is also the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula. Buried within the crypt of this church are the remains of three queens of England Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard and Jane Grey, and two saints of the Roman Catholic Church, Sir Thomas More and John Fischer. Again pretty mind blowing.

Even though we didn't get to see everything, Kristen was surely not going to leave without seeing the Crown Jewels. Unfortunately they don't allow photography but long story short it was all pretty amazing, even for me. I am sure Kristen could describe it much better, but I will just say lots of gold and shiny.

Probably won't be back till the spring as its mighty cold out now, but we bought season tickets so I am sure we will get the full experience before we leave.

Food, Wine and Dogs

This one tried to hide from the camera.

He looks like my friend Eddie's dog, Ralphie.

Three of my favorite things all in one weekend. We live really close to two convention centers so it was The Food and WIne Show on Saturday and Dog Extravaganza on Sunday. The Food and Wine show was way to crowded, but we ate and drank our way around. For those of you who have never been to a wine show apparently you just get a wine glass and go around and sample different wines. Bob and I just wanted to get our money's worth buy drinking the cost of our ticket in wine samples, but people actually interested in the wine prevented us from accomplishing our goal. Oh well. I did get a few bottles of wine before we left.

On Sunday, we went to Discover Dogs. They have different breeds on display and you can ACTUALLY pet them. Bob and I were in heavn. They also had booths will all kinds of toys and stuff for dogs. We got the pups lots of Christmas Presents. When we got to the Cardigan Welsh Corgi booth, they had two corgis' that looked like Turbo and Hampton. They even got into a fight over a ball while we were just like our girls. We also met members of The Cardigan Welsh Corgi Association, they were so excited to meet other people with Cardigan’s. Apparently they are rare in England. The club only knew of 8 cardigan owners in central London. They want us to bring Turbo and Hampton to the show next year. I have a feeling they may change their minds once they meet Turbo. Good thing I picked up a brochure from Bark Busters while I was there.



Is that Hampton? Nope it is just her twin at the Dog Show.




Bloodhound - That face is so sad. I can't handle it.



So happy. I love those teeth.

Isn't he cute.



Mastiff - I love those wrinkles

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Well first holiday away from home is in the books. Yes I wished we were surrounded by friends and family and three separate Thanksgiving meals, but all in all a it was a pretty good day. Probably the first time I have worked on Thanksgiving since I was 17, and really that wasn't work, just an excuse to get out of the house.

Today was pretty much just like any other day as far as work was concerned, but was a series of epic failures and magical triumphs from a gastronomical point of view. I started my day with a bowl of a great new cereal (triumph 1) Jordans’ oats with tropical fruit. Unfortunately I decided to eat it with some kind of munchkin spoon. Its the perfect spoon for something like yogurt, but cereal it was a bad idea (failure 1). Ended up taking like 20 minutes to eat, getting one oat cluster at a time. After my workout (i.e. breakfast) I worked up quite an appetite, and was excited to get down to the cafeteria for lunch. You can't be too excited though, because lunch doesn't even start here till noon. Of course that makes sense since work doesn't start till 9:30, but seeing how I came in early to get the most out of my Thanksgiving dinner extravaganza (is your mouth watering). Noon finally rolled around and I headed down to see London had on the Thanksgiving menu (failure 2). It was curry day! I just couldn't bring myself to have curry on Thanksgiving. Not that I would have had curry had it not been Thanksgiving, but that was the meal du jour, and there was no way I was going there. Really the only other option was the noodle bar, and Chinese noodles three days in one week just wasn't going to cut it either. I ended up with the baguette of the day from the shop next to the office, and while they said it was "firecracker chicken", I am pretty sure it was chicken with, what they like to call salsa, which is more like spicy French dressing (failure 3). Needless to say I was thoroughly disappointed which only served to add to my excitement for dinner. I knew Kristen was planning something special, but didn't know the details till the table was set and dinner was served (triumph 2). It was an amazing spread, especially for Kristen's first go round.


Now I have always been a dark meat and stuffing guy, and while Kristen's submissions were impressive the star of the show was the sweet potato casserole (triumph 3). So good in fact that I provide it here for the world to relish in as well:

Ingredients:
3 cups mashed sweet potatoes
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup melted butter .

Topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup chopped pecans

Preparation:
Combine first 6 ingredients.
Pour into a buttered 1 1/2 to 2-quart casserole dish.
Mix remaining ingredients together and sprinkle over top.
Bake at 350° for 30 to 40 minutes, until hot and browned.

(and Kristen's personal touch...........marshmellows, lots and lots of marshmellows)

Serves 6 to 8.


Of course after dinner there was the requisite resting period before desert, it just wasn't the same without football. I hear now that America's team is taking a beating, and for most of you that is bad news, but for me the Cowboys losing is just a cherry on top of a great day. As if I hadn't had my fill with the three servings of sweet potatoes, and extra marshmallows, Kristen brought the thunder with dessert (triumph 4). Not sure many of you know the pleasures of the giant meringues, but it is something you need on your bucket list. One of my goals in life now is to finish each day with one of these sugary delights, and vow to learn to make them myself, but for now it means lots of walks to the bakery down the street.

The scores all tallied it looks like triumphs win, and while we miss everyone our first holiday away was an overwhelming success. Happy Thanksgiving to all and to all a good night!

Bike Rides

Now that bikes have arrived there was only thing left to do.....RIDE!! Well unfortunately from the time I left Tulsa till now in London I missed all of fall and am in full on winter. Not Tulsa winter, of 25 degrees and 20 mph winds, but English winter. Its the kind of weather that just makes you angry. 45 degrees, and cloudy, no sun, and 90% humidity. As long as you aren’t moving its not too bad, but as soon as you start riding it gets super cold. That is unless you bundle up like crazy, then you get too hot once you get going its a vicious cycle.

Anyway, so I stopped by a bike shop and found a group to ride with. Saturdays through the park and Sundays out in the hills. When I rolled up on Saturday I half expected to see a full on elite race team, and half expected to see a bunch of old men and women. Turns out that both were there! Probably close to 80 people total. We rolled off in groups of 8 so that we didn’t dominate the other park users. 4 7 mile laps and then a stop at the coffee shop in the park afterwards. In general I am super out of shape and apparently didn’t pay attention when they said every man for himself with 1 lap to go. Got dropped by some old guy with fenders and a rack on the back of his bike. Can you say demoralizing?? All and all a good time though. When I wasn’t cross-eyed and hypoxic I got to enjoy some of the scenery, which was pretty much amazing.

Remember I said Sunday was out in the hills? Well I guess that was still the case for those who decided to get up and make it to the ride. Well I wasn’t one of those people and hit the snooze a few too many times. Once I finally rolled out of bed I continued my self loathing with some toast and sugar butter. Yep exactly how it sounds, butter with sugar, don’t judge me I am not proud of it. Since I was fully depressed and felt lazy and fat at this point in conjured up the gumption to go out and ride by myself. Nothing exciting I just went out to the park and for a change of pace decided to do laps in the other direction. I found out quickly that there was a reason we went counter clockwise.....left turns have the right of way, or I guess that is the left of way over here, you get the idea. What I learned on my ride was that I have absolutely no idea how roundabouts work. Don’t know who goes first when do signal and in general am completely confused. On three separate occasions I ended up turning left to avoid the confusion and had to end up making three lefts to get where I wanted to go.

History lesson for the day – Richmond Park is the largest Royal Park in London covering an area of 2,500 acres. The royal connections to this park probably go back further than any of the others, beginning with Edward (1272-1307), when the area was known as the Manor of Sheen. The name was changed to Richmond during Henry VII's reign. But it was a visit to Richmond by King Charles I in 1625 that turned this area of medieval farms and pasture into a royal park. Charles was escaping from an outbreak of plague in London. He realised that Richmond gave him the best opportunities for hunting near London. The area included open grassland with individual oaks - some of which were mature trees at the time of Charles' visit and are still standing. There were also small farms and common land where local people had a right to graze cattle or collect timber. Charles ignored all these claims on the land and, in 1637, he created a hunting park. He introduced around 2,000 deer, and to make sure they didn't stray he built a brick wall eight miles long, which you can still see today. Some 650 deer roam the park to this day. Local people were furious about the King's action. He was forced to pay compensation to some landowners and had to restore the right of people to walk in the park and collect firewood by installing a ladder in the wall. From then on, deer and hunting began to change the appearance of the park. Deer grazed the leaves and bark of young trees and stopped the open grassy areas turning into woods. Ancient trackways and field boundaries disappeared as the grassland developed.

Large established trees were pollarded (cut regularly at about 3 metres from the ground). This technique encouraged the trees to grow straight tall branches that were suitable for timber and also protected them from browsing deer. Even today, the lowest branches of trees in the park are all about the same height from the ground - just out of a deer's reach. In the second half of the 17th century, King Charles II spent over £3,000 on repairs. He created new ponds for the deer to drink from and gave permission for gravel to be dug in the park. In the 18th century, two planned vistas were created to show important guests the best views of the park and beyond. One looked down to the grand avenue of Queen's Ride to White Lodge, a hunting lodge built for King George l. The other looked out from King Henry's Mound - a high point, said to have used by Henry Vlll to watch hunting. You can still stand here and look down a specially-maintained avenue in Sidmouth Wood across London to St Paul's Cathedral. Few other changes were made in Richmond Park. Pen Ponds, a lake divided in two by a causeway, was dug in 1746 and is now a good place to see water birds. In the 19th century, several small woods were added. These include Sidmouth Wood and the ornamental Isabella Plantation, both of which are fenced to keep the deer out. Also in the 19th Century people were no longer given the right to remove firewood, which is still true to this day, to help in preserving the park. Change happens slowly and maps made in Victorian times still make sense here.

The park is pretty amazing and it looks like I will end up getting to know it very well. In addition to roads which go around the perimeter of the park there are probably 100 miles of trails zig zagging throughout the park. Mountain bikers and crossers would be in heaven. Of course there are soccer, rugby and God knows what other kinds of fields as well. You even have to dodge the occasional horse present (poo) as there are stables and riding trails too. Kristen doesn’t know it yet but it is where I am going to take her for a pony ride.

Some of the deer roaming the park

View from the center of the park. (As you can see it is BIG!)

These are probably not more than 30 yards from me, and couldn’t care less. No hunting in a national park so deer were everywhere.

Heater Works!!!

So I think I forgot to mention this, but since nobody has mentioned it lately I figure you guys weren't too concerned. We got the radiators fixed finally, and our flat is nice and toasty. I still see people with their windows open occasionally, and I can't figure out what is going. Gotta watch out for those towel warmers though. You lean up against it and are not paying attention it will burn your arm off. Well not all the way off, but you get the idea.

Stairs

We heard about The Monument on our bus tour so we decided to visit it up close this weekend (October 30 and 31^st). Mini history lesson in case you don’t know about the great fire of London. On September 2^nd 1666 a fire started in a baker’s house on Pudding lane, by the time it ended on September 5^th it had destroyed most of the city. As part of the rebuilding of London they decide to build a monument to the fire. This monument is 61 meters tall and the only way to the top is a spiral staircase with 311 steps. So Bob and I climbed the steps and got a great view of London. We even got a certificate to prove we made it to the top and back down again. If you come and visit we will be happy to take you there, but we will stay at the bottom. I don’t think I want to climb those stairs again.

The Monument



311 Steps



Tower Bridge from The Monument







After The Monument we visited Tower Bridge. Bridges are my new obsession. They had an exhibit about different bridges around the world. Fun facts I learned. The Thames River used to freeze over in the winter and they had carnivals on it. The London Bridge has been rebuilt several times. An American purchased the London Bridge in 1962 and rebuilt it in Arizona. Tower Bridge wasn’t bombed during World War II because it was used as a landmark. Bridge maintenance is paid for through a trust that was started in 1097. The Trust is now valued at £700 million.



St Mary Axe "The Gherkin" from Tower Bridge



Tower of London from Tower Bridge



To wrap up the weekend, I decided to make tarts. I didn’t have the proper equipment like a scale, spatula, or mixer so they didn’t really turn out very well. I plan on purchasing the correct equipment and giving in another try sometime. So much for my new career as a pastry chef, I feel like I need a class on different types of sugars and crèmes. We also found our “local” this weekend. It is a place called Famous Three Kings. Best of all it has 2 for 1 desserts. Come visit and we will take you there.



Hammie says "Happy Halloween" and "Please help me"







Finally!!!!

Today my world is complete! Not because I found my soulmate or anything dramatic like that. Oh no, that would be far too sensable. Instead the missing peice of my world.....BIKES. Our sea shipment arrived and bikes are back! I was super impressed with the moving company. Truck arrived with a sealed wooden container and boxes had been untouched since they left our garage. I had a moment while I was unpacking thinking about home, but that sooned faded as it was trainer time. If you know what I mean then you get it, if not don't worry, it wasn't that exciting. There was one incident with the box that my golf clubs came in. It seemed like a good idea, but then I was stuck. Had to get Kristen to help me out, but of course she had to get a picture first.

Armistice day

Well its Armistice Day here in the UK, better known as Veterens Day in the States. In honor off all those who have served, like Fire Control Technician, Gun Fire Control, Third Class LeMaster (back Row third from left) stop today and say thanks!

Signs

So in general things are pretty similar to the States, but I have noticed a number of striking differences. It seems everything has a sign for it. Now obviously once you figure them out it all makes sense, but to the casual observer they can be quite confusing. Here is my first impressions of the most interesting so far.

If you walk really funny, like Frankenstein you are not allowed!













If you are running go left!













If you are going to jump, spread your arms and legs wide!

Welcome to Amsterdam! Not sure what the point of this really was, but it was in the Tube and couldn't pass it up.

Not sure if its supposed to taste like booty or come from your booty, but either way, I will pass.

Feel free to make your own jokes

Be careful!! Triangles in the road!

Yeah its sign for speed bumps, but interestingly it gives perfect directions to our flat. Coincidence?

Watch out for pointy Ns!!

Not sure if the one on the one on the left is the mugger or the muggee. If the mugger is on the left then it looks like he is really happy to be giving the hug. If the mugger is on the right, then yeah watch out, they will break your leg!!

Did I mention we don’t have heat? Yeah still no heat. Low of 30 last night. Frost all over everything. Took a 20 minute shower to warm up this morning. On my way to work walked past more than one house with its windows open. Don’t know how they can deal with it but damn!!!

Happy Bonfire Night

Not sure what we are celebrating, but......Fireworks displays all over London for the next 8 days. Probably 3,000 people at this one. Show lated for a good 15 minutes. Pretty impressed!!!

Brunch

Took the dogs to their dog park. I say its theirs because every time we have gone we are the only ones there. You have to plan your trip to the dog parks very carefully here. Since its cold and rainy here all the time grass doesn’t grow that well and the ground is usually wet and muddy. So depending on the day there may only be a portion of the dog park that is really usable. We have found 3 parks within about 5 minutes of the house that have dog areas, but each one seems to have its downsides. One of them is all brown dirt/sand, and well the girls ended up coming home with Red legs. Another is pretty well cover in grass and works great, except for what can only be described as a mud pit. Keep the dogs out of that and you are good. Let them in and you are well, just screwed. Came home from it one day and had to clean up about 100 paw prints all around the living room and kitchen. The last (which is the one I describe as theirs) doesn’t have as much grass, but not as much mud or red sand either so we stay moderately clean. We take the dogs all the time and usually its a non-event but today as we were playing ball Hampton had an incident. She was running across the park after the ball and ran over a hole full of leaves. Obviously there was no ground to step on and she ended up going head first into the ground and ended up going ass over as a result. She didn’t really seem to care, but as you can see from the skid mark on her chest she is going to need a bath and is probably going to be sore tomorrow.

Afterwards we had a cool brunch at a place called 360 degrees altitude 29th floor with windows all the way around. Brunch/Lunch was pretty good; we went late 1 0’clock so I wasn’t sure to eat breakfast foods or lunch foods. So I decided to eat them all. Crapes with Nutella were amazing, Eggs Benedict and full breakfast as well. They had what they called “American Pancakes”, and since I love pancakes like a little kid I had to have some. As the chef poured the batter and proceeded to spread it out I got a feeling that it wasn’t going to hit the spot. He ended up folding it over on the plate, and handed it to me with just a little drop of syrup. I thought to myself, “huh that seems like a crape,” and he must have seen the confusion in my face because he asked if everything was ok as he handed it over. I wanted to go behind the griddle myself and show him how it was done, but I decided with the poor English he spoke I would end up with something even less recognizable than I currently had. So I ate the pancrape and decided to save room for dessert. Three trips to the dessert table and I was spent.
Part of the experience was a tour and history of some of the buildings which you could see from the restaurant. Turns out that the tour guide/comedian was a PhD in American History. Strange to have a Londoner so excited to talk about the Oklahoma Land Run, but that is another story all together. Amazing how big London is when you finally get to a vantage point to see it all. Some of the highlights from the views:

This place used to be a prison.....

Westminster Abbey....

Parliment and the EYE....

The financial district and the actual City of London (more on that later)....

Same picture just zoomed out.....this place is BIG...

Our Stuff has Arrived!!

Well at least most it arrived on October 16^th. We are still waiting on the sea shipment (aka Bob’s bikes) to arrive. They should get here the first week of November.   It is nice to have some of our things here. It is starting to feel like home.  The boxes took up the whole entire guest bedroom.

They also produced about 8 huge trashbags filled with packing material.  It will take weeks to get rid of it all.  We also ended up with a box of stuff that was supposed to go to storage, I was hoping for somthing good, but it was just a box of electronics (curling irons, hot rollers and electric shavers) that are no good over here. Oh well.  I spent most of Friday unpacking. They said they could unpack for me, but that would just consisted of them taking the stuff out of the box and putting in on the floor. I didn’t find this very helpful, so I declined their offer.   The dogs were so excited to have their bed and food bowls back. 




On Saturday we went to Leicester Square to get tickets to see Chicago.  It was great and I got ice cream during intermission just like Cuzin Lauren said I would.  On Sunday we took an open top double decker bus tour of London.  It was a good overview of London and we learned a lot and figured out what places we wanted to go check out.







We ate lunch at this place called the Texas Embassy.  We sat next to girl from Texas who had married a Brit and had been living in the UK for 4 years.  Turns out she was a teacher in the states and she kinda explained to me how the process works.  Once she told me all the stuff I decided that it wouldn’t be something I would pursue.  They couple actually live in Wales, which is about 3 hours from London, so I don’t think we will be seeing them again.   Life in London great, but it will be better when I don’t have to go table hunting at Starbucks every day. I can’t wait to get the internet.  We are still waiting on our radiator to be fixed.  Bob has been using Hampton as his personal heater and bed warmer.  Bob said she is doing a good job, but is a little too furry for everyday use.