God Bless Texas!

(Below) Mr Jeopardy supervising the Pimms Tent at the Thames Valley American Women's Club 4th of July Picnic. Isn't he the best?

(Right) Our soon to be new house with YES COUNT THEM 2.5 BATHS!

We are moving out of the hobbit house this September. My beloved and I found a home in Hurley about 5 miles from where we currently live. It has no garage so we will need to put in a shed and less cabinet space (we have already been to Ikea) and one of those God-awful washer-dryer combo units which takes 24 hours to do a full load of laundry. We have compromised because it has 2.5 baths instead of 1.25 (of which the .25 is mine) and a much larger kitchen. It is not much more square feet- just less rooms and a bigger sense of room. Space is a foreign concept here in merry old England.

Sadly, Jeff's mom and Step dad will be arriving next week and have to do their time at the hobbit house. It will be good for them and they will return to the States with a whole new appreciation for their American size home. Sadly, they may go mad in the interim once they see their bedroom here at HH central. The best part is the third floor bedroom in our new house. It is a good size space and Jeff immediately declared it as a good place to sequester any visitors as it is all by itself on the third floor far away from his living space. I think this sealed the deal for him as he knows my mom and dad will be coming out next year. He has his limits and anyone who has spent time with my dad could understand his thinking. He will still need to install a TV in the guest bedroom or we will have to deal with my father watching MSNBC and CNN at an ear splitting level downstairs and muttering to himself about the greedy, thieving liars in government and how they are not fooling him for one minute. But I digress again....

Last week was paradise for me. I went back to the States for company training in Texas. I flew in a day early so that I could spend all day Sunday shopping having laid out a map of all available retail shopping in the vicinity of Plano from my home computer in England. I have not bought a single article of clothing in England as I have no idea where to shop, do not understand their sizing system and refuse to pay for what they term fashion at outrageous prices. I have told Mr. Jeopardy that I am saving him money by power shopping on my stateside visit as the pound is worth twice the value of the dollar. I turned the radio to country in the big gas guzzling rented SUV and was on my way and driving on the RIGHT! When first spotting the outlet stores it was like reuniting with old friends. Forty brand name stores all in one Texas size parking lot. I was on cloud nine! I marvelled at all things ubiquitously American which I had already forgotten- the wide power highways for plenty of room to maneuver, houses five times the size of our home in the UK and 3 Super Targets and 3 Best Buys in the 15 minute travel time to the outlets and of course the sheer volume of restaurants and shopping centers. Heck, my suite at the Homewood Suites hotel was the same size as our entire downstairs in the UK.

My only disappointment was the weather. It has been raining for the past three weeks in the UK. I do not understand why they even employ weather forecasters here in England. Basically the summer forecast is the same every day- rain, interspersed with more rain in the form of sprinkles to a good old fashioned downpour and with occasional hail thrown in for excitement. Don't believe me? Check the forecast for Maidenhead, England for the next 5 days. Rain, yes rain. We had one freak week in June of sun and 90 degree weather when we were forced to purchase a portable A/C unit and which we have not plugged in since. Anyway, needless to say it rained for four of my seven days in Texas. Normally it was supposed to be 100 degrees and sun, sun, sun but I guess they heard I was on my way.

I had such a good time with my international class in Plano. We had folks in from Poland, Brazil, Italy, Turkey, Spain, the Czech Republic and Japan. As Americans we tend to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world for many reasons. Probably one of the biggest reasons is that even though we live in a global society America is so vast a country that most people do not feel the need to leave and see the rest of the world. You could find everything you are looking for right there at home. Whereas in the rest of the world countries are much smaller and people travel quite easily from one to the other. Here in England- Italy, France, Spain, Ireland, Germany and the Nordics are just a short Vegas-like trip away. Because of our sometimes self imposed isolation we tend to make assumptions about the rest of the world based on what we read or watch on TV. That all changes if you have the opportunity to sit down and talk with people first hand. It is one of the most rewarding things about living overseas.

Now you may be asking if I complain so much about the UK weather why did we sign up for this gig? Well the answer is easy- my sweetheart and I are doing three "weekend" trips this month. We will be spending the last three weekends of August in Paris, Rome and Provence. All three still allow us to return to work for 4 days each week. Pretty cool huh?