Seattle and beyond

There are few things we like more than travelling, though after the fifth hour of being cooped up in JFK’s decrepit terminal 8, I was starting to question that wanderlust. Our trip out to Seattle to see family was epic in length: 26 hours, which included a cab ride, two train journeys, a seven hour flight, six hour lay-over (two of which were unplanned), another six hour flight and then an hour car ride. Suffice to say, fly direct between the Pacific Northwest and London!!

Regardless of the lengthy journey, it was a great week spent with family. After a rather deep sleep, we awoke feeling less than certain of what time zone we were in, but very happy to see the family, including a precocious toddler that we all know. Conrad was in good form, though slightly shy at first, as is his wont. It didn’t take long for him to remember us though and by the time our afternoon excursion to the park came around he was more than pleased to throw rocks with his Uncle CW.

The week was a nice mixture of time to relax around the house playing with Conrad and day trips out and about in the Seattle area. We went to the aquarium, which is certainly a favourite of Conrad’s, along with Pikes Place Market, the Sky Needle, Pioneer Square and Safeco Field for our first live baseball game in three years. All in all it was very nice to wander around Seattle, even under Seattle.

Sharon and Conrad at the Seattle aquarium

Fresh crabs at Pikes Place Market

At the new sculpture park in Seattle

Enjoying a game at Safeco Field

Underground Seattle is certainly interesting. There was a slightly misguided series of civil engineering escapades taken in the late 1800’s that cumulatively led to a period in which storefronts were actually buried underneath the city streets and sidewalks! Strange yes, ineffectual yes, but lucrative for tour guides now! It is a strange thing to envision entire groups of people shopping, drinking and in general getting on with life in the complete claustrophobia inducing atmosphere of what amounts to a series of underground caves.

A crapper, buried beneath the seats of Seattle (watch out for geysers)

Some old furniture - some from a movie filmed in the underground

However, if parts of Seattle are closeted and densely packed, there is always the peace that comes from standing on top of 9 feet of snow more than a mile up Mt Rainer in the gorgeous sunshine of a late May afternoon. Rainer juts more than 14,000 feet up, totally dominating the horizon southeast of Seattle. On a clear day it is visible from just about anywhere within a hundred miles and is well worth the drive out of town to see. We enjoyed wandering by glacier fed streams, beautiful waterfalls and the aforementioned snow at the visitors’ centre. It was nice to be back within mountains and breathe air that is about as clean as possible these days.

In addition to seeing the family we also were able to spend time with CW’s good university friend Nicole who now lives in Portland and made the drive up to spend the night. It was really great to see her, since we hadn’t done so in almost four years.

Must say that moving an ocean away does put a dent in the ability to see family and friends, but hopefully those who we care about will always understand our affection and desire to see you all never diminishes with time.

A Typical Scottish Weekend

There's a saying in Scotland... "If you see sky, it's going to rain. If you can't see sky, it's already raining." With the exception of a brief window of sunshine Saturday evening, our weekend in St Andrews fulfilled the tenets of that quote perfectly.

From the moment I stepped off the train Thursday evening to the moment we stepped back on the train Sunday afternoon, it was grey, windy, cold and invariably raining. Not that that is a bad thing in Scotland. Sure, if you go to the South of France or somewhere tropical, it would be miserable, but lets face it, it is Scotland and there is something to be said about suffering through miserable weather - though some people revel in it.

After an all day conference at the University of St Andrews, I was free to join Cora in relaxing for the weekend. We wandered the town at bit on Friday evening in the gathering cold and darkness. Now, St Andrews is a town with three large claims to fame: golf, the oldest university in Scotland and named after the patron saint of Scotland. Golf dominates a large swath of the town, especially down towards the West Sands area, which is where the Old Course and R&A clubhouse sit. In this area of town you will find oddly dressed men, many of which speak with unmissable American accents.

Moving up into the centre of town, University buildings crop up here and there. Unlike Cambridge, there are very few centralised colleges so students seem to meander all over the place, some carry books, others looks of unabashed wealth (it is the University of Prince William). Of course the golfers are still out in droves here as well, though now more of them have rather bored looking wives in tow.

Finally you reach the far Eastern end of town, where the old ruins of the Castle and Cathedral sit with impressive views out over the forbidding North Sea. The Cathedral used to be the biggest in Scotland and rivalled Santiago de Compostela in Spain as a pilgramage site, largely because it held relics of St Andrew. However, through the Reformation there were numerous attacks on the Cathedral and in the end it was reduced to only a few stretches of wall. It is an eerie feeling to stand in a grassy area with a fifty foot tall skeletal remain hulking above you and gravestones lined up just outside what should be walls. Add the harsh wind blowing straight off the sea and it was very atmospheric, though I am an historian, so maybe I see things differently.

We spent most of Saturday wandering various parts of the town, many of which we trod across multiple times. However, in the morning we wandered out onto the links courses that make St Andrews famous the world over. Now most people only know of the Old Course, but really there are three courses that kind of intertwine themselves throughout the dunes of the West Sands. The New Course is a mere 110 years old and is reckoned to be harder than the Old Course, but really if you were to see the pothole bunkers, blind shots of grouse as big as a house and wind whipping at all angles, it wouldn't really matter how hard they made the course, you would still shoot 150!

Now the most amazing thing about perhaps the most famous course in the world, is that members of the public can wander about it at will - bearing in mind that golf is a dangerous game.

Try to imagine doing that at Augusta or Congressional or one of those other famous courses. So, Cora and I wandered through the Jubilee, New and finally Old courses at will. We came across some players, most orthodox, others not so.

In the end we came to that place made famous through the ages, the small stone bridge in the middle of the 18th fairway and in some way it brings a level of peace to any soul, golfer or not.


All in all it was a good trip to Scotland and only proved to whet our appetite to explore more of this rugged and wild country, stay tuned for further adventures.

More pictures here

Wedding Bells

Wedding bells were ringing this past April 21, 2007 for our very close friends Bex and Rob!

The wedding took place in the most idyllic little English country church in Ringmer followed by a magnificent reception at Newick Park in Sussex. Despite England's reputation for being a rainy place, the sun shone down that weekend making it the most beautiful weather they could have ever asked for!


I went down the day before the wedding with Bex, her sister Nicola and close friend Steph and her parents as well as a few family friends from overseas. We stayed in a most charming room at Newick Park in what used to be the old Granary. After an afternoon spent eating a nice pub meal and getting our nails beautified we had some afternoon tea at Bex's Aunt and Uncle's house nearby. The champagne was brought out to celebrate before we headed off for an intimate dinner together - Bex, Nic, Steph and I with Ian and Alex - in a beautiful little room all to ourselves at the top of a pub.

(from left to right: Nicola, me, Steph, Bex and Alex)

The morning of the wedding was spent in classic wedding fashion, getting our hair done and doing makeup.


Guests started arriving to take the double decker bus to the church and then the wedding party followed in two gorgeous classic English cars. Spirits were high as we cruised country lanes in the sun to the church about 20 minutes away where everyone was now waiting.


The ceremony was a beautiful affair, lasting about an hour all told. The vicar was really good and made the ceremony wonderfully personal and even funny at times. This was further added to by the little looks Rob and Bex gave each other as they successfully responded to each thing the vicar said (they had a few issues the day prior for instance remembering to say 'I will' instead 'I do' and a few other things - all in all very cute). Vows and rings were exchanged and the groom kissed the bride before they existed the church as man and wife forever.

After the obligatory receiving line and pictures, Bex and Rob made their way back to Newick Park with lavendar scented rose petals in their hair.


There we were served chilled glasses of champagne and serenaded by a beautiful quartet under huge vines of blooming Wisteria. Some pictures were taken (had to get the guys in their typical English morning dress of course - and of course the man in the kilt - classic!) before dinner and toasts took place in a white marquee outside.



The cake cutting took place inside a beautiful room of the estate - take note here two things. First, this gorgeous cake was made by the mother of the groom, wow. But secondly, a traditional wedding cake in England is actually a fruit cake!

The whole affair was magnificent and perfectly planned (huge props to Alex, Bex's mom for all of her amazing efforts in organising it).

Most of all, it was a perfect way for Bex and Rob to start their new life together... congratulations to them both!

May your love for each other last forever!

Freedom at last!

At last, I have now officially finished my dissertation!! With the exception of one tiny little report I need to write about my internship - I have finally completed all of my courses, dissertation and other requirements for my MA!

While it was quite a struggle working full-time and writing some 20,000 odd words, well actually almost exactly 20,000 words since that is how the English system works - no more and no less - the whole process was an invaluable learning experience (this is a good thing since a huge part of it was actually looking at using experience for more effective learning).

Overall I learned a lot and feel that I can apply much of what I researched and wrote about to my career in intercultural communication. And now, finally, I can really get on with it! In the meantime, I am especially enjoying my freedom. I almost forgot what it feels like to be able to come home in the evening or wake up on the weekend and not have any daunting goal of writing x number of words.

The only thing left to do now is wait and see what results I get. Fingers crossed for me so I can officially graduate in November!

Ode to Guinness

In honour of St. Patricks' Day, we thought it would be fun to reminesce about how we all celebrated last year.

While we enjoyed ourselves in a pub in Cambridge with our good friends Adeline and Thierry, Guinness had other ideas as to how to most appropriately celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Looking back, we think there was a slight hint of jealousy since we spent so much time with that 'other Guinness'.


Alas, another opportunity has arrived to celebrate St. Pat's Day in style. We're going out in London with CW's friend from study abroad Denise and her boyfriend who are here visiting. Perhaps tomorrow will see another bout of destructive Guinness behaviour.

Go Ireland!

Gorhambury House

Gorhambury is an old house located just minutes from our house. There is a wonderful road which makes its way up towards it past fields of sheep.

If it were not for the strict lead rules, it would be a perfect place for us to walk Guinness (the sheep are behind fences), but at least it makes for a good weekend stroll once in a while and an excellent running route for CW.


Unfortunately the one weekend we've been able to walk up there so far it was closed to the public but hopefully one of these days we can get inside to tour it as it's supposed to be really pretty.

Home Sweet Home

Finally a few pictures of our new little home... none from upstairs as of yet since we are still awaiting our bed and wardrobe so it's a bit of a mayhem up there with clothes hanging off every doorknob and nook and cranny.

Anyway, just sharing another piece of our little life here as so many have requested... hopefully you can all come and see it in person soon!!
If you look closely you'll see a faint red arrow pointing at the road where our lane comes in...

Our new life

So after the hoopla of a three day moving weekend – that’s one day for packing, one day for moving and one day for unpacking – we were back to work on the Monday morning. The new commute, how would we fair? Well on Monday it went fairly routinely. Yes our muscles were a bit worse for wear after the weekend and the twenty minute walk up and over the hill that sits between our house and the train station, especially after living in the aforementioned flat Fenland. We thought, well this won’t be so bad, but then Thursday came and the first proper snowfall we have had in our entire 2.5 years in England.

There were fears of massive transport delays, see our blog If a tree falls. Yet, all in all the trains were running smoothly, if five minutes late when I reached St Albans station. Now, I went in early due to a meeting I was meant to have at 9 that morning. I was perfectly on schedule until a train completely broke down at one of the stations ahead on the line, thus stranding me in a tunnel for an hour and forty-five minutes. Great thing about being trapped in a tunnel, yeah, no mobile phone reception.

So, I arrive well after my meeting, especially since the Tube was all buggered up and I had to walk 30 minutes in the slush from Kings Cross to my office. Oh well, the joys of snow in a country that just can’t deal with exceptional weather, ironic no? Meanwhile, Cora who decided to linger a while in the snowy park, managed to take a train well after me and avoid all of this by getting off at an earlier station and arriving to work more than an hour before me. Such is the commuter’s life – but at least we were able to get some pictures out of it (see above).

We are all three of us enjoying it so far. We live in a nice two-bedroom cottage in the old section of the city. Not quite as old as the Roman settlement, but old none the less. Just a minute from the park, Guinness is quite pleased with the speed at which he is free to run around chasing bunnies who are far more brazen than their cousins were in Waterbeach - and he's already had some up close and personal encounters with a number of birds, ducks, swans you name it. He's getting pretty good at ignoring them and just watching now... (note the ducks sitting to his left)

We are spoilt for choice in terms of restaurants and pubs, two of which flank the entrance to our small Lane. It is called a lane, but really should be classed more as a Mews, which to those in the States is like a non-seedy alley. (The picture below isn't exactly our street, but it's what we see looking up to the right as you come out on our way to the park)

There is an immense cathedral in St Albans located up on the hill. We walk past it everyday to and from work and have a wonderful view of it on our walks. This was our first morning walking and the mist and frost had a beautiful effect on the scene before us which isn't quite represented here but it's close.

So that is that really. We have spent a fair amount of time over the last two weeks settling into our new digs and trying to sort out our storage and space issues. Now that we have just had our internet re-connected our ability to communicate with the outside world will vastly increase.

So watch this space for future postings on our new set of adventures around the undulating countryside of Hertfordshire, England. And in the meantime, go to our website here for some more pictures as we post them!

On the move again

So, the nomads are moving once more, as is our wont in life. Another year (kind of), another new location. After the last year plus on the edge of the Fen Country outside Cambridge, we are off to the formerly Roman city of Verulamium, now known as St Albans. It is a quick 20 minute train ride to Kings Cross station, therefore far more suited to commuting than Waterbeach was.

Now as can be expected from people who have moved every year for the past decade, we are quite used to packing. Of course we are not the only ones:

Guinness is such a pro – this will be his sixth house in five years – that he is more than willing to lend a paw. Admittedly his efforts are usually not as productive and he often wanders about the house looking plaintively at the boxes. However once settled into the new place he is quick to make things his own:

He is shown here on the mattress, which up until our most recent move used to sit on a box spring and frame, but now just sits on the floor. The reason for this is when an American box spring meets an English staircase, the English staircase often wins. I wish I could say we fought the good fight, but really it was a very one-sided fight and in the end we were forced to retire to our lonely mattress.

All in all though it was a very expedient move, for which we must thank our good friend Rob for helping with, especially his skill at manoeuvring the twelve foot truck down our rather tiny Lane.

One last Waterbeach sunrise

After nearly a year and a half in the fine Fenland village of Waterbeach we had had enough of flat expanses and long commutes and decided to return to the greater London area.

After a fairly boring winter with mornings spent on the train instead of by the river, we were lucky enough to get a crisp, frosty morning with just a hint of foggy mist hanging over the river. It was the perfect way to end our time in this quiet little corner of England.

We will certainly miss the solitude by the river, though not necessarily all the cow pats! (note that's the moon in the picture below, not the sun... the beauty of the scene didn't really transfer in the photo but you get the idea!)

Our pictures of Waterbeach have moved here