Little joys and little annoyances filled my day...many hoorays and sighs...
One joy is the delivery of groceries that are ordered online. Well, its a little difficult to get it all in the tiny fridge, though I managed. I shouldn't complain, we are blessed with an additional freezer. The fridge back home was enormous compared to this!
On my fridge I have some magnets---from the National Zoo in Washington DC, from Cedar Run Cattle on the Eastern Shore in Maryland (Where I used to get my fresh eggs and meat from, farmer Lou asked us to put his magnet on the fridge here) I have some pics of my family and Todd's brother's kids. I have some phone lists, including an emergency phone list I only had the sense to make about 2 weeks ago. Hooray for online shopping and the Tesco delivery chap!
Next sigh ...left the knitting out where the 2 year old who loves swords and string can find it. I recently have been learning how to knit, have a scarf I have been working on and because I am so enthralled with the idea that this is actually making something I carelessly left it out. I may need to call in help to salvage my project. Hooray for friends who can teach me new things!
Certainly the biggest sigh of the day happened when I went to register at the GP. (For my American readers, the GP is the general practioner, with the national health system everyone has to register at their local GP) This particular GP would not let us register until we had been here for 6 months. I went in March to register our whole family and I brought all our passports plus an item of mail for the last 6 months that had our name and address on it. Turns out I needed one piece of mail for each of the last 6 months with Todd's name and address on it and one for each of the last 6 months with my name and address on it. Now, because I am not working and do not pay the bills and many places send us our stuff over email, I had to scrounge to get these papers together, and 5 weeks later I return to register at the GP. So there I am with all my papers at the reception desk of the GP's surgery (yes, americans, the surgery is the doctors office, not the O.R.) The woman at the desk oohs and aahs about my American passport. I guess American passports are really patriotic and showy compared to other countries. They all come round to look at it. "There really is a picture on every page." Right, and each page has quotes like.."We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness..."
There are about 7 other people politely waiting in the queue behind me. Then someone, not really sure who, comes down and asks me some questions (that I would have deemed private) in front of this queue of people. This is slightly annoying to me, after working in America in a chiropractic clinic when HIPAA was launched and everyones personal health information became super hush-hush. So, slightly embarrassed, I leave the GP surgery knowing I have ticked off one other thing from my list and assured that I still have no idea what to do in this culture! Government run health care....hooray? (By the way, you may be wondering what private questions the person asked me today, and the only answer you are going to get is that they were private, and if those 7 other people have a blog or a facebook or a twitter, they may be sharing that information on their sites.)
Hooray and sigh for the sun staying up later! My children have a really difficult time sleeping when its bright outside. I love the light, its wonderful that now in the beginning of May it already stays light until 9 pm, so...we will have to get some black out shades. Hooray for sunshine and longer days!
I saw the sweetest elderly couple walking along the high street today. She was using a cane and he was carrying the groceries in a bag. They were holding hands and smiling, their white hair blowing in the breeze and their faces beaming. Beautiful people, I thought to myself. Hope Todd and I are like that when we are old.
I popped into a charity shop (thrift shop, Americans) on the way home and found a brand new book that Ethan will love. Hooray for charity shops on the high street!
Hooray also for bank holidays! Yesterday was a bank holiday and so Todd was home, and today was his normal day off so it was a wonderfully nice break for all of us! Hooray!
I really enjoy your blog. Thank you for writing.
ReplyDeleteVictoria Sherman