Home Leave is a Beautiful Thing

It really is. You realise that life back home carries on without you but it's still just as easy to slip back in exactly where you left off. It also renews your strength to continue your life back in your host country. It's good therapy!

I count our August trip back 'home' as our first official Home Leave. Last year didn't count for me because although our visit home was planned as such, it actually turned out to be a transitional stopover as we bid our unexpected farewell to India and packed our belongings into another container and slowly made our way to the US. There was still much to be sorted out before we arrived here and there were many uncertainties hanging in the air.


So this year, almost to the date of our 1st anniversary we boarded that plane and then packed as much and as many people that we could into 2 short weeks. We had a blast. We were here, there and everywhere. We enjoyed the cooler weather, we shopped, had haircuts and laughed at the fact that the Americans staying in the cottage next door to us were far better prepared for the English weather than we were! We visited 'old' places and haunts! We ate real bacon in real bread, Giant Yorkshire puddings with lashings of gravy and of course Ellie's appetite for sausage rolls had to be satisfied.

Thanks to everyone we had the pleasure of spending time with and sorry to those we didn't....I think a longer trip is necessary next year.

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6th Birthday Party

25th September - Now We Are Six

When I was one,
I had just begun.

When I was two,
I was nearly new.

When I was three,
I was hardly me.

When I was four,
I was not much more.

When I was five,
I was just alive.

But now I am six,
I'm as clever as clever
So I think I will be six
now and forever.

Author A.A. Milne

25th September - Happy Birthday Ellie!

Hurricane Earl Comes A Knocking

To those who have asked, we are not in any danger. We live 2 hours from the coast and it is highly unlikely that we will feel anything of Earl ~ fingers crossed ~ apart from some winds and another 100+F heatwave for a couple of days. I just hope that the impact on the beautiful North Carolina coast is not too destructive.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/38974775#38974775

Three For the Price of One

I used to like cooking in a slow cooker/Crock Pot. Actually I still do but it's just not so straightforward anymore.

When we were both working back in Blighty I'd roughly chop and throw all the ingredients in the pot in the morning and come home to a great meal in the evening. When the kids came along and I was consumed with milk and pureeing my slow cooker was a great friend. It worked beautifully in India and made the lamb (read goat in all probablility) nice and tender (!)

My UK slow cooker would not work here due to the difference in US/UK voltage - exactly half.

We bought a new US one....and then the fun began.

The first tried and religiously tested recipe that should take 6-8 hours to cook was nuked in 3. Thankfully I was around to save it. I was confused. I was sure I hadn't dome anything differently.

The second tried and tested recipe went the same way ~ that time we weren't so lucky and it was a take-away for dinner.

The third, new and never before attempted recipe...followed to the letter...was an 'almost' disaster. Cooked and ready way before it's recommended 4 hours and honestly there is nothing worse than soggy mushy rice. I thought I had a slow cooker with an identity crisis. It wanted to be a microwave.

I decided to call Crock Pot and seek their advice....Their response...Must be faulty we'll send you a new one exactly the same as the one you have. Oh OK thanks...shall I send this one back? No just keep the lid and pot because you never know when you might need spares. OK, thanks very much.

The new one arrived in a matter of days. It wasn't the same. It looked like it belonged in an M&S 80's Country kitchen. I called Crock Pot again....I think you've sent me the wrong one, it doesn't really matter but, well it's the point, like for like you said. No problem, we'll send you another. Well thank you, how do I send this one back? No, no, no just keep it, you never know when you might need two and you can use the lid and the pot as spares. But I already have spares. It'll cost you $50 to ship it back. Oh OK I'll keep it then.....

...And in the meantime I tested it out. The same first exact same recipe was again done and cooked in half the time?

Once a faulty slow cooker, but twice?

The third slow cooker in my US collection duly arrived, it is the right colour but like it's sisters it also thinks it's a microwave. I have no idea why. Nobody else in the house or the landlord cares. All I know is that I need to half the cooking time and be here to keep an eye on things, which kind of negates the beauty of 'Crock potting' or Micropotting as I'm inclined to call it.

Great customer service from Crockpot though.

Cross Cultural Phrases...or lack of!

When living abroad you inevitably find yourself having to explain certain words or phrases you may use each and every day but have never ever even been heard of by the indigenous population.

In America the most common and widely known confusion surrounds the English meanings of 'pants' and 'fanny' ~ Either side of The Pond we both have our own meanings and when discussed it always raises a snigger.

Then there is the fringe/bangs thing......I personally cannot see why you would call a hair fringe a 'bangs' there is no logical explanation. A 'fringe' is like a border and frames your face which makes perfect sense to me, a 'bangs' does neither. Or does it? Where does this phrase come from?

A friend recently asked me how long we were going on holiday for. To which I replied a 'fortnight'. She looked blank and quickly I had to decipher the phrase that we English never even probably think about and frequently use. Errrr 14 nights.

So imagine this scenario. An attractive, talented American lady Vice President visits an English factory. A very enthusiatic manager introduces her to the entire workforce and begins his welcome speech. He then utters this very typical English phrase....

"Well that's enough from me, let me hand over so you can hear it 'Straight from the horse's mouth'.

~ That will be a Deathly Silence then ~
(I think that phrase is pretty universal!)

One Whole Year

I woke up this morning and looked at the clock which also shows the date. It was at that moment I realised that we have been in North Carolina for one whole year.

In some respects it's been a long year but in others the time has flown past so much so that this anniversary snuck right up on me.

I haven't been a very good blogger this year but this has more to do with a lack of time than material so once again I will make a note to self to try harder.

Not by way of a celebration but more of a coincidence we are preparing to fly home. This time tomorrow we will be enroute to RDU International Airport to board the return flight of the one that brought us here with all our, was it 9, suitcases? Only 3 allowed this time if I'm lucky! We will spend the next 2 weeks seeing family and friends, feeling the chill and probably getting soggy feet. Oh the joys of home!