Retirees in Spain are up a creek

interesting article in the London Times Sunday Magazine. We usually get the Sunday Times and then I spend all week going through it. Spain has more British ex-pats than any other country except Australia. A number of them are pensioners (retirees) who sold their homes here when the pound was king and retired to sun and sand on pension that, paid out in pounds, would go quite far in Spain. Now that the pound has taken a dive, many of them are finding themselves in financial straits. Even those who went to Spain to work are in trouble as Spain now has the highest unemployment rate in all of Europe. We're heading there for one last vacation before returning home, and after my experience in Ireland, I will be keeping all valuable possessions on my person!

On a more positive note, the front page of today's Daily Mail was all about a big breakthrough in treatment for autism. Just like in the States, the rates of autism have increased dramatically here in the UK over the last 20 years. They claim to have discovered some genetic markers that could help prevent autism and help treat those who are autistic. I didn't see anything about this on the news sites from the states, but it could have been eclipsed by all the swine flu scare.

I'm still a little bit in mourning for Bea Arthur. How fabulous was she? I wonder is they'll ever come out with a DVD collection of the episodes of All in the Family in which she appeared as Ethel's cousin before Maude got her own show. Those are just hysterical.

Got my friend who has a newborn out of the house today. We strolled the baby into town for lunch and he didn't start crying until we finished. Cried all the way home, though. He's got the same tummy problems as our nephew Oliver had, so he does better when someone is holding him. After my friend fed him, I just sat and held him for about 45 minutes so she could get in a nap. I told her we'd make it a weekly thing--at least!

Am hoping our house rents soon. Keeping it in "showing" mode is no fun. Two families came yesterday. Hopefully one of them will sign a lease starting July 1 and we can be done with it!

A first time for everything

So I'm waiting for Maddie to come home on the bus today, and it's late. That doesn't happen very often, but with London traffic there have been times when an accident or roadwork has held up the route. I kept waiting and looking out the window. I wasn't really worried, but I was thinking how hungry Maddie was going to be when she got home. The bus finally arrived half-an-hour late with an extremely apologetic bus driver. Last week, Maddie had several after school activities and went home with friends, so she didn't ride the bus home. Today, Bus Driver Ted said that she was so quiet he thought there was no one left on the bus and had headed back to school. He was half-way there when Maddie piped up and asked, "Is this a new route?"

Our bus driver is great and Maddie was fine, so I wasn't upset, but I did tell him we'd never had an experience where Maddie being too quiet caused a problem. I asked her if she was reading and lost track of time, but she said she was just looking out the window and thinking and then realized that the scenery wasn't familiar. She was worried I would be worried.

The days of fun in the sun may be over, I fear. Today was an icky, rainy day and the powers that be predict the rest of the week will be the same. Uggg. At least we have the memory of our fun, sunny week. Perhaps there will be at least of few more days like that before we go.

If only someone had a pedometer

Wish one of us had carried a pedometer so my friends and I could have seen how many miles we logged in London yesterday and the day before. The rain stopped around 9 a.m. yesterday, and the sun came out and gave us yet another beautiful day. We logged some time in Chiswick before heading into the crowds to the Portobello Road Market. I just love it there. So many people speaking so many languages (lots of German and Italian and French because the pound is so weak right now) and people selling everything under the sun.

Then we made our way back through the crowds and hopped on the 94 bus until we spotted a Zara. This is a Spanish chain where one of my girlfriends shopped a lot for her kids when we all lived in Duesseldorf, so she wanted to hit it while she was here. Her children will be looking smart when she returns.

Our travels then took us down Bond Street (think 5th Avenue) where we looked in store fronts of all the high end shops. Oddly enough, the street full of luxury goods was not all that crowded. We landed at Fortnum and Mason (one of the grandaddy department stores here) to have high tea. Yum! We wandered into Piccadilly Circus and a huge tourist shop to get a couple of last minute gifts for folks back home (one of my friends has three kids and the other has four), then on to China town for a bit of Dim Sum before heading home. For whatever reason, the 94 bus that brings us back out to Chiswick gets a little iffy on Saturday nights, so after waiting 20 minutes, we decided to default to the tube.

Took my friends to the airport this morning and am absolutely worn out for all the best reasons. Skip and Maddie had a big day yesterday which included a Fulham FC game plus Maddie eating at both McDonald's AND Burger King before the day was out. She was living large.

We are having another beautiful day today. It's like the run we had when Vern and Beth were visiting. Just fantastic. Skip and Maddie and I packed a picnic lunch and took it out to our corner park where Maddie and Skip practiced a little cricket. Now Maddie is battling a slight heat rash which she has never had before because it's never hot enough on the playground here to actually sweat!

Great Friends and Great Fun

Having a great time with my friends Robin and Jennifer who came in for a long weekend from Michigan and Massachusetts. I got Maddie all set up with an afternoon playdate/sleepover, so I didn't have to be back to meet the bus. My friends and I left the house yesterday at a quarter to 9 in the morning and got back to the house last night (or this morning) at about half past midnight. Just a note: Indian food at midnight, not always the best choice.

We had a beautiful day yesterday. Both women have been to London before, so we wandered off the beaten track. I took them to the corner with the artist I bought a picture from when Vern and Beth were here, and they each got their own London pic. We walked across Tower Bridge and over to Borough Market and England's oldest pub--the George. We had a great lunch sitting outside in the shadow of Southwark Cathedral at FISH! Then we spent some time in Oxford Circus and at Liberty Department store, which is old enough to have memorials for their employees who lost their lives in World War II. Then it was off to Victoria Station to see Wicked at the Victoria Apollo. It was my third time to see it, and it is still fabulous. Just amazing.

Today, my friends get to experience typical London weather, but they are former Duesseldorfers, so they're used to it.

Poetry Week

It's poetry week at ACS Hillingdon and it's all about poetry. Reading it, writing it, reciting it. Maddie doesn't even have homework this week except to read and write poetry. She's kind of good at it. Here's one of hers.

I With I Had Super Powers

I wish I had super powers
such as invisibility
that would be so cool
cuz people could see through me

I wish I had super powers
like to fly
So when people say "come here"
I fly right by

but sad to say they don't exist
I'll make them my invention
but until then they do exist
...in your imagination


I thought that was pretty good! But then, I am the mamma.

I'm getting ready for my friends Robin and Jennifer to come for a visit on Thursday. Really excited about that. These are friends from Duesseldorf who have moved back to the US. They're ditching their kids and coming for a long weekend to London. Can't wait to see them. It's my early birthday celebration.

Have been trying to get the ducks in a row about the bunnies and the flight back to the US and the selling of the car and the couch and the table and chairs. The car is the big deal. Anything else that doesn't sell, we can just have it shipped back with everything else and either sell it or donate it when we arrive. The car, however, needs to go. We've had a recent inquiry, so we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Gotta go. My favorite new show is on. "All the Small Things" on the BBC. It's about all that is good and bad about church life.
Hope it will be available on DVD or I-tunes later. It's only a six episode run and tonight is number 4. Would love to have a copy of the season.

Oh, and I have do go get some more pants tomorrow. I have literally worn out my second pair of jeans since being in London. I really have to broaden my wardrobe.

It's the Economy

Recently I saw an article (I think on abcnews.com) about how retailers were trying to boost sales by selling up at the cash register with special offers on small items. Hudson News employees, for example, always ask customers if they'd like a bottle of water with their purchase now. So while I was running errands yesterday, I realized on my way home that every place I stopped tried to do that to me. Shoe polish, chocolate, stamps were all offered. I didn't bite on one of them. I'm not doing my bit to boost the economy.

We have had beautiful weather this weekend. Yesterday, Skip realized his dream of seeing live cricket as we all headed to see a local team play. We stayed a little over two hours and I have to say that it is a nice way to pass an afternoon. After that we wanted to take advantage of the nice weather and decided to finally seek out the Princess Diana Memorial Playground we had heard so much about. Unfortunately we got off the Tube at Hyde Park instead of Kennsington Park and had a very long walk to reach our destination. It was good that we stopped at just a regular old play ground along the way, because by the time we got to the Diana one, it was 4:30 and there was a line to get in. Maddie was disappointed, but we promised we would head back there another day at an earlier time and prepared to wait our turn.

We had to get home so that we could eat and Maddie could get a bath in before she got to stay up late so that we could have our special family time watching Britain's Got Talent. We've never been big reality TV people, but we all really like this show. Simon Cowell is not nearly as nasty as he is on American Idol and there's always a couple of people who are really something special and get their big break. The woman from last week who sang "I Dreamed a Dream" has made international headlines. This week the "stars" were a saxophone player and a twelve-year-old boy with a great voice.

This morning we went to church and caught up with folks there and then we came home to do a little spring cleaning. They've already got the "For Let" sign out in front of our house, so anytime now, people could be coming to see the place. And since you all know what a fabulous housekeeper I am, you can see how that is cause for a little stress. Maddie was a bit put out that I asked her to pick up anything downstairs that belonged to her and take it up to her room and put it up. I have got to stop being such a demanding mom.

Skip is actually at home this week and I've got two friends from the States coming to visit on Thursday. It's Poetry Week at Maddie's school and she's got a slew of after-school activities going on this week, so she's excited--and so am I. Two weeks of Spring Break is long enough!

Home Again

After long drive home, we made it back from Ireland. I'm ready to be back in the States where my husband can't use the "I never drive here so I'm not used to it" excuse on long road trips. We drove through a really pretty part of Wales. Lots of sheep and it must be lambing time because there were lots of itty bitties, too.

Skip had to turn around the next day and head out to Germany. He can't possibly know if he's coming or going after the last four weeks. He'll get home tonight and we will be going nowhere this weekend. He's really moving up in this world. I took his clothes to the dry cleaner and dropped off three suits, AND he has a least one with him. I didn't even realize he had four suits. There might even be five. I think he had one tie when we got married.

Lots of laundry to catch up on and lots of cleaning to do when we got home. When there's no central air, the dust builds up mightily.

Maddie is still on spring break, so she's going to swim camp at our gym. It seemed like a good idea, but after five hours of swimming and playing, she's just shattered when she gets home and is terribly grumpy. But hopefully, she's building her swimming skills.

It's pretty much full speed ahead for the next 9 weeks.

Wrapping Up in Ireland

So we weren’t overwhelmed by the Rock of Cashel, but we met some interesting people in the town of Cashel. The Italian man who is quite the entrepreneur. He owns one take-out pizza place, a sit-down pizza restaurant complete with a mini movie theater and the local sporting and hunting goods shop. The Irish owner of the B and B where we stayed (who also owned the hostel next door). Can’t say we were super impressed with our accommodations (the heat was on a timer and we were freezing, and the room faced the street, which was noisy), but the people were nice. There was a Malaysian woman in her sixties who served us breakfast and who travels the world by working where ever anyone needs her. This is her second time in Ireland and next she is planning to hit New Zealand and Australia (where she has a sister) before figuring out how to see Greece and Italy.

The drive from Cashel to Dublin was shorter than we thought. Yay! I am about driven out. It was a beautiful day and we breezed into a very expensive parking garage in Dublin and headed to Trinity University to view the Book of Kells. Maddie had read about how the monks used to spend lifetimes copying the pages of the Bible, so she thought it was cool to see some of the actual hand-written pages. Then we just did some exploring of the city, including Grafton Street and St. Stephen’s Green. Our strolling led us to the National Gallery of Ireland where Maddie got a special kids pack with a route to follow and questions to answer. We discovered my new favorite painting: Carvaggio’s The Taking of Christ. It is a picture of Jesus being taking by the soldiers in the garden at Gethsemane. But what makes the picture so cool is that the artist painted himself as a passive observer to this act of betrayal.

We are staying outside of the Dublin at this great Marriott resort that we traded in our Marriott points for. I love the Marriott points. We end up in the nicest places.

We attended Christ Church (Church of Ireland) in Dublin for Easter service and got to hear the Archbishop of Dublin preach. When he processed with the other clergy into the church, he had on his full regalia, complete with headwear. Maddie was disappointed to learn that he was not the Pope. Skip and I were drawn to the shepherd’s crook that he carried. I think I’m going to have to get me one of those. It was full-on high church. Smells, bells, organ music by Bach and Mozart. The whole deal. Maddie was bored, but we assured her she would survive.

After a little more strolling in the city, we came back to our hotel so Maddie could do some swimming. I think for our next vacation, we’re just going to find a hotel with a pool, between a candy/ice cream shop and a gift shop. All of Maddie’s favorite vacation activities. Just a quick Ireland fact: all hotels with indoor pools require swimmers to wear swim caps. We got some at our Dingle hotel, so we were all set here. We all look way cute in our matching red and white caps.

We have all, over the course of the vacation, picked up Ireland sweatshirts. Skip says that he and I can not wear ours on the same days—even though they are somewhat different. We’ve already got the matching hiking boot thing going on. Maybe he’s right. The sweatshirts might be over the top.

The news of the Irish economic crisis continues to get worse. Even though the new taxes increase with income, the people they call “the coping class” here are getting hit hard by the combination of increase of tax and the reduction of benefits and exemptions. It’s a big mess.

We are headed home tomorrow. We’ll catch a ferry out of Dublin and land in Holyhead, Wales and drive the four or five hours home to London. It’s been a good vacation—although a little more tiring that any of us would have liked. I spent way too much time planning (some of which turned out good, some not so good) and way too much time behind the wheel of the car. Next time, I’m booking a tour!

They Didn't Get the Memo

So while we're here in Ireland, we've learned that our friends Rob and Brooke and daughter Julia are moving to Milwaukee! Clearly they did not get the memo that all of our friends are supposed to stay exactly where we left them when we departed for Europe almost three years ago. That way, when we return, we can just seamlessly re-enter our American life. Rob has had a great job opportunity and we wish them well, but will miss them terribly. The truth is that with them in Memphis and us in Little Rock, we didn't see each other all that often anyway, but we liked knowing that they were just a little over two hours up the road to Memphis or a little under two hours down the road toward Mt. Ida at their house near the lake. We always knew we could get to them (or they to us) if we needed to. It's been 15 years since we lived in the same town (or even state). Maybe in 15 more, we'll find ourselves in the same location again.

But we had a taste of how way leads on to way today when we saw Lisa Harwell and family here in Dingle. The Harwells live in Duesseldorf, but we run into them in a town in Ireland that is so remote that UPS doesn't even deliver here every day.

On that note, our replacement credit cards finally arrived today. Yay.

Tomorrow, we're off to Cashel and then on to Dublin.

I've just learned that tornado has hit Mena, Arkansas where aforementioned Rob's family lives. Sounds like there was a lot of damage. So prayers not only for Mena, but for my friends who are in the middle of a major move when a natural disaster hits his hometown. I think they're pushing the limits of the stress test.

Views of Ireland

The southwest coast of Ireland is absolutely stunning. Skip and I have talking this whole trip about how curious it is that a small country with only 4 million people has so captured world's attention and affection. Standing on the cliffs and beaches of its western-most shores, it's gets easier to understand.

Ireland is on the verge of a big financial collapse and this week they passed a new emergency budget. Everyone is going to be paying more taxes, but they did it the way I like it. Those who make more bear the larger burden. In reading the papers and listening the radio, it seems the two most controversial items are the taking away of the Christmas bonus and the halving of the jobseekers benefits to those under the age of 20. Apparently everyone who is on welfare (and here, welfare includes older people--like our social security) typically receive a doubling for their benefits in December as a Christmas bonus. That won't happen this year. The government is being accused of canceling Christmas. People looking for work also receive benefits and they are halving those benefits for those under 20 to encourage them to seek more education and training (some of which is covered by the government). So times are tough here in Ireland. We're doing our best to boost the economy.

We've encountered quite a few Americans in our touring around, but our hotel seems mostly Brits and other Irish folks. We hit the family friendly hotel for this stay. It's got the indoor pool (swim caps required) and a kids club. We've never used one of these before, but Maddie is loving it. They serve children's "tea" from 5:30 to 6:30. It's a buffet of every thing Maddie likes. Chicken nuggets, pasta, roasted chicken, fries. The veggies are kid-friendly corn, peas and carrots. And the there is a huge selection of ice cream and other desserts. So we go with her while she eats and then we take here to the kids club area to play with the other kids. There is coloring and games and movies, and the big draw--other kids! Then while she is there, we go eat with the other grown ups.

We have one more day here in Dingle. Then we will head toward Dublin and, eventually, home.




Maddie races the waves on a beautiful beach on the Dingle peninsula



Feeding the seagulls. We were told if you tossed up bread crumbs at this point they would never hit the ground because the gulls would swoop in so quickly to catch them. Our birds either weren't that swift or had bad aim. They got the crumbs after they hit the ground.



Maddie and Skip in front of a "beehive house". These are dwellings the ancient people of Ireland made and lived in. There is no mortar holding this huts together. It is all stacked stones. These have been there for over 1500 years. Whoa.



Maddie and me at the "beehive".



One of the many gorgeous views off the Ring of Dingle. We chose this option over the more famous Ring of Kerry because it's a shorter route and we read that the sights were just as stunning. I don't believe we made a poor choice.




Ever since we went to Scotland in October, I have wanted to pet a sheep. Finally, my dream was realized. Here is Maddie with the sheep. They really are very fluffy.



Another great view on a beautiful day. It was supposed to be cloudy and rainy, but we got sun and clear skies. Maddie thinks it's God's way of making it up to us for the smash and grab earlier in the week.



Maddie enjoyed writing on a remote section of beach.




Back in Kinsale, Maddie tired of the walking tour we were on and sat down to read her new Irish joke book. In Kinsale, there is a well-known restaurant called Fishy, Fishy. Back in the 60's when its founder opened the place, people thought she was crazy. Back then Catholics still had to eat fish on Fridays and the only thing available was dried, smoked fish or tinned fish, like tuna. The townspeople couldn't believe that she could prepare fish in a way that would make people want to eat it. Fishy Fishy turned out to be the start of Kinsales rebirth as a gourmet seaside town. Now people come for the sea, the history and the food.

There is also in Kinsale an Eli Lilly factory where they make Prozac. Our guide told us when the wind is just right, you'll notice the locals taking lots of deep breaths.



We thought this was funny. On a path that led from the historic James Fort back to the town of Kinsale we came upon this door leading to another path up the hill. Don't know if you can see the key pad that locks the door OR the fact that you could simply walk around the door. Would love to know the story behind this one.




Here is Maddie on the beach at Ardmore where St. Declan first brought Christianity to Ireland around 415.

The Sun'll Come Out

Really, it has. What was supposed to have been a rainy two days are turning out to be pleasant and sunny. And I have to say, if something bad has to happen, Ireland is the place to have it happen. The people here have been so nice. We had a converstation wtih the man who runs the local town historical walks and he was so sorry to hear about what happened. Later when we returned to the hotel, we discovered he left a chocolate egg for Maddie because "she fell off her swing and no one was paying any attention."


We did eventually find some places that are open and the town (in spite of being under construction) is very lovely. Had a great Indian/Pakistani meal last night and today around 1, people are coming to fix our window. We should be back on schedule this evening.

More later

Hey, We Could've Been in Italy

So our Ireland vacation is not going well at all. We almost missed the ferry and then ended up in a dumpy hotel with bad food our first night. Then we decided that the next day would be better. Oh, how wrong we were.

On the way to Kinsale, we were going to stop at the Waterford Crystal factory and the town of Aardmore (where Christianity first came to Ireland through St. Declan, not St. Patrick). The Waterford Factory was closed (locked and gated) in spite of a big sign that said "open daily". But still, we would get to spend Palm Sunday standing on the beach where Christianity came to Ireland. That seemed like a cool thing to do. So we continued on to Aardmore, a little beach town with only two restaurants--one of which was fully booked all afternoon. Luckily we landed a place at the other restaurant and had some good food. Then we went to the beach and let Maddie play on a playground where she fell and landed flat on her back. Before leaving, we drove up to an old ruined church and graveyard outside of the town. We went in for five minutes and I foolishly left my purse in the car. You guessed it. Someone smashed the window and stole my purse. The locals kept coming by to apologize and were shocked that something like this had happened in their sleepy little town. We called the police, cancelled all the cards and drove the hour to Kinsale (where we had reservations) with plastic taped to the window. One horribly noisy drive.

Today we've spent half the day trying to get the window fixed. And the lovely town of Kinsale is under construction. There is loud heavy equipment everywhere. The visitor's center is closed because one woman runs it and couldn't be there today and there was no one to take her place. Several of the historical places to visit don't open until next week.

We're hoping we can get the window fixed sometime tomorrow morning so we can get on to Dingle where we hope to turn things around. At least that hotel will have a pool, so it can't be all bad. And after all, we haven't had any earthquakes...yet.

And we're off...we hope

So I think we can get off to Ireland tomorrow. Skip got home today from the US, but his luggage didn't! It's on its way now, but it won't get to us before we need to leave, so we're having it delivered to our friend's house.

off tomorrow to catch a ferry in Wales over to Rosslare, Ireland. Haven't ever done the ferry thing before, so that should be fun.


On an England note: they're running an interesting campaign here. The government is running PSA's about community service punishment for criminals. It's all about what hard work it is and how it benefits the community as well as providing a deterrent to crime. And then, they tell you a number to call if you know of something these criminals could be doing to benefit the community. If only we'd had that in the States. Perhaps Grace Pres wouldn't have had to raise all the money to put a new roof on the church!

Have to go to bed. I'm tired, but there is no sympathy for me here. I think my husband has been beat in the exhaustion area right now!

Touching the Queen

This is cracking me up.

Michelle Obama and Queen Elizabeth

Get Ready, Get Set

Okay, car is cleaned and gassed up. Tom Tom is updated. Camera battery charged. Snacks acquired. Packing is about half-done. Getting excited about the ferry boat ride over to Ireland. You know that's why Dr. Derek Shepherd went to Seattle Grace in the first place. He loves ferry boats. I've always wanted to ride on one. Well, I guess you could count that guy down in Southwest Arkansas who used to ferry folks one car at a time across the Red River (is he still there or did they build a bridge?, but this is a big, mulit-car, honest to goodness ferry boat. Maddie was relieved to hear that we don't have to stay in the car during the ride.

And in the it's-a-small-world category, a friend in Duesseldorf was reading the blog and saw where we are headed to Ireland for spring break. Turns out they are, too, and we will both be in the town of Dingle for two nights. Always nice to run into American friends from Germany in Ireland. Looking forward to seeing them. What an unexpected treat!

On the London front, looks like nothing too bad has happened in the midst of the G20 protests. Most of the people have gathered for a peaceful protest, but with crowds that large, it would only take a few people bent on causing problems to turn it all to complete chaos. In light of the protests, a radio station here in town has been asking people what they protest against in their own lives. One guy who has been estranged from his dad for years won't buy gas from Shell because he dad worked for the company and the son doesn't want to add anything to his father's pension. Another guy who once got fired from a radio station called Signal said him mom to this day won't buy Signal toothpaste--even though the companies are not remotely related.

Gotta run and get some stuff done in the house. Tomorrow will be taken up with getting the bunnies boarded, the Peter Rabbit Tea Party at Maddie's school and Hip Hop Dance class. (What a bunny themed day!)