Shakespeare in the Park

Every summer the various colleges at Cambridge play host to Shakespeare in the Park. Last year my friend Rebekah and I took my mom to see Taming of the Shrew. This year, Rebekah and I went to see The Comedy of Errors and have plans to see Much Ado About Nothing (one of my all time favourites!)

TCoE was absolutely brilliant! I've read it before, but had never seen it performed. Bless them, I'm sure they were freezing to death! We were all bundled up to our eyebrows: Jeans, jumpers, hoodies and coats, sitting on one wool blanket (over chairs) and huddled under another. Yeah, we just about survived it. But hey... this is the joy of the Great British Summer! It did not rain, ominous black clouds not withstanding. So all in all, we made out well.

Of course, we had to have the obligatory Scones, Clotted Cream and Jam! Yum!

A Great Day Out

I travelled down from Sheffield today. Heading to Colchester via London. I spent the whole afternoon in London with a dear friend. She'd come in from the South to meet me. We had a proper catchup over a pub lunch and stayed drinking Diet Coke for hours. Then we took the Tube over to Liverpool Street Station, where I dumped my luggage at the "Left Luggage" facility (Only £8.50/bag for the day, £5 for each additional day after) so we could run about unencumbered. One of the brilliant things about London is all the hidden gardens, quite historical nooks and other gems waiting for discovery. I'd previously been to St Katherine's Wharf, and knew it was one of those gems. We found several areas I'd not previously explored that were fantastic. We ogled the million-pound boats/ships (a two masted sail boat is seriously a ship!) and decided which house would be ours when we were rich and famous. Then we walked over to the South Bank and had our tea in a quite pub. I was really surprised that it wasn't jammed full of people on a Friday evening, but it wasn't. Yes, it was busy, but it wasn't crazily packed. We walked back to the station via Potter's Field, which I'd never noticed there before, and I caught the train home. A really lovely afternoon spent with one of my dearest friends.

Dressed for an English Summer

This spring, as the weather finally began to warm up, my sister was quite appalled at the shocking lack of warm-weather clothing in my closet. But then, I've been living in England the past 7 years. What need did I have of warm-weather clothing? I had a few short sleeve tops, and a couple skirts that were lighter weight. That's more than enough for the odd day that got above 24 C (that's roughly 75 F)! It just never hots up in the UK.

So, here I am back in the UK, and true to form, it's 14 C (52 F) out there, in July! Love it! Oh, and yes it is rainy today. Not chucking it down, but definitely wet. Seriously, I adore the cooler temperatures over here. It was quite a relief to escape the building heat of the US Western Desert. Have your 40+ C (100 F) temperatures! You can keep them. I'm happy over here in my jumper with my cuppa (herbal, of course).

Another English Adventure

Over the years people have commented on my ability to laugh off the ridiculous, but minor (even when they seemed major at the time) inconveniences of live, especially with regards to travel. It stems from something my parents started when they moved to Mississippi. Now, keep in mind, we're NORTHERNERS all. Born and raised, except my mom. She's originally from New Mexico, so she's not a "Deep" Southerner. Not the same thing as a Southerner, at all. Anyway, we're none of us used to the Southern ways. That lead to a LOT of misunderstandings over their time in Mississippi. And then there were silly things like, getting lost in your new home town. They started calling these things "Mississippi Adventures". We've broadened the definition over the years, and now we have "Fill-In-The-Blank Adventures". Meaning, whenever something potentially annoying happens, or a cultural misunderstanding/clash occurs, we try to see it as an exotic adventure (even if it's in your own back yard.)

In my case, I'm having English Adventures.

Today, I somehow managed to miss my turn to get back to my friends' house from Manchester. I was going across the Peak District. Should take an hour. All the sudden I'm looking around going... how did I get here? This isn't Glossop! I'm not on the Snake Pass!!! What did I do? And I still have no idea, exactly. I know there's a round-about, and I must have taken the wrong junction off that. It's seriously the only thing I can think of. Because, it's seriously, STRAIGHT THROUGH TOWN to get to the right road. No problem!

So, instead of taking me just over an hour, it took me over TWO hours to get home! But hey... I saw a part of the Peaks I've never been to before. And, since I used to live in Sheffield, I knew how to get to my friends' house from just about anywhere in town. So I got here in the end. Just, with a litle adventure on the side.

One of My Favourite Things

Well, here I am, back in the UK. I'm enjoying a lovely British Summer (read - overcast and cool.) Had to fly over for an academic conference (ha ha! What an excuse!) in Manchester. Oooh, Manchester? That's only an hour from Sheffield! So, obviously, I'm staying with my best friend and her husband. Brilliant! Anyway, since I have to go over the Peak District to get from Sheffield to Manchester, I get to enjoy the wonderful A51 Glossip Road. Also known as The Snake Pass. Love that road! It's Absolutely. Brilliant.

First of all, there's the fact I'm driving a stick shift again! Love me a manuel transmission, I do. You have so much more control of the car, and of course, you are way more involved in the drive than if all you do is stick it in drive and forget it.

Secondly, I love driving twisty windy roads. This one not only has the twisty windy roads, but it goes up and down, too! Yeay! So much fun to drive.

Third, it's got one of the best set of vistas ever. Love the gorgeous moores and dales. I'll include the photos I took on my drive home (don't worry, I was stopped in a lay-by when I took them!) And, these aren't even the most stunning views! There weren't lay-bys in those locations. Gorgeous. Wish there was a spot that I could have got a snapshot of the heather, all dark purple blooms. Stunning.

So, this is one of my favourite things: