tell me something amazing

i will tell you two things that are amazing. thanks for asking.
on thursday of last week i planned to drive north about 45 minutes to go to lancaster castle. but i kept seeing signs for 'the lakes' and 'the lakes' kept calling to me. i thought heck. i like driving. i want to pay for petrol. i'm going to go to the lakes. so i drove to windermere. the most famous and most southern of the lakes in the lake district. it was amazing. i was close to tears as the sun shone through the clouds onto the gorgeous green fields. how can something be so green in january?
i parked on some obscure street and walked along the lake. i stopped on a bench and let the sun shine in my eyes as i ate a mixed berry fruit corner. (oh my gosh. england's wonderful. have you had this yogurt?? i've been waiting for two years to eat this stuff.) (yogurt is pronounced with a short o, by the way) gorgeous. freezing cold. but totally worth it. then i went to the peter rabbit store and bought a tiny little pin. i was this close (my fingers are about a quarter of an inch apart) to staying at a bed and breakfast overnight. but i decided i wanted to eat linda's dinner.
as i drove back i saw a small road off the main road and decided what the heck? let's drive up it. i turned onto it and on either side of the car there were walls about 4 feet high with sheepfields as far as i could see. i drove about 20 minutes and parked the car, got out, and stood by the wall to watch the pink sunset. total contentment.
amazing thing number two: (and you thought we were done!)
on saturday i rode the train by myself (very adventurous, if i do say so myself) to lancaster. i went to the castle... which is a working castle! this means that they still keep prisoners there and hold court there in court rooms that were built in 1796-- those are the newest portions of the castle. then i went to the priory church. and then i went all over town looking for a chocolate caramel shortbread. i've still not found one to rival the one i had in rye 2 years ago. i'll just have to keep looking wherever i go.
rode the train back and got home in time for dinner. delightful.
love you all.
and miss you tonnes.

finally! i've got some pictures! this here is geoffrey street, chorley, lancashire. the car in the foreground is the very one we're driving. and our house is on the left (not pictured.) ha.

oh oh and i forgot to tell you about this awesome cemetery. last friday we drove into preston (though not very far in...) and just off the motorway there was this magnificent cemetery. it was so expansive, we couldn't even see to the end of it. i've never seen anything except sheep fields extend so far... in england. it was quite eerie... but i liked it.

and just today we went to jodrell bank observatory. (you have to pronounce that in an english accent. sorry, but i must insist.) it has this huge telescope and some lovely gardens. but we only got to see the huge telescope because there was damage in the gardens from the winds last week. here's a picture of the telescope. pretty cool eh?

well there you go. love you muchly (as mom says).

fish and chips and vinegar

friday night we went to a friday forum where the temple president and his wife spoke. they were charming and delightful people. the best part though, was driving home from ashton listening to "i'm gonna be" by the proclaimers. it struck me as especially funny at the time because the girl sitting next to me in the car was singing in the thickest scottish accent i've ever heard at the top of her lungs... imagine if you can "ee'm goona beh, ee'm goona beh...". i was laughing so hard. to my ear it sounded like she was absolutley slaughtering it. then i felt a little sheepish about laughing at it when a friend of mine pointed out that the proclaimers are actually scottish. ha. i'm still positive that the band and the girl were not singing in the same language.
last saturday we had fish. and chips. and vinegar. and salt. but that's not part of the song. it was really good, really greasy and we ate it while we walked around chorley market. We tried to go into some churches, but I guess it's only in london that they keep every little church open all the time as a tourist attraction. the churches amaze me. they're so old and beautiful yet they're accepted simply as part of the landscape. no one questions why they're there or whether they're important. they're just there and no one really cares. not that they don't appreciate them; they just don't really notice.
sunday morning i finally got brave. i drove! i drove all around town by myself and found a marvelous country road. sheep and old houses and fields and everything lovely. it was beautiful. i actually really like driving here. it feels adventurous and exciting. i love the roundabouts. the traffic simply flows more smoothly here. it's nice.
but i did get a few honks when i was in the wrong lane in the round about.
tonight we're going to hear elder oaks speak. kind of funny. but we got tickets and we're going. it should be cool. i better go help get dinner on.
much love

divided by a common language

day 2
of the blog, that is.
i thought that i could not fail worse at any other game than trivial pursuit.
yesterday i was proven wrong.
we played the british version of trivial pursuit. i know even less about british pop culture than i do about my own beloved country's triviality.
but feeling stupid isn't all bad.
at least not at institute.
i ate chocky bickys (and no i'm not quite sure how one spells that) which are of course chocolate biscuits. which are of course cookies.
england has motorways with no pavement.
that is
free ways with no sidewalks. it's not unusual.
i carry a handbag with my purse inside of it.
i used to carry a purse with my wallet inside of it.
i eat candy. they eat sweets.
basil with a short a sound and herbs pronouncing the h.
and did you know? they even changed the spelling of aluminum to suit their pronunciation. aluminium. really. emphasis on the al. like condominium.
alu-- alu-- aluminium... alu-- alu-- alu kids! :)
now can we talk about the words that americans simply underuse?
like cheeky?
and posh?
and lovely?
oh and silly means stupid (do you think i'm silly? in a disbelieving voice)
and another funny thing.
i've never thought about it before but british people can have speech impediments too. yesterday i met someone who couldn't say his r's very well. i shouldn't laugh but i did inside. i was very polite outwardly, though. try speaking in a british accent without saying your r's well. no really. try it.
around the rugged rocks the rugged rascal ran.
really. out loud this time.
around the rugged rocks the rugged rascal ran.
good.
one more story
yesterday i was talking to a guy at institute who i thought had just gotten back from holladay and st george.
come to find out he'd just gotten back from holiday in st. george.
but like i said. feeling stupid isn't all bad.
but don't ask me to defend my position, mrs. c.

giving in (parenthetically)

so here i am. yes. me. allison. blogging. what?
i'm trying not to think about it too hard. but i believe you all. yes all of you... that it is indeed for the best. especially condsidering the circumstances.
so we begin:
fourth day in england and i have a library card (national library system, not city or county, mind you).
erika (pronounced eriker by the locals) and i have gotten some decent work done today which is lovely. i feel somewhat out of place up here in the north. upon arriving in london more than two years ago i felt perfectly at home. but here i feel only slightly rejected. i'm sure that will pass. just settling in, i think.
i live with linda james. she is delightful. she's from the south and therefore (apparently) more friendly than most people around here. she has three cats: felix, diby, and charlie (or it could be chawlie. i'm not sure.). erika and i have adopted their room (at least that's how they see it) and have made it more or less our own.
linda james has three hyacinth bulbs on her kitchen windowsill. one of which is going to bloom very late. the pink one has already begun to lose its blossoms!
it's been ridiculously windy today. we've nearly been blown away several times. each time i imagine myself being blown with my umbrella right into the west end of london and ending up nannying for some family who genuinely needs me.
then i come back to reality.
we have been eating very well, which is nice. linda james is an extremely good cook and cooks quite healthy as well. my only complaint is that she uses margarine instead of butter. but i can handle it for a few months.
so far i have not driven the car, but my turn will come. instead i've been "navigating" (in quotation marks for obvious reasons) and trying to tell erika which way to go. we've been having a good time of it.
i think my time here will go very fast. i will see you all before i know it. and by then the winter will be over and the spring will be here and we should all have a picnic.
much love

so, my professional blogger friends, i think that's all i can muster for my first posting. how did i do? it took a lot out of me. i hope i can do a bit more next time. :)