Be back soon

We'll be returning to the UK in just a few weeks, I'll start posting again soon! Here in the states, I've tried to get in the right side of the car once (to drive), which was funny. And I recently learned the boundaries between the Hants and Surrey counties in the UK. More soon!

Seeing the same things differently

I've driven in the DC area for decades and it does feel different now that I'm back from the UK. What I notice more now is that people pass in all lanes, at all different speeds. It's even more noticeable to me now that people drive "slow" in the fast lane and fast in the slow lane. It feels like most people are new to the road they're driving on, almost confused by where to go and how to get there. It seems to breed a mutual frustration by everyone involved, it almost forces you to drive more aggressive than you want to, out of pure survival. Strange feeling, I find myself falling right back into driving faster and more aggressive than need be. I keep reaching for the gearbox on the left side too!

The leaves on the trees are beautiful here too! I think I've taken them for granted for too long. Makes me wonder what else I take for granted.

What is normal

I'm back to driving on the right side of the road. It came back very easily. I find it's actually more awkward sitting in the passenger side, that's when my mind says stay to the left, but of course I'm not driving from the passenger side, so it works out :)

My older daughter and I went out for dinner last night. Two of the most common things I heard from friends in England were "everything is so much bigger in the states" and "isn't our service  terrible here (in England)". The only thing that seemed noticeably smaller to me in England were the showers, but yes, coming back, things do seem much bigger. For example, the kitchen sink seemed massive. The struggle I ever had with service in England was asking for a bill, but half the places I went to were paid up front at the bar, or I was enjoying the conversation so much that I wasn't worried about the bill. Well, sitting at a restaurant here, I guess I have to admit I noticed the difference. Our waitress must have checked on us every 10 minutes, it was almost too much. In fact at one point, she brought us more water and kinda thrust it over my shoulder, I literally jumped a bit in a startled way, which is very rare for me! 

I've been watching a lot of baseball and football on tv. It's a treat to just turn on the tv and have it right there. In England, I had to get online, order a service, connect the laptop to the tv, move the cursor every 15 minutes, and not surf the web during a game. Playoff baseball is fantastic.

Other than that, it's been a lot of family time, and some work. Even with all the great technology, there's still nothing quite as perfect as spending time together in the same room.

Back in the states!

I'm back in the states! The flight was nice and easy. The seat next to me was empty, so that left a bit of extra room to spread out for 8 hours. The gentleman in the next seat over was very nice, he was an IT consultant, so of course we chatted about that for awhile.  I was surprised by how good the food tasted, I heard others giving compliments as well, give credit to United! 

My family was there at the airport to say a big hello. They brought balloons and cookies and everything. I was so very thankful but it also felt like 2am, so I hope it came across :)

The drive home was fun. It was raining just to make me feel at home. I was the passenger, so I just watched from the right hand side of the road. It will definitely take a little bit of time to subconsciously stay to the right :)

I came home and tried to switch on a light and nearly jammed a finger. I had honestly completely forgotten that we use switches that flip up and down as opposed to buttons that press up and down. The handle on the toilet was easy to remember though.

In terms of culture, I noticed a lot of agitation. I'm sure it's mostly due to bring at an airport. But I do think different cultures handle their agitation differently. 

This morning I woke up and walked through an invisible spider web. I've lived in this house for 10 years and I don't recall ever doing that before, just another friendly connection to the UK I guess :)

Apprehensively Intrigued

Today is my last day in London for awhile. 6 months have flown by and today I fly home to Washington DC. The feeling is strange, it's somewhere between nostalgic and apprehensively intrigued, if that makes any sense. There are many things I'm looking forward to, and many things I'll miss. I'm most looking forward to spending time with family and friends! I think it might feel strange to drive on the right side, even though I've done it for decades. There's an interesting feeling that things I've looked at for decades will look and feel much different now. Such a learning experience!

From a work perspective, I attended an internal conference this week. It was excellent in that I learned a few things and I met many great people. From a content perspective, I learned that almost everyone (regardless of their function/ program/role) is beginning to see the challenge and value of knowledge management, admittedly they're typically seeing it through a talent management lens though.

For my last dinner in London I walked in to town, in the rain, of course. I ate at my favorite restaurant which serves my favorite curry in England, which I suppose might be the best curry in the world? The walk home felt quite strange as I was thinking that I'm heading out, as opposed to heading in to a journey. Just to confuse myself further, I'm sure it's just the beginning of the next journey, and of course the journeys learn from each other and weave together.

Now it's the morning of the last day and I'm taking the walk across the London bridge. What a view. What a place. And today was the first time that free wifi worked on the train! Improvements come everyday :)

I paused to smell this flower today. Awesome

Marmite, love it or hate it?

I started Sunday morning with what everyone does, I researched the political system of the UK. Actually no one does that, but I really did. I kept hearing about "Tories" and names of leads that I didn't recognise, so I educated myself on the whole system. The most interesting part for me was that entire parties have come and gone, or "disbanded" as they call it. I mentally compared that to the states, as if the Republican or Democratic Party were disbanded, which would be huge. But of course UK politics have been around a lot longer. 

Then I really did go out and have more traditional fun, I took photos at another rugby game that I was invited to. I was amazed by how much I remembered from my first game a few weeks ago. Now I had even more comparison, and these teams were not evenly matched at all. Now I could see the levels of quality in play, and what the results look like. They did change into their "smart kit" after this match, which really was suit and tie. Very nice social event after the game again.

A few colleagues threw a "end of summer" party and I went to that after the game. It was"tea" as they called it, which I now fully understand to mean drinks and snacks. Delicious drinks and snacks by the way. We played croquet and I tried Marmite for the very first time. They talk about marmite over here quite a bit, it's a real love hate dichotomy. The haters will remind you it's some kind of yeast extract and can even cause a rash. The lovers will tell you it's salty deliciousness. I was nervous to take my first bite as they all watched, they even said I was allowed to spit - wow, this is like an episode of survivor or fear factor or something. I bit in...and...salty deliciousness! :)

I went back home, caught up with my fantasy sports, and X Factor and Downton Abbey. Good night!

Fleet, where the Queen goes for a skate

I ventured over to a town called Fleet today. Many people had said what a nice place it is, so I came with fairly high expectations.

According to a local sign, in the 12th and 13th centuries, monks created and maintained two ponds to help feed people. In the mid 1800s, Queen Victoria found Fleet Pond and was known to do her ice skating there. She felt it took too long to get to Fleet from London, so they build a train stop right next to the pond. The town has grown from there.

A friend at work had drawn a local map for me. She explained the "blue triangle" to me. There are 3 main roads that create a nice clean triangle. One of the roads is Fleet Rd, which is their high street, which means it's full of restaurants and shops. The other 2 roads are basically just for driving. Inside the triangle and slightly to the east/right and left is Fleet. South of the triangle is an area called Church Crookham, known to be very nice as well. Above/north of the triangle is an area called Elvetham Heath, full of nice houses and schools. Ancells Farm is on the northeast point of the triangle, also with nice houses.

I parked and started at the bottom left corner of the triangle and Fleet Rd. Right away I could see how nice the people were, there was a market right there and one family even asked me for directions.

There are many "copses" around Fleet. A copse, pronounced kawps, is a small group of trees. Fleet Rd isn't cobblestone but it's a nice street lined with shops. A place called Harlington is right there as well, which is like a dance studio meets library meets civic center meets performance center. Lots of kids activities there. 

At the end of Fleet Rd is Fleet Pond. I was expecting a fairly standard pond, but oh no, this is like instantly being whisked over to Florida. There were herons and swans everywhere, plus some beautiful birds I didn't even recognise. The water is edged by cat tails and the middle of the pond has beautiful little areas of trees. There are well marked paths around the pond, I chose the red and blue paths, which stays close to the water. It took about an hour or so to walk all the way around.

There are several stopping points for sitting or photography or fishing. At one point I came up to a sandy bay, so I stopped to take a photo. I had not seen another person in about 30 minutes so I was very surprised to turn around and see a fairly large animal running at me full speed. It took a second for me to realise it was a dog, and one of my favourite breeds of dog, a boxer. The owner was a bit behind but caught up quickly. I could start breathing regularly again.

I had some nice fish and chips at a pub, then caught up with my buddy for a few minutes. Then I rushed home to watch Hokie football. Go Hokies!

Lakes District, inspiration for Peter Rabbit

I'm up in an area called the Lakes Dustrict this week. One of my friends at work was so kind to not only schedule a dinner party, but she and her husband drove me all around the lakes for 2 or 3 hours, amazing.

We chatted all about the history of the lakes. It's believed that glaciers melted after the ice age, and the moving water formed the hills and lakes. One of the first lakes you see when coming up from the south is Windemere. There's a slightly oddly placed lighthouse somewhat near the lake, so of course I asked about that. The story goes that a loved local passed away a long time ago and the locals wanted to raise £600 to build a monument. The town raised £450 and asked organizations if they might pay the rest. One org that owned light houses said they'd pay, but the monument had to look like a lighthouse. Kinda fun, since there really is no use for a lighthouse there, so it grabs your attention.

I guess I didn't realise Beatrix Potter lived in the lakes district. She also loved the area so much that she used her earnings to buy up the land, then donate it to national groups. So Peter Rabbit and all those fun characters were "created" in this area. 

It really is quite magical. The roads curve up and down the hills, around the still water lakes. The greenery is all shades of green, with some pointy evergreens to some fluffy oak-like trees. The towns around the water look stunning from up in the hills, just compelling you to run down and buy up a house or two.

A couple of small signs made me laugh. One said "probably the oldest inn in the lakes" and the other said "maybe the largest carpet dealer in England". Only in the UK would you see "maybe" and "probably" in advertising :)

It's a great area and I only small about a quarter of it. Looking forward to seeing the rest another time!