The BBC TV

I have been requested by a friend to talk about the TV differences in the UK.  I am, of course, happy to oblige!

In the UK, everyone has to purchase a license to watch TV.  It does not matter how you watch TV, either on a TV, computer, or any electronic device.  It is the one of the ways that that the BBC receives funding.  The house that I am living in, they canceled their TV license when they moved out and it took the TV licensing department approximately 2 months to catch up with me.  Earlier this month I received a notice that our home was not licensed and if I did not purchase one by 22 Dec an investigation would be started.  I assume that if I was found to be watching TV without a license that I would have been fined.  After trying to pay for my license at a branch, I ended up just purchasing it online and I can say that I am now watching TV legally!

In the US, we used to have satellite.  About 6 months before we moved I had canceled the service, mainly because we were paying a whole bunch of money for a lot of TV that we were not watching.  So, when we got to the UK, I had only intended to stick with the regular brand of TV and I have to say that it is pretty good watching, for the most part.

I do hear on the radio about SKY TV.  They seem to be similar to our satellite companies that we have in the US.  You need a "magic" box to watch what you want and if you can't watch something you can "sky+" it, which is digitally record it.  There are many, many stations and many of them are familiar stations that we see in the US (FX, syfy(scifi) MTV) but there are also many stations that we don't see in the US, exceptions are maybe the people that have the huge channel packages from their satellite.  Especially the sports stations with all the football (soccer) and rugby.

As you know by now, we have opted not to get the SkyTV package.  What we have is appropriately called Freeview.  I think that we have around 40 channels.  The BBC is very prominent among the stations, I think that they broadcast on about 8 of them.  At least where we are, we do not see the regional things like news.  Here we see the news that not only affects us but the world.  Christmas Day, we saw a message from the HRH Queen Elizabeth II, it had been pre-taped earlier in December.  She had a really lovely message.

One things that we have found is that they play a lot of movies on regular TV.  For instance, they have been playing the Shrek movies, one every night since Christmas.  Other movies that we have seen are: Transformer I, Ratatouille, Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Princess Bride, some James Bond flicks, The Mummy, Nanny McFee, Agent Cody Banks, Star Trek.... you get the idea.  Not bad stuff and some of them pretty recent flicks.

As for the TV shows.  We love a show called TopGear.  One our favorite channels is Dave.  Dave plays the old TopGear shows.  There is also a show that reminds me of the British show Coupling and the US show Friends (I totally recommend Coupling if you have not seen them, grab the DVD's and you will laugh and laugh!), anyway the show is called Not Going Out.  Let's just say that it is growing on me.  The other show that just ended it's season, but is being shown in the US on PBS is Downton Abby.  It totally sucked me in (when I was in the US) and it is very popular here, it even has a decent following from the men.  One of the DJ's (a man) on the morning show that I listen to on Absolute Radio even had a lunch at one of the big, fancy hotels in London and invited fellow fans.  He has a club that he has dubbed Manton Abby and often discusses it in the morning!

One thing that I knew moving here was that British comedy is different then US comedy.  They are in some ways more vulgar and a lot less slapstick, they also use irony very effectively.  Another thing that I knew moving here was that after 10pm, things get, well.... you know Skinamax?  Let's just say, that it a great comparison.  There is a definite change in programs and in what you see, skin wise.

If you want some more suggestions on show/movies to watch, here are a few that come to mind:  Blackadder (stars Rowan Atkinson who play Mr. Bean), Dr. Who, and Shaun of the Dead (stars Simon Peg who play in MI3 and Scotty in the last Star Trek movie).   You will have to wait for some more suggestions later.  :)

We really don't watch a lot of TV here, I know that they seem to have quite a few of the US TV shows on, but I can't seem to catch the recent episodes of the few shows that I did watch in the US, like Glee. Because I am not in the US, Hulu has determined that I can't watch shows on it's site now either, I am not happy! We also maybe behind the US schedule for shows (like a season behind?), I am not sure.  They do have their own versions of some of our shows, like Wipeout.  We loved Wipeout in the US.  It is not quite the same here as they only have one host (who is also a TopGear host).  Interesting fact, they tape Wipeout in Buenos Aries, something to do with the laws and injuries apparently.

We have noticed that when shows cross the ocean, that we do not care for the show that is not the original.   Contrasting the American version of TopGear with the UK version, we prefer the UK version.  The three men that host it do such a good job, and the American hosts just do not compare.  Sadly, the UK version really just talks about UK cars, so the American version is more relevant if you want to know more about American cars.   We also like the US version of Wipeout better.  Regarding Wipeout, I think that the US hosts do better together as a team (there is only one host in the UK version). Also, you can't forget about the closing line in American Wipeout (forgive me if you have not heard it!)  "Goodnight and Big Balls!"

A Tale of 5 Christmas cakes and no cookies.....

I had not planned on spending Christmas in the UK.  Before we moved to the UK, we had made reservations to spend the week before Christmas at Disney and Christmas and the week after in the Florida keys which we canceled for obvious reasons.  I told Super Handsome I wanted to spend Christmas in Spain.  Sadly, that did not happen either....

So, now we were going to be in the UK and I had a bit of a tantrum.  I really wanted to go to Spain!  So, I started looking in the grocery stores to figure out what I was going to make and what I was going to cook.  I looked at the gammon (pork) joints and I was very confused at what I needed to buy, how was I going to cook them and what if they tasted wrong?  I could not find the lovely spiral sliced hams that we usually bought in the US for sure!  So, in a fit I ordered our gammon (ham) from Marks & Spencer (M&S) (one of my favorite stores, think Kohl's with food, expensive, designer food!)   I also ordered some food for Christmas Eve and two lovely desserts.  When Super Handsome saw the cost, he was not happy, well, neither was I, and I certainly was not going to COOK!  At least not much....  :)

I was still able to get out of making cookies this year.  I have decided that I really may have a secret hate for making cookies.  In my defense for skipping the cookies, I did not have a mixer.  Who wants to make 12 dozen cookies and mix them all by hand.  Is your hand raised?  Neither is mine.  I also had in my favor that the British make cakes or puddings around the holidays.  At the present moment I have 5 cakes, ready to eat, in my house.  I am not joking!  I have two Italian cakes, one Christmas cake, one Christmas pudding (cake) and a Yule Log!  We also have some profiteroles (like eclairs) that are sitting on some absolutely tasty chocolate mousse.  So, I skipped baking the cookies!  (Wouldn't you?)

A quick story about the Yule Log.  Kids 3 is taking French and his French teacher apparently highly recommended to the children that if they went to Paris during Christmas, they should have one.  At one point it was up for discussion about going since the trip to Spain was off.  So, when I was picking out desserts from M&S, I couldn't resist getting it!

On Christmas Eve, we usually gather with my family and have appetizers with soup to eat.  Well, the appetizers are not really the same here and I can't find all the ingredients that I have in the US.  We made do with the local cheeses and spread on biscuits for cheese (crackers).  I found some very delicious cheese with brown mustard, it was awesome with pretzels.  We also found some smokey spreadable cheese and herb cheese.  I bought some additional things from Marks and Spencer.  We got prawns with dip (we had to make our own version of cocktail sauce with creamy horseradish sauce).  I also purchased sausage and stuffing balls, bacon rolls, party sausages, pigs in a blanket (bacon wrapped sausages) and sausage and stuffing balls wrapped in bacon.  Most of the items that I picked up from Marks & Spencer I had to cook, there were a couple of exceptions.  Super Handsome and  I also picked up some bread from a local bread maker on Saturday (market day) in Bishop's Stortford.  We ate it with olive oil and pepper.  It was a decent feast, but the kids did not like everything.  We ended the day with a quick chat with Super Handsome's family.  We missed my family when we tried to ring them.  The kids headed to bed without dessert, they were anxious for Christmas morning!

On Christmas we woke up and had a typical day for us.  The kids opened presents, Super Handsome made breakfast and we just took it easy.  For dinner I made baked beans, gammon from Marks and Spencer, brussels sprouts and we had more bread from market day.  The gammon was good, it did not smell the same as it was cooking, but it was tasty and more salty.  Super Handsome had to actually cut it (gasp).  Just kidding, he did great.  We have plenty left.  I choose the gammon with a bone in it so that Super Handsome can make our traditional New Year's Day bean soup.  For those of you who know Super Handsome's hate of green veggies, you would be proud.  I even got him to eat a Brussel sprout.  I told him if he wanted me to play card games after dinner he had to eat one!  So, guess who played cards Christmas day?  This girl!

We ended our night playing 7Up.  I stopped playing when the Downton Abby christmas special came on.  Dessert were the profiteroles!  Yum!  And we still have 5 Christmas cakes to eat....

My Birthday--my time to whine.

Well, my birthday was the second birthday that we celebrated.  My day, while was not craptacular, sadly, it was not one of those days that I would rate in my top 10 either.  Honestly, my birthday is not really a happy time for me and I can't remember many that were.  Having a birthday that is close to Christmas is never any fun for obvious reasons.  Who wants their two major holidays to open presents from loved ones to be 10 days apart????  And if you are blessed (or cursed) to have them so close together, who wants gifts that serve as both holidays from your family?  I have had those gifts too often and it tends to be a double edged sword, one that I tend to dislike more then I like honestly.  Sure you can get a bigger gift sometimes, but is it worth not getting a gift for Christmas?

Before my birthday, Super husband told me to go and buy what I wanted because he would not have the time to go and do any shopping for me.  Not only does he not have the time since he generally works until 9pm at night, he also does not have access to the debit card.  We basically only use our debit card for all of our purchases since all of our American credit cards change us a fee.  He has cash generally, but not enough to really buy much.  As my birthday approached he managed to complain to me that I was sure buying myself lots of things, to which I replied I thought that was what he wanted me to do since he did not have the time!

I went to dinner on the 14th with some of the other mom's in Cian's year.  He had intended to the store to buy a cake, but I have not even seen a regular lemon cake mix in the stores.  In the UK, they must make most of their cakes from scratch.  We can buy some cake mixes, Betty Crocker is available, but it is pretty costly.  I told him that I would prefer to try and find cupcakes in a bakery that I had seen in Bishop's Stortford.

The night of the 14th the kids had a disturbing revelation as well.  When they asked Super Handsome what they were giving me for my birthday, he said nothing!  They were apparently alarmed because he always had something for them to give me for my birthday!  He was a bit incensed at them because as he pointed out to them, when did he have the time to do any shopping for me....

This year, my birthday was just not destined to be a good one.  I got on the road at 9am to pick up my mother in law at the airport.  I drove to Heathrow to pick up her up.  We had discussed having her take a train to us, but with her being on the plane all night we thought it was best that I picked her up.  I listened to the traffic all morning and sadly confused where the day's traffic snaffu's location.  I thought that it was not located where I was going, unfortunately it was, and my trip to the airport was lengthened by a good 45 mins.  So, overall I probably spent over 3 hours in the car.

Thankfully, she was on time, though worried about where to meet me. Luckily, I saw her quickly and we left the airport in a record amount of time.

We stopped on our way home for a quick bit of shopping and to get some gas for the car.  We stopped to try and get the cupcakes and found no success, sadly.  We made it home in the twilight, which here is early since the sunset at 3:50.  The boys were thrilled to see her and Super Handsome even made it home earlier then normal.

For dinner we went to the a pub just down the road, The Lion and the Lamb.  It was a really nice pub and we found that the owners lived very near us.  It was an overall nice experience and the food was tasty.  I think that we will make it back again soon.

We came home to no real birthday dessert.  Super Handsome decided that since we had frozen eclairs, that we had to have them, I would have been fine to skip them and in fact I was so full from dinner that I did!

I guess that it is good that I have low expectations for my birthday, and really overall, this was definitely not the worst one that I have can remember.  I do enjoy protracted celebrations.  We went for drinks with my friend Mrs Innuendo and her husband Saturday evening.  The kids also picked out a few things from them when we went shopping on Friday afternoon.  Kids 3 in particular was very sweet about finding something that I would like.  My MIL bought me two cute sweater dresses on my birthday when we did our little shopping expedition and she found me the cutest pair of earring when she was in Paris!  We were also lucky enough to find a cupcake shop while we were in Windsor on Saturday.  We got caught in a traffic jam on the way home because of a horrible accident and just enjoyed them in the car!

All in all, a birthday is just the marker of my time on this earth.  I am just happy that I have another year to spend with everyone.  My highlights were there though.  My phone call from my Mom and Dad (Mark), my birthday wishes from my kids and husband, my homemade card from my youngest and a sweet and thoughtful gift from my BFF in the UK, Mrs Innuendo, and all my wishes from Facebook and I was honored in a mention in my sisters status, it does make a nice little party in your email.  Cheers.

Windsor Castle with Dumb and Dumber

I have been very bad at updating my blog lately, sorry (or so'y as the English would say).   A lot has happened.  I celebrated a birthday and my mother in law arrived from the US.  More about that later.....

With my mother in law visiting we decided to head down to Windsor to visit Windsor Castle, the place where the royal family spends their weekends.

We arrived in Windsor easily enough.  Finding the castle proved to be another issue.  Super Handsome drove around and I tried to help him.  First, we tried the GPS, our first attempt landed us down in Windsor in sight of the castle and frustrated.  So, the second attempt with the GPS took us to a a nice little pub called the Windsor Castle.

Super Handsome gave up on the GPS and started driving around.  We could see it and were determined to go!  So, we started following following the little signs and FINALLY pulled into a car park and walked.  He parked very close.  The castle is right near the shopping district of Windsor.

It was right around lunch time, so we grabbed a bite to eat before we went through the castle.  The tour was suppose to be around 3 hours.  Super Handsome and the boys grabbed McDonalds.  My mother law and I split a little panini and we each got a pastry from a little patisserie.

After lunch we headed up to the castle and purchased our tickets.  Since it is the Royal Families residence, we were required to go through security.  It required our pockets to be emptied and our bags to be x-rayed.  As we got into the line, Oldest Son told me that he had his pocket knife (dumb).  What?  Super Handsome asked Oldest Son why would he ever bring his knife to what Son 2 replied rather loudly "To stab people with!" (Dumber) So, I took it intending to send it through the x-ray in my purse.  As the other kids emptied their pockets, we figured out that they had dragged all their DS's with them, instead of leaving them in the car.  Super Handsome and I were divided with these two incidents going on and not happy.  Super Handsome was stuck with lecturing the other kids and as Oldest Son emptied his pockets, I decided to stick the knife in his tray.  I showed it to the security person.  They asked to examine it, asked a few questions and then gave it back to me and asked me to keep it in my purse and send it though the x-ray.  After I went though, I was asked for the knife again and this time they told me that they had to confiscate it as it is a locking blade and they are illegal in the UK.  I had to sign a release form and Oldest Son's blade is now on it's way to the police station to be destroyed.

We went on to start our tour.  Oldest Son was so angry and upset he declined the audio tour and sulked his way through the castle.  The rest of us had a great time.  Youngest Son's has a special audio tour just for them and they were given a scavenger hunt.  They were provided clues and they had to find presents in the different rooms that we went though!  They had a great time and at one point, Kid 3 had forgotten to mark off one present so we waited while they went back to confirm what room it was.

We started off the tour as we walked up to the castle.  We heard about the castle's defenses, the dry moat, and why the castle was built where it was on the hill side to afford a view from all around for easier defense and early detection of enemies.  The view of the country side was fantastic!  We also found out that since the flag was flying, HRH Queen Elizabeth II was there!

Once we got into the castle we could not take any pictures and we were very disappointed.  We saw so many fantastic things!  We started with Queen Mary's doll house, and then moved through the state rooms.  We saw many of the royal treasures that had been won as they conquered territories.  We also saw the part of the castle that had been destroyed in the fire of 1992, it had been restored beautifully!

We ended our tour at St. George's Cathedral where we saw where queens' parents and here sister were buried.  As we left the cathedral we found out that Liam had dropped his DS somewhere.  Super Handsome took him back to find it.  We then grabbed some cupcakes to celebrate my birthday and ran to the car park because our time on the pay ticket was up. (paying to park stinks!)

So, we left the castle with out meeting the queen and with out going to jail (thanks Oldest Two Sons, but thanks to my Dumb and Dumber kids, I am probably on some list of the government's somewhere....

Why the English wear robes or smoking jackets and slippers...

Oak Lodge is an old house, no denying it.  But it has been updated and added onto.  The current owners have done a lot in the 30+ years that they owned it.  One thing that they did not do was add forced air heating, I am not even sure that they had the option.  The way that our home is heated is considered central heating, even though is it is done with radiators.  They have a boiler that heats that radiators.  The boiler is usually powered by heating oil as is the case in the case of Oak Lodge.

Oak Lodge also still has the old single pane windows.  So, the one thing that we notice is the condensation that builds on some of the windows.  Our bedroom and the kitchen seems the worst.  On warmer days I will open the windows a bit to try and let the wetter air escape.  We also wipe the windows down to prevent the moisture from ruining the wood on the window sills.  Wiping them down was recommended to us by the letting company as well to prevent mold growth.  Ick.

In our home, the heat kicks on in the morning at half 6, I can hear the water bubbling up into the radiators and it usually wakes me.  Then, it kicks off at 9am and stay off during the day.  When we get up at 7am, even though the radiators have been on, it is still cold enough after I put on my fleece pants, sweatshirt and warm socks (note I am getting sheepskin slippers ASAP!).  I pull on my fleece robe as well.  I have been telling the boys to do the same.  My Younger Two usually come down first and they have taken to wearing their robes (thanks Nana!) because they are cold.  The boys often start off their days with hot chocolate for breakfast.

The nice thing about the weather in the UK, so far is that we have not seen large temperature changes from day to night.  Often there is usually a less then 10 degree change in temperature from day to night for example we have had a high of 47 with a low of 44, all in Fahrenheit (remember though we use Celsius in the UK).  Even though there is not a great difference in temperature, the house does cool down, especially when the heat is not on through the day.  When the sun is out the days are quite pleasant, but when it goes down, it cools off fast and the temperature difference is very noticeable, especially if the wind picks up.  Super Handsome and I both have been told that this nice weather is not usual and that the last couple of years they have had snow on the ground at this time.

It is strange because the weather can be quite balmy and almost warm during the days, which is unusual for this time of year.  My friend mentioned that she still feels like it is October and she needs to get herself into the Christmas mood.  Where I live in the UK is currently one of the drier parts of the island.   They were announcing on the radio that we are in a "drought" and that the officials need to start taking precautions and planning for next summer when the Olympics come to the UK.

This weather has made it hard to get into the Christmas mood, and I don't envy my friends and family back home with the cold and snow (and rain) that they have been getting.   I am glad for the warmer weather that we have and I am not looking forward to the cold when it does start to arrive.  Hopefully though, by that time I will be prepared with my soft, warm robe, fleece pajamas and sheepskin and sheep sheering lined (from the UK) slippers.  Along with some more beautiful cashmere sweaters!

Of course this morning was one of the coldest mornings yet.  We were at 0 degrees Celsius.  It was chilly running and I have now determined that I need the warmer fleece gloves when I run.  It seems that the cold snap may have begun, despite the sun shine outside.