2005-08-30: Sunburnt ?!?

Today it was 27 over here. I beginning to wish I had brought more hot weather gear. I'm sure in a month I won't regret a single bit of warm clothing that I brought, but for now all I want is a good range of t-shirts.

Country cooking at its best

Blackberry picking

Yesterday was a bank holiday, which is a lot like a public holiday. Edyta and I planned on going to Cricklade for a country fair after we took the bus route to her work to find out where it is. It isn't hard to get to and we did find a potentially closer bus route than the one we were told (something that may be appreciated once winter cold kicks in). From there we went out to Cricklade. Luckily we found a bus that was running, as I think it would have been a 4 hour walk there. The bus driver was a bit crazed, but then he is English.

We found the fair with the assistance of a local old lady, who set a walking pace that I was having trouble keeping up with. She was still a horse rider at 60+ but did admit that the horses were getting a little smaller. We were also informed one of her dogs would probably make a mess in the kitchen before she got home but hopefully it was only a wee. The fair had an unexpected ?3 entry but we reasoned that Edyta will have work soon. The fair wasn't much. It was a gymkhana and dog show with some extra country displays (which included remote control cars racing around a mowed circuit in the grass). The thing I found most exciting was the falconing display where I hoped to get to stick my hand into the glove but didn't get the chance. Edyta enjoyed the stalls of second-hand things to look through. There was a display of trained dogs, but they still looked like a bit of an unruly pack. We left to catch an earlier bus back to Swindon, driven by the same mad bus driver.

By the end of the day Edyta and I were slightly burnt. I'm still feeling it now.

Town Garden

Free air concert

The day before we had spent lounging around mostly. We finally found Town Park. We had looked before at North and South Park but this time Marie brought out a map for us to look at. The park is up in the Old Town and the entrance is via old roads walled in by stone walls. You then step into a thick forest of large trees crowding over narrow paths beyond an ornate iron gate. And then you are in the land of squirrels. For they run the park, they are the lords of the forest floor, no nut is safe from their bounding scampering. The park wandered through these darkened paths before opening up into open green plains with islands of flowers and an aviary (stocked with budgies, they love those birds over here).

Today was just a functional day. More work hunting for me and Edyta made appointments to get her national insurance number and bank account. I get to prepare for Thursday move all by myself. I've planned the job and should be able to do it with four short, harrowing trips up hills and step, but at least not through any subways.

I've been enjoying all that British TV has to offer lately. There has been National Lampoons Vacation and then National Lampoons European Vacation (where I can confirm the rooms are as small as betrayed but the BBC does have more than just cheese on TV). Last night I managed to catch the end of the Dungeons & Dragons movie. All quality TV. They do have this funky Citro?n ad where the car transforms into a robot (think Jazz from the transformers) and then dances around.