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Tropical Depression: TD/GMT/2
From my room I can see the dental hospital and what I can only assume is the Welsh version of the Elk’s Club. Most of the time it’s dark and shuttered but every so often on my walk home in the 4 PM darkness the paned windows will be streaming with light and there will be men in suits ushering in guests like they’re old friends. Maybe they are. Audio-wise there is only the hum of conversations. I sometimes linger by the recycling bins and listen.
There is always a pretty flag, well lit.
I think more or less I live in kind of a combination of mid-town and the Upper East Side: posh markets with handmade pastas and artisan cheeses and little twinkly lights getting strung up for Christmas, a park that has goats and sheep instead of a lawnmower (sadly, adults are not allowed in without a child).
A few blocks in another direction and it’s massage parlors and a wig maker and a bondage gear wholesaler.
The weather is fine. Watching the sunset so early is a little hard to get used to. Traveling around a bit (Wales, East Anglia, New Forest) has been fun. I haven’t written about my trips here because they are all course-work related and I am already required to analyze them in great detail for my classes. Go look at the pictures.
I think my favorite traditional English meal is the All Day Breakfast. Eggs, potatoes, sausages, bacon, toast, grilled tomatoes and/or mushrooms and baked beans. When well prepared it is close to the perfect meal; when poorly rendered it is slop.
Food Things I have Not Yet Figured Out
Pudding. It seems to be a catch-all phrase identifying any dessert but I’m not sure. Also, it appears that dessert MUST be served warm and topped with sauce, or “custard”.
Crisps. (potato chips) they come in a ridiculous variety of flavors. Steak and Onion? Lamb and Mint? Chicken Vindaloo? What the hell?
Things I have become addicted to: Skype, Cambozola cheese, Belvoir Fruit Farms lemonade, Dorset Cereals chunky slices, the pret.
I will miss Thanksgiving this year; it is my favorite holiday. I hope to live vicariously through you.
