Early To Bed
I don’t really know why exactly, but everyone here seems to go to bed so early compared to in the UK. Or maybe they don’t actually go to bed that early, but they certainly claim that reason for wanting to leave any social outing early.
We went out to dinner one evening last week with some people from Gordon’s office. The plan as we knew it was to meet from 6pm in the venue, which is a bar/restaurant. We got there around 6.30, and the others were already at the table looking at menus. They hadn’t actually ordered their food, but were ready to do so. So we had to explain that when we go out for that sort of evening in England, everyone turns up when they can, has a few drinks, and then all go to eat a couple of hours later, when everyone is ready. We were leaving there by 9pm, as we had all finished eating.
I joined a book club. I am not sure I am really a book club person, as I can’t imagine myself sitting with a group of people and talking in depth just about a book. But figured it was worth a try as a way of meeting people, and Gordon reckoned that probably only a small fraction of time is spent discussing the book, while the rest of the time is just chatting, eating and drinking. So I went, with Hazel who already belonged to the club. It turns out book clubs are a huge thing here, as everyone at the meeting mentioned other book clubs that their friends and family are members of. People in the club take turns to host, and provide all food and drink. The whole time was spent talking about books, both the one they had just read, and future ones they plan to read. But Hazel assures me that it was more serious than usual, possibly because there were both myself and another new person on board. So I will persevere for now at least. But again we were finished early. It started at 6pm, there was no alcohol at all, just water or iced tea. I decided to try the iced tea, and it was pretty foul. I said (not to the hostess of course) that if that was in England, we would have thrown it out and brewed a fresh pot! It tasted like tea gone stewed and cold. But they all seem to love it, so maybe I should get a teapot and sell my cold stewed tea! And then, at 8.55pm sure enough one person stood up and said she had to leave as she had an early start the next day, and immediately everyone stood up and said they should be leaving also. I was actually glad as I could not join in the discussion at all as I hadn’t actually read the book due to a shortage in the local library, and an online order that did not arrive in time. So another early night.
I can understand going to bed early when you have an early start the next day, and quite a lot of people here do seem to start their day early, but surely if you have an evening out then you can make an exception.
First Family visit
My Mum and sister are arriving next Wednesday for a week! Can’t wait. Although, it does mean that I will be running around like a blue arsed fly for the couple of days before they arrive. I have already done a load of cooking and put it all in the freezer, and been sorting out stuff and finding a home for some things that we had still not put away from the delivery of our UK shipment. But still need to completely clean the place, change the bedding, re-arrange the whole place several times, you know the drill. Just want it to look good as it is their first time of visiting, and they want to know that we are living in a nice place. No more time to type, must get back to the mop and bucket!
Formula What?
We spent this past weekend at Indianapolis for the US Grand Prix. We drove most of the way there Saturday morning, to arrive at our hotel in Lafayette around lunchtime. We spent the afternoon shopping, swimming and using the sauna. There was a large group of Germans at the hotel who were also in town for the race (Schumacher fans). Sunday morning was an early start, getting to the buffet breakfast at 7am so we could get on the road for the hour’s journey to the racetrack for the big event. The Germans were only just arriving at breakfast as we were leaving, but of course they had probably already been to the track to put their towels out on their seats!
Having got there and found our seats, we settled down to watch a couple of smaller races before the main event, and were chatting to a couple of guys behind us who also had travelled down from Chicagoland and were very knowledgeable on racing.
Then there was a lap of vintage cars with the Formula One drivers sitting in the back, waving to the cheering crowd, then a parade lap of all the cars, in their starting grid order. What was supposed to happen then was that they would all get back to the start grid from the parade lap, get in position and start the race. But what actually happened was only 6 cars took their positions, and all the remaining 14 pulled over into the pits and then into their garages. With all the noise of the car engines and crowd, no-one could hear the PA system so had no idea what was going on. The race actually started with only those 6 cars, and a couple of laps had gone by before the news finally filtered through to everyone in the audience as to what was going on. Apparently the cars racing were using Bridgestone tyres, whilst the cars that had pulled out were all using Michelin tyres, and Michelin had failed to fit the appropriate tyre for the track conditions. The Michelin teams had asked for special arrangements to be made to accommodate their mistake, but what they were asking was outside the rules, and would have been unfair to the Bridgestone teams, so the arrangements were not agreed to. So the Michelin teams decided to throw their toys out of the pram and just pull out altogether, but only after taking part in the parade lap, so giving the impression to everyone that all was well, thus showing absolutely no respect for their fans, some of whom had travelled much farther than us.
There was almost a riot at the beginning, with everyone booing to the cameras, and apparently throwing things onto the track, which is just plain stupid. Many people got up and left, shouting that we should all vote with our feet. But we had travelled a long way to go there, and didn’t want to leave after so short a time. So we watched a few laps, then wandered around the infield, and went to the onsite museum, which had a very interesting video about the history of the track. We came out of there in time to see the last few laps. The commentators were appealing for calm over the PA system as it came time to leave, but by then there was only a small fraction still there anyway. At least it made it easier to get out of the car parks for the journey home!
So not a good first experience of the Grand Prix for us, but I don’t think it will deter us from going again.
Anyone for Golf?
I am now a golf player, not just a learner. As mentioned before, I have been taking lessons here. Well, last weekend on Sunday Gordon suggested we try to play a round in late afternoon as it should be fairly quiet at that time so I would not be holding too many players up and starting a new phenomenon of golf rage! Hazel joined us, which was great as she hasn’t played for more than a year, so is actually about at my level right now, until she finds her golfing feet again. We had a great afternoon, and I was not too bad, a few good shots, plenty of bad ones, but only lost 1 ball!
So, now I had a taste for it, I had to get some more. So Gordon and I have played again 2 evenings this week after work, and we actually got to finish all 18 holes, for the first time on Friday, as the previous times we had to call it off due to fading light. I had a score of 148, so plenty of room for improvement!
Today we played again, so now have a total of 4 games under my belt. Today’s game was with several others from Hewitt, so there were 8 of us altogether. We played Best Ball, or Texas Scramble as it is also called. Hazel joined us again and her and I had a good laugh as we drove around in the golf buggy chatting away, occasionally interrupting the gossip to hit a ball! Driving the buggy is almost the best part of the game, I wonder if we could get one at home?
Another golfing mention for this entry – we went to see the Nationwide Tournament yesterday which was being played locally, at Glenview golf club. Spent about 4 hours watching the play, which was very good, and it is helpful for my game, but eventually it got to the point where we could stand the searing heat and humidity of the day no longer, so we came home to seek refuge in the pool. Bliss!
So I have possibly over-dosed on golf in the past week!
Pool, Party (but not all at the same time)
We had our house-warming party last Saturday. The plan was to video tape the Epsom Derby horse-race, as that is our home-town, and have a bit of a theme, showing the race, having a sweepstake for it, and having some typically English fare. But we had to abandon the Derby idea as we could not find it on any of the 100 something TV channels that we have, or on any internet site. But we did manage to find a shop selling Pimms, so served up several jugs of that, (most of the attendees had never heard of it, and not many of them liked it either. All the more for us!), and strawberries and cream. And we also played croquet out on the front lawn. So, overall, a great day. And, as always with these things, there was plenty of food left, which we are still eating!
The swimming pool that they have been building since we moved in here, and that should have been opened for Memorial Day weekend (28th May) was opened yesterday. And it is GREAT! It has been really hot here for the last week or so, and we really need it now. They have got several loungers on the patio round the side, and a few tables with parasols. So I am planning on going there this afternoon to sit and write some letters in the shade, and take a dip whenever it gets too much. Can you think of a better way to spend an afternoon?
Fill her up
I was using the truck the other day on my own, and realised the petrol was very low, below the red. I started to worry that it would not last the journey, and also I had not filled her up so far, so was not sure what to do in this country. I luckily found a petrol station, and pulled up at a pump. I knew only that I should use the cheapest version of unleaded.
However there were 3 different fuels at each pump, and it wasn’t obvious which one I should use, so I asked the man at the next pump who was filling up his truck. He seemed to think the green one was right, and said I should put my credit card in the pump before doing anything. This is new to me, as in the UK you always fill up and then go inside to pay. So I put the card in and after 3 times of it being rejected the man suggested I go inside to ask for help. But I don’t speak Spanish, so had some trouble with that.
The guy inside had already seen me struggling, and confirmed with me that I was driving the red truck, then swiped my card and told me to fill up and go back to him afterwards. I tried to double-check with him that it was the green nozzle that I needed, but he just panicked because he thought I was driving a red truck but now I was talking about something green. So I reassured him that red was OK, and went back out to fend for myself. The other very helpful man was still there which was handy as I needed him to show me how to lock the nozzle into the truck. I can only imagine what he must have been thinking. Finally the whole ordeal was over and I was able to continue on my merry way.
Needless to say I was cursing Gordon the whole time for leaving me with no petrol!
