Family Visit
Well, I am FINALLY getting around to writing about my family's visit. Only 3 weeks late! The reason is that I did not know how to get the photos of their visit onto the blog so put it off until I had learned. So here it is....
Mum and Madeleine seemed to enjoy their visit, and we certainly enjoyed seeing them. They actually arrived a day late as they had a nightmare journey. They were due to change flights at Newark, but their initial flight out of Heathrow was delayed, so they missed their connection, but their luggage got on the plane out of Newark without them and flew to O’Hare alone. Surely that is against all sorts of security rules?!?! They then were booked onto a later flight to Midway, which is a smaller Chicago airport, and I was just working out my route to meet them there, when they called to say that all flights out of Newark coming in this direction were cancelled due to storms, so they had to spend the night there. Luckily the airline put them up at a hotel, but of course they had no luggage. So they eventually flew in, to O’Hare, the next day (Thursday), 21 hours later than planned.
But we made the most of the time we had, we swam in the pool, went shopping, went to the beach at the Lake, took 2 day trips into Chicago, and saw a parade. It was the 4th July weekend, so there was plenty going on.
There was the ‘Taste of Chicago’ going on while they were here, which is an annual festival of food in it’s 25th year, where there are tons of stalls set up by the city's restaurants, selling a huge variety of food. The most unusual thing this year was Alligator Pizza, which tastes just like sausage actually. So we went to the city Friday, and went to the Taste, Millennium Park, Navy Pier, on a speedboat trip, and walked by the Lake. And we went in again Sunday with Gordon this time, again to the Taste, and intended to go off sightseeing and then go back to the park later to see the 4th July concert and fireworks which was all due to start at 7.30pm, but we noticed that by 2pm there were already dozens of people staking out their places in the park. We got talking to one couple who had laid out their blankets and chairs, and they said that by around 5pm it would be packed and we would be lucky to get a space. They then very kindly offered to save us a space as well, so we laid our blanket next to theirs. We went off to paddle in the fountain of Millennium Park, and have some food, and got back in time to see the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra concert, and the fireworks done to music over the lake. Was an excellent night. And, I have to say, everyone had warned us that it would be sooo busy and a nightmare to move around due to the Taste and the fireworks, but for us it was just like a normal Saturday afternoon on Oxford Street! It was crowded, but only what we would expect anytime in London.
On Monday, which was the actual 4th July, we went to the local Vernon Hills parade, which was excellent. I have put several photos of the parade in here, and my favourite 'act' was definitely the Lawnchair Dads - very funny. We had planned to spend the rest of the day by the pool, and then go to the Vernon Hills fireworks in the evening with a picnic, but there were some storms and lots of rain, so we ended up staying in playing games, and eating at a local bar in the evening instead.
See
here for the photos of the weekend. Just keep clicking 'next', there are 34 of them, but hopefully you won't get bored before the end! This is only a small selection of all the ones we took, so it could be worse.
So, all in all, we really enjoyed our first 4th July.
They flew home on the Tuesday, luckily with no more delays.
Bring on the Rain
I have just realised, it is raining! Without a storm! Just normal rain. It hasn't rained here without there being an accompanying storm for a couple of months or so! The ground really needs it. But the forecast is that it will get warmer again over the next few days, so it will be mid 90s again by the weekend. So this is only a brief respite from the relentless heat and humidity here. Guess I shouldn't complain though, the winter is apparently full of cold and snowy days, so I will probably be longing for the warmth then!
Mould, and other stuff
They seem to be really neurotic about mould over here. It must be a big problem. When we got to the first temporary apartment, there was a notice about it in the welcome pack, and when we signed the lease documents to move here, there was a whole page devoted to it, and what we should do to prevent it.
They want us to always use the extractor fan in the bathroom when showering or bathing, and always use the extractor fan in the kitchen when cooking. And we are not to let water gather on any surface. And if we spot any mould we are to report it immediately so they can do something about it before it spreads. It seems to be a big issue. Not something I have ever had to worry about before.
It has made me quite paranoid, and every time a drop of water gets spilt I mop it up, but to be honest I shouldn’t bother to be so careful, as the management here are pissing us off a bit with their inability to get their asses into gear. We STILL do not have storage in our building, a full 10 weeks after moving in here. The only solution they could offer us was to suggest we rent some space at the storage facility over the road, at a cost 2.5 times the price they would charge here for the same size space. We have done so for the longer term stuff, but we need to at least keep the bikes and golf clubs at hand as we use them on a very regular basis. So the bikes are on the balcony, and the clubs in the hall cupboard. We have started a trend of using the balcony for the bikes. It is in the rules of the lease(of which there are enough for a whole separate blog entry!) that you are only allowed to keep table, chairs and bar-be-que grill out there, and we even got a letter politely reminding us of this a couple of weeks after moving in, but we told them that until they provide us with somewhere else to store them, as promised, they would have to put up with it. So since then, many others have taken up the idea and we now see several balconies with bikes. Then more recently they said they will at least get some bike racks for us so we can actually use the balcony for it’s original purpose of sitting on, but they still have not managed to do even that minor task yet. I have already had a go at the manager for neglecting the existing rent-paying residents and concentrating all her efforts on trying to get the rest of the apartments habitable. Maybe my next move should be to go and camp out in her office til I see some results! I am sure they just love residents like me, but basically I just want to get what was promised when we moved in here.
Londoners prove stronger than their enemies
We were woken at 6.15am by a phone call from Hazel telling us to switch on the TV for the news. That was the first we heard of the bombs in London.
I spent most of the day watching it, reading the BBC news website, and emailing and phoning everyone at home to check they were all OK. Fortunately most people I know both live and work outside of London, so would not normally be there at that time of day. Luckily everyone I know, and everyone they know, seems to be OK, although there were some narrow escapes, with a couple of people getting to the stations involved just 5 or 10 minutes before the bombs went off.
But the people are showing just what makes Britain so Great, with their resolve to carry on with life as normal. We will not let these bullies scare us or dictate our way of life. I, and others of my generation, have grown up with this sort of thing happening, with the IRA making London a regular target. This was by far the worst attack, but it could have been so much worse, when you consider how many people would have been on those tubes and the bus at that time of day, or any time of day for that matter. You often cannot move on the tubes for the number of travellers, so it is quite miraculous that the number of dead has not reached into the hundreds already. Although I am sure it will rise somewhat with some of the injured still not on the safe list.
And this tragedy comes just one day after the celebrations in that same city for winning the opportunity to host the 2012 Olympics. I am very excited about that, and hope to get a few tickets when they come available.
