That’s right Toto, we’re not in Massachusetts anymore!

It does seem like the US is worlds away now.  And at the same time it’s hard to believe we have been here for almost 6 weeks.  That is long enough to know you are no longer on vacation!

Eddie has had a chance to reacquaint himself with his former barber and they did a great job on his hair and those skinny sideburns are just the thing!  They do beard trimming too so his goatee is ‘looking good’.  While Linda was very nervous picking a new hair salon, seeing we couldn’t bring Marianne over here once every 5 weeks, Francesco’s was a great choice. Linda had two young ladies taking care of me…the 2 Katie’s (well one Katie and one Katy), one did the color and one did the cutting! They did a great job, Linda’s a happy camper and Eddie likes it as well!

 It was a couple of weeks ago when we had a really nice night out with a couple of our friends Chris Davies and Dave Burt. Dave’s a big fan of the American Civil War.  It was fun getting caught up, talking football and politics from both sides of the Atlantic, etc.  One of the places we went is called DV8, a really nice evening spot with a great outside patio with huge patio umbrellas with heaters in them so no one was cold sitting outside, especially the young ladies about with very short skirts!

Maybe we weren’t paying attention back home, but we have to say we’re absolutely dumb struck by the number of babies being strolled around, or pushed in their “push chairs” as the natives are fond of saying! Maybe there has been a baby boom over here, they are everywhere!!!! The TV mustn’t have been good in the last couple of years or maybe they can’t afford a pint down the local (where’ve we heard that phrase?!)  We know what you are thinking with the “baby boom”… even if it was catchy…Linda’s immune to that virus!

We have been experiencing Indian summer weather for the last week or so, beautiful summer like sunshine and warm breezes coming at us from Spain and Portugal.  Not to worry though as the forecast is set to change in the next couple of days and we will be back to crisp autumnal air with the breezes to match. 

The beautiul flower gardens at Congleton Park

You may remember from our last epistle, we have become rather fond of the pub. This has not become just a passing fancy. Let us assure you of that! So far, we’ve been to The Robin Hood, The Railway Inn, The Moss Inn, The Castle Inn (which wins an Eddie for the best Steak and Ale Pie!), Fools’ Nook, The Bulls’ Head, Maskery’s, The Church House (where we had a lovely evening with Eddie’s Uncle Ellis), The Egerton Arms (which is situated across the road from St. Mary’s Church Astbury) and most recently Stock Restaurant, which can be found in the delightful surroundings of Congleton Park.  

Salad was worth the wait don't you think?

We also visited a lovely country pub called The Brownlow. The Brownlow served Linda the best summer salad – in order to gauge how beautiful it was presented, take a look at the picture and see for yourself!

Linda sipping a shandy and waiting for her salad.

Looking down on Buxton.

Road signage is different here!

 We took a drive the other day out to a town called Buxton in the county of Derbyshire.  Now that means we drove through the Peak District.  It’s farm country with lots of sheep and cows about and hills as far as you can see…it’s up, then down, then hairpin turns, really tight corners, then back up again before going straight down again.  With all that the speed limit was 50, OMG, no way!  You’d have to be out of your freakin’ mind to go that fast on those roads (no breakdown lanes over here!).  It was a truly beautiful drive through God’s country; Linda’s never seen anything like it before, the landscape was so dramatic. We plan to take another trip out that way and get to Johnny Allen’s home town of Tideswell.

There are some really great shopping areas in the towns surrounding Congleton.  There’s Handforth Dean with a really big Marks and Spencers (more Steiger’s than Macy’s) with an incredible food section!  Then there’s Freeport at Talke Pits with designer outlet stores!!! Now that was fun!  En route to Freeport, you go through this little town, which is just over the border of Cheshire into Staffordshire . . . this is no joke, it really is called this! Bloody hilarious!

Only in England!

Seems like where ever we go there are great charity shops sponsored by the likes of the Heart Foundation, Cancer support groups, or Oxfam.  Now if you go into the ones in the very well to do towns like Wilmslow or Alderley Edge you know you will find some fabulous buys! We’ve decided we’re not proud and will gladly wear expensive hand me downs! I wonder if Mrs. Beckham ever left any goodies behind for them to sell!!!

Linda is still getting used to VAT (Value Added Tax), otherwise known as sales tax, which is included in the price of items you buy – not added on at check-out time.  Oh and you don’t tip in restaurants unless you have a very large group.

There is a great cinema complex in Stoke that is part of an area called Festival Park.  We’ve been there on previous trips – so we stopped in again and saw a film…”Crazy Stupid Love”  which just came out over here. If you get a chance to, go and see it or rent it as it really is a good story about family relationships in crisis, the humor of it all!  Back in 2004 we saw the remake of “Alfie” at The Odeon in Festival Park, so it was nice to have a trip down memory lane.  We’ve taken in another Congleton Town football game – they won and you can find out all about it on Eddie's Blog www.motdusaway.blogspot.com

We are usually up and going when the local children are ready to set off to school.  It’s really lovely to see them, all age groups, going off in their uniforms (ties, blazers, trousers, little dresses).  The little ones are all walked to school by their mums and dads with younger siblings in tow or in strollers/push chairs, and the family dog as well.  They start school at a later time and of course end much later than in the states.

Radio here in England is so very different from anything in the US.  Yes, there are lots of FM stations with routine presenters etc.  But, there are so many special broadcasts such as old comedy shows, Dessert Island Discs (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs), music dedicated to a particular year and all the current events of that year.  Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones has a music show once a week and often has a guest artist.  And of course lots of talk radio, but a lot of it is other than political. Now having said that, a lot of it is available only via DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) so we bought a radio that can receive those shows…no package to purchase, just tune them in!  And talking of radio, we can hear American Football on Sunday evening…say yes to the NFL!!! Unfortunately it’s not always the Patriots that they broadcast. Eddie talks about this more in his music blog www.thelateenglishbreakfast.blogspot.com   

We’ve not watched much TV since we’ve been here, a look at the news in the morning and maybe a football game if it’s on the BBC or commercial TV known as ITV.  But, Auntie Dorothy likes travel shows and, get this, Billy Connolly, the comedian has done a new one on RT 66 in the USA.  So we are cordially invited (!) to join her to watch it once a week.  It’s been very good!

Would you hire this man?!

Amid all the fun and frivolity, Eddie’s job search is moving along wonderfully.  He has been doing phone interviews that have led to face-to-face interviews.  He is actually at one as this is being written.   So far he has been offered two positions but unfortunately neither overall package has met our needs.  The two he is doing this week are much better and we are hopeful that one of those might work out.  One is in a town called Cheadle (a bit south of Manchester) working for the Automobile Association and the other is actually just down the road from Manchester Airport with Virgin Media.  He is also waiting to hear about the next step in his application with Esure Insurance which is in Manchester.  So it looks like we may be looking to live north of here – closer to Manchester so Eddie’s commute is a short one.  Things are moving along and we are, as Eddie would say “guardedly optimistic”.

We have both experienced moments of homesickness for the USA. We miss our lovely home in Hatfield, our wonderful friends who we love dearly and of course the legendary “Hatfield Three” – Jerry, Daisy and Rooney.  We are looking forward to our friends back home in the States keeping in touch with us via Facebook and email.  We look at the Daily Hampshire Gazette online every day at Costa Coffee so we get a little taste of what is going on in the Valley.

You may not be aware of this, but we often read to each other before we say “night night”! No books for dummies here let us tell you that! We’re close to completing Keith Richards’ acclaimed autobiography and will soon be moving onto another living legend, Betty White. Should be fun!!

Next week we are joining Eddie’s Mum visiting the famous seaside resort of Blackpool, noted for fresh air and fun, to see the equally famous Blackpool Illuminations, which decorate the sea front. Stay tuned for pictures and a blow by blow account (!) on our next not to be missed chapter of our blog!

So, until next time…Serenity Now!

Eddie and Linda