Heat Wave

Today was sports day at the school-in the midst of another heat wave; which is caused of course by the rising emission of greenhouse gases (global warming is really shoved down your throat here...). It was about 92-92 here today with about 25% humidity. The grass is my garden is now fried to a crisp-I did water a bit yesterday. If it doesn't rain soon-there could be a hosepipe ban. Of course if the culture here allowed for complaints maybe the Victorian water system could be fixed and the water storage facilities wouldn't leak. How can you have a drought with soo much rain?

Anyway-the kids had fun at sports day. With the heat, they cancelled the relay because that would have the kids standing in the direct sun for too long. In between races, the kids sat under canopies while the parents sat in the sun. Griffen took 3rd in the 40m run and 4th in the 2 hoop race. (run pick up a hoop, crawl thru it, run some more). Kaitlyn took 1st in her 40m run, maybe it was 60m. She took 2nd in the egg/spoon race and never dropped her egg (wooden).


Jillian had a ball in the toddler race and was ready for more stating, "I can race like that. I'm big." (In the red shorts)


I took 2nd in the mom egg/spoon race with a bit of cheating. There were too many moms, so we had to race in pairs and my partner had the great idea of me holding the egg on the spoon while she held the spoon. We took a bit of ribbing on that.

The kids got their reports today...all good. Kaitlyn is performing well above what is expected of her and even scored at an 11 year old level for reading and her flute teacher would like to see her join the orchestra next year (a half term ahead of schedule). Griffen is still a bit behind but catching up. The reports here are quite a bit different than the states...you get a little bar graph on performance and effort for speaking & listening, writing, reading, math and science along with quite a bit of commentary from the teacher on each. It also entails just commentary of Information & Communication Tech, Religious Ed., History, Geography, Art, Music, PE and PSHCE (Personal Social Health Citizenship Education). The teacher then lists 3 items for improvement, the headteacher writes a comment and then the child writes their own report. I have to say I am quite impressed and Kaitlyn seems to be thriving in this type of environment. Once Griffen's confidence is boosted, I am sure he will start to excel as well.

Off to pack...see you all soon,

William Westley Day

Today was William Westley Day at the kids' school. It started with them going to church in the village for an end of year service, picnic lunch with parents and then the Summer Fayre in the evening. No that is not a mis-spelling, that is how it is spelled here. The Fayre started with a small parade from the 'old school' to the current school, led by the Gog Magog Molly Dancers.

According to Wikipedia, Molly Dancing is a form of Morris dance and is traditional to this part of England. It came about in the 19th century. Apparently ploughboys got bored between Epiphany and the start of Spring-so they would tour around the village landowners offering to dance for money. If the landowners refused, they were often treated with a furrow ploughed across their lawn. Because the dancers usually asked the same landowners for jobs, they would attempt concealment by blacking their faces with soot and dressing up in black garments with colored scarves. Typically only men did this with one dressing as a woman, the Molly.

The Gog Magog dancers typically wear very colorful attire and face paint. See photo of some of the kids and the dancers. Kaitlyn is in the front, Griffen was on picture strike again.

Frustration

Grr. Sitting here, looking out the window at the rain, wondering if I should take my laundry off the line. At least we are having a break from the heat. I felt like we were living in Florida-temps in the 90's, humid and no AC. Every once in a while a breeze would come along, but houses here are constructed with big open spaces like CA-it is impossible to get a cross breeze in the house. Poor Griffen has a dark roof outside his window, afternoon sun and the water heater next to his room. I ended up turning the water heater off except for a few hours in the morning for showers and washing dishes and in the evening for laundry.

Still waiting for a credit report so that I can get my name added to Jason's account. At this rate we will be back in the US before that happens. For some reason, the credit agency can't match my name with my address. So I had to send them a copy of my passport and scrounge for original bills in my name with our address on it. Lot of good that does to prove I am who I am-most bills (if I have any) say Mrs. Martin. Well Mrs. Martin could be any Mrs. Martin. Luckily Kaitlyn's flute rental is in my name and the County Council Tax bill is in both our names. I called them today as some info was supposed to be sent to me weeks ago. They will re-send today (for the 5th time) and I should have it tomorrow or Saturday. Right.

OK- the slight drizzle is now a nice down poor-time to bring in the clothes.

We are also fighting with the utility company. First of all, the computer system was down so I couldn't pay the bill online for gas, just electricity. I tried to call and do it over the phone (Jason was out of town), but since my name isn't on the bank account they wouldn't let me. They don't take credit cards for payment. I can't sign a check. I ended up signing a check anyway. Lot of good that did me as a week later we got a red notice saying the bill hadn't been paid. The check cleared and we got another notice saying they were going to shut off our gas. This was on a Saturday-so we called the number on top of the letter-the office was closed due to computer problems and agents not being able to access accounts. So on Monday Jason called-they put a hold on our account and said they'd look into the payment. Two days later another letter. So I got on the computer and noticed that our electricity account had a credit-the same amount of our gas bill. MMM. I called the company again and they saw the credit and said they'd look into it, but it could take 2 weeks. Two days later another letter this time threatening legal action, police will come with the gas company and disconnect my line, charge me 10 pounds for each letter they have sent me, 300 pounds to re-connect and I will be required to go on a pre-paid basis for gas. Nice. So I called once again. This guy can't help me because the electricity system has been updated but the gas hasn't been yet and the 2 systems can't talk to each other. But he will take note and I will get these letters (at no charge) until the matter is cleared. Good thing those bills are in Jason's name-who knows what it would do for my ability to get my name on a joint account!

July 4

Happy Birthday to me...its just not the same. First of all I had to take the kids to school. I put a red-white & blue ribbon in Kaitlyn's hair and Griffen had an American flag sticker on his shirt. His teacher gave him a merit for wearing it (reward system in their school-10 merits=Bronze, 25=Silver, 50=Gold, every half term).

I then hosted coffee morning-an event in our village with the local women every fortnight during the school year. I got asked to have one during the summer bc of our garden. So I figured I'd have my own party. It was a pleasant 90 in the garden with hardly any shade-so I served some water infused with cucumber and lime with lots of ice instead of coffee. The offer of iced coffee was too 'foreign' I guess.

It was a nice morning-complete with the planes practicing for the airshow this weekend. At one point I think what was a Spitfire, Hurricane and Mustang trio flew over, and one of which had the American flag on it. My neighbors husband popped by just as that happened and asked if I enjoyed the flyover he arranged.

Jason gave me a large glass jar for me to brew my own iced tea and a nice Polish crystal water pitcher. We ended the day with dinner at Chili's (had to go somewhere American). Missed the big family get togethers and the fireworks.

Punting

We finally have some sun, but it is accompanied by too much heat, no AC and no iced tea as well as humidity. Now I know why soo many elderly people in Europe die during heat waves. Between the heat and late sunsets I am lucky if the kids falls asleep before 10pm, which would be fine if they didn't have to get up and go to school.

So-how do you beat the heat? There are multiple parks and paddling pools around Cambridge-so we set out to explore today. We ended up at Llamas Land-a great park with lots of green, trees and play structures. We didn't pack the swim suits as we wanted to check it out first-good thing because by the late afternoon when we got there the water was pretty 'manky.' The kids played, stuck feet in the water and ate ice cream.

Around 4 (when the England game started) we headed over to the River Cam for some punting. Once Jason got the hang of it-we had a very pleasant ride. We crashed into a few boats, a few crashed into us and we only passed by one loud drunk group as most were in the pubs watching the game. Unfortunately we forgot our camera-so we will just have to go again--here's hoping for another sunny weekend.

We finished up around 6 (game still going-in a tie breaking overtime) and we made it out of city centre before the mad drunks left the pubs. I'd have to say-I have never seen the streets so quiet on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

We found a Tex-Mex type restaurant and enjoyed a decent dinner. Still no iced tea though-had to go for a blended margarita just to get something cold.

After dinner on the drive home, we wondered who won the game...after seeing groups of 6-10 coppers strolling the streets in front of the pubs, we guessed England lost.

This time of year in Cambridge is known for the May Balls at the colleges...so on any given weekend you are bound to see people in formals. We saw one such couple heading into Cambridge as we left...not in the extravagant LA style of over the top limo, but in the Cambridge style-on bikes! It takes some coordination to ride a bike in a long formal gown and heels.