Quaint

quaint: adj. Charmingly odd, especially in an old-fashioned way

The heat and an evening on facebook with a few American friends got me thinking about the quaintness of Britain. It all started with Patrick's observation that windows here do not have screens and there is no area designed for the insertion of one. None, nada, zilch. They pretty much do not exist in any of our rental houses or any house we have visited during the last two years. However comma we have had a veritable heat wave and it's pretty much a necessity to open a few if not all of the windows in the house and definitely overnight. The new-fangled invention called an air conditioner exists, but is not often (read: ever) used nor does it exist in any house I have ever visited. Patrick also noted that it would cost "tens of dollars" to install screens which are pretty much necessary keep out the numerous bugs and absolutely ginormous spiders. I suggested we search for a window with a screen during a scavenger hunt and Carolyn decided that if someone found one, they'd be the winner, no contest. No screens in windows - is this a desire to remain "quaint"?

The discussion then turned to water taps. In our house, like many, we have a separate hot and cold tap in our bathroom sinks - three sinks and the bath itself in our house. The hot tap only gushes steaming hot water; the cold tap only gushes ice crystals (in the winter) and ne'er the two shall meet. The fixtures in our house are beautiful and have all been recently updated (last 10 years) in comparison to the age of the house (1920's). The technology is available because our kitchen tap is a mixed tap just like we all have at home. As Patrick stated: Why run a hot water and a cold water line and not pay that extra $2 to get the tap with the mixer in it? We all enjoy the daily morning face scald, like a sauna I suppose. And all in the name of "quaint".

I stated that in the UK's defense, this is the first summer (of my third) that I have even broken into a sweat for more than an afternoon and the first time I've worn shorts for four consecutive days, but my house is a cave since it's an older house. Carolyn added that in her mid 1700's house, the stone walls really do keep the place pretty cool. I concur. Our thick walls are invaluable but it's still hot on the fourth floor which has one window that barely opens at the top or entirely swings open on its side for Finn, any child or an adult for that matter to plummet to Earth 60 feet below because, you guessed it, there is no screen to deter said child from the inevitable descent. "Quaint".

A few more exemplars of the quaintness we all know and well, don't love: two-foot wide refrigerators with no freezer; a dorm-sized separate freezer under the counter; the lack of forethought to embrace true Mexican cuisine; the lack of ice, ice machines or space to make ice; no outlets except for a shaver in the bathroom - like I will electrocute myself plugging in the hair dryer while simultaneously trying to turn on both taps to get a hot-cold (in America, we call it "warm") water mix... Yeah, quaint.

I do love my experiences here. I mostly enjoy the quaintness that surrounds me because let's face it, this is what we should see in the Oxford Dictionary:

quaint: adj. Charmingly odd, especially in an old-fashioned way. syn. Great Britain

Double Digit Domicile

All of my children are now in the double digits. Depressed!

A Decade With Disaster

My human tornado child is 10. To his credit, he is the most innovative and creative boy I know. His mind works in amazing ways and his insights are thought-provoking. He is so enthusiatic, handsome, strong, independent, boisterous, charismatic, funny, very loving and has awesome dance moves. He also is very Type A, he worries me every time he climbs something, he collects unimaginable things and forgets them in trouser pockets, he is very loud and a mess sort of evolves all around him almost magically. The meaning of the word 'no' ('mwah wanh') completely escapes him. However, I wouldn't trade him for the world.
Happy 10th birthday, Oboe!

The World Cup - Now I Can Speak

1. Ghana deserved the win; the US was not in their best form. It was still a heartbreaker.
2. The US played so much better yesterday than England did today.
3. Germany ROCKED the house! So glad we did not end up playing them or we might have looked as bad as England, but not worse than England since I doubt that is possible.
4. Argentina v. Mexico tonight. Rooting for Argentina tonight. Both are Americas teams but I have a thing for Messi - he is magical.
5. A Germany v. Argentina game would be fabulous.

USA v. Ghana

No comment.

American Pride

We are so excited about the World Cup. I mean when are we ever going to live in Europe during the World Cup again and have bragging rights that a) the USA came in first in our group over England and b) the USA went further in the competition than England when we beat Ghana and they lose to Germany? (I hope I don't have to eat those words.) So to show our American pride, Craig has rigged three US flags and hung them in our back garden for everyone in the park behind us to see.

We are total geeks and took photos of our flag flying because we have never hung our flags while living here for a variety of reasons - the most prevalent one being that there is nowhere to put a flagpole on the house since the British don't ever fly their flags unless it's a sporting event (see previous post ClanMcCarter).
C'mon USA, let's win this one!

Craig heard something funny at work:
This World Cup is shaping up like a World War.
France buggered off early.
Italy proved incompetent.
America showed up late and left Britain to fight it out with Germany.

And as an aside, the roses are blooming like crazy all around us. They smell delicious and look so lovely.
Ditto for the lavender...

Owen's Year 5 Concert

Today, I spent most of the day driving or stuck in some horrible traffic mess. It is a full moon and people are just driving like idiots. Fortunately, and thanks to the recommendation of my neighbour, Val, I made it home in time to get to Owen's Year 5 concert. It was very relaxing and enjoyable.
Here's one of Owen's performances.
Enjoy.