Pond Hopper

I had planned my next blog to be about our trip last week, but yesterday while uploading the photos, I received a few comments on my last blog that were not exactly positive. Out of frustration, I deleted them. Last night I vented to my husband that there were more anti-American type comments on my blog from people on this side of the world. He told me I shouldn't have deleted them and left it for other people to comment on (or at least leave them long enough for him to comment on). Here's the thing - as an American living abroad, I am quite sensitive because I was not only ignorant to what countries made up the United Kingdom and Great Britain, but I was also ignorant to the fact that in other countries around the world, America is not well liked. Because I'm the type of person that doesn’t think negatively about other people until given a reason (the elevator doesn't count - celebrities put themselves out there for ridicule or praise), I didn't think that people w...

For Wayne's Birthday on Friday, I bought him a surprise 5-day trip to Dublin. It's his 30th birthday so I wanted it to be special and he's always wanted to go to Ireland. I booked one of the best hotels in Dublin and have been doing research for weeks on what to do while we were there. About a week ago, someone suggested that I look into whether I have the right visa to come & go in and out of the UK. To which I replied, "I thought Ireland was in the UK" - well, it's not. Northern Ireland is a part of the UK not Ireland as a whole and as it turns out, I can't go in and out of the UK as I please (well technically I can but last time I did, they threatened to send me back until I got a settlement visa). So, I had to cancel the trip for now. In September, we're going back to America to apply for my visa and until it's sorted out - No Dublin for me! I'm embarrassed by my ignorance, but it's not like I was a big world traveller before Wayne ...

Yesterday, millions of people around the world joined in a two minute silence to pay tribute to the victims of the London bombings one week earlier.  All around the UK workers left their offices to stand in the street, taxis and buses pulled over and financial markets paused, trains stopped and planes stayed on the runway at Gatwick Airport in London.  All over great Britain traffic just stopped, people came to a halt and thousands stood in the streets side by side.  At the strike of 12:00 there was a hush and there was silence for 2 minutes.  The Queen joined, Tony Blair joined, schoolchildren, office workers, shopkeepers and construction workers alike - all were silent and still in memory of the victims of the attacks seven days before. Around the world, countries joined in too - Spain, Italy, France, Brazil and in In Berlin, subway trains, trams and buses stopped for two minutes.   In Turkey, Indonesia, and Ireland (as well as others) people also fell si...

Recently, a magazine here in the UK issued their list of their Top 100 women in show business. This sparked conversation between Wayne and I and one rainy weekend when we had nothing to do, we compiled our own Top 20 lists. The rules were we had to judge on looks alone (not their physique) and only one token model was allowed. For fun, I thought I'd add our lists here for you to view and enjoy. Maybe it will even spark conversation between you and a friend or loved one. Wayne and I actually had a really good time creating our lists together - judging each other's taste in the opposite sex and laughing over how long it took for us to prioritize our selections. We still change the order every time we look at it! (although our top five have remained the same) Enjoy and feel free to comment!

Another heat wave has started. The last two weeks have been cool (60-70 tops), but today was 80+ and it should stay that way until at least Friday (I don't have an extended forecast). We're going to buy some fans tonight because it was brutal during the last heat wave trying to sleep with no air conditioning (silly country with no air conditioners or screens on their windows!)Hopefully the fans will be sufficient. Wayne originally said we only get two or three weeks of hot weather all summer (Unlike back home in NJ where we'd have 3-4 good months!) I was starting to think I would not be able to use any of my summer cloths I bought during the last heat wave and that summer would not return! Wayne now says that summer has officially started and to be completely honest - I'm just confused on what summers are like in England. Last year around this time, I was here for 2 weeks and it was 60 - 65 for the entire trip and I was wearing a jacket the whole time. This year it'...

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I just want to say thank you to everyone that touched base when they heard of the attacks in London. It was heart warming to see that so many of you were so concerned for the safety and wellbeing of both Wayne and I. Although we are shocked and horrified by yesterdays events we are both fine and none of Wayne

I just want to say congratulations to Anne & Michael on the birth of their baby boy, Sean Michael.  He was born at 12 midnight on 7/6/05 weighing 8lbs 7oz. I love you Anne! Congratulations!

I have spent most of my time since Sunday with my new kttens trying to help them adjust to their new home. They have been really quite scared. One of them (Luca