School lunches...

Remember when you were going to grade school and the school lunches? I remember talking with my friends about the revolting things they served. I remember seeing giant cans of peas sitting on shelves in the school kitchen and a giant tub labeled "lard". I could not believe it when I saw it. Even then, the days when the only criteria for what I put in my body was whether or not it tasted good, I was frightened by that tub of "lard".

I continued to eat school lunches through high school and even though I complained about them, there were a few lunches that I actually liked. They were the ones that included cinnamon rolls or ice cream sandwiches. I liked the chili and the tacos and, of course, the pizza. My kids today favor the pizza lunch over all others. In the US, my kids had pizza every Friday for lunch and they never got tired of it.

Now, eating lunches in the UK? This is a bit different. I have attached a picture of the school lunches here. At first, I did not understand half of the items on the menu. Alyssa had to come to my rescue. She decided that she was going to try school lunches (mainly for the social aspect of where you get to sit when eating). I get to ask her each day about the lunches. Some of the stuff she is not too sure about, but others she is able to explain. It is very eyeopening what the British children favor and what they don't like. Apparently, Shepard's Pie is top notch.

Take a look at the menu now (click on it to look at a larger version) and decide what YOU think is good. However, don't expect to find tacos or chili on the menu.

It's spring in the UK!!

Spring is here! I have attached a picture of the daffodiles that line the street in front of the school. The line runs nearly a mile down the main street of Hardwick. It is lovely!

Amazingly, people are actually complaining about the fact that the UK has had the warmest winter since they started keeping records in 1635. Amazing! In all truth, it has not been THAT warm here this winter. Unlike the January in Maryland, we have had a pretty steady stream for 40 degree F days until March hit. We had some lower temperatures, but it rarely was below freezing during the day. In March, we have had 50 degree days until this week when Mother Nature did her usual move for March and it snowed. The daffodiles have been up since the beginning of March and the crocuses too. The flowering trees are starting to lose their petals now and the leaves are starting to fill in. The rape seed fields surrounding us are making my nose run like a hosepipe. However, I am not complaining! I welcome a warmer winter.

The part of the winter that the complainers did not mention was the fact that here we have had higher than normal rainfall. Now for the UK, that is something to talk about! There is not a week that goes by where it is dry for more than three days in a row. The football pitch (soccer field) at the top of our street has spent most of the winter under an inch of water. The only thing that keeps the water from standing too long is the constant wind gusts that have done their best to dry things out. It seems there has been a battle this winter between the wind and the rain to see which element can cause the most havoc. I think they are tied!

New playground idea...

Now here is an idea! They have slides here that don't have ladders! They build a big mound and then put a slide on it. We have seen several slides like this at the local parks. No more falling off the ladder! Brilliant! Come all ye unstable toddlers!

Driving in the UK...

I just had a wonderful visit from my aunt, Mollie. She experienced most of the public transportation system in England coming up to visit us from London. She took trains and taxis and then I picked her up at the Cambridge train station for our final trip back to our house. She climbed into the car, sitting on driver's side (except in the UK). I remember the first time sitting in the front seat of a UK car and not being the driver. I felt like there was so much extra sitting space since you did not have to deal with steering wheels and brake pedals.

On our way home, we squeezed by doubledecker buses and parked cars. We went through half a dozen roundabouts and made at least seven turns before arriving at our house which is only six miles from the train station. You see, there are no straight lines in England. The only way you can go from point A to point B in a relatively straight line is on the train. The problem is that the train is a bit expensive. However, it is the most efficient transport. The trains go fast and run on time. Another bonus is that there are very few accidents. Last week, a Virgin train traveling from London to Glasgow, Scotland crashed going 90+ mph. The last train crash in England was in 2000. Considering that there are hundreds of trains running daily in the UK, I think that this is impressive. Of the 180 passengers only one person was killed and she was 84 years old. I don't mean to imply that someone's life is less valuable at that age. I mean to say that an 84 year old person's body is much less able to cope with trauma. Considering the accident, I think it is amazing that so many people survived. The site of the crash saw train cars off the track and the impact of the wreck caused the engine to fly back past the front train. You would not survive a wreck in a car going that fast.

Driving fast in England seems to be the norm. The speed limit on divided highways is 70 mph. Most people exceed that by at least 10 mph. However, the lorries drive 50 to 60 mph. This causes people to slam on their brakes when one lorry pulls out to pass another lorry on the two lane divided highways. Usually, by the time the lorry pulls back into the "slow lane" there are at least 5 cars stacked up behind it.

The roads are divided up into motorways, "A" roads, "B" roads and then the rest. Motorways are like the highways in the US. They have shoulders and are divided with two or more lanes. The speed limit is never posted on these roads unless there are restrictions posted due to construction, accidents, etc. The understood speed limit is 70 mph. The "A" roads are often divided like highways, but it is not the standard. They never have a shoulder even though many of the "A" roads around us are highly congested and a broken down car or lorry will cause considerable delays. No speed limit signs are posted here, but speed cameras are placed at regular intervals. The understood speed limit is 70 if the road is divided. The "B" roads are like county roads in the US. Depending on what they connect, they can be busy, but usually are used mostly to get from one town to another. Since they do not go straight from point A to point B and are routed through many villages, traffic is not too bad on these roads. However, cars usually traveling on them use the rule that if the car does not roll when you go round a turn, then it is a safe speed. I got passed on a one lane country road the other day by a car that had to have been going over 70 mph. I was afraid to watch him go round the bend up the road. I felt sure that I was going to see the car in the farm field next to the turn. I see a lot of evidence of this happening around us as I have seen may tire tracks going from the road into the field next to the roads.

Despite how fast you drive, you still don't get to go from point A to point B in a straight line and there are always several roundabouts to negotiate. You cannot really cut off much time going fast in the straight sections around here since there are so few of them. However, I guess that there will always be people who try to get to their destination as fast as they can even if they risk their lives to save a minute.