England!

I am currently in Iain's house in Dorset, uploading my photos after our journey to Stonehenge. I have been in Dorset since Monday and I leave tomorrow morning on a rather arduous train journey north. I am to take the train from Salisbury to Waterloo Station in London, take the Tube to King's Cross (Harry Potter induced squeal) then the speed train to Leeds and then another train to Keighly which is where my Dad and Marilyn are.

I'm meeting up with them for a few days in Yorkshire so we can scatter my grandma and see some cousins and visit with their friends Caroline and Adrian who own a lovely bed and breakfast up there. More pictures will no doubt follow.

My students at school performed The Lorax on Friday and then Saturday morning it was off to Changi to catch my flight to Dubai. My stopover was supposed to be an hour but it ended up being more of a frantic dash to the gate to catch my connecting flight to London. Two 8 hour plane rides later I landed at Heathrow and found my way to the Tube. I took the Tube for about another hour and a half to Joe's place where I met him at a pub.

Not knowing him and only having known his Dad I felt a bit weird showing up and staying there, but Joe was lovely and we got on very well. We stayed up until 7am with his room mate Ben after going to another pub and having a good night. The next day we got up and saw the sights in London. I said that the things I really wanted to see were the Tate and the Globe and we also managed to get in the Thames, Big Ben, a Christmas fair along the Thames, Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and Whitechapel. I was very pleased with the whole day and got to see things I've always wanted to see.

Then I took the train down to Salisbury and met up with Iain, which is lovely. I got to meet his wife Dawn who I've heard about for ages and see his beautiful house. I've discovered that the main difference, other than accents, between rural North England and rural South England seems to be that there are hedges along the roads instead of stone walls. Other than that, it's mostly grass, sheep and very old buildings.

Today Iain and I went on an epic quest for Stonehenge, which he has lived near most of his life and has never been to. It was a bit of a challenge to find it but once we did I was very excited and Iain hung around at the fence while I paid the 7 pounds to go in and see it closer up. It is smaller than you think but no less interesting and beautiful in a strange way. We ended up meeting some Singaporeans and Malaysians in the car park which I thought was pretty funny. Especially because the one guy is in England to work with the church and try and convert more people to Christianity, which I find poetic and ironic.

Dealing with the cold weather isn't super fun, considering I'm a hardy Canadian lass I've been sporting 5 shirts minimum every where I go and still freezing my butt off. Don't know how I'll manage when I actually get to Canada where I believe there is currently snow on the ground.

Tonight Iain and I are meeting Dawn after work at the local pub and then coming home to have a roast for dinner with the lamb that Iain and I got at the market yesterday when we went. I really have enjoyed being here and English food is always delicious, people don't know what they are talking about when they make fun. It's got lovely fresh butter and milk and cheese and delicious meat. Iain is also a great cook so he's been making me tasty breakfasts and dinners which have made me very happy.

I'm looking forward now to going back to Canada and seeing my loved ones back there and getting my head around the last 8 months and what it's all really been about.

http://s1105.photobucket.com/albums/h343/Bea_Jolley/England%202011/