A VISITOR FROM YE OLDE COUNTRY (AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING!)

A visitor! A familiar face! O happy day!

As mentioned yesterday, Clive came up from London to visit us today, and we had a very nice visit. It is such a fantastic feeling to see someone from home, and even better for it to be someone we enjoy spending time with.

Clive arrived off the train just before lunch, and we headed into town to get some yummy Indian food (ubiquitous here, like sushi in Vancouver) and then spent the afternoon exploring. Clive actually did a degree here back in his student days, so he played tour guide and showed us all his old haunts. Highlights included a walk through his old college (Clare; lots of historic stuff associated with that college) and the best new and used bookstores in town. We stopped for coffee at a funky shop downtown when the rainclouds threatened and then continued on our way. We actually walked so far that we ended up back at the train station – no need to take a taxi! Clive hopped back on the train to London, and Ray and I wandered home to relax and get a good night’s sleep after our busy weekend.

Also got a care package from home sent with Clive: lots of pottery, a blanket, kitchen stuff and all sorts of goodies. It was like a mini-Christmas! And, the more stuff from Canada we have in our new home, the more settled we feel. It is really nice to walk into our bathroom and kitchen and see pottery made by the people we love. We’re starting to get some personal touches in here!

Happy Thanksgiving to all the folks at home who are probably stuffed full of turkey right now and lazing around after dinner. The English don’t celebrate anything similar in the autumn and they sure are missing out. Who would want to give up an extra turkey and all the pies and sweets that go along with it? I was tempted to try a turkey for ourselves, but given our limited cooking success so far here, a bird seemed awfully ambitious. And come to think of it, I don’t think a turkey would actually fit in our mini-sized oven. Thank goodness we will probably be home at Christmas!