Notes from England - Housing Developments...internal shots!

Hi all!

Just a quick post to show off some internal shots of the new home after I went on the 'home demonstration' today. Unfortunately, since some of the electricals weren't hooked up yet, it wasn't a terribly exciting 'demonstration' as far as demos go, but I got to see the inside of the flat and that was really, really exciting!

The walls still need paint and the floors still need...well, flooring...but you should have a good idea of what we're after with these pics!

I'll start with the kitchen area. As you can see, our cupboards are fitted as is the sink, the fridge, oven, stove top and hood. It's really come together very, very nicely! There's plenty of lights under the cupboards for over the counter, and there's track lighting on the ceiling which lookss good! The kitchen floor will be finished in a soapstone tile laminate. Can't have real tile on the 1st floor (that's the 2nd floor to Americans. The first floor is the 'ground floor' in England)

Across from the kitchen is our living area. here we have the door which opens out to our 'Juliet' balcony. It's really cool in that the door, which is a slider (great considering space saving features) tilts out at the top! Basically, you pull the handle out towards you, and the top leans into the room whilst the bottom stays in at the slider. This allows you to just 'crack the door' for fresh air. If you want to actually open the door, you just pull again and the bottom pops out and you can slide the door to the left. Slide the door back to the right, the bottom pops in, you push the top in, and close the handle. Brilliant! We (obviously) need to buy a light fixture for the living room. The living room floor will be finished in a light brown 'mushroom'-coloured carpet.

Leaving the living room you enter the hall. To the left you have the spare bedroom...the smaller of the two. Across from the bedroom is the main bathroom. Further down the hall on the left is the master bedroom, which has an en suite bathroom attached to it. The hallway continues on around to the right where, on your right is the service cupboard is, which will contain our washer/dryer. Currently inside Inside is the water heater, which is an energy-saving model designed to run at night when energy costs are at their lowest...so that's fab...and the fuse box for all the power to the flat. The hall turns left again at the service cupboard and continues straight on to the front door. I couldn't tell you why I didn't take picture of the entryway...I suppose it's because the service people were standing right there and I'd feel like a muppet taking their pictures...never mind! There are energy-saving lights in the hall and will need to be planned for accordingly.The hall floor will be finished in American Oak laminate rather than carpet due to the heavy traffic it will inevitably handle.

The main bathroom has the tub, (no shower) a basin and toilet. It also has water-saving features with half-flush toilets. Brits may be used to things like this, but Americans aren't. It's got a button in the lid of the toilet used to flush it. The button is spilt in half...sort of yin-yang style...one half smaller than the other. If you don't need a 'full flush', you use the smaller button. If you've had a bit more...'activity'...I'll let you use your own imagination for that one...in the bathroom, you can push the bigger button and get the full-on-flush that we all know and love. You can also see in the second picture that there's a towel rack on the left wall. It's a heated towel rack that is set to the same timer as the heating for the home. I.E., you set your heating to come on at 5 or 6 in the morning and when you go to have a bath/shower (if you're in the en suite) you have a nice toasty warm towel to greet you when you step out into what, after being in the nice warm water, may be a slightly chilly bathroom! It also serves as the radiator (as near as Ann & I can tell) for the room. The bathroom will be finished in a grey, slate-like 'calcite' tile laminate.

Next is the spare bedroom which is actually bigger than it looks on the plans. With our plans of a single bed, a wardrobe and computer desk in there, we'll have absolutely no trouble moving around as there's plenty of room. The windows are an interesting point in that there's actually little vents above the window (hard to see from the picture) that you can open for fresh air if you don't want to open the windows themselves. This will come in handy in the winter months, for example when you wouldn't want a window open but still would like fresh air. The vents are recessed into the top part of the window sill and slide down to let the air in. They are actually open in this picture...so you can see they're not obtrusive at all. There is an energy-saving light in this bedroom and the bedroom floor will be finished in the same carpeting as the living room.

The master bedroom is larger (naturally) than the spare bedroom, and also has the added benefit of an en suite. We used the same tile for around the basin and shower as we did in the main bathroom, and we used the same calcite flooring. The bedroom will have the same mushroom carpeting as the spare bedroom and the living room. There's not much else to say here, so I'll simply include the last couple of pictures which show the bathroom tile a bit more closely and there's a shot of the shower. Enjoy!

Notes from England - Housing Developments

Hiya folks!

Well things are slowly but surely coming together on the new house! The last post I seem to have made about the house was back in August!! A surprise, to be sure. But you can see it and then see the progress that has been made! Though, I could have sworn I included a more up-to-date post than that at some point...before we had brick.

Never mind...this will be an all-inclusive post! We'll walk you through from the ground up! As you can see after the jump, our plot of 'open air' was extremely promising! There was...well...space! There was air! There was a hell of a view! It was our little plot of air and we loved it to pieces. Since then, however, things have changed...for the better!

The walls went up fairly quickly. So quickly, in fact, that I never managed to grab a shot of them going up! Then...to be fair...I did still live State-side at that time! Never mind!

These shots were taken approximately October 14, shortly after I arrived in the UK permanently. You can see in the pictures here that the walls of the main structure are up...still in dire need of some cladding of some sort. You know...some brick and mortar?

Also, back in October we didn't even have a roof, really. It was started, sure...but it's hardly what you'd call 'solid' at this point...and you're not protected from the elements, what with roofing not competed and windows still being added! But it was nice to be able to look at 'our walls' properly! We were definitely on the move forward!

A positive aspect was that they seemed to start (as you can even see in the pictures sans walls) with the park area. This is good because it allows the trees and turf time to settle before people moved in! It also makes for much more interesting photos than a pile of dirt. Hehehe. Anyway, here you see a wide shot of the building, and you get the idea of how things will lay out when all is completed. You can also see by the brick 'pillars' on either side of the path through the park that the red brick and ultra-green grass create a beautiful contrast. Imagine when the actual building is completed and no longer 'blue'.

There are more 'old' shots, sure...but I won't bore you with those. We now have brick and windows. We're actually looking to complete on our mortgage by ~ fingers crossed ~ the end of the month. I'm actually going on a 'home demonstration' of our apartment this Wednesday, so I'll get to see how it looks on the inside! I may or may not take my camera with me. If I do, expect more pics!

You can see that not all of the 'Juliet' balcony railings are up yet, in fact none on the right side of the building. But you can see what they will look like when they are on. An interesting development is the addition of a 'bricked out' section of the two white 'towers'. This was not in the artists' original interpretation, and quite frankly I think it looks a bit odd. Then again, I don't get paid uber amounts of money to be an architect or building designer...so my vote matters little. Hey...I'm just living here.

It looks like...possibly...our address will be somewhere on Rylands Drive! Not sure...but I saw the sign...and wanted to snap a pic of it. In any case, all that remains to be done is to sort out flooring (due to a miscommunication with the realtors) and sign on the dotted line, as it were. Basically...exchange a poop-load of money and then we get to start moving in! We will be hopefully moving in March! Yay!

That's all for now, folks.

Comments? Questions?

Big Thanks & Big News

Hello all!

Forgive me if I get a bit mushy for a moment, but I've lived a quarter of a century, and so y'all are youngins and I've earned it.

First of all, thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes. You're all so kind to me...and I know I'm truly blessed to have such caring friends and family. Thank-you each from the bottom of my heart.

I've gotten lots of really great presents too. I got a great gift card to my favorite store on earth, Best Buy. I also got a really schwanky black zip hooide with the Zelda shield and swords crossed emblazoned on the front...very cool. I've also got Black Adder Goes Forth Series 4 which takes place during what must be WWI in 1917 on 'the western front'. Everyone is along for the ride including Lord Flasheart's decendant, and even Hugh Laurie (from Fox's House) is appearing again as "Lt. The Hon George Colthurst St. Barleigh". (Now that's a mouthful only Laurie could pull off) I also got several great bath items, and even got V for Vendetta! It's been really great! I've also received an awesome game for the PSP, Loco Roco. It's a great, addictive game that has incredibly simplistic controls letting anyone master it in a single playing session. I even got Season 8 of The Simpsons! So I've got nearly half of all the seasons that have aired! (Still missing season 7, and they're currently airing season 18) I even got a bunch of great birthday wishes from around the world and across the country on MySpace and through email...you guys and gals rock. (Love the sparkly cake, Kris!) I hope I've not forgotten anything...but needless to say each and every thing I got was absolutely fantastic and I'm loving them all.

We went out last night to see a movie which was really nice and a great way to unwind after what's been a pretty hectic few days. We say Jet Li's Fearless. If you like martial arts movies, this is a great one to see. Not only because of the fantastic fight scenes, but also because, if you're a Jet Li fan, this is claimed to be his last martial arts film. Even if "kung fu movies" are not generally your "thing", this movie appeals on other levels as well. It's actually got a great story to it. There's drama and romance to be found, and it's really a 'coming of age' tale in a way. We find our hero to be highly skilled but abbraisive and rash at the start of the film. Throughout the film we watch him go on a tragic journey of loss and pain in order to learn the error of his ways. A very good film. I'd give it a 4/5.

I want to thank everyone for a fantastic birthday, and most especially I'd like to thank Helen. With her, I've received the greatest gift of all in that I'm moving to England to be with her. This brings me to another point I'd like to bring up. I know most of you know this already, but the move is happening sooner than originally anticipated. Initially, I wasn't to move until 1 December. (Gotta learn to write in British style) The fact of the matter is that circumstances beyond my control or anyone else's for that matter have changed things and I will actually be moving within the next two weeks. I'm going through a thourough revamping of everything I own and repacking everything. I'm trying to get it done quickly because I will be gone by 15 October.

I know this may come as a shock to several of you. I know it will be difficult on some of my family and friends. We care for each other, and when someone we care for is leaving we feel it. Equally, as the person moving away I want you all to know that I feel it too. You know I love you all, but there are times in our lives sometimes that send us down a path we may never have seen coming, but we know them to be the right path. I would expect each of you to follow your hearts as well.

I guess the only way to explain it is love. If you find someone that you have fallen in love with, you are truly blessed. And if you love that person so deeply that you are incomplete without them at your side...that when you are kept from them you hurt inside...then you need to do what it takes to be with that person. Love is special...and something worth fighting for. Despite what any guy will tell any other guy for fear of sounding soft...we all want to find that special someone in our lives to share our lives with.

Maybe the love of your life will live down the street...maybe across town or maybe across the country. You don't choose love...it chooses you. In my case it called me from across the ocean and I'm responding because I recognize how amazing it is, and I don't have any intention of overlooking it and letting it pass me by. If I may quote The Princess Bride, as Westley says, "This is true love...do you think this happens every day?"

So my advice...for what it's worth...to each of you is to follow your hearts. Explore your loves...don't take them for granted. If you have someone special in your life...be thankful for them and love them and don't let a day pass that they don't know that they are the most important person in your life. Because as Mr Garth Brooks said (yes, I'm quoting country),

If tomorrow never comes, will she know how much I loved her?
Did I try in every way to show her every day that she's my only one?
If my time on Earth were through and she must face this world without me...
is the love I gave her in the past gonna be enough to last if tomorrow never comes?

Thanks again to everyone for a great birthday...it won't be forgotten.

Okay, I'm done being mushy, I promise. But as I said, I've lived a quarter century now and I feel I've earned it, you little whipper snappers. Now get off my lawn!

Englarican Pt. II

In part 2 of our examination of English vs American languages, we will discuss underwear. Yes, that piece of clothing that we find to be so important that nobody ever sees...that elusive, sometimes sexy, often scary garment that we put between our skins the clothing we show the world. Bras, panties, boxers, briefs, etc.

First of all, when Americans say 'underewear', it can mean one of two things...the underpants that you wear, or your bra...but most commonly it refers to underpants, bra's getting their own designation. Underpants can be further broken down into a few different categories for men.

Boxers
Briefs (tighty whities)
Trunk Briefs (that's a picture of me, of course. Yeah right!)
Bikini Briefs
Butt floss, aka, Thong

For women, it can get even more confusing: (These all come from Victoria's secret, and will undoubtably be named differently elsewhere. Notes in parenthases come from Victoria's Secret, not me. i.e., While G-string is common, I believe V-string is a Victoria's Secret name)

Boy Briefs(extreme low-ride)
Hipsters(extreme low-ride)
Bikini(classic)
G-String(V-String, classic)
Thong(extreme low-ride)
Bikini(extreme low-ride)
Thong(classic)
Bikini(classic string)
G-String(V-String, extreme low-rise)

And if you want to start into the countless kinds of bras, that's your own accord. But as you can see, things get a bit overwhelming at the best of times.

Now the Brits? "pants" are underpants. Don't worry, the long-legged things you wear on the outside - those are pants too. But they might be trousers, or jeans, or whatever. But underpants? Those are "pants".

And what about your bra? I thought they were a 'vest', but apparently they're still a 'bra'. But a 'vest' is still underwear. That's a "string vest". It's used (typically by men with no fashion sense, according to Helen) to keep themselves warmer. It's not a vest. (that's a gillet). Oh, and a "vest top"? Well that's comletely different. And these vests are not vests, they're waistcoats. Basically, if a 'vest' is worn over cloathing, it's not a 'vest'. Vests are always underwear. Hence, "gillet", "waistcoat".

EDIT - Helen has read this blog and corrections in regards to a 'vest' have been made.

Now...how confused and intimidated are you? Imagine trying to buy underwear for your lady now. What do you get? What kind will she wear? What is her size??

It's a wide world of craziness out there and it's all hidden under our clothes. And if you go international, it gets even crazier. Count yourselves lucky!

Englarican Pt. 1

When you're an American engaged to a Brit...questions about "what is this called" or "why do you refer to that as such" are bound to come up. (To say nothing for an American not only engaged to a Brit but actually moving to England!) From the Motherland to America, the differences abound. You can find plenty of English/American dictionaries out there. So I'm not attempting to recreate one of those. Just google it.

Instead, I've decided to make note of such idiosyncracies on my blog that I found particularly amusing to me...things I personally wondered about. Not every nuance under the sun between our two languages.

Pronunciation is often key. Case in point: vitamin. Americans pronounce this word "vye-tah-min". It's a long "i" as in "lite". Brits, on the other hand, pronounce it "vih-tah-min", a short "i" sound, as found in the word "bit". I'm not an English teacher, and I need as much help as anyone else. But in my opinion, the Brits probably win this round. After all, there's no indicator of a long "i" in the word. It's not "viteamin", is it?

But what about the river that runs through London? It's spelled T-h-a-m-e-s. Now I know we Americans are inclined to pronounce it exactly as it looks, with a long "a" sound as in "shame". But the Brits? No, they've got their own pronunciation and proud of it - "tems"...short "e" sound as in "gems".

Now that's just weird. It's not only clearly an "a", it's a long "a" as is indicated by the "e" at the end of the word. But they change it round to a short "e".

The point is, we both have words that the other culture might snicker at when we hear it pronounced. Such are the diversities that make the world interesting!

But it's not just pronunciation that make languages interesting. Entirely different words can mean the same thing between two countries, even two countries that claim to speak the same language.

While Americans claim to speak "English", it's really not 'true English', is it? It's "American". They're clearly sister languages...indeed twin languages, if only in the fraternal sense. There are differences that set each apart.

One such example that has intrigued me over the two and a half years that I've known Helen is the English Muffin. Americans, when you think of English Muffins you think of these:

http://thomas.gwbakeries.com/subcat.cfm/subcatId/22

Indeed, if some sources on the 'net are to be believed, the above brand owes its namesake to its founder and the founder of the English Muffin itself, Samual Thomas.

But what about our brothers and sisters in England? What do they call these tasty, toasted treats? Simply "muffins"? The old joke goes that "Brazil Nuts" are simply "nuts" when you head to that little country in South America. So in an effort to find out, I asked Helen.

Her initial reaction was, "Pardon?" Fair enough. So I sent her a link to an image of an English Muffin, likely the same link you see above. She recognized the food product of course, but said that, indeed to delight that the product in question was referred to simply as a "muffin" back home in 'ye olde country'.

This poses a problem, however. I know for a fact that what we think of as a 'muffin', that is a sweet roll of sorts, cake-like in texture, baked in a deep-dish tin, are also referred to as "muffins" in England. So...if I'm at a restaurant, and I want would like to eat what I think of as an "English Muffin", what do I request so as not to end up with a cake-like item full of blueberries or chocolate chips?

After further probing of Helen, we've come to the conclusion that while English Muffins are commonly 'muffins' in England, were you to buy them in a supermarket they 'might' be referred to as 'breakfest muffins' or something like that, but we're not entirely sure. What we do know for sure is there's another product that, to my knowledge, we don't have in the States but that we're probably all aware of - crumpets.

Anyone seen the movie version of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"? Raphael has a memorable moment fighting Casey Jones near the beginning of the film.

Casey: New game, round-head. Cricket!
Raph: Cricket? Nobody understands cricket. You gotta know what a crumpet is to understand cricket.

Well, I can honestly say I'm one step closer to understanding that favourite, yet elusively confusing sport with sticky wickets, bails and wicked googlies...because I know what a crumpet is.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&defl=en&q=define:CRUMPET&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title

"Okay," I hear you say. "But what IS it?" Well perhaps an image would help?

http://static.flickr.com/1/4460621_b5cb6514f7_m.jpg

"But Jeremiah! It looks like an English Muffin to me!" Au contraire, my uneducated, colonial rebel! A crumpet is different from an English Muffin in subtle, but distinct ways.

First of all, it's not got a "top" and "bottom" like an English Muffin. Also, note the porous texture! The air pockets created while baking give it a unique, spongy texture that stands apart from an English Muffin.

If Yahoo! Answers is to be believed, (http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060828064804AAnhcUR) the main difference lies in the makeup of the batter and the cooking.

See also: http://www.worldwidewords.org/topicalwords/tw-cru1.htm in which it is discussed that the first "Harry Potter" book changed "crumpets" to "English Muffins" when it came to the states but also touches on the significant differences in cooking procedures.

Also, Wikipedia has extensive information on the various types of muffins and breakfast breads, but as they are hardly 100% reliable, and as I've presented other good links already, I'll leave that one to your discretion, reader.

Finally, I'll leave you with a blog entry...or...web-entry of sorts...from a woman who was born and raised in England but now lives in Japan, and had the same queries herself as I do, and has first-handedly gone to several stores in England and done the research herself.

http://www.imaginatorium.org/words/muffin.htm

Whatever you call them...English Muffins or Crumpets...whatever you prefer...I think we can all agree they're tasty when toasted with butter.

Happy munching!

Our home!

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Helen and I's future home. Lovely, isn't it? Sure, it's just a park with a space of open air, but it's our open air, dammit! Hehehe. This is the park that will sit immediately in front of our building. And our apartment will overlook the park itself. Lovely! We'll have a nice view as we overlook the park from our 'juliet balcony'. Personally, I can't wait to move in! The entire development is very beautiful, and it's locaded conveniently next to a grocery store and a Blockbuster! So there's no fear of lack of vittles, and we certainly won't be lacking in entertainment!

This is the main walkway up from the entrance. There are both two and three-story houses along here and every last one of them has already been sold! This bodes well for the place, and we feel quite comforted knowing that we're not the only ones that have been impressed. Along the right side just ahead are the show homes Helen and I went through. We did feel like we were slightly nosey as we opened every door in the place whether it served for a bedroom or the boiler. But hey...we're paying enough for the place we might just as well get our money's worth and know what we're buying! As you can see, the landscaping is nice, with tree-lined avenues and hedgerows.


This is one of the first houses you see as you enter Carrington Park. It sits on a lush green lawn on the right-hand side of the road as you enter and is, as you can see, a 2-story model. With an attached garage this is a beautiful home. Note also that everything is brick. I love brick. Brick and stone houses have always held a place in my heart. I never knew why and I still don't. But since visiting England and discovering that brick and mortar homes are the 'norm' (versus the stick homes which are the American norm) I knew this would be a fabulous place to have a home. Granted, we're getting an apartment, not a house. But Helen and I can't wait to move in.

Here's a shot of a grouping of houses as taken from somewhere around the front lawn of one of the houses at the enterance. (You walk past this fence and turn right to start up the entrance. These are on the other side of the street from the previous picture, and it gives you an idea of what the neighborhood, as it were, will look like all said and done. Granted there's lots more houses to go in and the apartment bulidings too, but when they're done this is truly going to be a beautiful place to live. You'll have to forgive the blue flags and banners, they are advertising the open house after-all. Couldn't have asked for prettier skies either, could I?

One last shot of some of the housing they've got. This is an example of one of the three-stories. It's a massive house and while the layout doesn't give each floor an incredibly large overal size, the total make-up of the home is very, very roomy and comfortable. The master bedroom on the top floor (away from the kiddies) the spare room and living room on the second floor and the kitchen and family room/sitting room/dining room on the main floor of the house. each house is immaculately constructed with what feels to be very solid material. (Very solid doors, stairs, hand rails, fixtures in the bathrooms, etc.) Nothing feels or looks 'cheap', which is reassuring when you're thinking of how much money is going into them.

That about does it for your guided tour of Carrington Park except for this artist's rendition of what our building will look like when complete. Oooh! We're very excited! I've marked our apartment on the image so you know exactly where we'll be. Very exciting times for Helen and myself. Wish us luck!