Tea!

Did I ever mention how much the English LOVE their tea? Ha.Ha. AJ and I have to admit that we’ve jumped on the bandwagon, too! I usually end the day consuming at least 4 mugs of tea at work. As feared, my teeth are not as pearly white as they used to be! Ughh!

Last December, AJ and I helped move our dear, newly married friends Dave and Emma into their first home. Before work could begin, an electric kettle was found in the stash to brew some tea! Here’s Dave, Eddy, and Jimmy taking a break after moving the couches!

Not to be outdone, here we are with my mug. As you can see, AJ is pondering the joys of tea…

Bridgend Cross Country Race!

Running has been a BLAST here in England! When the running club I joined in September invited me to run on their cross country team for the season, I was thrilled! So far, I’ve participated in five races, with locations ranging from Wales to Exmouth (south coast). Supposedly, cross country is a “winter” sport here in England, and with that comes MUD!

In one particular race (Bridgend, Wales), the mud was so thick and so sloppy that it was almost a joke! (It didn’t help that I left my running spikes in the U.S.!) I wish I had carried my camera during the race to document the adventure! We were greeted with frosty, gusty winds at the start, then a downpour of rain for most of the race, with pelting hail greeting us at the finish! Whoa, that stuff is painful! We did capture a few photos minutes after the race…great memories!

Here’s Cat, Lucy, and I! How did they manage to stay so clean?!? Ha.Ha.

My shoes were only 1 month old prior to the race…sparkly white, no more!


Here’s 67 year old Audrey racing home to the finish! What an inspiration!

A close-up of the backside damage! Yikes!

The frigid streams made for a great make-shift shower for scores of runners like me! Brrrrr!!

Here’s a picture of the start of the men’s race…check out that mud!

I have to say that joining Great Western Runners has been one of the best experiences of my time here in England! I always look forward to the hard Wednesday night runs and the racing adventures! There are just too many memories to describe! Coach Antczak would be proud to hear that I am signed up to run the 10th leg of the “Welsh Castle Relay” race this June! The two-day race starts on the northern border of Wales and ends at the Cardiff Castle in the south! I’d like to think of it as an affordable way to see all of Wales! Ha.Ha.

Amusing Signs!

Living in England has been amusing these past 5 months! From 80's fashions and high boots, to narrow roads (so narrow you have to pull over for others to go by!), tiny refrigerators, uniformed children (even toddlers!), to different names for things (for instance, what we call “bangs” for hair, they call “fringe”, and what we call "desserts", they call "puddings"). Our cultural differences are always a topic of comical discussion! AJ was inspired to have a dedicated blog segment to some of the funny signs hanging around. We’ve captured a few on film for your amusement!

A common sign posted on electrical stations…no room for imagination on this one!

The company I work for has had a number of break-ins this past fall. In an effort to ward off potential thieves, a manager decided to post 20 of these signs around the building to scare them off! The problem is that it’s obvious our building sits on a tight piece of land…where would these (friendly) dogs be hiding? Hmmmm….

I thought this was kind of cute!

You will find this hilarious sign in parks around Bristol. AJ thought the doggie looked ferocious!

Our personal favorite! Can you believe this one? Would you be insulted if you were elderly?! Wow!