Only on certain words and mostly "Roar-eh the Racing Cah" Roary the Racing Car and "Pahk" Park.
We are busy balancing living and vacationing in our country village setting as Mark will start working as a supply teacher next week. We've had a few chillax days where we've been lazy and not done much of anything and that's okay since we have so much time here.
Krystal and Liam enjoyed a playdate with two of our neighbours just up the lane beside our house. New Mills is very community oriented - it's quite a small town with about 10,000 people so on the walk into town you end up seeing someone you know, which is great!
We all registered at our local Medical Clinic and got our National Health Service (NHS) numbers. Everyone received our cards in the post except for Mark as they are trying to retrieve his number from 1988 - yowsers! Mark and Gemma have even been to see the doctor - Mark for his inhaler (puffer means something totally different here - hey-oh!) and both Gemma and Liam caught a respitory virus so we took Gemma in to see if she needed any antibiotics or oral steroid as she has had in the past, which she didn't. In fact, she got on fine with only her inhalers and was all sorted out in just over a week. We were even able to go on some day trips - this is a huge milestone for us! At the clinic you can check in using a touchscreen and your name is displayed on the large screens around the waiting room when the doctor is ready to see you. Medical clinics seem to be common here where you are assigned a doctor (even has this info on your NHS paper card), but because the government mandates that doctors see patients within 48hrs of requiring one you may not always get your assigned doctor. Otherwise, there are Urgent Care Centres (like a walk-in clinic) if you need in sooner - there's one right next to our medical clinic, as well as a dentist and a Boots Pharmacy! We can walk all the way there on the Sett Valley Trail too!
Krystal and Liam signed up for a 6wk Kids Can Cook group through the local Children's Centre. There are only four kids per class and it was booked up until mid-April, but someone 'just happened to' cancel thier spot for this next run and we got in! Last week was (messy) sandwiches and this week was biscuits. Did you know it's quite common to measure ingredients by actually weighing them with a scale and using utensil spoons? Thank goodness we found measuring cups and spoons at Tesco as there weren't any at the house we're renting! We saw the scale in the cupboard and were like - uh, no. It is fun using the scale with Liam in the cooking group though :)
We've gone to our first FA Cup match (soccer) - New Mills AFC v Harrogate. Sadly, the New Mills Millers have been knocked out of the Cup, but we will hopefully make it to another home game during regular league play. The team has been around pre 1890 - the exact year is unknown. Liam was asleep for the first quarter of the match, but after he woke up and had some chips he was right into it. He also started cheering for Liverpool and Toronto, but other than that, he was right into it ;)
We joined the locals in the New Mills Festival Lantern Procession in the Torrs (gorge area) where people show off handmade lanterns constructed in festival workshops, brought their own from home or just brought themselves (we opted for this option). It was an amazing walk in the evening on the trail and over their Millennium Bridge with all the lanterns and fire sculptures - we think most of New Mills was there. There was a pub at the end of the trail and people were having pints outside on the street before finishing on recreation grounds where a stage was set up for a local band that reminded us of Arcade Fire (lots of people and instruments). Gemma slept through the walk but woke up just in time to ooh and aah at the fireworks display. Liam stayed awake the entire time and even had a hot dog at the end at about 9pm!
We took the kids to Thomas Land (yes, Thomas the Tank Engine). It's part of a larger theme park called Drayton Manor and is approx. 1.5hr drive towards Birmingham. As we entered Thomas Land, the Sir Topham Hat (formerly known as The Fat Controller) was performing a song right at the entrance and we thought Liam was going to poop himself - well, he is in diapers still, so it's always a possibility. Thomas Land was AWESOME! We may have been the only parents there who knew all the words to the songs that were playing at the different rides but, then again, we are big kids ourselves. Some of the rides were crazy and we couldn't believe Liam was allowed to go on them provided he was with a parent - he can't even go in the balls room at Ikea! There were only two rides that he wasn't tall enough for. Mummy had to go on with him for most of them as Daddy was throwing up in his mouth a bit just watching us! Liam was super cute and waived goodbye to each train character before we left. The highlight was, of couse, being pulled by the Thomas the Tank Engine and riding in his coaches Annie and Clarabel.
To expereience full British country living we went to the Sheep Dog Trials in Hayfield - a neighbouring village. They have market stalls, a bouncy castle, dog and horse shows and a 5 mile fell race that's believed to have the longest standing record, since 1977. Mark took a stab at it but no records were broken this year. A solid effort landed him 26th place out of over 200 racers in his first fell race. A fell is a really, REALLY big hill and it's like a rocky trail race. We were lucky we went the day we did as the show was cancelled the following day due to bad weather (too much rain, even for England).
Mark's Race Photo (#119)
Since we've arrived in England everyone we know and meet has told us that we must go to Blackpool to see the Illuminations - they light up the sea side street with tons of lights and displays. It's a pretty big deal here and British pop star Robbie Williams switched on the lights earlier in September to launch the event. It's been going on for years - Mark went as a young lad. We drove up for an afternoon at the beach as it was a sunny 20 degrees, the tide was way out and the sand was perfect for castles and race tracks. We walked around the tourist area, went to Pizza Hut for dinner, played very badly at a darts booth and finally drove along the promenade to see the lights (they started 10 minutes late, which is a long time with two tired kids). The displays were impressive and seemed to go on forever. We tried to think of a good comparison - it's like Jersey Shore (at least what it seems like on MTV) or The Ex, the beach and Niagara Falls (without the falls) all rolled into one flashy spectacle. And I guess it wouldn't be a proper night out in Blackpool without someone throwing up so Gemma stepped up and got car sick about halfway through the display - awesome.
Disclaimer: We really only went to the touristy part of Blackpool and we're sure the rest of the city is lovely where 40yr old men don't openly brag about how many drugs they did the weekend before while walking along the street.
We drove 2hrs to Rubery, a suburb of Birmingham to go to a family christening - Mark's cousin's daughter, Evie. We unintensionally skipped the church part after getting caught in M6 traffic as well as getting lost trying to find the church due to a misinformed sat nav (GPS) but made it to the after party at the local Legion. There were loads of people, balloons, a disco ball, beer and tunes (Bon Jovi... oh yeah!) - just the way God intended Christening parties to be.
Best Quote:
"Bring in your pram. This is Blackpool - it'll get nicked."
Blackpool Darts Booth Guy
Runner Up:
"Are you the Foriegn Lady?"
Neighbour's Mum
Happy Autumn Everyone,
The Nicholson Family
Photos: Facebook
What We're Still Getting Used To:
- The Weather in the Peak District: It could be sunny, blue skies and literally 10 mintues later, the heavens will part and it will be torrentially raining. I've learned to always, ALWAYS bring the stroller rain cover, everyone's rain coat and the brolley (umbrella). I also thing we're the only people who regularly wear sunglasses because people here don't mind squinting for a few minutes.
- Driving in the Peak District: These roads were made for horses. They are narrow and curvy and there's sometimes barely enough room for two lanes - let alone when cars are already parked on one side or both. Mark works up a sweat during most drives.
- Walking in the Peak District: The hills here are so ridiculous, they're ridonkulous! Mums and Dads here are superstars for givin 'er with their prams up these bad boys! I'm going to come back with awesome calf muscles and buns of steel!
- Picking up eggs at the grocery store from the non-refridgerated section - are they really that fresh?
- Seeing very young kids sitting in car seats in the front passenger seat. There are warnings to not place a rear-facing child in the front seat while the air bag is activated - if it's deactivated though, it's okay - crazy!
What We Can't Get Enough Of:
- Cornish Pasties from our local bakery.
- Regularly hearing roosters and seeing horses walking along our road.
- Driving past many farm fields with animals on the way out of town.
- Fell running - this one's just Mark's.
