It is officially cold in England, if you want my humble desert-rat opinion! Where I spent the majority of my life (Yuma, Arizona) there are very few days in the year, even in winter, when it stays below maybe 60F. But this is England. The evenings have steadily been in the high 40sF for the past few nights, which isn't all that cold. Except for when it's windy and you have thinned out blood from living in serious heat for 14 and a half years! I won't lie, I'm enjoying it, but my hands are really cold as I type this.
Mick and I went to a town called Worthing this morning on the train. It's about 30 minutes from Bognor. We had to go here because Mick took his written driving test today. He was a bit nervous about it (who likes tests, really?) I assured him he'd do fine, and I think he knew that, too. But still. We're a worry-wart couple. I wasn't allowed into the office where the test took place, so I sat in the stairwell to wait for him, perched on a very hard step. After about 10 minutes, my bum started to feel a bit worse for the wear so I searched google maps on my phone for somewhere to get a hot drink and sit on a comfy couch. Maps told me there was a place just around the corner, maybe 50 yards from where I was sitting. I sent Mick a text (he wouldn't get it until after the test, because he'd had to turn off his phone and store it in a locker before he was able to sit the exam) telling him where I was.
I rounded the corner and crossed the street and found a very cute little coffee shop called Fancy Coffee. I immediately liked the place as I reached for the doorknob. An Italian looking man smiled at me from behind the counter and offered me a menu. I accepted the menu and decided that a hot chocolate sounded absolutely fabulous. I chose the comfy red leather couch in front of the window and watched people walk past the shop while I waited for my drink. I noticed a little old lady walk past with some very metallic purple eyeshadow. I had to smile.
The man brought my hot chocolate. It was almost too pretty to drink !
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| ...almost. |
After only a few minutes, Mick called to find out where I was. He crossed the street to join me. He passed! I'm sure a lot of you are thinking "what's the big deal, the guy's 25 and driving tests are easy." Yes, they are... in America. In England, driving is actually a really difficult process to go through. Not to mention expensive. This is the first time he's ever taken the written test, but that's because he never really needed to before, with friends and public transportation. He did really well and showed me the sheet with his scores on it. Now he just needs to book the actual driving test, which I'm sure he'll also smoke! He celebrated with some caramel shortbread.
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| How great is that funky cutlery?! |
We enjoyed our treats and went out to brave the cold so we could walk back to the train station. It's too bad we don't really ever have any reason to go to Worthing. I really liked Fancy Coffee and would love to make it a regular haunt of mine.
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| Fancy Coffee. |
On another note, our family has some very exciting news... my sister and her horse Big Tyme just competed in the Pan American dressage games in Guadalajara Mexico. It was a huge deal, a massive honor to even make the USA team. This weekend, my parents, brother and his wife, and my brother in law all made the trip to Mexico to watch my sister ride. Mick and I really wanted to go, but understandably, it was just a bit too far for us. As it turns out, the USA Dressage team won the Gold Medal! My sister also won 3rd place for individual medals. I don't think the competition is quite over yet, but I'm so very proud of you, big sister! It must be such a reward for you to work at something so hard for most of your life and then to get such an amazing reward. I've watched you work for this since I was just a little girl, and I couldn't be happier for you. You truly are an inspiration! I wish we could have been there, but I can't wait for you to get home so we can talk on Skype and you can tell me all about it!
Read about dressage here (most people don't know what the heck it is!)
And read about the Pan American USA team (and my big sister!) here.
I think it's time to take a nice hot shower to warm me up!
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