Two thirds of the world drive on the right side of the road. Even boats and airplanes drive on the right. But four island nations in Europe drive on the left – the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, and Cyprus. We live in the United Kingdom, a left-hand traffic country on the edge of a vast right-hand traffic area. I love driving. I started driving as soon as I turned 16, the legal age in Canada. … Continue reading Driving in France With a British Car
The UK magazine Country Walking runs a challenge to walk 1000 miles in a year. This year Steve and I decided to join in. 1000 miles works out to 2.73 miles per day or about 20 miles per week. It doesn’t sound like much, but if you miss a day or two those miles pile up. Do you remember that episode of the 1950s TV show I Love Lucy where Lucy and Ethel start work … Continue reading #Walk1000Miles
My latest knitting obsession is shawls, knitted in sock yarn (also called fingering or 4 ply). This is a thin yarn, knitted on 3.5mm needles. Shawls are easy to knit, so are perfect to knit while watching TV, listening to the radio or on a trip when you want something simple. Most are garter stitch (knit every row) but some are a combination of garter and stocking stitch (knit right side, purl wrong side). They … Continue reading Knitting Shawls
We moved into our new house on March 1. This was our fourth move in six years of living in the UK. Since we were never sure if we were staying, and we had not shipped our personal things from the US, moving was easy because we had a modest amount of things. Living in a house you don’t own, not buying things for the house because you won’t be there long, means that you … Continue reading Settling into our House in Dorset
We’ve done it – we bought a house in England. The process is different than buying a house in the US – all the same pieces of the transaction are there, but they are done in a different order. In this post I will outline the steps we went through for buying a house in England. (Apparently it is different if buying in Scotland.) This is my personal experience comparing buying a house in the … Continue reading Buying a House in England
We moved to the Cotswolds in May of 2010 and each summer spent a week in Dorset or Cornwall. We were happy in the Cotswolds and didn’t think of moving to the coast, but we liked to visit in the summer. As much as we loved Cornwall, the way that narrow piece of land juts out into the Atlantic, it just felt too far away from everything and too exposed to the elements in winter. … Continue reading Arriving in Dorset
I started 2016 by cleaning up my blog. As I work back through my posts, reformatting the photos and fixing or removing bad links, I realize how much I wrote about our cat Buddy over the years. And that I could never bring myself to write a post saying that he died in February 2015 – almost a year ago. We got Buddy in December 2005, when he was six years old. Our previous cats, … Continue reading Saying Goodbye to our Wonderful Cat
The MET Office has started naming storm systems, the way they name hurricanes in North America. At the end of December we have already been through Abigal, Barney, Clodagh, Desmond, and Eva. Frank is battering us now. Desmond caused flooding in Cumbria. Eva caused flooding in Lancashire and Yorkshire on Boxing Day. Frank is hitting all these spots, plus Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Towns that flooded in early December are being flooded again now. The … Continue reading High Winds and Heavy Rain
At the end of October, after five and a half years living in the Cotswolds, we left. We arrived in Nailsworth in spring 2010, me, Steve and our cat Buddy, with the idea of spending a year in the Cotswolds. We rented out our house in Colorado and rented a furnished house in Nailsworth. We had tried living in England twice before, but it never stuck. In the late 80s we spent six months traveling … Continue reading Leaving The Cotswolds
People frequently ask me how I am able to live in the UK. A US or Canadian citizen can live here for six months as a visitor. In most of Europe only 90 days are allowed. Steve and I are both Irish citizens, which gives us the right to live in any of the European Union countries, including the UK. My father was born in Ireland, lived there until his mid-20s, then moved to England … Continue reading How I Became a Citizen of Several Countries