Happy New Year!

I’m back in London with Matt after a month in California. And wonder of wonders, our dog Reiver is with us, too. The process of getting her to the UK was torturous. Even at the last minute there was a problem that took me to San Jose a day before her flight out of San Francisco.

Reiver on Christmas morning.

My goal was for us to make it back to Matt by Christmas and we did. Reiver left a day before me and flew via the Netherlands, spending 24 hours in Amsterdam. She landed in Manchester about the time I arrived at London Heathrow. Matt took a train up to get her and our little family was soon together for the first time in four months. She stayed most of that time with our daughter Shannon and son-in-law Aaron.

Reiver has settled in nicely. She is enjoying being able to go all over the city with us as Brits welcome dogs most places. On Christmas Eve she joined us for dinner at the closest pub to our flat. She was on her best behavior. After seating us, the first thing our waitress did was bring her a cup of water. She just laid down beside me and never made a peep.

We’d gone shopping earlier that day to get items for our Christmas dinner, which was the first big meal I’ve made here. Brits believe in the minimalist style of kitchen. We bought a turkey, stuffing, creamed spinach and mashed potatoes.

I don’t have near enough pots/pans/space to do much in this kitchen, but to be honest, I’m not that interested in cooking here anyway. So into the oven went the turkey. The rest of the stuff was microwaveable.

Unfortunately, we now have to add the oven to our list of appliances that don’t work. I checked on the turkey after 2 hours and it was almost raw. The oven was not producing proper heat for the setting. So we ate the side dishes and were very happy that we hadn’t invited anyone over for Christmas dinner. Plus, this debacle reinforced my desire to not do much cooking here.

Reiver on Christmas Eve at the pub.

Happy New Year, 2022!

We had a quiet New Year’s Eve...just the 3 of us. That afternoon Matt and I walked to a movie theater we hadn’t been to yet. We were the only ones there to see “The Power of the Dog.” I was really interested in seeing this but was slightly disappointed afterward. I woke up during the night and thought a little more about it and realized that I just wasn’t paying enough attention. So, my opinion of it jumped from a 7 to an 8 on a scale of 10. Matt’s opinion was a 6.

We came home, took a nap and then went to dinner at The Compton Arms, a local pub. Good food and excellent Manhattans. Bartenders here usually don’t know how to make those but we were delighted to see them actually on their cocktail menu. We were home by about 7:30 and in bed by 9. We were awake at midnight California time, which is 8 a.m. Jan. 1 here. Does that count?

I woke that morning craving American pancakes. Matt agreed that would be nice so I made up a list of ingredients and he went to our little market around the corner. This is really the first time I’ve made anything from scratch here and it was a chore. Our flat has no measuring cups or spoons so I kind of winged it. 

They didn’t have “our” type of pancake syrup at the market so Matt got a can of something called Lyle’s Golden Syrup. It tastes more like caramel than maple and comes in a can that looks like a polyurethane tin, which is appropriate because the syrup is as thick as varnish. The pancakes were a bit rubbery but it took the edge off my craving.