Week Nine Update

Keighley Market, Church Green
Originally uploaded by Nancy Dunne

This past Saturday my sisters in law Louise and Sarah threw a wonderful reception for me and Simon here in the UK. It was a bit overwhelming, in that there were lots of new faces there to meet, but it was also wonderful to be so accepted into not only my husband's family but his circle of friends as well. Cheers all around, y'all! One thing I especially loved was the food on the buffet. The only thing missing, seriously, was Yorkshire pudding. Pork pies, mini scotch eggs/egg biters, bread and butter, and trifle. I love that it was very representative not only of England but of the particular part of the country where we live.

I had some doubts earlier this week about my place in this country and specifically in Yorkshire when the European election results came in, but I've had a good think about it since and I've decided that I love where I live. The people around me are real, genuine even to a fault, and they have all been so very nice to me. Also, if I understand the results correctly, there were two specific parts of "Yorkshire and theHumber" that had a large hand in voting in the British National Party and neither of them was Keighley . I was guilty of doing the same thing that I find annoying in others...painting an entire area with the same brush instead of seeing the individual parts that make up the whole. There are a lot of very progressive, intelligent, forward-thinking people in Yorkshire, just like there are everywhere. Sadly, there are also closed-minded, xenophobic people everywhere too.

The big news of the week, though, is that yesterday I took my first solo train trip yesterday. Although it was only to Bradford, it was all by myself and to a station I've only been to once prior. I popped over to go to a fantastic pet shop that Simon and I visited on my first trip over in 2007 so that I could get some nail trimming implements of doom for the cat. You'd think that I spent the entire trip berating myself for not doing it sooner, for being unnecessarily cautious, but I didn't. Instead I thoroughly enjoyed my new found freedom (and talked on twitter/posted pics to twitpic till I killed the battery in my phone) and made the entire journey in just over two hours. I can't say that I could have done that faster with a car.

I've applied for a job and for a BSL course at a college in Leeds...in two weeks I'll be visiting home...Daisy and Mills seem healthy and happy....dare I say all feels right? I still miss Hunky more than I can put into words...his loss makes Jeany's absence more acute and more bearable, all at the same time. But we're moving on; books to write, Yorkshire to explore.

I'm resolving to do better with the blog too...weekly updates on Wednesdays at the least. Hang in there, Lettuce Readers, the blog is heading back to normal, whatever that is for me anyway.