Sigh...

Smith Christmas

How did the Smith Family Christmas go? It didn't! As you can see in Donny's Facebook pictures, we had a little snowstorm on Saturday, the day of the party. About 20 inches.

I invited 30 people - 4 came. 2 were our next door neighbors and the other 2 were Pam and Eric, bless them. The house looked beautiful - fire in the fireplace, lights everywhere, snow falling outside, carols playing, food for 30 people including an entire red velvet cake, a 10 lb. ham, meatballs, cookies, cheesecake, presents piled high...my first Christmas gathering for my family...to say I was crushed is an understatement. Thank goodness for the 4 people that did manage to get there.

Pam and I are driving down to see Mom on Christmas Eve but other than that, we won't get together as a family this year.

how'd it go?

Could someone let us know how the Smith Family Christmas get together went?

Christmas Greetings From Germany

It's -15 C here and it has snowed everyday since we got here. Our lodge is in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. I hate the cold, but it is beautiful! We can see the Alps from our window and all around us when we're out and about. To get here we took the ferry to Belgium, and then drove the rest of the way. Rick is a true international driver now having driven in England, Scotland, Belgium and Germany.

So far we have visited Innsbruck and Dachau in Austria, and driven through Munich. Rick and Joe have tried skiing, but Julie and I opted to shop that day.

Yesterday we visited the Kris Kindle Market (Christmas Market). We had hot orange punch and cheese fondue while we shopped. Stalls are set up on the square with all kinds of things - it's very cute. This was the one in Garmisch - every town has it's own and each one is a little different.

We've also ridden the cable cars up to the top of one of the mountains, and took the train down. Well, Rick and I did - the kids opted for the train both ways.

We have two more days before we go home, getting home on Christmas Eve. Tomorrow we're going on a night tour of the Gorge, apparently complete with lighted torches. Gotta love any activity that lets you play with fire!

Rick is taking lots of pictures to share later. Hope everyone is having a merry Christmas season so far!

Happy Thanksgiving To All

Interestingly, even though Thanksgiving is not a British holiday, the turkey sales are pretty prevalent and the Christmas decorations are up, so it's almost like home. We started the day with a nice brisk walk downtown where we picked up a Santa suit for Joe. He's doing a charity run for St Michael's Hospice Sunday and all of the runners are wearing Santa suits.

We stopped at an outdoor cafe to get a cup of hot chocolate, and it started pouring. Rick was a good sport about it - we actually did sit and finish the hot chocolate in the wind and rain before heading home to put the turkey in the oven.

I like the ritual of preparing the turkey and the familiar side dshes (you know we'll have olives!). I always think about all of my family members preparing for the same dinner all over the world, and it connects us somehow.

For everyone out there, I wish you a glorious day spent in the company of those you love, with the knowledge that you are loved and remembered by those of us who are not there as well1

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Feeling good

Well I'm home. After all the drama of trying to get admitted to the hospital I finally had my gallbladder ripped out by the roots. Everything went fine. I see the doctor for my follow-up visit on December the 9th. It took me a few days to get my energy back but today I feel 100% better. I still get tired if I do to much but the pain I constantly felt in my abdomen is gone.
The next step is to recover through December and then get the scar tissue in my left shoulder cut so I can get a full range of motion back,after the 1st of the year.
I'll keep everyone posted as things progress.
As far as the hospital goes, it was great. It was a private hospital. I had a private room with a private bath. If you needed pain medicine you got it in about 60 seconds after asking for it. This is compared to literally six hours in a National health hospital. When I could eat again, dinner consisted of hot tea followed by creme of mushroom soup, roast lamb with mint sauce and five scoops of lemon sorbet for desert. Since I missed my lunch of chicken salad and tea because I was in surgery, they brought me that too along with my dinner. At 1:00am after my surgery the nurse came in, saw that I was still awake and brought me a tray of hot tea.
It was great as far as hospitals go. The girl who helped me get my insurance approval even came up to my room to make sure everything went well.
That's about it for now.
Cheers!

Posted by rick at 6:29 PM 0 comments

Rick's Tales from the Front

As many of you know, Rick has been battling the hospital and the insurance company to get his gall bladder operation scheduled. Because he's going through a private hospital, not NHS (National Health Service), and because they can, the hospital wanted payment up front. They would accept a guarantee of payment from the insurance company, but the insurance company would not provide a guarantee of payment until he was admitted, and the hospital would not admit him until they got a guarantee. Classic catch-22.

So how to come up with 9,000.00? We went down several roads, and eventually got a loan, freeing him for surgery. We signed the papers, and called the hospital to see how they wanted the check made out and who to deliver it to.

Surprise! They had worked things out with the insurance company!

So we are good to go. No out of pocket for now, and pleased to know that our signature alone can buy us at least 9,000.00 on any given day.

Surgery tomorrow!

Ta-Da!!!

Homecoming Pictures

In an unexpected move, both children went to the homecoming dance. Most kids went in groups not with dates, so almost everyone goes. And dresses up. Julie is in several pictures nad Joe is in a couple. I think it's fun to see the dresses. Here's the link - just paste into your browser..

http://www.mhil-ehs.eu.dodea.edu/images/Homecoming_17Oct2009/index.htm

SmithlutzleetherJESUSblog?

Youth Drama - Tyler as Jesus. Standing ovation for our youth! They have performed it twice in public for our two churches that have teamed up on this; they hit the road in November for a by request performance from another church.

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuAexOBQgCM

Julie and Joe's latest achievements

Julie is proving to be a star in her French course getting lots of 100's on her tests. She has also been assigned to advanced seminar which gives her time during school to work on whatever she wants due to her outstanding performance.
Class President Joe was presented an award today for his outstanding achievement on his summer job and was also given a hat by the women at the University of MD college here on the base.

Don't Be Afraid...

to be brutally honest...

Having dipped a tentative toe into the water by contacting our district rep, who wants to talk me out of applying for seminary?

By all means, bring up the time and the expense (so not cheap), and anything else you can
think of on the negative side.

Just the application process can take up to a year, before you even get to think about
an actual class... and then it's a five year process after that, and then a three year probationary period after that, so almost a ten year process before you actually get to do anything with it.
Plus working full-time...

Mondays

Having Mondays off somehow seems like playing hooky - no matter how many hours I've put in in a week. Today has been a 'puttering' kind of day which is really doublespeak for 'not getting anything completely done'

Enjoying the beautiful day. I keep wandering out to the deck in my puttering mode to soak up some sun.

Happy Monday to everyone!

Working Hard...

We are in fix up the house mode! We have done a ton of stuff this past year - redone the upstairs bathroom (painted, repaired the ceiling, put in a new vanity top, new light fixture & new decor), redone the guest room (painted & new decor), painted the laundry room and now...the screen porch! We enclosed it (and by "we" I really mean the guy we hired), turning it into a mudroom/sunroom (Donny and I disagree on exactly what we turned it into...anyway...). It's completely enclosed now, with 4 windows instead of screens. We painted it a nice bright yellow which looks very pretty with the white windows and white doors. Got some new furnishings and the carpet will be installed this week, a nice warm brown. I will post a picture when it's all done. I wish I had a "Before" picture but the porch always looked so awful I swear I don't think we ever took one picture of it.

I don't like spiders and snakes

Now the snakes are not a problem. They are all hanging out by rivers and woods and places I don't wander around that often. The spiders on the other hand, consider September to be the month they move indoors. Some would say it's them moving into a warmer place for the winter, but it is 70 - 80 here these past two weeks, and the spiders are trooping in like they own the place. Get them a collar and a leash and these guys could be your second dog - they are big!

Oh I know they're harmless - these are second cousins of the daddy longlegs. But I don't like them. In fact, I am afraid of them on some deep, visceral level that leads me to scream whenever I see them scurrying across the floor. At least the rest of the family is accommodating. They immediately leap into spider killing mode. (No lectures please - I really don't care about all the good stuff they do. If they would stay out of my house, I would let them live a long and happy life. I do not bother them in their house, they shouldn't bother me in mine!)

Happily, it's pretty much all over by October, November at the latest. They disappear. I don't trouble myself wondering where they're camping because they don't venture into sight. As it should be.

What critters are heading your way these days?

Rick's Pacemaker

All went well. He's home and doing well.

Liverpool Album

Click here to view these pictures larger

Liverpool

Yesterday we visited Liverpool. We saw George Harrison, Paul McCartney and John Lennon's houses, Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields. Very cool. George Harrison and Paul McCartney grew up in Council houses - sort of the equivalent of our Section 8 housing. George's house is still a Council house. We didn't have time to book the actual tours of the inside of John or Paul's house - maybe next time. Generation gap - I was thinking about buying a T shirt with the Apple record logo, as I always liked it. Joe said "Mom, no one will know - they'll just think it's the Apple (IPod) logo." I could not convince him that folks of my generation would actually know the reference.

Penny Lane looks nothing like the pretty picture you get in your head when listening to the song - I'll post pictures later. The boys actually grew up traipsing around Penny Lane, which was pretty neat.

We also went to the Cavern Club where they started playing. That was also very cool.

Sermon online

Well it's finally posted. If you get a chance to listen, don't hold the music against us - basically the whole band was away and many brave folks stepped in, but many of us were definitely out of our comfort zones!

http://trinitytownpoint.com/default.aspx?PageType=PODCASTS

It's so quiet around here...

We had to have Tigger put to sleep yesterday. Very very sad. She had really gone downhill in the past few weeks. We tried everything we could think of but she just got worse and worse. After everything was said and done, they said they suspect she had a brain tumor but a lot of good that info does us now! Anyway, for a dog that never made any noise, it sure is quiet around here. Sigh...

she was just...lovely.

Get those passports people!

Everyone will now have an extra 3 years to cross the pond. I've been offered, and have accepted, a new job here. This will allow both kids to graduate from MHS. Our rotation back to the states will be July 2013.

We'll be visiting next summer, probably mid July, early August for a week or so. Definitely Me, Rick, Joe. Julie only if we can kick this fear of flying!

I do miss everyone, but this was too good an offer to pass up. So come on over. We're only 2 hours away from Scotland, Paris, Italy or Ireland (to name a few!).

I can see clearly now...

Joe is the latest in the family to get contacts. Here's his new look...

Sermonizing

Sermon went great last week. I absolutely love preaching! I love the research, I love the writing - once I'm done proscrastinating, I love everything about it - no matter how much I may complain about doing it...

It should actually be up on the podcast sometime in the next week or so. I'll send a link once it's posted.

diagnosis

O.K. I saw the Dr. tonight. I have something called "sick sinus syndrome". My heart rate is pumping around 30 to 50 beats per minute. So after my family reunion in Branson Mo.the week of 8/8 to 8/15 I will be having a pacemaker put in. Then I can re-schedule the surgery on my left shoulder. After it heals I may need surgery on my right shoulder as it has a 2 cm. x 2 cm. tear in it as well.
Good night and Good luck.

4th of July

Since everyone is posting their 4th of July recaps, I guess I'll post mine! Donny and I traveled to Washington D.C. for the day to celebrate. We did have a good time overall but really, a little planning would have gone a long way. We figured we could go to different museums, get something to eat and then watch the fireworks. What we didn't think about was that the museums close at 5:00 and the fireworks don't start until 9:15.

That is a LONG time with nothing to do. No shops were open. No restaurants were open. There were plenty of vendors on the street so we weren't going to starve but eating a hot dog takes about 2 minutes so...that still leaves about 4 hours. A couple of books and a deck of cards would have been made the afternoon much less stressful, that's for sure. By about 7:00 we were looking at each other and saying "Should we just go?" but after you've put in all that time, how could we go? Ugh...

Very nice fireworks though. After only seeing local town fireworks for all these years it's quite an event to see a real "big city" spectacle. Very impressive.

Happy 4th

Happy 4th all.

Didn't get too far from home today - I am preaching tomorrow morning and spent bursts of the day editing my sermon once again and once again and once again.

The plague of the amateur!

I figure between the church mission trip, the holiday and the fact that the pastor is away, there should be 5 people in attendance...

Happy Fourth of July!

Like most people, we more fully appreciate something when we don't have it, or when it becomes more difficult to get it. Obviously, the 4th is not a universally celebrated holiday. You might think celebrating in Britain might be a tad politically incorrect, but celebrate it we do - on the 27th of June. The odd date is intended to minimize the disruption of the 4th of July protests held outside the base each year, attracting (I'm told - haven't actually seen them) several hundred protesters. Realistically, this probably means less than 100, and it's a scheduled, peaceful event, they just get in the way of the folks going in and out of the base.

Which would have been a bigger problem than usual this year as we had over 2500 guests (Brits) in attendance at our celebration. As it turns out, everyone loves a party. There were rides, games, hot dogs and hamburgers, a soap box derby, musical entertainment and, of course, fireworks. It was fairly warm for change too - no winter coat needed this year.

For added fun, we took a trip down south today to one of our sister bases where they hold their 4th of July on the 4th of July (how odd!). We got another dose of funnel cake and hot dogs before heading back home.

Now we're sitting here listening as fireworks are going off somewhere out there - maybe it's our British neighbors celebrating "Thanksgiving".

Joe's Track Meet

A little late, but here we go.

2 Down 1 to Go

Summer Jobs

Very exciting - both kids have summer jobs this year. The base has a 4 week summer jobs program. Julie starts Monday. Joe will work the second session in July. So paychecks for everyone and something to show for the summer besides the glow of skin warmed by the computer screen!

air france flight 447

I believe I know what caused the crash of Air France flight 447.
It is my suspicion that the electronic indicators on the plan told the french pilots "it's time to fight to save this aircraft". Being french, the pilots threw up their hands and exclaimed "we're french! We don't fight!
And so they just rode it in.

I Ordered the Hat!

Yes, here we have to pick the hat, leave the outfit, and wait for them to trim the hat to match. Well, not necessarily. I mean I could have just gotten a hat that seemed OK, but why not go for the whole experience? Jen and I went to the hat shop and picked our hats. She went for a big pale green number which will be trimmed with black and maybe some pink to match her dress. I went for a smaller black one that will be trimmed with green. I told them to make it more dramatic if they could. I can't wait to see what they come up with. It's 10 pence a feather. I don't plan to audit the feathers, I'll just assume they got it right.

my blog site

I guess it would help if I actually gave you the web address :-)

http://pjsrandomthoughts.blogspot.com/

My Blog

My first foray into my own blog. I have had this account for, I think, at least two years! As a friend shared with me

'the first blog is the hardest'

(sung to the tune of 'The First Cut is the Deepest')

:-)

More House

I've attached an inside picture of the house but that's all I have right now. Here is a link to a virtual tour of the house but I don't know how much longer it will be up. If it does come up, click on "Run" at the bottom of the first picture to start the tour.

http://www.visualtour.com/shownp.asp?sk=16&t=1825261

our new Grate Dane puppy

I'll use my right arm to hold the new dogs leash. Trust me. It's only a matter of time before I bring "Fluffy" home

House

Sara and Sarah have an accepted contract on a house!!!!!!!! It is BEAUTIFUL and they are so excited! As long as there are no problems with the inspection they will close on June 26. This house is in Brandymill which is only about a mile from where Donny and I used to live in SC.

we're getting a Great Dane puppy!

Same old, Same old

Rick is still not back to work. Scar tissue is preventing him from raising his arm up far enough. You know the routine - first we try the physical therapy, then go in to break it up if therapy doesn't work. I swear I never realized how debilitating scar tissue can be. The problem seems very cyclical - operate, form scar tissue - operate again. Personally, I say how far do you really need to raise your arm?

Mother's Day

I had an extremely nice Mother's Day. Donny said he wanted to take me out to breakfast and I thought about it and how expensive it would be and how it's always so crowded that you're herded in and out like cattle and I said No thank you!

I told him I wanted to pack something for breakfast and go to one of our favorite hiking spots that we discovered last year and have a picnic breakfast and then go for a long hike. And that's exactly what we did. It was WONDERFUL. We spread out a blanket, got out coffee out and read the paper sitting by the water watching the bikers and the joggers and the walkers go by. And then we joined them ourselves, tackling two different trails, Rocky Run and Hidden Pond. Rocky Run was the trail that we did last year that I had such a hard time with - I was almost in tears because it was so hard for me and I didn't know why. I figured it was the thyroid problem but it was SO difficult that I thought my hiking/walking days were over.

I only realized later that I was anemic and that's why it was so hard. So I really wanted to redeem myself and try it again - piece of cake! Whew! When we were done hiking we spread the blanket out again and just laid in the sun and relaxd. Followed that with a trip to Barnes & Noble to get a piece of cheesecake and an Iced Caramel Macchiato.

I would have to say it was The Perfect Day.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mothers out there. England celebrated Mothering day a couple of weeks ago, but we're sticking with the American version. Which means that unlike the States, we can go out to a local restaurant today and it won't be packed! Our plan though, is to do a family cooking challenge again. The menu tonight is Lemongrass soup and barbeque beef. Rick is also making a mushroom soup, but since no one else likes mushrooms, it's all on him.

Showing that we are total food addicts, Rick also got up this morning and made me my favorite breakfast - eggs benedict. But tonight is when the true Mother's Day festivities begin - Julie's honors project is due tomorrow and she needs a little help finishing up.

Birthday Wishes

Happy Birthday Donny

Cinco de Mayo!

Home Safe and Sound

Got in a couple of hours ago. Fairly uneventful trip back. It was great to spend time with everyone. By the time I left, I could barely close the suitcases!

Spring has Sprung

We have had such nice weather over the past two weeks I can't believe it. I actually wore a jacket today! Not a coat. Not a sweater, a sweatsirt and a jacket. Just a jacket. Surreal....

Coming Home

OK, here's the scoop. I fly out of Manchester on Sunday April 19 at 11:30 (AM) our time. I arrive in Newark, NJ at 2:25 PM your time. From Newark, I fly to Baltimore, arriving at 6:14. I'm renting a car, so I suspect I'll be arriving in Middletown around 8:30. That allows for time to get through baggage and even a little time to get lost. I'll have a TracPhone with me, but I don't think it will be active until I get to a Walmart to top it up.

Things I want to do while home:

Grottos, Crabs, Chinese. Yes, it all revolves around food! Also some clothes shopping.

I'm hoping that Mom would like to go to the Old Mill in Delmar for crabs (sparing you non-seafood lovers).

I can't wait to see everyone. Pam - if there's any way to get a day off, it would be great to spend a day with you. If not, we'll have to make do with a weeknight.

Joe's Writing Contest Entry

Joe made another entry to the writing contest this year, and just like last year, he won his grade level. Thought you would all be interested in his entry.

My Most Prized Possession
Sitting at my desk, I delicately hold my mostprized possession—a small gold chain that oncebelonged to my grandmother. Light observationof the chain leads to close examination, andsmall details of the chain soon become apparent.The way the chain shimmers slightly from thelamp above me, the intricate weaving of the goldlinks that form the chain, and the small engravingpermanently etched on the clasp all becomevisible.
These details soon yield thought, which thenleads to memories. These thoughts are the treasuredmemories of my grandmother: the smells ofher home-cooking, the gentle sounds of hervoice, and the shine of her carefully pamperedhair all linger in my mind. It is at this momentthat I realize that the chain simply serves as areminder of times past: a carrier of what is trulymy most prized possession—my memories.
Joe Laverty GR 8Menwith Hill EHS, England

Some of Mark's artwork

Happy Birthday Pat and Pam!

Hope you had a good birthday and a good year on the way. I love you guys!

Amsterdam

Make a Smilebox photobook

Random Stuff

First of all, Donna - the whole chip adventure - ick - you're a better consumer than I am. I think it's really cool, though, the things that you do with the kids - I need to be more mindful about having small adventures with my guys.

Jonathan is gainfully employed and actually working an enormous number of hours. He is working for Gamer Doc - a game store that just opened. He is in the Jonathan version of heaven right now...

It's been a long time coming, but Tyler is now an Eagle Scout - he passed his last Board of Review with the District. We'll have his ceremony in the spring, but he can officially call himself and Eagle.

My job is going well, but Lent and Confirmation are wearing me out...

Also, I have decided I have got to stop using the words 'I think we should', as I have now completely filled up what is supposed to be my slower down time - summer - with a summer camp proposal. So now for the summer I will be directing a program with 45 kids each week, 6 employees and a $50,000 budget. Right now I am in the midst of enormous amounts of paperwork to get our provisional state license.

Well, nothing too exciting, but nothing traumatic either - and I think that's a good thing!

Blessings

Pam

Chips and Dip Anyone?

The big potato chip (crisps) company here is Walker's. They are currently running something similar to M&M's vote for your favorite color campaign. In this case, it's vote for your favorite flavor. There are 6 to choose from, so Joe and I went out this morning and picked them up. Here are the choices: Builder's Breakfast, Chilli & Chocolate, Fish & Chips, Onion Bhaji, Crispy Duck & Hoisen, and Cajun Squirrel.

We made it through all 6, but it wasn't easy. Pretty different from Barbeque and Sour Cream and Onion. Most, including the Cajun Squirrel, were, well... nasty. No other way to describe it. But, proving nasty is in the taste of the taster, Joe liked Fish & Chips - I gagged. I liked Onion Bhaji, Joe almost spit it out. Julie wouldn't even try them, but she is thinking about foisting them on unsuspecting friends. Rick wants to send them to you all. So if he does - Bon Appetit!

Spring has Sprung

It's still pretty darned cold, but the crocuses are blooming and we are seeing lambs - the surest signs that spring is coming.

Hope you enjoy the new look

Just trying to keep this interesting. If you play hangman, clicking on the bottom (where you know it says something, but you can't make out what) will start a new game.

Brain Wave 2

Just updating on what the neuro had to say.

He thinks what happened is I was on Cipro for a kidney infection, and somehow the mitral valve and the Cipro broke loose a small blood clot. The first thing he said to me was: Don't ever take Cipro again.

I still have blood work to get done, and have to see the neuro again in April, but things are okay.

Could it happen again - yes. Am I going to spend my life worrying about it - nope.

I will say though, my foot fell asleep the other night, and I momentarily panicked...

Amsterdam

Last night I saw a special rate for the Amsterdam ferry. Then I saw that the Amsterdam restaurant festival was running the same week as the ferry special. Seemed like fate. Like most of my dreams of cheap travel, this has already cost more than I expected, but we have a ferry, a hotel, and a restaurant booked for March 5 and 6. This is the beauty of our location - we're basically taking a weekend trip to Amsterdam. The ferry leaves at 9 PM, we have dinner on board and sleep in bunk beds - I'll get the top bunk since Rick will still have a shoulder sling. The next morning, we arrive in Amsterdam, find the hotel to drop off our bags, go to lunch at the restaurant and then explore the city. I'd like to take a canal cruise, but we'll see how we're doing money-wise. The next morning it's breakfast at the hotel and more exploring. Then back to the ferry. Oh, and Julie can go with us because no plane is involved.

Woe is me...

Just a quick note of woe - my hours have been reduced at work; i.e., less money, we have a plumbing situation that has already cost us $2,800 in the past week and could go as high as $4,500 (they are still diagnosing, which can't be good), and we just found out we owe $1,400 to the IRS! The reduced hours made us upset, the plumbing situation made us furious but once we heard about the taxes, well, it had reached such ridiculous proportions at that point that all we could do was laugh. So...hahahahaha...

Sigh...

Brain Wave Update

I just want everybody to know that I am perfectly okay right now. I saw my PCP this afternoon and she has reviewed all the test results and nothing is jumping out doing backflips. My EEG results weren't back yet, so that still needs to be reviewed. I have about 8 different blood tests to get done - wonder how many tubes that'll take. The soonest neurologist appointment I could get was mid-March, but my doctor wasn't happy with that so she's going to call the neuro and see about getting me a sooner appointment.

Every day that I wake up with all my fingers and toes moving is a good day - I have no complaints. I just keep flashing on all that happened and it seems so totally bizarre.

Blessings to you all.

Sunday Musings

Today we cleaned - vacuumned everything, cleared out the computer room, even emptied some drawers. I felt like stuff was starting to grow in the corners, so it had to be done. It's really cold here today, so we're hibernating.

What's the update Pam? Do you have a diagnosis, or just possibilities? If they say it's age or stress, welcome to over 40 medicine!

I have a root canal scheduled for the 10th - that should be interesting. I'd try to let it go, but my tooth hurts too much.

Homecoming

Looks like I'll be back in town the last week of April for a conference. I think I'll plan to get there either the week before, or stay a week after so I can visit. Any input on what would work best for you?

I figure I'll rent a car, but it would be great if I could crash somewhere instead of paying for hotel time. Any takers?

Good Luck on Sunday

Pam -

I'll be thinking about you Sunday. I'm sure you'll do well, I just wish I could see it!

Driving in The UK

It really is the little things. It amuses me every morning as I head down Cold Bath Road, meander to Penny Pot Lane, over to Burley Bank Road and finally, Cold Cotes Road. Which is really nothing compared to Blubberhouse Road and Skeleton On Ure.

And let's not forget the roundabouts. Within a half mile, we can go through the Empress, the Prince of Wales, the Jubilee, the Little Wonder or the Skipton. And that's just the major ones.

Need to turn around? Don't turn down a Close - that's the equivalent of a Cul-de-Sac. And don't think you're going to drive down the Snickleways in the Shambles in York - too narrow.

Well, the cold snap has finally snapped. Good thing - I was going into hibernation mode! Not much planned for this weekend, but we may try a new Chinese place located in the old bathhouses. Chinese can be very different here, so it's a gamble.