Saturday on the Heath

Pete and I spent yesterday at Hampstead Heath, which is an 800-acre park in North London. It's beautiful and we had a lovely day for it.



The handsome shadow in this picture is Pete.

















Look at this crazy animal! Some onlooker said it was some kind of Mandarin duck or something. I've never seen anything like it.













You can't really tell from this picture, but you can see the London skyline from parts of the Heath, including here.



When Lauren and I came to London in July of 2007, we came to the Heath hoping we'd see Russell Brand who jogs here. No luck either time.

Weirdest country ever

Britain loves "crisps" (what we'd call chips). But they especially love WEIRD crisps .. I mean REALLY weird.

Snapped these the other day at the corner shop.









Fish and Chips

Builder's Breakfast (bacon and eggs)

Prawn Cocktail

Chili and Chocolate

and ... I kid you not ... Cajun Squirrel

Boy friend and boyfriend

Friend Rob met Boyfriend Pete (that's officially how I refer to them now) finally met tonite - good times! We went out for Indian food, and look how much these skinny men in my life can eat. Annoying. Good thing they're cute.

More a ride than a mode of transportation

The Lewisham DLR station
Since I started dating Pete, I frequent the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) much more regularly than I did before. The DLR is this kind of monorail-type train thing, and while it's by far my most direct route to get to Pete's, it's almost laughable. I always say it's "more a ride than a mode of transportation". It feels like being at an amusement park, and like you should only be on it for 4 minutes to get from Pirate's Lagoon to Snoopy's Doghouse or something. I always expect to hear Merry-go-Round music when I'm on it.




























For you cartographiles, here's a map of my route from Lewisham to Woodford, where Pete lives (the thick blue line). It's about an hour door to door, 30 minutes of which is on the DLR. It famously takes about an hour to get just about anywhere in London.
Click on the map to make it larger.

My friend Rob

Dear old Rob deserves his own blog entry by now. He actually hired me at NHS Direct as a temp, which is where I now have a permanent job. Rob was my manager while we both worked there and then when he left at Christmas (breaking my heart), I took over a couple pieces of what his job was - big shoes to fill! Since then especially Rob's become one of my best mates and it's been great getting to know him better.



Last night I went over his flat and he cooked me this beautiful thai curry.















Someone please, guess this man's age. It's my favorite game.










Rob and me at our Christmas party in December.

Back to my Scottish roots

I spent 12 years at Gordon College as "a Fighting Scot", whatever that ever meant to this Italian-American. But I got back to the homeland over the weekend, visiting my friend Sarah who's been home near Edinburgh since early December. Sarah unfortunately has been really sick for over 2 months.

Sarah couldn't come to the airport but made me this great sign!
















We had this AMAZING homemade banoffee pie, which I need to introduce in the United States (banana toffee).



I had such a nice visit and was treated like a (the) queen. When Sarah's better she and I will go back up to Edinburgh so we can explore more.

My window is open in February

It's inexplicably warm and beautiful today. Don't anyone bring up The Day After Tomorrow and ruin it for me.

Official enough for the blog

Mindy and Pete in Chinatown
photo by Cynthia That-Cacopardo



Yes it's true, I'm in a relationship.
Meet my Pete ... age 32, English, committed Christian, works for a financial adviser doing senior admin, absolutely wonderful and funny and charming. We met just after Christmas and already this guy has stolen my heart.


I'm sure that's plenty for now, but here's a few pictures I snapped on Valentines Day. We were in Essex, where he's from, just east of London. Not far from him is some beautiful countryside which we drove through, and saw land and horses and sat looking at ducks and water. And I got to see his school and church and start to meet people in his life. A great day.



You don't see a lot of thatched roofs in New Haven.








It was SO cold outside yesterday but we didn't really mind. :)

Snow problem

Apparently it's international news that the UK got snow. I don't know what the US news is saying, but it should basically say "Snow in the UK Proves Britons are Babies". London at least is completely unequipped for the snow - admittedly we got more than they've had in 18 years, but still ... it's not all that much really.

Despite no buses or trains running, I made a valiant if misguided 2+ hour attempt to get to work yesterday before turning back for fear of losing my wet and frozen feet to gangrene. OK, I too am completely unequipped for the snow.

Anyway, it was very pretty.





This guy used the "Grandma Betty method" of plastic bags over his shoes. I'll bet HE got to work.

Am I posh now? (Joe says no)

My Auntie Sallie gave me a gift card to Harrods for Christmas and I bought this set of silverware there on Friday. What's funny about that to me is that the first set I bought here was an £8 setting for 8 from "Pound Stretcher". I don't suppose many people buy their first set of silverware at Pound Stretcher and their second set at Harrods.

Thanks Sallie. :)

My Londoner friend Joe says Americans can't be posh because "we don't speak proper".