UK Soon!

Yo my Luvs over there!

Why am I over here??????

3 hours sleep last night til Russ and I got up at 3:45am, my angel son Russ I mean- and headed to Heathrow, the plane was amazingly empty and we all stretched out and slept, but I still didn’t sleep so great-

long day, if it is 8:42pm here, it is probably 4am there, and I am going to sleep, with my lovely BBC channel on.

I miss Eastenders and will really be a lump when I miss X-Factor! I am getting hair extensions just to feel the love of X and Cheryl..

love you all so much, love you Russ an Csaba for putting up with me like a baby snoring in their bed for a month. treated like the queen was, definitely better food and better purse-write soon, Kemptown is where my heart is.

We are planning a Thanksgiving over here, with a Mature Christmas pudding,’6 month matured for a rich, moist flavour. Packed with juice-sweet vine fruits, glace cherries, walnuts and almonds, laced with sherry and cognac. This is the kind we can set on fire if we wish.

No turkeys but seagulls squawking on Thanksgiving day, it’s no gobble, but loads and loads of thanks.

I am also thinking of all my abundance here, giving Praise and thanks, and enjoying the Thanksgiving gifts of friends and The Holy Spirit in my life.

Happy Thanksgiving.

I went to church this morning the girls there greeted me with ‘well Roberta, how’s the job search going, coffee or tea, there’s the biscuits, sit down.’ How cool is that? I read some history on the church as I walked around, Queen Adelaide started attending church there at St. George’s in Kemptown, I believe in the early 1800’s, and she and her husband were childless, so the line of royalty zig zagged to her niece Victoria. The balconies were built in the church when it became so popular with the Queen here attending church.

You can Google Brighton and Kemptown and see where we are. I got a small booklet in the church lobby,with pictures saying Lewis Carroll lived here and a tunnel in his yard supposedly to the sea inspired Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. One writer was a nurse who cared for resident Laurence Olivier when he was ill towards the end of his life.

Part of the history of the church was to have a pub crawl every bank holiday and call on all the pubs, in a pram race.

There is a fair in the yards of the church and starting in 1990 they have a bed push race, partly sponsored by Royal Sussex Hospital also in the neighborhood, she says the costumes are way out there, but they are in these beds, and just as the sun is setting the whole community comes out and they all have a great laugh.

Then she talks about shops on the corners and my favorite part, “the retirees seem to be a little wacky..you know..in their own ways, one of the things about living here is just the level of acceptance..no one cares what you do, who you are, as long as you get along with everyone else, everyone else will look after you.” Then she goes on to talk about the big gay community now, they  have always been with us, but they are more prominent now which is not a problem, but we used to know them quite well in the old days..and she goes on to talk about the gay pride parade she goes to watch,’ they are all dressed up, I like it actually, I think  it’s a good thing to have here’..The booklet is called Kemp Town Through the Looking Glass, a History of Kemp Town Told Through the Words and Memories of Local People.

The teddy bear woman was also at church and I asked how her list of Teddy Bear names were going for the raffle. She said,”the list has your daughter’s names on it, Brooke Bear and Melody Bear. They will pick the name of the bear this weekend and tell me what it is so I can put the winning name in my pocket.”

I am sorry I will miss the Christmas bazaar, I think it is this weekend.

Then today Csaba and I walked to town for coffee, just missing the rain, and onwards to see Russ at his office. Tonite we meet Fig and Mark. Fig did my cover letter on this website. Thanks Fig.

what kind of clothes work well over here? even umbrellas are torn up in the weather. I am soaked with the sleeves and shoulders of my sweater totally wet. The saving grace is that I wore a skirt and not pants, so that can dry off as it swings around more in the air.

Things are moving here and positive with jobs and I have been blessed. If you ever come to UK and want hospice work, they call it Palliative Care over here. In an interview today I was asked what it meant to me. I said I hadn’t heard the word used in such a way before I came here, but I described the work I wanted to get done in a job. Palliative means taking care of symptoms for comfort, not curing, and not necessarily in end of life situations like a hospice is. This could be with a long term chronic illness like chemotherapy or dialysis, finding out their needs for better comfort.

I have been a sucker for a long time for missing the way buildings and apartments used to be when my grandma took me around on the buses in Chicago. England looks about that old, and the social times at church and at people’s homes are slow, meals with tables, socializing into the evenings, times to meet for the weekends and cook at somebody’s house, great vintage shops, amazing flats decorated stylishly, not necessarily expensive. People collect different things, they knit, they have their babies in buggies or in the parks, dogs in church, fountains in the many parks. Plus it is safe here, people are out all times of day and night walking home from buses or jobs. Many people do not have a car. I really miss those days. Also home made cooking and invitations all the time to drop by and have a tea. One can find many times of peace, listen to the dogs barking or the tennis balls bouncing, sit in the gardens, watch children out and about with their parents more than in the US, playing with their parents in bookstores or streets. Health lies in balance. Time to feel spiritual, feel the wonder and awe, sunset, waves,gulls, walk by flats close to the streets and see people eating at the table inside or still cooking in kitchens.

It is the world I lived in and the world I missed for 30 years, now it is all over here.

I am so glad to be here for American Thanksgiving. Csaba is planning the meal already-Roasted winter vegetables with goats cheese and sesame seeds and wine.

I will be here for Christmas season next time, it is so beautiful herre, and Csaba is talking about taking me to London, but I want to go to church coffee on Wednesday and pinch my few pennies I have left. After all, I meant to stay 2 weeks and it has been a month.

I am going to miss my friends here cheering me on, and I am thankful for you, ,and Anita and Zuke. Happy Thanksgiving ahead of time. Now for East enders which I is a big part of my life now when it comes to mind candy, and my walks.

back home now, wet but it is home. Stephen Fry is in US ice fishing in Minnesota with his travel show. I watched a movie from 1952,’She Wants Mink’, so funny! she was actually in a dream scene on a large hamster wheel walking it round and round with all her problems printed on signs on the wheel, and her husband quit his job and she started to raise minks in her back yard..they got evicted, what a hoot. Just google the title or watch it.

One woman at church said her dad had a stroke and if so, Brighton people are sent to hospital at Haywards Heath (one of the train stops I noticed) and some of the nurses there didn’t talk English or talk with the patients. When Russ put in ad in a magazine before I got here for private nurses, I  got between 25-35 calls. I could have worked had I had the paperwork done. One person asked if I would put a teapot on for her mum because the agency nurses wouldn’t do it. Some of those jobs sounded wonderful. At once place I would have my own home, or lodge to stay in. Some of those families were going to give me each weekend off, and I could sleep at night. Some of the offers were very rough round the clock work, plus cooking. I don’t think 3 people could do that job required of one person. Life goes on. It is a big world out here. I left Chicago with a small trailer years ago. I can’t bring a trailer here, but I can have a full life. keep in touch.

I noticed a church a short walk from here. Two years ago at Christmas and advent I was walking miles to the churches in town.

So this morning I thought I would get myself some church, as my Black Preacher at Faith Temple used to say, now he is a Bishop, who I had the honor of caring for when he had a cerebral aneurysm years back.

Back to the story, the church is in the neighborhood, and very old and warm..Altho there seemed to be an active group of programs in the basement, like a cafeteria and various people having lunch there, I asked if there was a coffee for ladies, and the manager said it was upstairs in the church.

The sign on the outside panel had said it was Mondays and Wednesdays 10am-noon.  I couldn’t have asked for a nicer situation. Women of all ages sitting around a table talking. I was immediately offered coffee or tea, and the pies and biscuits.

First things first, the pie was amazing. The crust was plentiful and flaky. The lady who later said she made it said nearly everyone liked apple so she brought a pie each coffee. Her friend told me she made all kinds of pies all the times and mentioned various bazaars she had contributed to. When a man joined us and made an effort to get all the loose crust on his plate, she glanced at  me with a twinkle in her eye, what a pie!

I answered some greetings saying I was here to be a nurse, the feedback was totally encouraging and said they really needed nurses. I got some details on a girlfriend who was a nurse and the procedure she went through for training. The tea was delicious, there was a dog that came to all the coffees and to church who cuddled up to my cold feet when I petted him.

The lady sitting by me told me it was a lovely church and the children played in the back of the church during the service. It was a nice chapel with stained glass and lots of light. Some ladies discussing mulled cider, Christmas, new tables, why wasn’t somebody there. etc. Some of the accents I totally understood but one lady has such a heavy accent I had no idea what she was saying. Lucky she was telling me something and it didn’t seem to involve an answer back, I did tell her it was hard for me to understand , being at the end of a long table also.

The best topic was a Teddy Bear they were using for a fund raising and a woman walked in almost at noon saying she needed teddy bear names because the kids were to draw a name after their donation, and if their name matched the one she had in her pocket, they would win the bear. So we were invited to offer Teddy bear names. She had some like Paddington, I suggested Brownie the name of my first teddy, but then the suggestions were definitely old and related to stories I had heard when I was little-Ruby Bear, Millie, Arthur, Lizzy, Lilly, Henry, Sunny, George, Holly (my suggestion again) and now my mind is a blank because so many of the names were charming and of years past.

I am sure I will go to the next coffee, Friday sounded good, and on Saturday it is clean up day for Sunday,they said I didn’t have to clean. There was something going on there each day, just to socialize at the church. I walked home in the rather heavy rain, my trousers soaked. There were people in pubs and coffeeshops talk talk talk, a rarity to me from where I have lived now, how relaxing and blessed to have this place to find friends and conversations.

The waves were higher than ever, and the wind and rain so hard it was difficult to watch the sea. I usually don’t cross the street to get closer, because it is a wide main street and more often than not, I am looking the wrong way as they drive on the left, and the steering wheels are on the right. How odd it has been to sit in the left front seat and not have a wheel in front of me. Of course I always try to get in the drivers seat on the right, but I have at least figured out which side to go into now.

I have to wash some clothes that I will leaving behind. The clothes racks are slow to dry, so I will pack my things in a basket so as not to have them damp.

The BBC tv news is on, town up north has 26 bridges closed, 6 collapsed, water had been 8 feet high, some of the old bridges are holding up better than the new ones, but the roads on the old ones have cracks. Some of the freezers in the shops were lifted by the rain and floods, and in this wreckage, the people are still saying Christmas in this town would be alot different. Heartening to know they plan to go ahead and decorate the town. These people have only been in the town an hour to check on their places. How sad, but it is good lengthy reporting.

The reporter is rushing about asking if they can let their cameraman in to get a view so in they go and have a chat. What a mess, and how pretty is that town with the rivers.

One more thing, the church I visited this morning has a big yard with picnic tables. I imagine it is there for us who have no yard or other nearby parks. I could see myself there having a lunch, donating a chair and going back to read in the grassy area. However there are lots of big parks and greenways and beachfronts and a 15 minute walk to town with fountains and greenways in the streets, and also huge grounds where Queen Victoria’s summer home is, still there.

Time to plan more appointments and plans.

Finally those annoying twins are off X Factor. I am going to miss Olly’s dancing and funkiness but my goal of the trip was to get Jedward off the telly and all that jumping around.

Tremendous success, ad from Friday has been worth the £££££.So we sent my language proficiency scores into the Registry and we will get another form to continue paperwork.

The supper tonite was a Sunday ahrhoasstttt as Csaba says. He put honey and 1/2 an orange squeezed and drizzled on the veggies, potatoes danced with the gravy and the Yorkshire  pudding was great. Everytime they cut an onion, I have to go take a walk due to the excitement and the fact that my eyes are watering beyond any help but taking a walk. I went to the sea tonite and noticed the moon is just starting to show more light. Of course the moon is always full, but it is the light on it (duh) that gives me the sight of the waves at night.

To those asking me, no, all the flooding in UK is 300 miles north of London, and Brighton is 60 miles south of London, end of the train line at Brighton station because the sea is here. duh.

I am ready to go read and continue all these journeys. This time I won’t  have to leave Russ and think it will be years until I see my son again, even though he phones me at least once a week. There are lots of things to reframe in my life now.

The Sunday paper had an entire section about the nature of festivals in Spain. I have a Native American friend who brings horses to Spain after he gets them trained, this is all more impressive than I thought. Sounds like the festivals in Spain are pretty amazing.

Sunday papers, Sunday, heaven!

Having worked each weekend for the past almost 2 years, Sundays are starting to soak into my soul as they great day it is.

A day of rest..wake up listening to radio, read the papers. Then Csaba asked me to come grocery shop with them. We walked along the sea to the grocery by the marina. As we waited for the bus afterwards, the waves crashed against the marina so high that it looked like they were fireworks in the sky.

Sunday is a good day to stay inside again and have ginger cookies and coffee and tuna sandwiches. I am leaving Friday and only taking a few things back with me, that seems a pretty real commitment to return here to live, not just talk.

It is great to have a son here who asks if my feet are cold and when I want to have supper. I have missed family and Russ for so many years. I am a family person from all the aunts and uncles that were my Granny and Grandpa’s brothers and sisters when I was growing up in Chicago. Since my grandparents never had a car, we were always taking buses and trains and that is probably why I enjoy  it so much here and seeing Christmas from a bus.

I’ve started, in these final days, to have it become so real to me how my life will change in wonderful social ways when I move here, and balanced again with simple things like radio and people watching and pubs to visit when one needs to talk to a loved one.

Goodbye to Richard’s parents in Yorkshire and I will indeed see you next time, sorry I missed you this time…now time for some more Sunday reading. Ya know, Sting on the radio sounds really wonderful.