To Old Homes and Buildings

The house I am staying in right now is actually an older home divided up into several. The first floor is two little shops and there are three flats upstairs. Beth and Jonathan’s looks out onto a main road in town, or around town as it were. I don’t think it’s the High Street but it’s where the buses run so I could be wrong. They have two windows in the front, one in the living room/dining room area, and the second in their bedroom. They are single paned so street noise filters in with hardly a buffer. The top middle section is stained glass. Little squares of purple and green, perfect for Beth and her love of lavender. In the center is a flower with a rather large blue center. The sunlight shines in with mottled hues. Outside, just around the corner from the main street is a sign that explains why the floors are a bit uneven and why the wardrobe door randomly squeaks open. This house was built in 1741.

I am sleeping in a house that is older than my state. John Welsey might have seen this house when he traveled through Cantebury and preached at the church where Beth now works. I could be living in a museum, except that Jonathan is testing out his new hi-def tele by watching a few scenes from Lord of the Rings. Theodin shouting a viking chant to urge the Riders of Rohan onward to a day of glorious war isn’t exactly in line with 1741 lifestyles…

Today we went to the ruins of a church by the seaside. It was quite lovely walking along the shore of the North Sea, wading in almost up to our knees and giggling as we slipped in our flip flops through salty sand. And we found our way down to Reculver which is mostly gone, but the front towers remain. They’ve been kept up as a sign to ships. Far out in the distant waves was a great wind farm. The massive white pilars with their rotating turbines are anchored by huge cement pylons. The group of about 30 windmills supplies 100,000 homes in Kent with their electrical needs. It was amazing to be on a seashore, our hair blown wildly by the stiff breeze, feeling very much like I should be in a Jane Austen novel, wearing a white dress–and yet there were windmills floating in the Northern Sea beyond the old church.

And tomorrow I come home to more wide open spaces (but lacking a seaside). Mm. Let’s hope my smuggling goes smoothly and the recylced plane air isn’t too dry.

Last Day!

Today is my last day in Europe. I have woken up late every morning since being in England. I must be catching up on hours and hours of lost sleep since France. I guess it’s not too surprising, the last few days in France I was running on about 4 hours of sleep each night. But I feel a bit sorry to have wasted a few morning hours by sleeping when I could have been breakfasting with Betherina.

My time here has been lovely. Yesterday we walked around town for a bit, then bought some lunch at Sainsbury’s and came home to eat. Jonathan called to let Beth know that the new tele was here, would we be home to help him carry it up the stairs? Well of course, she answered, Shakespearean plays can’t take more than a couple hours. So they got off the phone and we rushed to St. Augustine’s Abbey to watch A Midsummer Night’s Dream. We sat at the top of the hill, munching on pretzels, dried fruit and fresh plump grapes. Behind the little booth stage stood the humble ruins of the old Abbey. King Henry VIII had it torn down during his “reformation.” It was sad to look at the brick arches and low crumbling walls as the players went about their performance. But climbing around the stones afterwards was also inspiring. This is where St. Augustine lived, in an Abbey built for him by one of hte first converts in England. It felt sad to see so much destruction wreaked by the King in his ridiculous desire to break from Rome. But at the same time, it was amazing to see the legacy of stones that twere laid in the 6th century and still stand as a testament to the work of many saints.

Today we are going to the seaside. I’m not sure if that means the Channel or the Atlantic. Probably the Channel since I can hear seagulls from my sofa bed in the early morning hours, and the bus we’ll take doesn’t go far. It’s lovely outside, a slight chill in the air, but the sun is warm and bright. I love being here with Beth. It feels like old times, even when Jonathan is around. Tonight we’re getting pub food so I can “feel English.” I can practically taste the fish and chips already. And then we’ll probably come home to watch more House and Black Adder. Could life get better?

*I ordered Kosher food on the Chunnel because I have been forced to eat a lot of pig products on this trip and as my mother will testify, I abhorr pig (except for very burnt bacon and occasionally sausage). I thought that Kosher was the safest way to avoid such an unfortunate meal. And it was the way to go!

*please pray for safe travel tomorrow and that I am alert. I have to catch a train to London at 645am!

*please also pray for health between now and my trip to Russia. Probably due to lack of sleep I may have a cold coming on and that wouldn’t make ministry very easy in the next few weeks.

“Well that’s the great thing about real friends…”

… you can go without talking to them for six months and the next time you talk you just pick up where you left off.

It’s true, you know. I’m visiting my friend Beth in England right now and it’s like harldy anytime has gone by since I saw her last. It’s been lovely, walking around Cantebury, seeing the Archbishop’s home, the old cathedral, the Roman wall. Beth and I have had great conversations just the two of us, and we even let her husband Jonathan pitch in when he’s home from work.

I have to admit I was a bit nervous before arriving. I hadn’t seen Beth since Christmas at her state-side wedding reception. And we really only saw each other for a few minutes as she was so busy. So I was a little anxious that perhaps it would be awkward after not spending much time together in probably over a year. Not to mention she’s married, and that seemed to present some adjustment issues. I mean, there’s a man at the house, and she sleeps in the same room as him! That’s just ridiculous! But Jonathan and Beth are perfect together. The way that they tease each other about the new big tele that’s to arrive today that he bought with birthday money. Or how she tackled him last night to try and steal the remote to watch more House, and him yelling “woman! I have to go to bed to go to work!”  Or how they are sweet when they are affectionate and I never feel uncomfortable. Or the way they argue about moving to America, and how Jonathan has terrible reasons not to (I’ll get fat from eating too much fast food. They drive on the wrong side of the road, etc.) Or even just the way they look at each other. I know it sounds chick-flick-ish, but these two really were meant to be together. It just seems natural and easy, they fit each other.

I hope I’m like that someday.

I have so much else to say about being here, about the trip over. I almost didn’t make it thanks to a cranky immigration officer. But he finally let me on the train, and despite my roommate Caitlin’s concerns, the Chunnel did not  collapse and we crossed safely under 23 miles of water. I had a Kosher meal on the train–definitely the way to go. I think I’m ordering Kosher from now on whenever it’s an option. I had fish, bread, lima beans, potatoes, mushrooms, chopped liver and a lemon tart for desert. Everything but the liver was delicious. They were very very nice too, which was wonderful after that nasty customs man. I don’t know why we stereotype the French as being rude and impolite. Except for a few run-ins while ordering ice cream and crepes, I have had entirely pleasant experiences with the French. We actually have good laughs with each other while I’m trying to communicate with hands and Spanish infused French.

But it is lovely to be in England with English again. Everything is much pleasanter in an English accent. I heard the people uspstairs last night having a heated discussion, but it didn’t sound so bad as the ones I experienced with our apartment neighbours this year. Somehow, the British intonations made the argument softer, almost laughable… We had curry last night. That was great fun: Indian food in Cantebury, England. We might go out again this week and get pub food. It’s too bad it’s not football season, or we might have been able to watch a match. Jonathan’s a Fullham fan. He said it’s okay that I like ManU, it isn’t my fault that they only show the Big Five in America. And besides, he added cheerfully, ManU has more of their stuff sold all over the world, especially in Asia, so really, it’s no one’s fault by Sir Alex Ferguson’s that ManU popularity is spreading like a virus. (and yes, I know that was a terrible run-on sentence)

I am very glad to be here with Beth and Jonathan. I told Beth that I was disappointed in the Euro when my last 12 only transferred as £9.50 and then I had to spend £6 on the train to Cantebury from Ashford. She just shrugged, “well you’re home now, so you don’t need to worry about that. We’ll take care of you.”

Now, if only the sofa bed felt like home…