On Monday, I will have been back from England for 2 whole weeks. Oh, how very long ago that seems. Today is my ninth day back at work and, well, sigh.
In any case, though, the trip was really lovely, but very fast. We spent 2 nights with David’s parents, 2 nights in London, 2 nights with David’s sister, and a last night with an aunt and uncle. Most days, then, we were busy with the coming and going.
Meeting the parents was fine. I don’t think we’ll be terribly close friends, but they did make an effort. In fact, David’s mom even made a kidney free version of steak and kidney pie for me. Which was mortifying, actually. When push comes to shove, I guess I will eat the kidneys rather than have a special dinner made just for me, the lame American. I’m still rather glad that I didn’t have to eat kidneys, though.
I was fascinated by the dinners I was served, specifically by the gravy that always came with dinner. Both David’s mom and his sister served dinner with these little crockery pitchers of gravy. Perfect Gravy. And this allowed them to also serve a medley of vegetables that had been steamed, and nothing else. Who cares how you prepped your veggies if you’re just gonna pour gravy all over them? It turns out that it’s not me who cares about such things.
David has told me, though, that the gravy comes from a tin of powder that you mix with water. They didn’t actually make gravy.
David got to meet his niece for the first time, and he loved her and just wanted to hold her always. It was very sweet. He already seems to get along pretty well with babies in general. In fact, when we were hanging out with Max, long after I had given up trying to soothe the inconsolable and just started taking pictures of the sad, sad pitiful teary faces, David was still trying to hug and rock and amuse that kid. But he says that definitely felt a special love for this baby. It makes me sorry that we are just so far away.
I had that feeling a lot, actually – the feeling of just how too bad it is that we or he can’t be around this more often. It was kind of a scary thought to have as I kept imagining “Could I live here?”
The pub culture was excellent. I could have happily just hung out in pubs all day long. I had a strong penchant for pubs with Something & Something names, like The Dog & Duck or The Coach & Horses. I didn’t see one with a Hedgehog in the title, but I think I really would have liked that. As I was ever on the lookout for an actual hedgehog. Alas, though, none quivered a nose at me the whole time.
Love love love the maps of 
margaret edith 