Miscellaneous

I have been wanting to write this post for awhile, but a couple things have prevented it from happening, including my first trip to Rome last week (more on that later).

Celebrating Our Independence

You might have been wondering how the Brits acknowledge America’s favorite holiday, so here it is: they don’t. There was not one word uttered on the BBC or EuroNews channels. I am not sure what I was expecting, but after listening to them rattle on and on about Canada Day (which is July 1), I did expect at least a little something. Oh well, I guess they aren’t quite over it yet!

Pat and I celebrated by going to dinner at a BBQ joint with a group of Americans (and one Spaniard). Thanks for the invite Cars & John! It was a great night, watching baseball on TV, feasting on American food, and making fun of Brits. Haha! Everyone was sharing stories about how their co-workers observed the 4th of July. Here are the highlights:

* Two generous (or hungry?) Brits went out in search of a cake to buy for their American colleagues. They couldn’t find anything fireworks or star spangled banner related, so they returned with a caterpillar cake.

* One elderly male (read crotchety) colleague mumbled something about our “temporary independence” on his walk past an American’s desk.

* John (part Irish, part American) saw a fellow American in the office that day and asked him why he was not sporting his red, white & blue. The guy answered with “I don’t have to wear the colors to show my pride . . . I took all the tea from the break room!”

I hope you all had a great 4th and enjoyed the fireworks for us!

Wimbledon

I am not sure how many of you are tennis fans, but around here tennis takes over during Wimbledon. I definitely got into the spirit and became an overnight expert. Even though we didn’t make it to the hallowed grounds to see any matches live, I did get a couple fun pictures to show how the locals pay homage.

This is the window of a woman’s clothing store:



This is a café/restaurant in our neighborhood: