Tuesday 2nd December 2008

Today I learned two new things about the English....(1) They adapt to the cold INCREDIBLY well and ....(2) they are very very fit. These two revelations came to me during another wonderful shopping trip to Brighton with my friend Josie.

The morning started off in a rushed stressful manner....picture it.....children off to school......outside to de-ice car with warm water......back inside to make an important phone call.....oh hell running late, supposed to have collected Josie by 9.30, now 9.25.....phone Josie to tell her I am running late.....rush outside with Nick in car seat to see that aforementioned warm water has refrozen to the windscreen.......aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....back inside for another bucket of warm water......right off....oh hell, no petrol...............arrive at Josie's at 9.45 (and those of you who know me well know how I LOATH being late).....Josie brings Oscar to the car, and wait for it, the back door is FROZEN shut......so looking a little sheepish I ask my new friend if she would mind climbing into my car through the BOOT, all the while assuring her that the door will be defrosted by the time we get to Brighton!!!!!!

Well I am thrilled to announce that by the time we did get to Brighton the door had defrosted and I had de-stressed somewhat and the hair was once again lying flat and we proceeded to enjoy a leisurely long downhill stroll to the lanes where we intended doing some Christmas shopping....again no photos, still trying the local look with no camera (it is KILLING me lol).

This is where my first discovery - the English adapt to the cold INCREDIBLY well - comes from. Just before leaving the house I noticed our thermometer read 3.2 degrees (and thank heavens I did as it meant Nic and I dressed appropriately in thermal underwear, lots of layers and my new best friend, my cream coat) anyhoo, it was while wandering the lanes with my nose streaming and my hands literally frozen to the handle of Nicholas's pram that I noticed that everyone around me was as casual as I would have been strolling down Durban beachfront on a mid December afternoon...they really don't seem to feel the cold anymore, and it gives me hope, maybe by the end of winter my blood will have thinned or thickened (whichever is applicable) enough to allow me to look oh so nonchalant in weather just marginally above freezing point....all that said however, I am enjoying the icy crispness, not mad about it when it rains, but when the sky is bright blue as it was this morning it is very invigorating.

After a very successful morning shopping we decided to head back to the car so that we had time to stop by the garden center in Ditchling for me to have a look at the Christmas decorations, but before I go into that.....remember the stroll downhill into the lanes......well this is discovery number two - the English are very very fit - I am talking a solid 2km walk straight up hill, no breaks, just up up up, well to say I was puffing is the understatement of the century, of course I blamed it on the thin cold air and not enough oxygen and Nicholas's heavy pram, but I know the truth, I am simply not walking fit, not in the way the English are, there were people of over 60 passing me left and right and Josie had to keep stopping to let me catch up (she says with a blush on her cheeks).....so I am now committed to getting fit and am going to try and up my 1 hour walk a week to at least 2 or 3 1 hour walks and I have to stop avoiding the hills (lol).

But enough of Brighton and on to the Garden Centre at Ditchling....it was the most AMAZING place I have ever ever ever been into in my life....I am talking life size polar bears made out of lights and every kind of Father Christmas imaginable, the decorations are put into colour ways and I have never seen anything like it, there must have been 30 different snow globes to choose from.....I literally stood there with my mouth hanging open and have decided to take Megs back for a couple of hours on Saturday so that we can have a proper look around ....that is another thing about the English, they certainly know how to do Christmas!

Finally home to Josie's for a quick cup of tea and then on to fetch the children from school and home to a chilly evening in. Tomorrow night is Lindfield night in the village where they close off the High street for a night market and I am helping at the Beaver/Cubs table, weather forecast is 1 degree.