larger view

Even though it rains a lot and it's like as cold as Bakersfield in winter I LOVE it here!

Thursday – September 4, 2008: (clicks dates for photos)

The flight wasn't bad at all, I had a side aisle seat next to two brothers from Swindon who had just spent a few weeks in Florida. I slept at least 5 hours of the 9.5 hour flight – decongestant and champagne on take off quickly followed by a bottle of wine served immediately afterwards with my first meal at 34,000 feet will do that to you. I woke up for the second meal and drank water and made sure to get up several times until we landed.

I made it through customs pretty quickly; my friend Kerri from Philly met me at my terminal holding a name sign - that was so freakin awesome of her! 

She'd flown in several hours earlier, took a bus to my terminal and waited for me so we could grab a drink before we parted ways on our own adventures.  My friend Craig picked me up from the airport, the ride to Cheltenham was long with an accident somewhere ahead of us.  We arrived at Jack's flat sometime after 6, the rest of the evening is a bit hazy from jet lag, but I freshened up, met a few of his friends that were already hanging out in the living room, had toast with marmalade (the only food item in the flat besides butter – I swear! – he is quite the bachelor complete with a mini fridge the size of a shoebox), drank half a glass of gawd awful cider, and then Jack sent everyone off so we could get to bed before 11 – he had to work in the morning. 

Friday – September 5, 2008:

Since Jack was working our friend Craig took me out of lunch at a nice place called The Slug and Lettuce.  I had an excellent vegetarian lasagnia that came with a side of bread and Rocket (arugula – or baby greens to us).  We took a short walk in the rain while I took a few photos of the bizarre Centaur statue in the promenade. It began to rain harder so we hopped in the car and stopped by his friends house then he took me to the grocery store so I could pick up food supplies to prevent me from starving and so I could make a proper dinner. The grocery store was located near the GCHQ – it's like a giant government spy headquarters that is supposed to be hush hush, but everyone knows it is here. 

When we arrived back at Jack's flat I went to cleaning the neglected kitchen.  Jack called Craig while I was cleaning and Craig told me he said to stop – I refused, if I wanted to feed myself I had to clean.  Garbage disposals are a wonderful invention – Jack's flat needs one.  Finally I had sautéed garlic chicken, veges, and mashed potatoes ready for Jack and I when he arrived home – Craig had to run off to help his mom.  After dinner we headed out with one of his many friend to meet up with Craig and several others as we pub crawled from the Frog and Fiddle to Après in the brewery (a club with way too much red lighting inside so you retreat to the outdoor sitting area which is fortunately heated), and lastly, Bentley's, a more upscale bar.

Saturday – September 6, 2008:

It was raining pretty heavy and I was pretty tired so we just had a relaxing day in, but I really enjoyed Jack's Saturday tradition of pork rolls from a shop down the road called "FEED"  It is sliced pork on a fresh baguette with salt, pepper, and applesauce.   He had to run to the bank before it closed and on his way back he picked up pork rolls and Appletiser's (a sparkling apple juice). 

That evening we went to his sister's for a wonderful dinner of smoked duck served chinese style, with cucumber, spring onions, sauce, and "pancakes" to wrap and eat.  That was so filling we hardly had room for the second course of rice and a chicken mixture to top it with (even though that was also really good).  Fun meeting the family, wonderful people!  Loved the farm, the atmosphere here kind of reminds me of Northern California.  She made us crispy duck, and my wine glass was never empty - seriously.  I have no idea how much I drank.  His brother-in-law gave us a ride back into town and we called it an early night because as Jack nicknamed me … I'm two drink Kindra. 

Sunday – September 7, 2008:

Today we went to a pub called Taylors for a light lunch.  We had the oriental finger food plate – tempura veges and prawns with spring rolls.  Then we walked to the grocery store to pick up Cream Puffs for dessert to take to his friend's flat. 

Man can his friend cook!  We ate a wonderful Sunday dinner - roast, potatoes, gravy, leeks, other veges, and yorkshire pudding (which I thought was a roll, later finding out that is actually Yorkshire pudding – it is SO good!).  I had my first taste of British TV, the commercial's were pretty funny and I laughed when they called Easy off Bam – Easy off BANG!

Several friends wandered in and out, before Jack and I headed back to Jack's flat before it began to rain again (everything is walking distance, I love it!). Another friend came over with Conkers and taught me how to play a typical English game where you poke a hole through the conker (an inedible chestnut), tie a string through it and take turns trying to hit your opponents conker with your conker.  Whoever's conker cracks first is the loser. We went to bed early before beginning a week of travel (Jack had the entire week off and everything was planned around football games – I am now officially a Tottenham fan). 

Monday – September 8, 2008:

Jack has this week off, so he took me into Gloucester to see the Cathedral (this poor Abby has one heck of a history – originally founded in 681 AD – just to be destroyed by fire, rebuilt in 1089, consecrated in 1100, destroyed by fire just 22 years later, and rebuilt again. Finally in 1216 the slow rebuild was completed and it was chosen as the venue to crown young Henry III. This did not stop the building from again falling apart and being rebuilt or repaired throughout the years).  They filmed parts of the Harry Potter films in the cloisters (I called them halls) that surround a garden. 

I took a few photos of school boys running down them before we walked through the garden to the Abby coffee shop where I had my first taste of clotted cream – America needs clotted cream for our scones, it rocks! We also went into their 99p store which was really cool and I found Aidan a neat magnetic Bratz game. We'd parked near the docks which have been revitalized to attract people to the area, but you have to drive through a really crap area to get to them.

After that we headed to Cirencester where Jack grew up.  We walked the park around the Abby, the ducks kept walking up to me assuming I was there to feed them, once they realized I didn't have any food they'd waddle off in duck disgust.  Cirencester, like many other towns, is very charming.  I love the architecture.  Jack took me to his favorite pub, his teenage stomping ground, for a drink and snack then we visited a childhood mate of his before heading back to Cheltenham.  

Back at the flat Jack made dinner – Bangers and mash … I was a bit afraid, but I'm willing to try anything (I even managed to choke down some scrambled eggs he had made that morning, even thought I hate eggs). Dinner was actually really good!  A few friends stopped in and out before we called it an early evening. People drink and smoke a lot here.  Guess we would too if it was such a social thing starting at 16.

Tomorrow it's a train to Devon to meet his mom and stay the evening, then back for the football (that's soccer for us Americans) game Wednesday evening.

Figured I'd get this out so later I don't forget!  Mwah!