Blogs from Northumberland, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 9

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Europe » United Kingdom » England » Northumberland September 8th 2012

Another very enjoyable visit to this beautiful county on the border between England and Scotland, with the best of both to enjoy. Our friends' house is in the country, just outside the historic and picturesque towns of Rothbury, Alnwick and Morpeth. And the crew of friends - Ian and Glenis and their family, Richard and Janey, and Willy and Kate - make us feel at home and not just as visitors. Here are just a few pictures that give a sense of the place.... read more
The Heather on the Hill
Church at Edlingham

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Northumberland » Longframlington August 27th 2012

After leaving Melbourne Thursday night, with overnight stays in Sydney and Tokyo, we arrived at Newcastle airport lateish on Saturday night. Not mentioning 2 hours sitting on the tarmac at Heathrow waiting for the airport to recover from a deluge. It is great to be back in the Northumberland countryside again, and staying with our friends Ian and Glenis Reid. And lovely that Ailie is at home too. It had been Cathy's 65th birthday in-flight on Friday, but she had no idea that Glenis had a lovely surprise in store. On Sunday, 14 guests for a magnificent birthday lunch party. There was lots of champagne, wine and whisky, music, and of course Glenis' super cooking (not to mention Janey's "jubilee roulade" for dessert - a big hit! Just fantastic to see so many friends all at ... read more
The Birthday Lunch
The Birthday Girl
The Birthday Stick!


So today wait for it......wait for it.....wait for it.... it wasa SUNNY DAY TODAY!!!!!!! any ways................................................................................................................. So today we woke up and had some breakfeast and then we left to my dads run and he came in 98 out of 154 which is good and the time was 51 minutes. So when my dad was doing the race me and my mom and Russell were playing some soccer for only 25 minutes cause we had to watch my dad finish and then we went to the club house sand there was some treats there and we had one of those and then we left to go to England!!!! So we went to look around there and then we left of to go to the beach and we stayed there for a while and then we left ... read more


Today was the day of Nigel's big race!!! I got in an early run before we left and then we drove to Kelso, about 1 hour and 15 minutes away. The day was bright and sunny, cool and dry!!!! Perfect weather for a run. The race was fairly flat and fast. Nigel was very pleased with his race and felt great afterwards. He got a medal as a keepsake and of course there were some Scottish oatcakes in his racer package. His run included running around the Floors Castle which was gorgeous. Beautiful setting for a race again. The castle is actually still inhabited by a duke and duchess so is perfectly maintained. Afterwards, we made our way east and actually drove into England!! We arrived in Berwick-Upon-Tweed which is just across the Scotland-England border. This ... read more
Aquaduct
Battlement Wall
Nice place for a round of golf


So my birthday-trip-blog-entry took longer than expected to finish, and I apologize for that. But the explanation is very simple. Just kidding. No this didn't happen to me (no car, out-of-country driver's license). What happened to me for real was (is) the end of the semester clinic/case reports/exams/essays/working out Student Loans for next year/realizing I analyzed an assessment wrong and had to do it again, twice... etc. The fact that I'm typing coherently is actually pretty good, all things considered. Anyway. Last week I had the pleasure of turning one year older, and in honor of that I took a trip over the weekend, to a little island (or a TINY island, depending on the tides) called Lindisfarne, or Holy Island. It is just off the northeast coast, slightly south of Berwick upo... read more

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Northumberland » Hexham February 18th 2012

Said my coursemate's boyfriend, seconds before the three of us were hit by a sudden and surprisingly intense snow shower. Luckily it lasted only a few minutes, which is one of several reasons why Saturday was the most British day that ever Britished. I went with a coursemate and her boyfriend on a walk through the countryside near a small town called Allendale, which is not far from Hexham. On this short trek, we walked through (I am not exaggerating) sun, brief snow, sun, hail, wind, hail, sun, MASSIVE HAILSTORM, sun. All of this in about three hours. At times, the sky would go from being almost clear to completely overcast in minutes. But sometimes it was very nice. We started by following the River Allen. img=http://i12.phot... read more

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Northumberland » Hexham January 13th 2012

(QUICK EDIT. I published this before I realized I hadn't mentioned King's Cross. Possibly because it was a rather disappointing experience. Not only is there NO barrier between Platforms 9 and 10 (I knew this from when I visited in 2007, but it's still sad to see), but the whole station is under heavy construction right, so the 'Platform 9 3/4' sign they posted in the lobby area is completely obsructed.) (Also my train left from Platform 4. Oh well.) The Stroop Task is a famous test in cognitive psychology, requiring a person to look at a word and say the color of the ink. In the most difficult version of the task, the words are all colors and ordered in a very specific way. So for example: The word 'GREEN' pops up, written in red. ... read more

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Northumberland » Bamburgh January 5th 2012

10 days to go until the big day, we've been counting down since March 2011, can't believe it's nearly here!... read more

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Northumberland » Alnmouth November 12th 2011

To my coursemates: Thank you so much for your comments over the past week. At the risk of sounding attention-seeking, so much of why I do this blog is for the people reading it, and feedback makes it so much fun to write. I'm glad to hear that the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) US/UK differences are as interesting to you as they are to me. Which brings me to the US/UK mix-up of the week*: Sign Language Mistranslation. *Technically fortnight, but week sounds better. Many of you already know that although we speak the same language, the US and the UK have different sign languages. Most signs in American Sign Language mean absolutely nothing to a speaker of British Sign Language, and vice versa. However, there are a few signs that appear in ... read more


US/UK mix up of the week: When I asked my coursemates what paracetamol (a medicine I've seen in drugstores) is*, one girl replied "Do you know Novocaine?" After a few seconds of "...WHAT?!" I realized no, that was not right and we had a laugh about it. Apparently she got the word "Novocaine" from a Green Day song and didn't know what it was, except some kind of medicine for not feeling pain. Which, to be fair, is true. It has continued to surface as a funny in-joke between us, from when our Anatomy lecturer described the muscles targeted by the real Novocaine, to seeing Children's Paracetamol on shelves and imagining giving a dose of that to a kid for a headache or something. *It's tylenol. Anyway... Berwick upon Tweed is a small town just outside ... read more




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