Brandon, Co. Durham, UK
We'ev settled into our new apt, which is in a housing estate (large neighborhood) a couple of miles outside of Durham. It's a fine place, but the shops aren't as convenient and it doesn't have the charm of Lanchester. Our neighbors seem nice, though possibly sketchy. Our apt was maintained really well by the last tenant, who had made several upgrades and then she moved out. Graham was talking to the girl whose boyfriend lives upstairs and she said that the previous tenant had moved out because of loud music from our next-door neighbors. The thing is, our next-door neighbors connect at our bedroom and they never play music late at night. The music from the boyfriend upstairs is the loudest. We met our next-door neighbors at the local shop the other day and they introduced themselves (seem friendly) and said that they hoped that their music didn't bother us and that the last tenant was just horrible about it, and invited us over for tea sometime. Then we got to the counter as our neighbors were leaving and the check-out lady was having one of the shop guys spray air freshener and saying that someone who left was terribly smelly. I'm not sure if it was our neighbors and we didn't notice that they reeked, but they did look a tad sketchy.
Graham and I have spent the last couple of weeks working on grad school stuff and contacting professors. I'd say about half of the time has been spent on the letters and responses and the other half, I've spent freaking out. The crazy thing is, that the professors have mostly responded and they've been very helpful, even at the intimidating schools. Now we just have to write personal statements, get our grades and scores sent out, pester recommendation writers, and fill in forms online.
Wedding news: in addition to finding a venue, we've set a date: Sunday, March 26th at 11:30 am. And the best part is, I don't even need to invite you for you to show up! All weddings in England are required to be open to the public, just in case anyone feels like stopping by and telling me that Graham has a crazy wife hidden in his attic. For our honeymoon, we plan to fly to Naples and see Pompeii, and then drive around the southwest of Italy, which seems a bit less touristy than the rest of it (we'll soon change that!). If anyone has been, I welcome travel suggestions!
We have a great local butcher who does great sausage rolls, which are kind of like sausage croissants and a few kinds of sausages. He's ultra-friendly and says "Thank you" about five times a minute. You don't know whether you say "You're welcome" each time or to nod your head, or to just try to ignore him.
Graham and I have been doing some quite impressive cooking. In addition to sausage and homemade chips(french fries, which, by the way, actually *are* good with mayonnaise), we do fabulous Guizhou food, and I've been doing great chicken breasts stuffed with blue cheese with a red wine sauce. We're welcoming new, easy recipe ideas.
Lanchester
So, yes, the house is sold. The inspector should be coming by some time soon to check things out. Hopefully they will call first, this time. Now Graham and I have to find a new apartment. I won't even get into all the headaches this is going to entail, but it's more than normal.
The good news is we've figured out where to get married. We're doing it at Eggleston Hall, in north Yorkshire. Actually, no, it's still in County Durham, but it's near Yorkshire. It's a nice country house and we'll have full run of the place. The only thing is, the guest list is a bit longer than number of beds available, so we're going to have to find B&Bs nearby where people can stay. Other good news is that catering is in-house, so I don't have to worry about finding a caterer, we aren't having dancing, so I don't need to audition bands or find a d.j., and the wedding and reception are at the same place, so no cars to worry about. Basically I'm finished.