Britain has a noble tradition known as Sunday Roast.  This is a large afternoon meal eaten after church, or in the case of me and my friends, after dragging oneself out of bed after a late Saturday night. There are two ways to have Sunday Roast: either your mum cooks it for you, or you … Continue reading →

This morning I awoke from a horrific dream.   It was my first day working in an office.  I shared a space with three other people, one of whom was overly friendly, the next had an inflated sense of seniority, and the third refused to smile at all.  All the computers had at least one … Continue reading →

This afternoon I found myself in one of my favorite cafes here in Exeter, Cafe Espresso.  It’s an especially good place to go on a Saturday afternoon for a coffee and a cake while perusing the free newspapers they provide to see which particular corner of the globe is sinking that week.  The cafe is … Continue reading →

In addition to helping out at the conference over the weekend, I also had a meeting with my supervisor.  Supervisory meetings are designed to accomplish one thing: to terrify you into actually doing some work so you won’t have to show up without something to hide behind. No, seriously, my supervisor is very supportive.   … Continue reading →

I live in a newly-built development.  Our front door is right across from a funeral home and a 7th-Day Adventist church.  I mostly use the back door, though, which opens out into a small fenced garden: gravel with a brick path, a picnic table, a potted palm tree, a pot of bamboo, a pot of … Continue reading →

Today was an absolutely beautiful day here in the West Country, as the region where I live is known.  I huffed my way up the hill to the final day of our conference, and only when I was most of the way there realized I was a half-hour early.  No matter: this gave me time … Continue reading →

Since I got back to Britain I’ve been back to my department a couple of times, but today was the first day that the building was actually full of people because of the conference we’re co-hosting, Britain and the Muslim World.  I’m involved in stewarding the conference, which basically involves sitting at the registration desk … Continue reading →

There are a lot of tiny but profound things I’d forgotten about British culture in my absence.  There are the obvious and oft-repeated vocabulary differences, and there are plenty of (mainly humorous) idiosyncratic dictionaries devoted to parsing them all out.  Then there are some more subtle things: when I first arrived in England I’d taken … Continue reading →

It wasn’t until about twelve hours after I got off the plane that I realized I’d grabbed the wrong jacket.  I went to put my hand in the pocket and realized there was a zipper where there shouldn’t have been anything.  Plus my infamous Grumpy hat, obtained on a cold day at Disney World, wasn’t … Continue reading →

I always love arriving in Florida.  Flying in everything is so sunny and bright, with the light reflecting off the water making it a shade of blue not found in other parts of the world.  Step off the plane and the heat hits you – whoosh! – and suddenly the world is full of palm … Continue reading →