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Ingrid in England
UK summer in all its splendour
It doesn't surprise me that so many songs are written about the English countryside. Everything looks so clean. The grass is greener, the air looks and feels cleaner and even the animals grazing in the meadows look clean.
We spotted some cows alongside a fence and the picture they painted against the green meadows was picture-box pretty. The cows looked scrubbed. I wanted to go and inspect them to see if t ...
Discovering the best of Basingstoke
When the move to the UK was firmly on the cards, as my husband paced up and down the streets of London, going for multitude interviews, I would spend feverish hours on the internet back in SA, searching for the right place for us to stay. We had a long criteria list: Hampshire, close to rail and bus transport, reasonable schools/colleges, swimming-training facility, hopefully a dancing school and some shops ...
In search of a quaint seaside town in the UK...
I’d like to use the word ‘quaint’ when I describe most English villages but as the dictionary states the word means strange in an interesting or pleasing way, then I’m not exactly sure it’s the word I’m after. And yet, it’s the only word that comes to mind each time I drive through the scattered villages.
Emsworth in Hampshire is one such place. Although the Sunday food market is small, there is certainly ...
Mud mud glorious mud
The thought did cross my mind when we left SA as to whether my sports-loving son would continue in his sports quest here in the UK. Besides studying sports at college (he immediately jumped at the chance of studying sports instead of history and geography of course) he has tried various sporting activities, but finally settled for his one big passion, rugby.
What he didn’t account for though, was that play ...
Feeling safe in England. If only in SA...
My son sits upstairs at his computer, he’s busy chatting on Facebook to his many friends both here and in SA and in the background, his speakers are blaring away. Downstairs working on the computer, I listen to the very loud music. I wipe away at tears that stream down my cheeks as I listen to Kurt Darren’s Loslappie – ‘O ek wil huis toe gaan, na mamma toe.’ Robbie Wessels De La Rey and Player 23 follow. ...
How's the weather my dear?
It’s really not that bad, you know. The weather, that is. I had envisioned myself ploughing through the rain each and every day, squelching through puddles, wet clothes hanging all over the house, dogs muddy paw prints decorating floorboards and carpets and a permeating damp smell seeping through the walls.
The first things I made sure we purchased on arrival in the UK were umbrellas. One for each member o ...
