Pleasant Suprises

Before we came to England, there were a few things I expected (I outlined many of them here), but I really tried to not have expectations. 

I am pleased to report that I have had many pleasant surprises since we got here.  The following list is by no means comprehensive, but just highlights some of the niceties and surprises.

Refrigerator!

I actually did expect this one before we came (even though I reported otherwise).  The week before we left, Tim texted me and said "(PM) pulled some strings, and we're going to have a refrigerator in our room!!" I texted him right back and said "This is a REALLY BIG DEAL.  Please give (PM) a hug and a kiss for me." Then I chuckled myself all the way through HyVee picturing Tim giving PM a hug and a kiss. (The hug and the kiss didn't actually happen).

What this means is that I can keep things cold in the hotel room!  Water bottles, yogurt, cheese, hummus...  The possibilities are endless!  I am no longer resigned to 3 months of Ramen noodles.

Nice, big towels

Some hotel towels are nice.  Some are a little on the skimpy side.  These are like beach blankets!  They wrap all the way around my wide girth and reach from my armpits to a modest mid-calf length.  It's wonderful...

Nice, big room

Tim had warned me that hotel rooms over here are small, and after he stayed here for a site visit, he explained the layout, emphasizing how small it was.  It's like he knows I have a problem with expectations, and he was trying to buffer that.  Anyway, PM got us an upgraded room that is PLENTY spacious for our needs.  It's wonderful.

Nice, big bathroom

Again, Tim warned me of the smallness.  Again, I am surprised at how roomy (and nice!) it is.

Nice, big closet

I figured we would have about a 3 ft bar to hang our clothes on, but this one surpasses even US hotel closets.  So spacious!  This means I can buy more clothes, right :)

Shortbread!

As part of our upgraded room, we get "branded teas, coffees, and biscuits.". And the biscuits are shortbread fingers.  Yum!  Now if I can only figure out how to be out of the room so they service it every day and refill our stash...

Fun new flavors of yogurt

Our first night here we went to the grocery store, and since we have a fridge, we could get yogurt.  I was thrilled to see they had Activia, but bummed that they didn't have vanilla in in regular yogurt, only the fat free.  However, they had plenty of other interesting flavors to choose from: pear, rhubarb, pineapple and coconut, and fig to name a few.

I got rhubarb and pineapple and coconut.  As much as I love rhubarb, it doesn't translate to yogurt very well.  Its a texture thing.  The pineapple and coconut is awesome, though.  Sing it with me! If you like  piña coladas...

BBC Olympic coverage

The Olympics are over now, and so is my life.  Just kidding... but seriously.  BBC has FANTASTIC Olympic coverage ALL THE TIME.  And they have no commercials!  So I was only inspired to be awesome, not to be awesome and eat McDonald's. This probably deserved a whole blog post in and of itself, but since the games are over, I think that ship has sailed.  Let's go for bullets:

• I think I saw way more events than I do in the US, because they cover everything, not just the "big ticket events." Cross country skiing, nordic skiing, alpine skiing, halfpipe events, curling, skeleton, bobsled, luge, figure skating, hockey, speed skating ice dancing.  You name it, they covered it!  Especially curling.  Speaking of which...
• Team GB did really well in curling, both men's and women's, and the BBC made sure to air every match (game? end?) AT LEAST ONCE.  Since I was so tired all I wanted to do was sit around and watch the Olympics, this means I watch A LOT of curling.  At first I had no idea what was going on, but after watching hours of it, you start to catch on and understand the sport and really get into it.  There is so much strategy involved!  I love it!  Sapphire, I think this is our event.
• As I watched the coverage of lots of events like skating, skiing, and snowboarding, I thought "Man, there are a lot more wipe-outs, falls, and crashes this year." That may or may not be true, but what I realized was that the BBC shows ALL of the contenders, especially in the semi-finals and finals, not just Team USA and the "serious contenders." They show the good, the bad, and the ugly.  And there were some ugly wipe-outs...
• Some of the commentator are so hilarious, especially on the half-pipe and free-skiing events.  There were a lot of good quotes I should have written down, but the only one I really remember was regarding a bad jump on the men's half-pipe skiing.  "When a jump goes really well, it looks really good.  When it goes badly, though it looks rather like a matchstick got in a fight with a ceiling fan." So true.

Flowers

It's still February, right?  Because I see flowers everywhere!  Before we left, I was mentally composing a blog post of things that will have changed/ happened before we get back, and I figured that the daffodils and tulips will have come and probably gone before we get home.  I didn't even think about the fact that I would see them here!  It's wonderful and confusing all at once.  I walk through parks and smell flowers.  A couple of times when we were in Greenwich, I stopped by a large pot of flowers and said (out loud) "What is this?  Flowers in February?"

I have no idea how they distinguish the seasons in this mild climate, but in my book, if flowers are surviving outside, it is spring.