- woke up at 5:30, 8:30 and 9:30 (when i finally gave up on trying to sleep)... i already miss the shutters of southern europe, summer "sun" (ok, light) streaming through the windows is quite unhelpful when trying to fall back asleep after a coughing fit. caryn and i didn't actually get out of bed until noon however, so i guess i can't complain much
- wandered down to the garden where we found my parents reading. caryn and i got some tea and i showered while my mom began preparing breakfast since we'd finally emerged
- full proper breakfast (eggs, toast, beans, bacon, sausage, fried tomatoes, mushrooms... and tea, of course) with the family in the garden, since it's the only place that fits all 6 of us and all the plates/dishes it took to serve up the spread in the first place. luckily the rain held off until just after we finished eating
- thanks to the rain, we decided to scrap our plan to trek up to carisbrooke castle until some future date, though the forecast for the week seems pretty miserable and after 6 weeks of sweltering sunshine i am all for a long soaking wet rainy cold walk across the fields... seriously, i live for this. anyway, mom and i put on the laundry and we watched the start of the tour de france for the day which was good, but we missed all the good bits which (obviously) come at the end of the stage. it's so nice to be watching it again, in the front room of our cottage, with my dad and brother... like always
- walked into town with my parents to go to barclay's and get my english account fully under my name now that i'm over 18. unfortunately residency proved to be more problematic than we expected and i cannot actually legally gain access to my money... thanks england. anyways, we also went to the post office to take our passport photos for our citizenship papers (!!!) and went to the chemists. exciting, i know. we tried taking the footpath into town, but got hopelessly lost and it took forever. on the way out we just followed the main road and were home in no time, go figure.
- hung out with my family over tea. we taught caryn the art of dipping digestives in tea and talked about literally everything, including the opportunity for me to (possibly) do some riding this week - i can't wait! victoria made some comment about rescuing a wrapper from a pond, but in my head i immediately conjured the image of a rapper instead (big ghetto black man floudering in an english pond covered in mildew) which i obviously had to share since it was hilarious. this prompted my mother to begin "rapping" off the cuff... i was impressed (though not surprised) by her ability to rhyme so many ridiculous things and the voice she used, which was much more as you would expect from a crooner than a rapper, was unbelievably funny. i think caryn is starting to understand just how crazy my family is now
- walked down the road to the waverly pub for dinner. we taught caryn 31 and sevens while we were waiting for our food and i had my first jacket potato since arriving in the UK which was, as usual, immensely filling. victoria and i split a rhubarb crumble (with custard, of course) since it's too good to pass up, but we were both stuffed.
- wandered a bit further down the road to walk off our dinner a bit to one of the fords that the area is apparently known for... such a typical family summer activity. my mom and i spent the walk teaching caryn about fords and fields and stiles and i pointed out both stinging nettles and doc leaves, aka: surviving the english countryside 101.
- skyped greg, watched lost in austen, one of victoria's favorite movies, with caryn, victoria and charles for a while, read some decameron, and then went to bed... quite a successfully english and relaxing day - i needed this
