Simply Skegness

This week I was recovering from a nasty cold. Hoping it goes away quick, but I think it is finally drawing to an end. So not much has happened other than work, coughing, class, coughing, working out and coughing and then a little bit of souvenir shopping with a side of coughing. These souvenirs? Of course they are not for me! They are for you guys, so get excited I have found some great stuff! To make up for the slow week I have some great stories and adventures from my weekend. I was away on my HOST visit in Skegness. Now to sort this out early on, the reason that I write it as HOST in all capitalized letters is because that is how the company that I went through does…I am not screaming at you guys so don’t get nervous! But the jist of it is that you sign up and fill out an application and then a family chooses to adopt (host) you for a weekend depending on if the schedules meet up or not. So I applied way back when in August and this is the only free weekend I had at the time, so this was the one that worked for my host family. Of course I had been anticipating this for quite some time. I have always wanted to be an exchange student so this was the closest thing that I could find, so I was all in!

Finally Friday morning came…very early Friday morning. I got up and hit the gym quickly for my workout and then it was shower and off to the train station for my commute out. Now this was the first thing I did wrong about the trip. I arrived to the station almost an hour early for my train to leave. Yeah you don’t need to do this. Rarely will your platform even be announced half an hour before let alone an hour. So I stood in front of the large board and stared at the orange letters and numbers hoping that my trip’s platform would hurry up and announce. The train was leaving at 10:08 on Friday morning, and when was the platform finally announced? Oh at about 09:58. So that is when I made my way over to platform 1 where I would board and ride. The ride was split up because I would have to get off and then board a second and smaller train to make my way to Skegness, since it is such a small area. The first ride was about an hour and fifteen minutes, but I snoozed for most of that…although there was a rather annoying bunch of business people by me who would not shut up. Now they weren’t your average business group…I think they might have been on their way to a video game convention or something, you get what I’m saying though, not the average group on business trip. I got off the train at a stop called Grantham where I literally walked to the other side of the track and boarded my next train a minute later that would be an hour and a half to Skegness. My host family was there waiting on me bright eyed and smiley when I got off the train, and this is where my weekend began.

Tony and Sue is the couple who I stayed with in Skegness…a town on the east coast of England (3 hours from London). They have a dog Ace and a black cat named Snowy (clever I know). They also have Sue’s mother, June, living with them in her own part of the home on the side. Their daughter, Amber is married to Anthony and they have a five-year-old named Isaac. Tony and Sue also have a son named John and he lives not too far away with his girlfriend Toni. Another fun fact about the family? THEY HAVE A SNAKE! Yes. When I first arrived and settled my things, I walked into the kitchen and Tony said “do you want to see a snake?” I immediately froze in my tracks, wide-eyed and thought he can NOT be serious. If you know me then you know my fear of snakes at the zoo or in the woods, yeah try staying in the same house as one!! I swallowed my fear though and said “Oh…um..sure!” I looked at the snake and that was it…well I mean I kept my eye on it for most of the weekend as it’s cage is in the family room where we watched TV and ate…so there is that! But what did we do this weekend other than share great stories, eat amazing food and site see around the small towns on the east coast? LOTS!

After we settled and I had some crackers with cheese, Tony and Sue took me on a nice walk around their home area and parts of Skegness. They actually live about 8 miles outside of Skegness but it is beautiful where they live. I bundled up and borrowed a pair of their Wellies (rainboots, but way cooler) for this rather muddy walk. By the way, need ideas for gift giving this year? Wellies are WAY COOL! I wore Toni’s pair which feet me perfectly and they were a hunter-ish green color, gosh I loved them! So we took their lab, Ace, on the walk with us and we walked and walked and talked and of course did some ice breaking along the way. Something else that is so amazing about the life here…the dogs just wander with their owners and are so well behaved they don’t even wear leashes! It just amazes me how great they are around people and other animals. After our long walk Tony took me out to his shed to show me his new (old) car that he is renovating and then we played some nice table tennis for a bit. We watched some Rugby on the Tele (TV) and then headed to town for some walking and food. Since Skegness is on the coast it is a shore-side town with a lovely beach. Tony and Sue took me walking along the beach (even though it was freezing outside) and we saw some of the Christmas lights which are already put up in town. We then headed out to a neighboring town for proper Fish and Chips served in PAPER!! FINALLY. I have been waiting my whole time here to eat fish out of paper and it happened there in that town and in the back of their car I nibbled away on this great dinner. After that we drove back to the house to watch a benefit show and enjoy some Gin and Tonics to drink with some peanuts. Then off to bed it was for me as we were having an early start in the morning.

Gosh you are all probably thinking that I am just rambling about each and everything we did but it was so lovely to experience this. I felt like I was just traveling around for a weekend with two family members, I felt so at home and this was great for me! Some “family time” was much needed. Anyways, day 2…well day number two (Saturday) was a lot and so much fun at the same time. We got up at a decent time to head out to Lincoln which was about an hour drive. Now I forgot to mention earlier in my blog that this trip was my first experience in a car in England. Okay just in case some of you are living under a rock, they drive on the wrong side of the car AND road here. Frightening is the right word I believe, especially on the windy back roads which I am still convinced that two cars WILL NOT fit on at the same time. So off we went to see the Lincoln Cathedral and walk around a bit. This Cathedral was FULL of stained glass windows and beautiful architecture…the pillars and carvings were just breath taking. We spent about an hour and a half walking around before our stomachs were screaming at us. Then we wandered to the market where we sat in a Tea Shop and had tea with scones and clotted cream…TO DIE FOR. I can’t even try to explain clotted cream because words can’t do it justice, you just have to try it!! We grabbed a brownie from  the sweet stand and then were back on the road to Skegness. We got a call that Isaac (their grandson) needed to be picked up from Rugby practice and taken to swimming lessons. Yes you did read earlier that this child is only five but he is the most sophisticated five-year-old I have ever met…Rugby, swimming, horse riding, speaking in French, he literally does it all, and he has mastered the English language better than I have! So we got back to the home just in time for Tony and I to throw our Wellies on again and head out to do some beating. What’s beating? Well dad you and Anthony would be so proud of me. Beating is not what you think. Or not what I thought of anyways. We rummaged through the woods making all kinds of noise and scaring the pheasant up so that the men in the field could shoot them. Yes! I participated in a form of hunting. Gosh the things you will try in England. After the adventure was over we got back into the car, grabbed Isaac and off we went to swimming. Sue lent me one of her swim suits and we swam while Isaac got his lesson. This child is already doing the back stroke while I just sink in the water. We spent quite some time in the water after Isaac’s lesson just playing around before we dropped him at home and got back to a wonderful chicken stew that Sue had prepared. Gosh it was just so decadent and delicious…potatoes, celery and carrots with large chunks of chicken and an amazingly salty broth, and a large side dinner roll for dipping. I was stuffed! After dinner Tony and Sue put on some different Rugby matches and they explained the rules rather well…Tony played Rugby his whole life and actually was still playing for a club at age 50, so they are experienced! I am no expert but I do have a better understanding of the game. But all this game watching and driving and swimming wore me down so at about 10:00 I gave in and hit the bed for a rest before another early morning of church.

Sunday morning was quite early as we headed to church at 7:45. Before the service began I had the honor of ringing the bell, which I might add is a much more difficult duty than it appears to be. I got quite the arm workout in, at church too! The church in Skegness was jam packed with me making it a total of seven guests. Although this may sound comical, it was a great service and had a lovely message. After a half hour in town we went back to the home for a large porridge breakfast…wow was it great! Have I mentioned the food was to die for? Oh it was!! Tony and I then headed out for some baseball in the yard. I mentioned to him several times that I did not hit but I don’t think he got the point until I whiffed the first three. After that though? I was smashing the ball. Gosh coach would have been so proud of me…I just won’t tell him that it was a child’s bat and a tennis ball. I am a hitter now! Then it was off to the beach to see the motocross races on the sand. There were tons of hills and dips in the sand that these racers had to race through…let’s just say that many of the men took a few minutes to just get past the first hill. My weekend ended with a large, traditional, English dinner consisting of meat, potatoes and vegetables, Yorkshire pudding and gravy. Gosh it all just melted in my mouth. And to top it off we finished with apple crumble and custard. Yes I am still drooling, are you yet? Let’s just say I slept soundly on the train ride back to London Sunday night.

So what can top my lovely weekend away with a nice family? Ummmmm…maybe a weekend with my real family beginning THIS SATURDAY!! They arrive Saturday at noon. Can you tell that the countdown is on? Well it is! There will be plenty of stories to come once mom, dad and Bailey arrive in London! For now I am off to wish my father a very Happy Happy Birthday! Yes, we will be skyping soon. But until then another special birthday shout-out goes to my big, fat, mean, ugly, bird head (uh-huh) dad!...don't worry I'm not being mean that is what he calls himself. :) Okay love you dad and everyone else who is reading out there!

Good night from London. 

Mind that Gap!

The Site-Seeing Softball Player