HAHAHAHAHA

Fooled you!
Bob woke up yesterday thinking maybe Red Lodge wasn't the best one, after all. So we called to get into it again, but the lady never answered the phone. So we called about the house in Cheveley (it being our second choice) and they agreed to meet us at 1pm. Packed up the children and drove by the house in Red Lodge. No one was home, so we walked around the yard. The back yard there is HUGE by English standards; pretty big by American standards. It's a little rough in spots; would be a pain to mow, but lots of fun to play in. There is some kind of fruit tree, with rotten fruits laying around for the boys to throw at each other. We let the children see the yard, too, as they've been sitting in the car while we are looking, and hadn't seen it yet. We drove around the 'neighborhood' to see if there was anything there (there isn't).

So into Mildenhall to pick up the radiator for the Honda, and then we ate lunch there. The cafe advertised "breakfast all day" but they are open 6am-3pm. Anyway, Bob got a big breakfast plate with sausage (looked like what we would call summer or smoked sausage), bacon (ham slices), toast, beans, and eggs. I got an omelet which came with chips (french fries) and salad, and the children each got a ham and cheese sandwich. I also had a milkshake (more milk than shake); total cost, about $45. But it was very good; hot and fresh.

Then we met our estate agent; he rode with us (I sat in the back, and the girls squished up) to the house in Cheveley. We let the children see it, too. They scampered around and all said it was perfect. Out to the back yard - it's about a third of the size of the other, but still bigger than any other we'd seen. Just outside the yard is a little path down to a community compost pile which is behind the house. Beyond that is horse fields.

So, Bob says he can do without the big garage at Red Lodge if he has to; let's take Cheveley.

We called the housing office this morning, and they will get a safety inspection tomorrow. We gave the agent 185GBP to hold the house and let them run a credit check. They say we will probably be in on Jan 3rd.

Bob has some pics on his Flickr site.

Oh, a few other notes.

I fell on the stairs a few days ago and bruised my hip and strained my shoulder, trying to catch myself. Yesterday I got real stiff and sore on my side. It hurt to sit, stand, and breath. By bedtime I also had a slight fever. So I don't know if this is from falling, or if I've got a kidney infection or what. It's better today, and I'm taking Advil and Tylenol again.

We gave up buying water and got a Brita filter pitcher. It works pretty good and is small enough for our fridge.

Yesterday afternoon we went Christmas shopping at the BX on Mildenhall base. We all walked through the store, then I sat with the children in the food court while Bob went in and bought stuff. While we were sitting there a lady was passing out papers to all the tables. When she came to our table she asked if we were staying for the "kids bingo" - it's free! We couldn't think of anything else to do, and figured it wasn't gambling if we didn't pay, so ate dinner and joined the fun. Before the bingo started they had several other games and gave out prizes. They did musical chairs by age group, and everyone from Bob down to Riah got to play. Taryn did the best, but still didn't win. We played half of the bingo games, but Naysha was mad because she wasn't winning, and the little ones got restless, so we just left after that. Oh well.

Bob is replacing his radiator now, and I'm trying to boil water for spaghetti. We have a little dinky stove so it takes forever to heat a large pot of water.

Oh. As we've been driving around we've seen in fields beside the road huge piles of ... something. We tried to guess what it must be; potatoes, turnips, what? Yesterday we asked the agent, and he says they are sugar beets. Ooooh. We've also seen a couple of pig farms, some horse farms, and brussell sprouts growing. I'd never seen that before and thought it was interesting. They look like little palm trees.

Well, Bob says the radiator is the wrong one. So here we go again.