Sunshine!

Finally! No rain, minimal overcast, and lots of sunshine. The day was warm and sunny and we could have worn short sleeves and shorts.

After working out at the gym this morning we came back and did a bit of gardening, then took our short walk through Crocker End. Most of the trees and brush are sporting green buds, and the blue bells are just starting to cover the floor in the wooded areas along the road. Our neighbor tells us that this blue carpet will reach spectacular proportions very soon--hope it's still here when we return from Turkey in two weeks. We'd hate to miss that special aspect of Spring in the Chilterns.

We discovered an old friend today at the market--Magnums! We have never been able to find these in the US (though they seem to very popular in Europe and the UK), and the last one we had was at the airport in the Galapagos last year. Magnums, in case you have never had this yummiest of treats, are the most delicious chocolate-covered ice cream on a stick (for grown-ups) you can imagine, and we bought two boxes. One more reason to keep working out!

Another observation about traffic in the UK. There is a shortage of parking in even the small towns, so whenever street space is available, people park there. Even though no signs are in evidence, all the parking takes place on one side only. Since there is no shoulder, parked cars block about half of a travel lane. Being a polite society, everyone deals with this just fine, taking turns allowing cars to intrude into the lane going the opposite directions. Imagine this in Boston or New York! We learned another wonderful "British-ism" today--the term for speed bumps here is "sleeping policemen."

Most evenings we've been watching The Daily Show with John Stewart. We get it a day late due to the time difference. I'm amazed it's shown here, since it's so topical to the US. But the Brits do love political satire and they have a show of their own with comedian Rory Bremner that is hilarious. He lampoons the British political establishment mercilessly and has a field day with George Bush as well.


Today's avian offering is a magpie. It's a small black bird with white breast and other markings, very skittish--so much so that when we come to a window it flies away. I really need a telephoto lens to get a good shot of it. I don't know much about it, but it's probably a raider of nests since the other birds chase it away when it gets close to "their" trees.