Goodbye, Sydenham House

This morning, Will and I said our farewells to the place that has been our home for the last six months, Flat 5.2, Sydenham House, Blackboy Road. We have enjoyed living here- especially the stunning view from our balcony and bedroom window. On clear days, we could see much of Exeter and parts of several neighboring towns. I think I will miss it a lot.

Will will be spending his remaining months living on campus, and I will be moving home in exactly two weeks. I am now essentially a tourist rather than a resident of Exeter- but I can hardly believe that my time here is drawing to a close. There is so much more that I want to see and do!

Mothering Sunday

In the UK, today is Mothering Sunday, also known as Mother's Day. Quite coincidentally, both my mother and her mother were able to spend it with me! They, along with my dad and my great-aunt Maxine, arrived yesterday afternoon for a week-long visit.

Because they arrived much later than expected yesterday, we had to nix several of the planned activities. Nevertheless, we were able to take them to eat at the Impy, a nice local pub conveniently located near the train station. We took advantage of the two meals for £7.20 deal and ordered various dishes, including fish and chips and three-bean chili. Because a rugby match was being broadcast when we first arrived, it took us a while to find an inside table where we could all sit together, so for a while, some of us sat outside while the others sat inside. Finally, though, we were able to all gather together and enjoy our meal. 

This morning, Dad went to the Cooperative Food grocery store and purchased eggs and pork and apple sausages which he then cooked for breakfast while the rest of us showered and got dressed for church. The group of us went to the morning service at our church, Mint Methodist. My family was pleasantly surprised by how friendly everyone was, including Rev. Sails. Following the service, we stayed for the tea and chatting time and then went to the Hog's Head for lunch. There, we enjoyed traditional Sunday roasts (chicken for Mom, Dad, Will, and me and beef for Granna and Aunt Maxine). The roasts were cheap, at 2 for £6.95, and terrifically tasty. In addition to the meat, the dish included carrots, mashed potatoes, and Yorkshire pudding (which in not "pudding" in the American sense but is instead a type of bread). In the middle of each pudding was a dark fried object which looked something like a hush puppy. When we asked a waiter what it was, we were initially told some random name. We then tasted it and found it tasted EXACTLY like stuffing. Hilariously, the waiter then came back and told us that it was actually a stuffing ball. Apparently, he didn't know what we were asking about at first. 

Following lunch, I had to go to work at Build-A-Bear, so Will took my family on one of the free Exeter city tours. Their tour, entitled "Heart of Exeter," focused primarily on the cathedral and the area immediately surrounding it and was led by a retired schoolteacher who reportedly did an excellent job. Importantly, she often spoke directly to Granna and Aunt Max, making sure they felt included. 

After the tour, my family enjoyed a Devon Cream Tea at No 21, a restaurant in the cathedral close. I am a bit jealous, because I have not yet had the opportunity to enjoy this local specialty, but Will has promised to take me next week. Following the tea, Mom and Dad met me at Build-A-Bear, and I took them on a walk down to the quay. Granna and Aunt Max went back to our flat with Will to rest. 

All in all, today was quite successful. Tomorrow, we are off to Stonehenge.

Paignton Zoo

Today, we went to the Paignton Zoo. As the name suggests, it is located in Paignton (PAIN-ton), which is on the far side of Torquay. "Far side of Torquay" is a very apt description; the two towns are very close together. Other than the zoo, Paignton is home to the Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway (which we are going back to visit, by the way) and is overall one of the least appealing places in Devon that we have visited thus far.

The Zoo was okay overall, and, although it had a severe lack of bears, it does receive high marks for having lots of bunnies. There were rabbits everywhere: in the elephant enclosure, in the giraffe enclosure, pretty much everywhere that wasn't inhabited by carnivores. 

We were able to see the elephants (and rabbits) being fed shortly after we arrived. We got to see the elephants walk over their scale; they weighed a combined four tonnes (that's about 8,000 kg, or just under nine US tons at 17,640 lbs). 

After we finished watching the elephants, which were located at the very far end of the zoo, we worked our way back down the front side of the zoo and visited the restaurant, where we had some nice French fries and fair trade apple juice. Actually, only 50% of it was from South Africa; the other was from unspecified "other sources," so no word on whether that was fair trade or not.

After we had our snack, we visited the Desert and Wetland House. Despite that they would seem to be quite different, the two actually share a greenhouse so that they can maintain the proper temperature. After we finished there, we worked our way back up past the primates to the big cats, most of whom had already gone in for the night before we got there (we arrived at about 3:50 pm). 

However, two lions were still out, and we got to see them and take a few pictures.

After we finished with the lions, it was getting late, so we began our hike back to the train station and our journey home. However, due to some things I had to do this morning on campus, I had left from St. David's in Exeter, while Amanda had left from Exeter Central. Thus, I had to get off the train a stop before she did. This was fine, and we were able to get some very cute pictures while I was standing on the platform and waiting for the train to depart!

 

Lethal Weapons

Tonight, I bought some lethal weapons, or so Tesco said. I was checking out at Tesco, minding my own business, and when I reached the end, a message came up that said I had to have age verification for something that I had bought. I assumed that it was the aspirin that I bought, as a warning had come up when I scanned it, saying that I was only allowed to buy two (I only had one, so I didn't think much of it). It turns out that, rather than the aspirin, the problem was a pack of plastic forks, knives, and spoons, specifically the knives. Apparently, those flimsy little plastic knives can't be bought by anyone under the age of eighteen. I happened to have some ID on me, so it wasn't a problem, but it is a wee bit ridiculous to require someone to be 18 to purchase a pack of plastic flatware!

Tucker’s Hall . . . Oh Well

This afternoon, we went down to the Cathedral Close to go on the Forgotten Exeter & Tucker's Hall Tour. Or so we thought. When we arrived, it turned out that the Tucker's Hall tour had been this morning, and that it was Around the Close this afternoon. Thus, we ditched the tour and walked down to the Tucker's Hall to try to visit it on our own. Alas, it is only open from 10:30 to 12:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays FROM JUNE TO SEPTEMBER. It doesn't look like we'll be able to make it. They used to be open on Fridays year-round, but apparently they aren't anymore.

As a consolation prize, we walked back up Fore Street to South Street and roamed down to Cut Above and I got a new haircut. The ladies cutting hair there were amazed at how thick my hair was, and were even more amazed to hear that all of it had grown out in less than three months. Soon, I'll be cutting down to a goatee, as the full beard looks a little bit ridiculous with my new haircut.

Chinese Dumplings

Sadly, today was likely the last time that I will be able to participate in Global Gathering, so I am a little glum at the moment. The final meeting was, however, a fun and interesting one. The Chinese ladies in the group showed the rest of us how to make dumplings, like the ones that they traditionally eat at their New Year celebrations. They did most of the difficult parts themselves, but they let the rest of us try our hands at it, too. 

Not wanting to pass up the opportunity, I attempted to make a dumpling, and Kristy patiently assisted me. I had a great deal of trouble with rolling my ball of dough into a nice, flat circle. The 'flat' part was not a problem; however, my flat piece of dough was not very circular. 

     

After my rolled-out bit of dough was finally acceptably circle-like, I had to put in some of the pork and spice filling and then fold the dumpling closed. I unfortunately overfilled mine a bit, but Kristy assured my that it would be okay, anyway. 

After a dumplings were formed, they had to be cooked. The Chinese ladies preferred to simply boil them, but they also fried a few at the request of some of the British women. The boiled dumplings did not look particularly appetizing, but they were actually quite tasty, despite the sogginess that goes along with boiling. The fried ones, however, were EXCELLENT. I had only intended to eat one or two, but the final count was closer to seven. Fortunately, the ladies had anticipated that the dumplings would be a big hit and made plenty.

Upon Further Review . . .

Apparently, the prior story of what happened in the brawl at the soccer game on Saturday wasn't quite right. According to two articles in the Express & Echo on Monday and Tuesday, the fight was started outside the old Debenham's building (at the intersection of Longbrook Street with Sidwell Street/High Street) by a group of "yobs" who weren't even at the game. Reportedly, these "yobs" (which is apparently slang for young, working-class men with no social graces) attacked a group of fans from the other team (Monday's paper) or pre-arranged a fight with their counterparts from the other team (Tuesday's paper). The police responded, and five of them found themselves facing a mob of 50 people. They called for backup, which is why we saw SO many police descending on the area on Saturday afternoon.

To give some perspective, we were at Poundland, which is two stores down from the old Debenham's, say about 50 feet. As the police reinforcements started to arrive, the fight dispersed into a dozen smaller fights that spread throughout the city centre, the largest of which ended up at the bus station. The police have made two arrests, and are reviewing CCTV tape to see if they can figure out who else to arrest and ban from ever attending soccer matches in Exeter again.

The Exeter City Football Club condemns the actions of these people who they refuse to have as their supporters, and they fully support the police in busting heads. Glad they got that off their collective chest, because the police did nothing of the kind, so far as I can tell.

Exmouth Raleigh Rotary Club

Tonight, Yulia, Sangmi, and I visited the Exmouth Raleigh Rotary Club. The Exmouth Raleigh club is a dinner club which was spun off of the Exmouth Club (a lunch club) in 1986. The Exmouth Club was formed in the late 1940s, and so is much older than the Exmouth Raleigh club. Exmouth Raleigh had 17 members as of 1 June 2008, and inducted their 26^th member last night. I sat next to the current president at dinner (we were chauffeured by a two-time past president), and he explained that the club had grown a lot in the past nine months. He didn't say this, but I suspect that he has 30 members as a private goal for when his term expires on 31 May.

We did our now-standard presentations tonight. I hadn't made any substantive changes to mine; Sangmi had added a slide to hers, and Yulia had made substantial changes to her Power Point, which caused her to run a little bit long. She'd had a problem with her computer, and so was cutting down her 60-minute presentation to a 10-minute on the way to Exmouth, and perhaps didn't cut quite enough. Our next joint venture is in Ottery St. Mary, at the Otter Valley Rotary Club on 14 April. I'll have to remember to make a reference to taxes at that one! The British don't understand the American tax code, but then neither does the Secretary of the Treasury!

Technical Difficulties

This morning at the Mint, we had a visiting preacher. Andrew was preaching at Exminster, and so we had Rev. John Jarvis, who is the most Southern Baptist-like Methodist minister I've encountered in the UK. We sang several hymns that I'm sure would not pass muster with the SBC's hymnal committee (although they let "Lord, I Did Not Choose You" slip through in the 1991 Hymnal, so you never know!), but all were at least 25 years old, so I guess they at least were okay with the people who did the Methodist hymnal in the early 1980s. I think we managed to make it through the whole service without singing any hymns written by anyone with the last name "Wesley," which, for UK Methodists, is highly unusual.

During the service, the preacher was gesturing, and he moved his hand in such a way that he knocked his lapel mic off. After he picked it back up, it turned out that it wasn't working anymore. We were (unfortunately) sitting next to the ladies operating the sound system, one of whom spent a good little while pontificating on how he was wearing it incorrectly, and that was why it wasn't working. She took longer than most people in the congregation to accept that it was actually not working, and that it wasn't strictly Rev. Jarvis's fault. Ultimately, someone had to walk up to the front to collect the non-functioning mic from him, and he went on using the mic on the pulpit. Sadly, it took two commandments (numbers seven and eight) for anyone to remember to turn that mic on!

After the service ended, we had out tea (Amanda) and coffee (me) before heading upstairs to lunch. Lunch today was tomatoes, soup, sandwhiches, and scones. Oh, I do love me some scones! I managed to snag one scone before it had clotted cream added to it (I prefer them with just strawberry jam, but the first thing put on them is always butter, which I don't mind too much). I also had a second one on the way out that had clotted cream. I'm not a huge fan of clotted cream in general (actually, I actively dislike it), but it isn't quite so bad as to be able to actively ruin an otherwise perfectly good scone! I told Amanda she needs to get a recipe so she can make some scones for me sans the clotted cream!

As a matter of vocabulary clarity, a "scone" in the UK is a cross between a muffin and a biscuit, not a triangle shaped doughnut-bagel hybrid. A muffin is an English muffin (no surprise there), and a biscuit is a cookie. To top off the confusion, a cookie is a muffin/cupcake. I don't promise that I got all of those right, because it is so darn confusing!

Belmont Park

Near our apartment, there is a lovely little park which Will and I enjoy very much. It is called the Belmont Pleasure Ground and consists of a garden, children's playground, and various sporting areas. Will discovered it one day while walking home from a classmate's apartment, and he took me on a walk the next day so that he could share it with me. Now that spring is almost here, flowers are beginning to appear in the garden and everything looks bright and cheery. This is definitely one of my favorite spots in Exeter.

Police Involvement

Today, we were on the way home from doing a few things in the city centre when we happened to stop into Poundland to check and see if they had any of several things that we have been keeping an eye out for. It turned out to be a good thing we did.

As we were getting ready to leave, we started to hear sirens outside. This isn't particulary unusual, as police cars frequently run up or down the High Street with lights and siren going. However, there were about ten police cars, and they were stopping and their occupants were pouring out into the street. One car even had a police dog get out and start running, following a large crowd that was moving down the street.

It took us a little while to figure out what was going on, but (to put the events in a particular order), there was a soccer match at St. James's Park today, and, apparently, a fight broke out. The fight spilled out of the soccer grounds onto Old Tiverton Road, down that road to the traffic circle at Old Tiverton Road, Blackboy Road, Paris Street, and Sidwell Street, and then continued up Sidwell Street. We first saw it when it was at the High Street end of Sidwell Street. Reportedly (based on traffic over the police radios), some of the fight broke off at Fleet Street and headed toward the bus station, while the rest continued up Sidwell Street (this being the part we saw) going toward the city centre train stations. Presumably, they ultimately got the fight under control.

We hung around inside Poundland for a few minutes until things calmed down a bit outside, and then we began our walk up Sidwell Street toward home. Once we got outside, we realized that there had been a soccer match, and from the disposition of the people working their way toward the City Centre from behind the fight that something bad had happened. We continued to pass people all the way home who were coming from the stadium (as it's on the next street over). We actually saw one person who looked like she had been hit pretty hard on the side of the head and busted open (there was a good bit of blood on her face). Thankfully, we made it home without incident.

Tonight, we went to Subway for dinner because there are a few coupons that we are trying to use up before they expire. While we were there, a taxi pulled up outside and someone got out and walked inside. It took me a moment to realize it, but he had gotten out of the driver's side, leaving his cab unattended. About 90 seconds later, a police van pulled up behind the taxi. The cab driver saw it, and remarked to the person serving him, "I wonder if this guy is coming in because he's hungry, or to give me a ticket."

Soon, he got his answer.

Cab driver: "Hello there."

Police Officer: "Hello."

"You come to eat?"

"Yep. Didn't you?"

"Yeah, but why didn't you go to the Subway up the road?"

"It was closed! And you weren't parked outside."

"Yeah, I thought you might be here about that."

"Yeah. At least you're not blocking the bus stop. As long as you're gone before I get my food, I won't ticket you."

"Thanks."

The cab driver duly paid for his food, and darted back out the door to move his car. The cop, who was behind him in line, finished his order, went back out to his police van, and went his merry way.

Incidentally, police cars here aren't used to transport people who have been arrested. They have special large vans for that, which presumably got a good deal of use today during the fight that raged through town!

The Living Coasts of Torquay

A town near Exeter, known as Torquay, reportedly has quite an impressive aviary, so Will and I set out to see it today. Our train ride took around 45 minutes and was filled with beautiful views of water and countryside. 

The aviary is about a 25 minute walk from Torquay's train station, so we were able to see a lot of other interesting sights on our walk to it, including the city's beautiful beach, Torre Abbey Gardens, and Princess Gardens. We even saw some workers scaling the side of a cliff. 

By the time we reached the aviary, we were really hungry, so we stopped at a pub called The Tudor Rose for lunch. Will ordered soup and a roll, and I had a BLT. I had forgotten that the British idea of bacon is more like Canadian bacon than American bacon- a mistake that I hope I will not repeat. Nevertheless, my sandwich wasn't bad for a ham sandwich- it just wasn't what I was expecting. 

After lunch, we finally made it to the aviary, which is called Living Coasts. The exhibits began with a children's film on the extinction of a great auk, in which the last two great auks in existence are named Gertrude and Gabriel. After they are killed, Gabriel comes back as "the auk angel Gabriel" and explains to the hunter that he should have taken them to Living Coasts rather than killing them. Needless to say, we found this film underwhelming, though it is probably reasonably effective at helping children understand the purpose of the aviary and its breeding program.

 

The rest of the aviary, however, was quite enjoyable. It contained a variety of different birds, including penguins and puffins. Some of the birds were free-flying, while others were restricted to enclosures.

The penguins' enclosure was particularly interesting, because it was deliberately designed so that the penguins can get out and walk around if they wish. In fact, the penguins have two different play areas which are separated by a walkway that runs right across the humans' sidewalk. The barriers are designed to keep people out rather than penguins in! When we walked by the habitat the first time, the penguins showed little interest in venturing out. However, when we returned at feeding time, quite a few penguins came out to get food and to visit the other play area. 

In addition to birds and plant life, Living Coasts has two newly acquired South American seals. While we were there, one of the seals spent the entire time sunning itself on a rock, while the other frolicked in the water. 

Living Coasts also has numerous interactive children's learning areas, which include games and other activities. Will particularly liked the climbing wall. From is aviary, it is also possible to get a great view of Tor Bay. 

After leaving Living Coasts, Will and I roamed around for a couple of hours further exploring the city. Since today is "Red Nose Day," a fundraising day for the charity Comic Relief (whose slogan is "Do something funny for money"), we saw several money-raising efforts. One shop we visited provided snacks in exchange for donations to Comic Relief, and some of the snacks had little "red noses"! We also saw an old ocean mine and a gorgeous Anglican Church, visited the marina, and drank a milkshake at a local coffee shop, "Le Petit Gourmet". Surprisingly, here, a milkshake does not necessarily contain ice cream and may simply be flavored milk. Fortunately, we were warned of this in advance and were able to order a "super shake" which did contain ice cream. However, the ice cream was not blended into the milk, so it could better be described as a "milk float" than an American-style milkshake. It still tasted good, though, and it made for an interesting cultural observation.