have a cup of tea (or a glass of Pimms) and a scone and sit back and enjoy the sunshine. It's sunny here today; apparently the warmest April in 30 years! Despite landing at 1:30pm yesterday, by the time I went to bed last night I was still in holiday mode, and so when I woke up this morning and turned on GMTV (morning television) to learn that it was St George's Day, I actually groaned. Don't get me wrong; I absolutely love this day, but it meant I had to root around for something red and white to wear to work; despite having chaos all around me from unpacking our suitcase! 
Anyway, find some clothes I did, and I'm now at work wearing a white top, a red skirt that is now too big for me (the joys of losing weight!), and white ballerina pumps - beautiful!
As I made my way in to work today, I have to admit, I was a little disappointed that I didn't see anyone else wearing the national colours, or waving a flag or anything. Not that that wouldn't have been weird. It's a pity more English people don't celebrate our patron saint day. Everyone's happy to celebrate St Patrick's day, but nobody even cares when it's St George's day. This is what it's come down to: A couple of events in London, followed by haters yelling at them because they're offending the non-English members of our communities.
I don't want to seem rude, but if immigrants come to England, surely they are expecting to be thrown into an English society; all stiff upper lipped, non church-going, non saying hello in the street style.
If I go to China I don't expect them to greet me with a cup of tea and a shortbread biscuit. Last year the government were actually telling people not to wear or display the flag of St George for fear of making foreigners feel unwelcome. My own mother is foreign, and even she thinks the country has become too obsessed with keeping her sweet. Political correctness gone mad. Anyway; my mini rant out of the way - My trip to Hubby's Homeland went better than I expected. Hubby's grandfather, though not well, was better than we thought he would be. He's getting radiotherapy, so hopefully it will help him a little. While we were the weather was amazing; not a single cloud in the sky for the duration of our stay. We went fishing, went to the new casino, ate out, and caught up with Hubby's Best Man and his wife, as well as other friends.
One of our friends is taking part in the local version of "Strictly Come Dancing" or "Dancing With The Stars" for those of you in the US. We went to see the opening night while they were filming it for TV, and we had a great time. The six couples danced either the Waltz or the Cha Cha Cha. Although we can't see the televised shows here in the UK, we're asking them to keep us updated on our friend's progress in the contest.
I ate so much while I was there though, and I feel like such a porker, so as of today, I'm back on Weight Watchers with a vengeance. We went for breakfast, and Hubby had toast with garlic and olive oil (yum!). We also took the opportunity to have lots of fried food, a Burger King, a KFC and a whole bag of Jelly Babies...
The importance of today is three-fold for me though; because my little brother celebrates his birthday on 23rd April, and my grandfather also died on this day. So as well as celebrating being English (not British), I give my brother a call to wish him a happy birthday, and take a moment to think of my grandfather.In other news, and possibly the most important of all; Hubby and I have agreed that it's time to think about getting on the housing ladder in his home country. So I've said that once 2010 comes around, he can scout around for a job there, and if he finds one with a decent salary; he'll accept it and we'll be emigrating.
Now, for those of you who don't know; Hubby grew up abroad, and I moved back there with him in 2004, but moved back to the UK when I was offered double bubble as a store manager. He has always wanted his children to have the same upbringing as he did, and Hubby's Homeland is the safest, friendliest place we know. So once we married we would try for kids, and move abroad once we found out we were expecting.
BUT things never really work as easily as you think they will. There is a housing list you need to go on for government housing, and you can only go on it once you've been living there for a year. But we can't live with his parents with a screaming newborn, so we've realised we're going to have to plan things a little better.
So here's the deal; if Hubby can find a decent job over there, we can get a mortgage (stupidly affordable over there), I can then focus on finding a job that doesn't need any fluency of Spanish (even though the official language is English, this is harder than you'd think). We can then try for a family, I will be able to raise the kids, learn Spanish, and we'll live happily ever after. I'm not sure about the last part, but that's the plan at least!
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