Welcome to the Colonies

Did I tell you that Anth and I have got ourselves a car each?

I have got an all-American Ford Explorer. It's quite a few years old, with plenty of character and gets me to work and back no problem. I bought it from a guy down the road called Brian after a daunting negotiation that involved Brian, Brian's wife and Brian's two daughters! He laid the emotion on thick but I held out and got a hundred bucks off.

Anth has gone for a VW Routan. Nothing American about that.....but it has got 7 seats and about twice as many gagdets which keep Eva and Louis distracted.

So, it was then a case of facing up to the prospect of the US driving test. A mere formality we'd been told by our British friends. So off we went to the driving centre, filled in some paperwork and I - deciding to show Anth how it's done - went first............and failed!
It turned out that Anth had the wrong ID so she didn't get her turn.

I gave my pride a few days to recover, went back to the driving centre.....and failed again!

My pride really dented now, I was driving home from work a couple of days later when, I saw in my mirror a police car chasing up the road with blue lights flashing. Turns out he's chasing me! I pull over and he gets out, steps up to my window and shines his flashlight in my face. A scene straight out of the movies I'm thinking. I was doing 64mph.....and this was on the motorway! Of course, he asks for my drivers licence so I had no choice but to give him the whole 'double-failure' story. He looks dubious when I tell him I failed the first time; downright incredulous when I admit to the second one. He asks me if I am actually qualified to drive. "Yes Sir" I say and produce my UK drivers licence. He looks at it for what feels like ages, shines his flashlight back in my face and says......."welcome to the colonies"

Was that banter? Had he heard of the world-famous English sense of humour? Should I riposte with "your steering wheels are on the wrong side" or some such witticism?
Despite the temptation, I said nothing grateful to escape the $1,000 speeding fine and drove home at 55mph.

Three is the magic number

Here they are: two Brits; and one American

Seven go to the mall

Our fridge is stocked;

Our clothes are washed and ironed;

DIY jobs are being ticked off; and

Our wine rack is full....

It all points to one thing.......Anth's folks are here!

As a result and for the time being the adult-child ratio is weighted in favour of the adults.

Anth and I are showing Richard & Sheila a true midwest American experience and I think they're enjoying themsleves...building snowmen, sledding, ten-pin bowling and of course a mass-trip to the mall.

So all is good. With luck they should keep intact their sense of humour and irony. Both have been tested, none moreso than when Richard was asked for ID buying a bottle of wine from the mall supermarket. The only ID he had on him......was his bus pass! which he duly produced. What do you think the cashier did in the face of such huge, indubious irony? Did he at least laugh at the utter ridiculousness of his request? Course he didn't. He just said, steely faced, "Sorry Sir, that's not an acceptable form of ID......"

So we came home and had a Sprite.

GJ Nelson

So.....baby Nelson was born mid-afternoon Saturday; and we had until midday Monday to name her and get the hell outta the hospital before the insurance company sent the bailiffs in.

Accordingly, Sunday night was dedicated to surfing baby name websites punctuated by panick-stricken phone calls to Anth in hospital as we inched towards agreement.

It was all up in the air when I drove to hospital this morning to bring Anth & baby home...but, we finally reached agreement at the eleventh hour and I am proud to present you ............. Gabriella Jean Nelson

Anth & Gaby are doing very well. Eva is being a very attentive older sister; Louis is giving her the cold shoulder. He's taking his role as the streotypical middle child very seriously...

American Girl

Anthea and I are now outnumbered by children...

..today saw the arrival of a baby daughter. Weighing in at 8lb 3oz. We went into hospital at 2am, and she was born at 3:30pm - which for Anth is quick work!

No c-section, no special care, no 4 weeks in hospital.....

....just a McDonald's chocolate milkshake!

Now we start the bartering over names!

Will put some better pictures on soon.

Louis in the snow

After a full seven days of no snow last week, normality was restored this weekend. It was too powdery for a snowman but that didn't stop Louis enjoying himself.

Anthea...by popular demand

Thanks for all your comments on the blog....it really means a lot. A kind or a witty or even a cheeky comment lights up our day so please keep them coming.

Lots of requests to see a bit more of Anth. Anyone would think she was having a baby.........see what I mean about sense of humour deterioration?

Well no baby yet......plenty of tell-tale signs these past few days - which tend to come in the evening......but they are short-lived. So the panic is over pretty quickly; no white-knuckle ride to the hospital in the snow and temperatures that aren't even novel or funny anymore! We forget about the imminence of that and settle back down to our latest HBO box-set series. We have just finished series 3 of The Wire. Liz - to you we are forever grateful for introducing us to The Wire; to everyone else, get yourselves into it. It's high quality drama! (Of course, this is just a suggestion; you may have other things to do if you have friends and / or are not afraid to go outside and brave the wind chill!)

Back to Anth, she is doing great and not getting fed up. Her folks arrive in two weeks; question is, will the baby arrive before they do? Will keep you posted of course.

Oh and one other thing - here in the Land of Litigation you have to name your baby before you leave the hospital with him / her !! None of the 6 week period of grace you get at home. So that has made for some frenzied conversations! We've narrowed it down to 2 or 3 names for a boy but are nowhere near with the girls names. If he comes out as a she we could be in a tight spot.....