Going Through The Motions

We feed everything that wanders through our yard/garden, practically.  Here in England, we have grey squirrels, foxes, badgers, jays, starlings, woodpeckers, magpies, crows, tits, wrens, robins, pigeons, and other small birds, and feral cats and neighborhood cats.  I don't feed the deer but only because I have experience with them becoming a nightmare in the garden with little blessings of deer poop everywhere that never goes away or gets cleaned up.   Unfortunately, the larger birds have pretty much chased away the smaller birds but I have heard that there are fewer tits and robins and wrens around the last couple of years anyway.  I believe that is so because the first two years here, we had plenty of all kinds of sizes of birds.  Now we are low on all bird life!  And to my everlasting sorrow, no hedgehogs.

The cats that wander through have varied over the years.  At one time, we had as many as 6 coming and going during the day.  Now we are down to just two, one tabby and one long haired golden colored kitty.  The tabby will come up to be petted if I stand in one place long enough.  The golden cat is too skittish and never comes near me.

The squirrels are up and down the feeder and adjacent trees and around the yard all day long.  They race along the fence railing, jumping over the posts and fight each other for supremacy in the feeder.  When one of the cats comes into the yard, the squirrels scatter, run up into the trees and curse and curse and curse until the cat leaves.  I can always tell when a cat is in the garden because of the noise the squirrels make.

The golden cat has decided that a very good place to sit is almost directly under the feeder.  The squirrels have decided that if they want the peanuts, they are just going to have to race a bit faster to nab one and race away from the sitting cat.   For awhile, I don't think the golden cat was feeling well because she (no idea if male or female but she looks too cute and sweet to be a male) would just sit and watch the squirrels and never budge.  Or was she just luring them in for later???

Standing in the house one day, squirrels in the feeder and on the railing and suddenly a streak of gold as the cat races from the side of the house and up the feeder pole to land on the railing herself and swipe a paw at a squirrel.  Wowzer.  She had never done that before.  Since that day, I have seen her several times make a run at the squirrels, never quite catching them but almost giving them a swipe.  She then settles into her spot and the squirrels come and go again to the feeder with her just watching them.

I think it's all for show!  Nobody is hungry since there is food out for them to eat.  Today, the golden cat came running into the back garden and ran at a squirrel who jumped up to the railing and sat there scolding her.  Another squirrel was sitting on the ground just about 4' away from her.  She turned around and saw it and made a half-hearted run at it and I swear she could have caught it before the squirrel decided to leave.  It's almost as if they are playing tag!  Tag, you're it now you run away because I really don't want to have to go to the trouble of killing you and eating you. Yes, we are ancient enemies.  I am the hunter, you are the prey, but let's just go through the motions and be done with it. 

The Joys of Cat Carriers

Currently, 3 cats share our home with us.  They graciously allow us to live here and in exchange, they are happy to bother us for food and sometimes sit on our laps or come by for some furry loving.  Two of the cats are ours and one is our daughters - living with us right now because she works in Africa where he can't go.

One of our furry babies has been overweight for years.  Always the vets would say "feed him less" and we'd say We DO!   Finally we got a cat expert who realized that his hormones were running rampant and no matter what we fed him, he always thought he was hungry.  So much money and much special food later and many trials at keeping him separate at eating time, he is losing weight and has only about 1 1/2 kg to go.  The result has been wonderful in that he doesn't act like a fat walrus quite so much anymore and has some more energy to run around with our daughter's cat who is a good 9 years younger.

To keep him on track, we take him into the vet monthly for a weigh in.  Sort of like an animal Weight Watchers.  I get the encouragement, he gets on the scales, and everybody goes "oh how wonderful!".  And because we have 3 cats that all periodically need to go to the vet, we have 3 cat carriers.  I was having trouble finding one big enough for him without using his airline crate which is a monstrous heavy duty thing. Finally I found a good one at Amazon - my shop all for almost everything when I don't want to leave the house.  It folds flat when not in use and is big enough for him at his top weight.

I had it out last week for his trip to the vet for his weigh-in.  Of course, nobody wants to get into it when they need to so it's always sneak up on whichever cat needs to go to the vet and stuff them inside the carrier and quickly zip it closed before the cat can escape.  At which point, the cat inside starts crying piteously and all other cats in the house rush to the carrier to mock them.   "Ha, ha - it's you and not me!  See you later sucker!"  Lucky, I have learned through bitter experience to make sure ALL the zippers are closed except the entrance zipper as it is harder to catch a cat after they have run out of the carrier because you forgot to close one of the zippers.

When I came back with my fat boy last week and let him loose back into the house, the young fellow, my daughter's cat, decided the carrier was a great place to play.  What fun to pop in and out of the top and sit there and hunker down with just his eyes at exit level to see if he can scare any cats wandering by.   Or just fun to go in and have a short snooze for a bit.   As we are basically slaves to our cats needs and wants, of course the carrier is now sitting out in the dining room so he can play with it and use it when he wants.  But I know when it is his turn to get in it for a trip to the vet, it will suddenly become a dangerous and avoidable place where it will be a chase to end all chases to catch him and stuff him inside his current loving play area!  Oh the joys of having cats and stuffing them into cat carriers!

Boilers/Furnaces/Icy Windows

When we were first moving to England, now over 3 years ago (yes, wow!), they asked us what we wanted in our house.  Having been in and out of Houston, Texas for many years, the first thing we asked for was air conditioning.  That request drew many a laugh from the various real estate agents, leasing agents, and human resources people dealing with our move "across the pond".  We did know, through years of television and movie conditioning, that England was probably cold and damp and rainy but we just assumed it would be hot on occasion too.  The cold and damp far outweighs the warm and sunny or hot.

So obviously we didn't get a house with air conditioning.  There are some available but well beyond our price means and few and far between.  We actually found our house by ourselves.  We got three days with an agent who drove us furiously around burrow and dale and roundabouts to various houses in one village or town or another with us usually having no clue where we were in relation to my husband's job or in relation to anything.  We found a house on a hill in a lovely neighborhood and a great back garden and fantastic master bedroom and said we wanted this house.  Well, took two weeks with the owner putting more and more obstacles in our way until we said forget it and had about 2 weeks left on our allotted time (before our furniture and household goods arrived via sea) to now find a house.  We found this one in the paper and fell in love with it immediately.  It backs up to a golf course down a long driveway and few neighbors.  Not the best kitchen I wanted but private and enough room, we thought, no air conditioner - ha ha - but nice, really, really nice.  And luckily, the owner was willing to get out in time for our shipment to arrive.

So we moved into the house and we are still here.  Some winters we have been dealing with a really flaky boiler which we have learned is the British equivalent of a furnace.  In the states, furnaces are huge things that take up an entire closet and lots of tubing and duct work to take the heat through the house and blow hot air out grates in the floor or wall or ceiling.  Here the boiler is this small box that sits on the wall and runs furiously in the winter.  I'm sure there must be other parts to it in various walls or the attic (loft) but my focus is on this small box and the blinking lights.  When the lights are on, we have heat and when they are blinking, we are in trouble.

Two winters we have been in trouble.  Last winter, during the coldest part of the winter, we had blinking lights and the blasted thing was out for several days.  Odd - to us - the automotive rescue service - their automobile association - AA - came by to bring us 4 small electric heaters which work amazingly well and could heat up a whole room to unbearable levels in a couple of hours.  The boiler worked for a few weeks and then, in another very cold week, it started the blinking lights again.  This time, my husband was able to look inside and attach the small hose that had come undone.  Now we automatically check this hose whenever we get the blinky lights and it seems to fix it most of the time.

This winter the fan went out.  We had a few days of awful whirling noises and then blinking lights and no heat.  Luckily we have those 4 electric heaters.  I just have to watch them to ensure the cats don't sit too close to them.  Only took a couple of days to fix it this time but we didn't get cold due to the electric heaters.  Our electric bill was sky high for that month but we were warm.

So we have gotten used to this radiator/boiler system which works quite well.  In most of our rooms, there is at least one radiator and we have to turn it down considerably to keep the room warm but not overly hot.  The cats know which radiators are running and that's usually where we can find them, curled up in front of one of the working radiators.

I was talking to some English friends about the various differences between heating and air conditioning between here and the states and learned, to my amazement, that there are still many homes in England that exist without a boiler, furnace, radiator, or any means of heating other than the stove.  I'd heard of "cold water flats" and suddenly it made sense.  I didn't know they still existed but apparently they do and aren't that uncommon.  I know of at least 4 families with no source of heat other than a fireplace in one or two rooms and a stove in the kitchen.  One family I know uses electric heaters exclusively.  My friend complains about their electric bill - but they haven't taken any steps to put in radiators or a boiler so I guess they are happy enough with their circumstances.

The old English standard stove - the Aga - was made for running constantly, year in and year out, and kept the kitchen boiling hot in summer and toasty warm in winter.  That stove makes sense if it is your only source of heat.  My friends were telling me how they gauge what clothes to wear by whether there is ice on the inside of their windows in the morning.  Ice on the inside!!!  My gosh.  I don't think I've lived anywhere quite so cold since I was a child and actually had an outhouse for use rather than indoor plumbing.  I hated to go to the bathroom in the winter.  

So all the progress in the world and there are still people with no heat - and they live just fine that way and have adapted to it.  My one set of friends would no sooner leave their home than they would fly to the moon.  They love it - heat-less and all.  I have other British friends who were just as amazed as I was that such homes still were around.   The world has many wonders - both modern and "old fashioned".  I am lucky enough to be able to see both ends of the spectrum.

Climbing Big Ben

If you are a legal resident of England (and right now, luckily, we are!), you can write to your local MP (Member of Parliament) and ask for an invitation to climb Elizabeth Tower - the tower which houses the omnipresent clock faces overlooking Parliament and the Thames River and the massive bell known as Big Ben.  It takes a long time to get onto the list and get the invitation back but I have been fortunate enough to do it twice now.  What's remarkable is most of my British friends have no idea that they can do this and are always amazed when I tell them I have done it!  So easy to get the invite, just takes awhile. 

Anyway, I did it a couple of summers ago but my husband was unable to go with me at the time so I signed us up for another visit last summer and finally got our invite for Jan 23, yes, it does take a long time because in spite of most of my friends having no clue, a lot of Brits do know about it so it is very popular.  Elizabeth Tower is 344 steps to the top!  That's a heck of a long climb for an old lady with arthritis!   But it is doable because there are several stops along the way - thank goodness.

The day starts by meeting in Portcullis House which is across the street from the tower where you prove you are who you say and you do live in England.  You are checked off the list and you must lock away your bags and cameras and phones.  Unfortunately, no photos allowed which is a shame because such great views from there.  Then you walk under the street to the tower and begin the climb.   You have a guide in front who opens the doors and leads the way up the stairs and a minder in back in case of claustrophobia or fear of heights or stragglers.  

Don't know how many steps is the climb to the first stop but it seems forever and just when I am at the point where I am going to have to embarrass myself but stopping on the stairs for a few minutes, I can see the door open for the first stop and I am able to stagger up the last 10 steps and pant my way inside and sit heavily on the bench.   Must have looked a bit done in because both guides asked if I was OK.   And this was my second time!!  The mind never remembers how far it is and how hard because if it did, I certainly would have declined going with my husband this time!

The first stop has a display where you get some of the information about how Big Ben - the bell- came about, and the building of the tower, and the controversy and the broken first bell.  All good stuff.  We started the climb around 11 a.m. so our guide is closely watching his time.  We want to be at the top for the 12 noon strike.   So all too soon we are leaving this room and climbing again.  I thought I remembered 4 stops on the way up and the first climb being the worst.  I guess my body was really unhappy that I was doing this again plus we only had 3 stops on the way up and the next climb seemed just as miserable with a moment when I thought I would need to stop again to rest.  But I made it to the next room where we sat for some more information on the tower and the clock and the bells.  

But again, all too soon, we are back in the tower and climbing  to the clock faces where we walk behind the faces and can see where the hands are.  There are these huge light bulbs behind them now but in the old days, all the clock faces were lit by gas jets behind them and some poor sod had to climb up there every day to light all the gas jets from the top of each clock face to the bottom.  What a miserable job that must have been and dangerous!   Now there is a constant problem from birds wanting to sit on the hands.  Way back when, a bunch of starlings sat on the hand and messed up the time.  Now there is a man with a hawk that flies regularly around the tower to scare off the pigeons.  Wish we could have seen him.

Finally up just a few more flights to the mechanical room where the clock mechanism actually is and we watch it work for the 11:45 chime of the clock.  Such a magnificent piece of work and such precision from the late 1800's.  To this day, the timing is controlled by adding pennies or taking away pennies from the mechanism to make it a tiny bit faster or slower so that it is exact and doesn't lose or gain any time.  It is quite noisy to watch the "trains" work (the bells and clock mechanisms and weight mechanisms are called trains) but so amazing too.  I don't understand the making of watches and clocks but this is truly a work of wonder and art to make something as large as the clock faces in the tower and have them be so precise.

Last year, they abseiled down from the bell room to clean the clock faces.  they only do that about every 7 years and I forgot it was that rare so forgot to go to London to watch them.  poo on me for missing that.  Used to, the wouldn't stop the clock and the men cleaning would have to be careful to watch out for the hands moving as they cleaned the faces.  Now they stop one side for one day and the men are able to clean the clock faces in four days.

Finally to the top bell room.  What a view from all sides and how lovely inside too with the massive bells.  Big Ben is 13 1/2 tons.  The other bells are chime bells and all smaller but still nothing one could have in your home!  We get ear plugs to put in and a few words on the bells and told where to watch as the chimes start in a couple of minutes.  The guides count down for us and we hear the grinding of the mechanism start and see the first bell hammer clang down for the chimes.  It plays the bells in the familiar chimes and then the huge hammer of Big Ben falls for the first ring of twelve.  it is a massive hammer and a massive bell and it reverberates the entire platform and up through your shoes and you can feel the power of the bell and hammer.  As the last tone strikes and starts to die away, you can put your hands on the girders and still feel them vibrating.   It was such a wondrous experience and so marvelous.   We have a few minutes to look out the sides and I notice a couple standing off by themselves and he is presenting her with a ring!  WOW!  They got engaged at the top of Big Ben Tower!  Bet there are not many who can say that.

Going down is so much easier with just one stop at the room where we stopped first for some final information and a brochure that says we have climbed.  Then down to the bottom, back under the street, back to Portcullis House and get our bags and turn in our lanyards and done now with the brilliant experience that comes from patience with your MP and knowing that you can do this.  Our legs are wobbly and like jelly for most of the rest of the day but we still manage to spend a bit of time just wandering around the Thames and appreciating that we have had such a wonderful opportunity to live in England for awhile.  Yowzer, Yowzer but we are one lucky and amazing couple!

Cosmic Connection

When you have children, it seems like it is an open door for letting in all the little germs and bugs that float about and incubate in areas like schools and day care with sniffling noses, hacking coughs, sore throats and such. I went through all this when our daughter was young and attending public institutions and bringing home all manner of germs and such. One would think with her over the age of 40 now, that I would escape from her clutches as the harbinger of colds and flu.

Lovely to say that my daughter and I have an amazing cosmic connection. I like to think this came about because I was such a good single parent when she was under 1 year of age until age 11. That we connected in ways that will always keep us close and loving to each other. That's all well and good except I seem to be cosmically connected to her health as well!.

Currently my daughter works on a rotational basis out of Africa. I am lucky enough to see her almost every other month on her time off work when she comes here to visit with us (actually she comes to see her cat but I'll take it). Usually she comes home tired but healthy and goes back refreshed and healthy. So why is it, when someone who was obviously sick and contagious shook her hand last week, I GOT THE COLD! (and she's still in Africa - not here for any of this)

The minute she told me about it via email, I could feel a scratchy throat coming on and sure enough, by the next day, sore throat and stuffy nose, then coughing and hacking. She's not affected but I have a monster cold now. One that is kicking me in the butt and keeping me in bed in the morning until 11 or so when I drag myself into the shower and drag myself downstairs for cereal because it is the easiest thing to prepare.

As parents, we are always wishing to spare our children pain and suffering but who knew that such a good mother-child connection meant that I would get sick instead of her. Ah well. It's not the first time I have shared her illness or her injuries or taken them on instead of her getting sick. Must have some good karma somewhere as a parent for me to continue to cosmically connect with her.