England round-up

You know, I'm sure that while I was in Harrogate, I had a million little observations and stories that I intended to document on my blog. For example, I observed that the vast majority of people in Harrogate under the age of 60 either have no fashion sense whatsoever, or think that they are being stylish by wearing the latest cheap knock off of the latest fashion 3 sizes too small. I've never seen so many cellulite ravaged-thighs, muffin tops, unsupported oversized breasts (the underwire has clearly made no inroads and people are wearing bras with overstretched and paperthin cups - not a pretty sight), plumbers' cracks/coin slots, and poochy tummys jutting out from under belly tops in my life - and I have been to grad school in the recent past here in the states! Don't get me wrong, I'm no Italian fashion plate, but yikes. Wild.

As another example, when the Romans left Britain, they clearly took all their plumbing technology with them and permanently set the Britons 100 years back in terms of distributing hot and cold water through homes. I mean, separate water taps? I know they're cute and quaint in reproduction Victorian B&Bs, but in a house built since 2002? You've got to be kidding me. Moreover, "mixer" taps don't actually mix hot and cold water - they merely provide the two through separate openings on the underside of the tap very close to each other (as opposed to being on opposite sides of the sink) so that if you move your hands back and forth rapidly, you can intermediately treat the scald burn on your hands. WTF?

Finally, Harrogate has got to be one of the whitest towns I've ever been in (granted, I've never been to Salt Lake City). I saw exactly 3 people of color on the street. Three. That I could count them so exactly is depressing. It explains the dismal state of the food available. The two predominant flavors are either saccharine sweet or British bland. We had Thai - dominant flavor sweet; Chinese - dominant flavor sweet; pasta sauce from the Coop - sickeningly sweet; Italian food - bland; Spanish tapas - mostly bland; Indian food - not bland, but not especially flavorful and certainly not spicy. I blame it on the utter lack of people of color bringing their flavors into the city. All the waiters were Polish, and I desperately wanted to ask one of them where they got Polish food (mmmmm, pierogies) but I realized that more likely than not they lived in Leeds, and left all the yummy food there.

But luckily that represents the extent of the complaints I have right now. I can't even complain much about the weather - YET! - because it was generally very nice while I was there. Of course, the general consensus of those who had been there longer than 10 days was that the weather I experienced was in fact the exception for the summer thus far, but really, Harrogate is a nice little town. The neighborhood we're in is Goldilocks just right. Residential enough to be quiet and separated from city noise, but close enough that the downtown district and lots of shops are a quick, pleasant walk away. The gardens around town are pretty and peaceful. The town is clearly amazingly rich - BMWs, Mercedes, Jags, and Porsches replace Hondas, Toyotas, Fords, and Chevys. I can't figure out what all those people do, though, since there is no industry - heavy of otherwise - that I spied.

I don't get to move there full time until late October because of the cats, and by then the sun will start setting by 4pm and the weather will be decidedly worse. I'm pretty optimistic though that it will be an enjoyable three years.