Another side effect from the two cups of coffee was that after we turned off the lights at eleven thirty in the evening, I heard the clock downstairs erupt with bell sounds three more times before I finally fell asleep. Friday morning I was a tad cranky. After chores and breakfast we went with Jan into Exeter. He had to get his glasses fixed from when he fell on a wall a few weeks ago. So Daniel and I had just under an hour to explore a small part of the city. I would really like to go back. Seeing people is always a treat. Jan told us to check out “The Phoenix” a community arts center that had several animation exhibits playing and where he’d meet us in forty five minutes. We walked around for a bit though it seemed it was mostly for children. That, and Paris museums have completely spoiled us. We left the exhibit after ten minutes. There were a few streets nearby that we explored and the first place we went into was a c.d. and dvd store where they were playing a Tori Amos album. That made me happy. So we stayed there a while browsing the films and singing along to live versions of her older music. After a bit we made our way through some narrow streets and found an athletics store. We went into see about finding Daniel a bicycle helmet. They seemed to only be selling child sizes; what kind of city is this? Do only kids bike around looking at art? We had just enough time to maneuver ourselves back to meet Jan.
There are so many interesting facts about Grange Place that I forget to reveal them all. There is a young man living on the property named Pierre. He is from Italy and he seems to be roughly our age. He works as a managing barista in Exeter so Jan took us to his café for a drink and a visit. Having vowed to avoid coffee I simply watched Daniel and Jan enjoy “The Best Coffee in Exeter” at Café on 36. It was extremely packed in there, which was overwhelming since I see only two or three people each day. Pierre said he would like me and Daniel to come knocking on his trailer door when we hear music playing so we can visit. I think that might be nice.
Having one room is a little like living in a studio apartment, which I have never actually done. Friday evening Simon encouraged us to watch a film he loves called, “Gregory’s Girl”. It is a story from Scotland about adolescence in the early 80’s. It is one of Simon’s favorite films because it reminds him of being young and in love for the first times. He set us up with his laptop and some speakers and we laughed at the movie in our room. Simon watched the end of the movie with us and we hung out talking about movie genres and music. He told us he was so thrilled to be able to finally talk to people about music so he went to make himself a cup of tea while I searched his music list and released my inner d.j. Also, because I feel like our room is also our house I did some tiding before Simon got back. It’s such an interesting experience in life to have friends of all ages. And this is the first time my close circle of friends have been sixty to eight five years of age. I quite liked hanging out in here drinking wine and tea, listening to music and talking about likes and dislikes. It is very similar to hanging out with my thirty year old friends. Simon also likes Zen meditation so we listened to some Instant Zen with him quietly. I find Zen at times can be contradictory, as in most spiritual practices. Of course the majority of it is beautiful and touching, as in most spiritual practices. In my own personal opinion I think it is impolite to tell someone that what they want, or even that they want is wrong. The hunt for happiness is vast, ever expanding and contracting. If someone wants a boat, awesome! Maybe they will take you sailing with them! If someone wants to give their entire yearly salary to a charity, awesome! Maybe you can contribute something to their cause. Joy is everywhere, so celebrate it, in all of its forms.
Since Simon was here with us last week the four of us took a small trip into Crediton where we popped into a café for drinks and a snack. None of us were impressed. Apparently the little establishment used to be famous for baking from scratch and offering organic beverages. Now they seemed to have conformed to a star bucks like treatment; nothing fresh, everything packaged. Daniel ordered a chocolate milkshake which came as chocolate milk with a dollop of chocolate ice cream floating somewhere in the middle of his cup. I took a hot chocolate which did not taste like chocolate for some reason. And the two of us shared a scone with cream and jam. Here they pronounce scone a little differently. In fact Jan and Simon like to tease Daniel and me for saying it wrong. The O sound is drawn out, as in a decorative wall sconce. We still have yet to try true Devon Cream.
Saturday was such a beautiful day. The morning chores went quickly, no birds attacked me, the cows moved for us, the sun was out and it was warm! Although my idea these days of warm is not what it used to be. The moon was huge and beautifully eerie in the sky that night as we drove to Crediton to hear Andrews band, “Reckless” play at The Ship; the bar which is across the street from the bank that doesn’t want to take our money. The pubs here are brighter than in the states, which I’m getting used to but there is something about a dark room that I prefer. The five members of the band are all different ages which didn’t surprise me. Crediton is small and I’ve seen young people, and old people. We moved to a place much like Eugene in that there is not a large 30 something population. Andrew plays the drums and he is really good. The band is really good as well. They do cover songs from the 60’s through the 90’s. It was fun and loud. Daniel ordered a screwdriver, Jan had half a pint of Strongbow and I noticed they had New Castle which I know I like so I ordered one those. The bottle of brew they brought me was gigantic. I’ve never seen one so big. Plus it didn’t come in a glass; I can handle that, so I drank from the bottle. I did notice, however, that I was the only woman in the entire building drinking from a bottle. Jan mentioned it, but I honestly couldn’t hear him well enough to rectify the situation. There were not a lot of seats in the bar so Jan found a small stool for Daniel to sit on, he leaned against the wall behind Daniel and I leaned against the bar. A man at the bar leaned over to me and asked if I was from there. It’s a funny question, made funnier by the fact that he did not expect me to be from so far away. Plus, one thing about a pub where a live band is playing, you can’t hear anything! Certain accents are easier for me to understand, his was not one of those accents. After yelling, “What?” two times, I would finally just nod my head, smile, and holler, “Yeah!” And I could tell that a couple times that was not the right answer. At one point he asked if I wanted another drink to which I held up my bucket of beer for him to see before answering, “I still have all this!” And of course he said something about me drinking from the bottle. I said, “This is how they gave it to me!” Then he asked if Daniel or Jan wanted another drink. He bought Jan another half pint and Jan asked if I wanted to stand next to Daniel. I said yes. So Jan drank his new beer and chatted up the guy who bought it for him. Later that young man talked to me and Daniel. His is name Justin and finally I thought, “A friend!!” Unfortunately it turns out Justin lives in Manchester so we won’t be hanging out again, well, ever. Part of the experience is meeting new people so we were glad that happened. I’l l say one thing about the drunk dancing, I’ve never seen so many older people head banging in my life. Nor have I seen head banging in years. With ringing ears we went home all satisfied by an enjoyed night.
Yesterday was a nice mellow day. It was a little cold and rainy, like today, which gives Daniel great time to get work done for Open Intelligence and for me to blog. This morning the cockerel attacked me again! Only this time I noticed because I knew it was coming. I was in the chicken coup putting new straw beds down for the hens and he was blocking the door so I couldn’t come out. I moved toward him and he jumped up flapping his wings and scratched my knee. It did not hurt, however, no one likes to be attacked by anything and he totally got mud on my jeans. Jan has given us specific permission to kick the bird when he does this because we don’t want an aggressive fowl. So I swung my leg in his general direction which only made him mad and he lunged at me again. I yelled for Daniel who instantly appeared from around the corner to kick the feathered creature and save me! My hero! As we went to check on the horses Daniel asked me what I wanted for breakfast. I answered, “Rooster.”
No comments:
Post a Comment