So this is February

We have had the most tremendous weather recently, and today when I walked Spencer to school, it felt rather as if it was very very early, and therefore still cool, on a summer morning.  

Sunshine is definitely on the Glad to Be Here list.  

Sally and I were talking on the way to school (I take her in the car at 7:15 to her school, which is about 5 miles away, and then walk Spencer to his school, which is about a mile away, at 8am.) and remarking on what a lovely day it was, and how, on balance, we liked being able to see so much sky - it really enabled us to appreciate the clear days.  We both imagined her journey to school from Leigh to Tonbridge, with the roads enclosed on both sides with hedges and trees, the way ahead obscured by twists and turns, the sky most likely grey, and we imagined that there was probably quite a lot of rain and mud, and we both decided that we missed it, but not all that much.  It was the green that we missed, not the grey chill.

In contrast, when we leave our little subdivision, we turn onto a wide four lane road and can see ahead unobstructed for probably 3.5 of the 5 miles it is to her school - the mountains to the west, the sunrise to the east.  

I don't suppose this is usual weather for February - remarkably, I do not remember exactly what it was like here for my first 24 years, but we do not mind it now one little bit.

Out of complacency, into the deep end

Having promised so many of my English friends that I would set up some sort of website to keep in touch round-robin style with what we were up to and how we were getting on, I realised that I had no idea whatsoever how to go about setting up said website.  How hard could it be, though? 

Uh, well, when you're a 50 something techno-peasant, harder than we'd like. 

Still, keeping in mind that one of the reasons for this move was to tumble ourselves out of complacency, out of our comfort zone, provide a challenge, and keep our grey cells active (and yes, hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I wish I knew, too, last summer that the global economic meltdown would have achieved the same thing), why not throw 'learning how to blog' into the mix?  It won't be the first time in my life I've jumped (or been thrown) into the deep end.

For my tuition, I have to thank the wonderful Loveland Public Library which has furnished me with an array of useful books.  One feature I hope to install here (when I'm a bit more fluent with the process) is a Glad To Be Here/Sad To Be Here listing.  American Public Libraries are firmly in the Glad To Be Here camp.

For now, let's get started.    Splash.