A Super Sonic Day

The snow thawed out (yet again) and on Wednesday we got a freakish sunny day, it was really really warm, my car was 80f (26c). I got home from work and sat in the sun with the cats saying “oh my god kitties, do you remember a time when there was no snow?”. If they did they were keeping very tight lipped about it.

And as the weather was so nice and it was pay day for me, Kim and I decided to drive to Manchester (the CT Manchester, not the north of England) and try out somewhere I’d wanted to go for ages: Sonic.

Sonic is a drive-through fast food place where you can either just go through the normal drive-through like McDonalds style OR you can park up in little bays and study the menu, which we did. Then you press a button to order through an intercom. We got hot dogs and those old fashioned thick milkshakes with the cherries on top.

And then your carhop brings your food out to your car on roller skates! I felt like the Flintstones only my car didn’t tip over from the weight of dinosaur ribs. Kim wasn’t that excited but I was thrilled. When they give you your food they say ‘Have a super sonic day!” Heheee. What a novelty. After dinner we went to Old Navy and ended up spending quite a bit, oops. Thank goodness we get paid fortnightly in America.

Valentines Day & Stuff

Valentines day has been and gone for another year. This year was a little interesting, Kim and I exchanged gifts but I thought I’d push the boat out and carve one of our trees (romantic!). My Dad told me what sort of knife I’d need and it arrived… it was a bit bigger than anticipated and it was the type that’s illegal to carry in the UK and locks open (perfect for carving trees or stabbing people!).  So I got it through in the mail and decided to open it away from Kim so she didn’t get creeped out (What did you buy me for Valetines Day Darling? A knife!) only then I couldn’t figure out how to shut it again! Luckily all was well, the tree is now carved and I have the tools for a moonlighting career as a mugger.

I got Kim this classy card.

And got a singing pug one in return which I think is a fair trade.

The day before Valentines Day we went to a Japanese drumming show only they’d decided to pair up the traditional drumming with a light show, dancers and hover boards… slightly less traditional haha.

On Valentines Day itself we went to a nice Italian restaurant in Coventry.

Worryingly before hand Kim presented me with this bottle of prosecco saying she’d got it for after dinner. She couldn’t understand why I was laughing or asking if she’d got me a hooker for Valentines Day… she just thought the name was fancy and French.

The snow is back and slowly thawing so we’ve made use of our movie passes a lot, we’ve seen a lot of serious films lately so we went to see Peter Rabbit and Early Man for some comic relief and they were both very good. We discovered a little cinema near us that we thought was pretty run down. It’s in a mini mall and when we went in it looked pretty scabby and the toilets were shut off with a sign that said they were undergoing major works… never a good thing. So we weren’t expecting much, we entered this tiny movie theater to find it full of comfy armchairs with electric reclining footrests – very nice!

The Spa At Norwich Inn

Kim and my 2nd wedding anniversary is coming up soon so we decided to have a little weekend away to celebrate. We went to a hotel just under an hours drive away (convenient!) called the Spa at Norwich Inn. Now this is Nor-Wich in CT not Norrich as the UK pronounces it where I used to live (just to confuse things). No one here seems to know why they say Nor-Wich but Not Green-Wich for Greenwich.

So on Friday once Kim and I were done with work we took the very short drive and checked in.

There was a ‘complimentary’ activity sheet which was quite sweet and kept us occupied.

Luckily we made it just in time for the “wine tasting” AKA drinking wine and eating cheese and grapes, which is just fine by me.

Then we went to check out the spa quickly before dinner, they had a fancy changing room with those electric code locks which no one over the age of 40 seemed to be able to work out.

There was a big vanity area with different products and blow driers etc.

And round the corner they had a big hot tub, steam room and sauna. These were all in the actual changing rooms so they were female/male only, whilst this is convenient for Kim and I, I couldn’t help but think it would be quite inconvenient for all hetero couples.

There was a heated pool, a gym (I didn’t step over the threshold obviously, lest my skin burn), a work out studio and a quiet room with magazines and big comfy chairs in.

Then we had a good dinner and some cocktails.

Now somewhere in the middle of the previous day it had seemed like a good idea to wake up at 6.30am for the ‘complimentary’ morning walk about the grounds.

It seemed like less of a good idea when it was cancelled because it was -7F (-21C) outside and Kim had managed to set fire to the sugar packets accidentally whilst making her coffee.

So in the end we sacked that idea and I took the executive decision to have breakfast at Starbucks, then we made it back in time to do meditation.

Then it all went a bit down hill. The meditation class was packed full and was what Kim would call ‘crunchy hippy’. The woman running it was talking about feeling the “power centres burst forward” and “invite your breaths to come into your lungs”. I started to feel overwhelmingly English and became slightly horrified at “give yourself a hug, thank yourself for being here”…. um… no…. I thought, as I peeked round at about 20 Americans lovingly hugging themselves with their eyes closed. “Take a minute to be inside your own body breathing”…. yeahhh… I’ve been doing just that solidly for about 29 years now, clearly I’m a pro meditator.

After ascertaining that regular meditation sessions are perhaps not for me, we went to get pedicures and Kim got a manicure and spent a gift voucher left over from her birthday (excuse my creepy stubby toes).

Then a spot of lunch and some more spa-ing.

Then we stopped for some afternoon tea which, bless them, they hadn’t got exactly right. The whole hotel had obviously tried to have a bit of an English theme and had called the restaurant the Kensington and the bar area the Ascot (Kim didn’t get it when I asked if we needed to wear a hat). We got very nice scones but they were served with whipped butter and marmalade… hmm… they tried. Also they didn’t have any earl or lady grey tea so I had hot apple cider… still…. why not?

They had a pianist to listen to which was nice.

That night we went for a ‘fancy’ dinner, at the Kensington no less, we got some fancy bread with a selection of fancy butter… fancy.

More cocktails.

And I decided to have some swordfish (which was jolly tasty) because lately I feel as though I am single-handedly diminishing the world’s chicken population. The next day we went to Mohegan Sun, an Indian casino which is literally 5 minutes away from the hotel.

It was pretty big, we only went for a look round because neither Kim or I really enjoy gambling. They’d obviously tried to go with an Indian theme which was nicely done, they even had a robotic wolf that moved it’s head (which is necessary for optimal gambling).

I found some pots in the Indian type shop that were made in the same village ancestry.com said my family is descended from so that was interesting. If all my distant relatives are making these then why am I so shit at art?

Then we mooched around the shops for a bit. The casino had a smoking section and I realised how long it had been since I had been in a building with a smoking and non-smoking section. To make up for this though the casino had strange futuristic toilets that coated the toilet seats with plastic and when you press a button a new layer of protective plastic rotates on! So I played with that for a bit, Americans seem to be deathly afraid that they can catch AIDs or something from a toilet seat and covers pop up everywhere you go out.

And then it was back home to the kitties.

Gay City State Park

Last weekend we decided to celebrate the brief break from snow with a nice trip to Gay City State Park.

Gay City was settled by a religious sect (honestly, a sect!) as a mill town that was eventually abandoned and is now a state park. There were a few graves that we saw that hinted to the history but we didn’t come across much more in the part we walked in.

There’s a lake to swim in (perhaps when it’s a little warmer…?) and picnic areas.

There’s a bridge over a dam that leads to some walking trails.

And for once the trails are actually marked out and colour coded. The state forest near us is purely guess work!

So we walked the two and a half mile trail which was very pleasant apart from when I managed to lose an earring that I had only bought two days ago! Ugh!

We drove home and put the kettle on for a cup of tea and after a few minutes noticed our house was surrounded by 3 police cars, so being nosy we looked outside. The house across from us is up for sale and the chap who owns it has been completely renovating all of it for the past 6 months and was urgently waving me over. So I stepped outside and he said “Can you tell the police that I live here? I locked myself out and had to climb through the window!” Briefly considered lying and saying I’d never seen him before but as he helped me shovel out our driveway one time I decided to own up to knowing him and off the police drove after saying “thank you ma’am”.

The rest of the weeks been pretty busy with work for Kim and I. We went out to dinner with one of Kim’s coworkers and her boyfriend to the Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant which was a treat.

The snow is back though, and that’s decidedly not a treat. Although I did get to see this parade of turkeys on my way to work this week, young mister turkey guiding all his girlfriends across the road.

There were zillions of turkeys outside this house… I haven’t seen any wild turkeys this year and then about 20 all at once! This weekend Kim and I are off to celebrate out second wedding anniversary a bit early so hopefully it doesn’t snow anymore whilst we’re away and we can get in the drive way on the way back! Roll on spring.