Life in the 'burbs

With each day, we are settling into more of a routine and adapting to life here in sunny Garden City. I am trying to get up extra early (for me anyway) and enjoy a cuppa in the garden before Boy Wonder gets up at 7am. Admittedly, this has been helped by Paul who continues to be the earliest riser ever and wakes daily about 5.30am without an alarm, presumably due to some unusual body malfunction. Also, I am aiming to shower and dress straight away without slumming it around in my dressing gown. The fear of having one of the 'big hair' brigade from Garden City knocking on the door has certainly encouraged me to pull my finger out. However painful it is to drag myself out of bed (6am this morning!!!) I am loving the peace and quiet in the garden at that time of day.

Last Friday evening we went to the 'Belmont Festival' which was held down Seventh Avenue in GC to celebrate the Belmont Races the following day. There was lots of food stalls and music which kept Boy Wonder entertained. There was a chicken wing competition with all of the local restaurants serving their own individual chicken wings. You were given a ticket and after you had tried all of the options, you could vote for your favourite. The winner would win the trophy and the prestige of 'The best wings in Garden City' and get a sign to put in their window!! For some reason, the local firefighters were also trying out their chicken wings, so obviously I voted for them because I like firemen...

The highlight of the last week was clearly my visit from Joe and the time I spent with her and her mum (Joe - please tell your mum I will snipe her soon...) On Friday morning, I took Boy Wonder in on the train and we spent most of the morning chasing him about. That was after the most wonderful cuddle I got from Joe when we met. On Saturday, I had a free pass so I got the train into town and spent a girlie Saturday doing shops and lunch. And also lots of sitting around, drinking and chatting. Totally fab.

I had my first driving lesson on Monday night with my Spanish instructor Hose (the 'e' is meant to have an accent over it) and it was clear from quite early on that we would struggle from a slight language barrier. This didn't really matter once we got going as all he said was to turn left or right for an hour with not much else. I think I did ok (despite Hose saying that I was clearly a driver but he wanted to make me a 'fine' driver) but I do need to work on my spatial awareness on the right hand side of the car. A couple of times Hose grabbed the wheel and turned it which I thought was a slight over-reaction. It didn't matter as I can't take anybody seriously called Hose (Jane will know why!!!!) My road test is next Thursday so watch this space...

Had a lovely parcel from Carole turn up this week full of goodies, including a box of french fancies. This resulted in a rather long thread on facebook about expats being desperate for English goodies but also proved that I do really have some new friends in New York - they are not figments of my imagination that I have created so that my parents won't worry that I'm lonely!! I went into the city this morning to see my New York posse and spent the morning drinking tea while the boys all bumbled about. I've put some feelers out around here about toddler groups and stuff so will try and meet people here too. I might even make a friend with an American person...

Now the house is starting to look a bit more sorted I'll add some pics next week and of the local area. Hopefully by then, our sprinklers will be turned on so that we are not letting the rest of the road down by having straw outside instead of lush, green grass.