Settling into our little niche in the UK I have to say life is great, different, and great. We are renting a furnished house walking distance from the train and walking distance from town. Yesterday my husband and I got up, make a cup of coffee and walked into town where they had a farmer’s market set up. Everything here is fresh. The vegetables are grown at the farms and sold at market. The creme/cheese/butter comes from the farm as well. When they say expiration date 9/16/11, you aren’t keeping it on the 17th because it won’t be any good. Every Sunday we cook pasta for dinner so we bought olives, cheese, salami, fresh baked bread, truffle oil, and a balsamic glaze made with figs. A big adjustment for us is the beef…you really can’t eat it and enjoy it. Pork, lamb, and chicken are good.

The hardest living adjustment besides driving on the wrong side of the road, is the garbage. Everything here is recycled. I think it took me longer to get through the trash than to cook. You have to separate the paper and cans into one barrel. Food goes into a compost barrel and then all you have left are mainly plastics and those go into trash. My family of six that used to put out 3 barrels a week (on a good week) now puts out ONE BARREL every TWO WEEKS. For me that is more of an accomplishment than getting an advanced degree. I get it. It is good for the environment and looking back, we were pigs. Our neighbors from Germany used to put out one barrel a week and we used to laugh about it. Looking back, I guess the joke was on us.