A Wintry Monday

The walk to school this morning was bitterly cold.  Although the temperature was just around freezing, the "feels like" temperature was about 18F due to the wind and lack of sunshine.  The snow that fell over the weekend covered the fields and grassy areas, as it still does this evening.  The few daffodils that had just bloomed in pots outside the local pub were bent over, heavy with snow.


What's the best way to combat this wintry Monday?  Why, a delicious pub meal with friends!  Before I came to England, I received an email from one of the governors of the school (similar to our board of education back home).  Angela was very welcoming and expressed her delight in my placement at Fulbrook, but she was also thrilled as she has some very close ties to Alabama.  A very close family friend of hers lives in Alabama, about an hour and a half north of where I live, and she and her husband visit her frequently.  I was thrilled to have a connection to Alabama all the way over in England!

Since my arrival, Angela and her husband, Graham, have been incredibly generous to me.  Hosting me for a delicious home-cooked meal, taking me to a few local pubs for tasty meals.  Tonight, they treated me to a truly scrumptious meal at the Flying Fox in the neighboring village.  I had a lamb shank shepherds pie that was just divine, followed by a sticky ginger toffee pudding.  You're right, it doesn't get much better than that.

It has been a joy to get to know Angela and Graham, to learn more about the school through them, to share wonderful stories of adventurous travel, to learn similarities and differences between cultures, and of course to share some Alabama stories with them.  What a joyful way to end the bitterly cold, wintry Monday!

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