Tues, Nov 28

Good news at last. We can report some activity regarding Paul's job seach. Yesterday he received a phone call from a national food supplier asking him if he was able to attend an interview. This morning he made his way to Waltham Cross and gave it his best shot. Unfortunately, Paul left feeling that it had not gone as well as he had hoped. But, you never know. They said they would definately be in touch, so we'll fill you all in when we know more news.

After his first interview in three months of searching, he then dropped in to Enfield and did a little shopping before returning home to Tiny.

Sat, Nov 25

Today Dawn drove us to the Morrisons store in Welwyn Garden City so that we could do some grocery shopping, and also give Dawn some much-needed driving practice. Then we had a ride into town to take a couple of CDs back to our local library, pick up some Christmas lights for the Christmas tree, and grab a pub lunch. When we got home we took the time to show Tiny how much she means to us. Check out the picture above. Is she happy or what?

Fri, Nov 24

Today we both woke up feeling very full after all the food we ate yesterday. However, it did not stop Dawn tucking into some grits and bacon for breakfast, a turkey and cranberry sauce sandwich for lunch, and some leftovers from yesterday for dinner. She even had the time to make some of her much-loved party mix. However, she had to resort to using malt-flavoured chex and sugary Cheerios, instead of her usual boxes of wheat and corn chex and plain Cheerios. At least with all the flavourings she adds, it'll still taste okay.

Oh yea, Paul also made a trip down to our local Post Office to mail out our American Christmas cards. We guessed that seeing as it took three weeks for our birthday card to reach Dawn's sister last month, we needed to give it an extra week to allow for the extra Christmas volume.

Thur, Nov 23

We woke up before Thanksgiving day arrived today. That's because we woke up at 4.30am London time, which is 30 minutes before midnight Eastern time. Anyway, we had to get up early so Paul could get the turkey in the oven and prepare some filo pastry for dessert. Once the turkey was cooked, he drove over to Holloway to pick up his dad and brother to bring them to our house to share our Thanksgiving meal with us. Dad and George gave us a bottle of wine and some chocolates to help us celebrate.

As for the meal, we had turkey, dressing, broccoli casserole, mashed sweet potato, rice, giblet gravy, and cranberry sauce. Once we'd given this time to go down, we had a filo pastry shell with some raspberries and blueberries drizzled in a forest fruit sauce and vanilla ice cream.

As it takes around two hours for the return trip to Dad's flat, and because Paul would have to contend with the rush hour traffic, Dawn also went on the ride back to Holloway. This time it took less than an hour to get there, and over an hour and a half to get back.

We then settled down and watched "The 40 Year Old Virgin" before settling to watch the Cowboys against the Bucs at 9.30pm our time. With both of us feeling tired, we decided to tape the second half and watch the rest of the game in the morning. As expected, Dallas kicked Tampa's butt and ran out 38-10 winners.

Wed, Nov 22

On Monday Paul met with two recruiters at a local McDonald's restaurant to discuss his job search. They seemed optimistic about his chances and said they would contact two companies that they had in mind. However, as of the end of the week Paul still had no interviews lined up. Paul then had a ride over to Harlow to return a mantle piece for the fireplace that was no good to B&Q, and to check out some stuff at Curry's and Comet (electrical appliance stores). When he got home he then made some cornbread for our Thanksgiving meal. He had to use yellow cornmeal, flour, etc. because we can't get cornbread mix here (easily).

Today, Paul spent some time preparing some more food for our Thanksgiving meal. He made the dressing and broccoli casserole, both of which are Dawn's favourites and she just couldn't wait to get tucked into them both. Best of all though is that she is off work both Thursday and Friday.

Sun, Nov 19

Well we certainly got a lot done this weekend for Christmas. Paul completed the Christmas letter, and Dawn wrote out and addressed all the cards that we'll be sending to the US. We'll worry about the UK stuff in a week or two. In between we went into town again and had lunch at the Woolpack and visited the library. Dawn also spent some time on the telephone with her mum and her sister, Kelly. Best of all, we had our first fire at our new home. Tiny got a little jealous though, because we seemed to be paying the fire more attention than her. This was just because we needed to get the thing going!

Thur, Nov 16

With Paul feeling a lot better after his stomach aches from the juice drinks, he had a ride up to Holloway again today to see his dad. Once again they chatted about the same old stuff as usual. This time his brother George was there for a little while before leaving to go on a work appointment.

Wed, Nov 15

The last two days saw Paul attempt to refrain from eating solid foods and stick to juices made from fruit and vegetables. Tuesday went fine. He did himself some mint tea and some lemon and mint tea in between three juices. He was even able to make Dawn some nice sage and onion-coated pork with a jacket potato. However, Wednesday didn't go to plan. He had a tea in the morning, as he did on Tuesday, and then a juice after dropping Dawn off at the station. However, by mid morning his stomach was hurting and he was feeling nauseated. He had already had a headache for the previous twelve hours. At that point he called it a day and went back on solids. Luckily he felt fine by the end of the day.

Mon, Nov 13

Back to work again. Dawn again was out the house from 7.10am until 6.30pm and laboured with her two and half hours of commuting. Needless to say, with all the time she's spending on trains, she has been going through books quicker than she ever has. Paul on the other hand was able to complete the radiator cover for the box room at last. He was really pleased with this project, as he made it all from scatch and it wasn't one of those prefab units. It's amazing just how much that room has changed since we moved in. It's just a shame that we still have the rest of the house to do.

Sun, Nov 12

The time seems to be flying by. Yet another week has gone by and we're another week closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas.

On Saturday we had a walk into town. Dawn joined the library and we did some shopping in the local shops, including picking up all our Christmas cards for everyone. We'd really like to get our American ones in the mail the weekend after Thanksgiving to make sure they arrive on time.

Back at the house Paul searched for more job opportunities online and applied for about a dozen in and around the Hertford area.

On Sunday we just chilled out and watched some television. Paul was especially happy to see his football team, Tottenham Hotspur, beat last season's league champions, Chelsea, live on Sky television.

Fri, Nov 10

Today Paul had a ride up to Holloway on his own to spend a couple of hours with his dad. On the way he called into B&Q to sort out more problems with stuff he needed and also Comet where he picked up a juicer. Paul's dad seemed to enjoy the company. They talked about the family, cameras, Christmas, and of course the health of Paul and two of his older brothers, David and Phillip. David has recently had heart surgery and Philip has had a stroke. Perhaps it's no wonder Paul is paying so much attention to his blood pressure issues!

Thu, Nov 9

The last three days have all been about aggravation. On Tuesday Paul drove down to B&Q at Enfield to pick up stuff for the radiator cover he was going to make for the box room. We had been calling it the closet room, but have now decided to call it the box room, as it's where Tiny's box is and where we have now put all the Christmas boxes after Paul put together an eight-cubed shelf on top of the laundry basket/suitcase cover.

On Wednesday, Paul popped into the doctor to get a 24 hour blood pressure monitor fitted. We expected it to be a wrist watch-size device. Instead it looked like a bus conductor's money pouch connected to an arm band that ran around the back of his neck. Worst of all was that the damn thing would go off every 15 minues during the day, and every hour at night. The noise from the pump was annoying enough. However, Paul had the arm band squeezing the life out of his arm every quarter of an hour. Needless to say, little got done on Wednesday.

On Thursday morning Paul took the contraption back to the doctors and then got stuck into his list of tasks again. He partly completed the radiator cover and put more shelves up in the box room. He also ran out to Morrisons to get the week's groceries and picked up some fish and chips for dinner when he collected Dawn from the station.

Mon, Nov 6

Dawn was back to work today after 5 days out of the office. We know that two of those were the weekend, but we can tell you that to Dawn those 5 days meant the world. She needed a break.

As for Paul, he finally completed the enclosure he was building over the top of the stairs in the closet room. He also had a ride into town to pick up a parcel from the Post Office, and spent the rest of the time with Tiny who was having withdrawal feelings after the last few days.

Sun, Nov 5

I think Dawn is completely fed up with November the 5th. Back in 1605, there was a plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament. However, the seventeenth century terrorists were captured before the buildings and King went up in smoke. And, since then, bonfires have been lit to celebrate the safety of the King. Over the years fireworks have been added to the tradition. Well, for the last 3 nights fireworks have been going off from dusk until very late. On Saturday night some even after midnight. Dawn was not happy.

Anyway, that aside, we spent the weekend at the house and kept Tiny company. Needless to say, she will be a very unhappy camper come Monday. Paul did however pop out to the Post Office down the bottom of the road to pick up the newspaper and also went on the treadmill as usual.

Fri, Nov 3

We have now enjoyed three days together. Or what I should say is that Dawn has enjoyed three days off work. Yesterday we had a ride into town and did some shopping before Paul went to see his doctor for the results of his blood tests. The good news is that his cholesterol wasn't a problem. However, he has high blood pressure still (160/100), and his liver function tests showed some problems. The doctor said the liver problem was called a "fatty liver". But if he loses some weight, cuts out the fats, and evercises, then that should be okay. As for the blood pressure, he needs to go back to get a 24 monitoring device fitted.

On Friday we went to Jollye's in Crews Hill to get litter and food for Tiny before having a ride up to Holloway to spend a couple of hours the Paul's dad and brother George. Paul's dad got out some old photos for us to look at. Then on the way back we stopped at Morrisons in Enfield to do some grocery shopping. Once that was out of the way Dawn took the plunge and jumped behind the steering wheel.

Yes, you read correctly. Dawn drove the car home to Hertford from Enfield. It was the first time she had driven a car in all the time she's been in England. And, that includes the two and half years she was here between 1996 and 1999. Paul will also be the first to say she did a great job, and didn't have one problem coping with the seven roundabouts and mini-roundabouts along the way.

Wed, Nov 1 (10th Anniversary)

Today we celebrated the tenth anniversary of the first time they met at the top of the Empire State Building in New York. We exchanged cards, as normal, but had decided against a gift as we had plenty of other things on our plate at the moment. However, we were not going to let the day go by unceramoniously. We had a ride up to Cambridge and wondered around the old college town.

We were both in awe of the place. Firstly, the architecture is out of this world with gothic towers and old ornate buildings. We just loved the King's College Chapel, and the Bridge of Sighs over the River Cam. We had a pizza and soup for lunch at Don Pasquale and then made our way home before it got too late.

Then this evening we had a ride into town and had an anniversary meal in the Salisbury Arms Hotel, which dates back in some shape or form nearly 600 years. The food was great, so it was a nice way to bring our special day to a close.