Home Sweet Home

Andy and I went into Bolton today to do a little sales shopping and while we were walking back to the car park it started snowing.

It has been so very cold the last few days and today was no exception. When we left our house at around 11:30am it was so foggy that we could barely make out the car in front of us. We live right at the base of Winter Hill and today you would not have know it, we could not see it at all!

Andy had a bit of a headache tonight so we decided to just tuck up in our warm house and relax. Pretty much being party poopers but it was just too cold to go out... boy does that make me sound old!

Tonight Andy and I went to see a production of A Christmas Carol in Darwen which is about a 25 minute train ride north from Bolton.

The night started with us walking down to the train station in Westhoughton to find quite a few people waiting for the train. After about 10 minutes we hear this man yelling at the top of the walkway "Bolton... Anybody going to Bolton?" Turns out the trains were not running due to failed signal lights so a bus was going around to the stops taking people into Bolton. So we loaded onto the bus and off to Bolton we went.

I had made a reservation at The Olive Press earlier that morning so we mad our way to the restaurant. The food was quite yummy and I'm sure we will make our way there again.

We then caught the train to Darwen and made our way to the theatre. The show was fun and I am glad we went. It was quite funny because I had mentioned to Andy that this will be the first production of A Christmas Carol that I have been to see where everybody will have a real English accent instead of them having to try to put one on. Then it turned out that the man playing Scrooge was Scottish. What are the chances in that...

The play got over at exactly 9:10 which was terrible because there is one train an hour back to Bolton and it just so happens to come at :10 past. So we hurried over hoping that the train was late but nope... no luck. We had to wait for an hour for the next train then once we got into Bolton it was about another 20 minute wait for the train into Westhoughton. We finally got home at around 11:30.

I love Fairy Lights (aka Christmas Lights)! Andy and I went into Bolton tonight so I snapped up a few photos of their display in Victoria Square.

Andy and I were going to eat at an Italian restaurant called 'The Olive Press' that I had noticed a couple of weeks back but when we went in tonight she told us that a reservation was required and that they had no free tables. I think we are going to be going back into Bolton on Saturday so I'm going to look for their website and see how to go about booking a table.

We had noticed as we were walking thru the streets that quite a few ambulances were speeding past with their sirens and lights on. When we went back to the train station we found that all of the trains going west toward Westhoughton had been cancelled. *ugh* It wasn't until later that we found out that a train had derailed in Cheshire. It appears that a 4x4 had been parked and because of a faulty hand brake when the guy got out to deliver something nearby the 4x4 rolled down a hill and onto the train tracks. The train hit the 4x4 and the front carriage derailed. Luckily nobody was badly hurt and there were only minor injuries. This must have been why all the ambulances were being called away.

We ended up walking to the bus station and just getting the bus back home. This turned out to be quite an eventful bus ride. At one of the stops between Bolton and Westhoughton this staggering man got on the bus and at about the same time he walked on a woman that was sitting in the front stood up and started yelling at the man that just got on.

It appears that the staggering man was this woman's husband and he was supposed to be home with their two children while she was grocery shopping in Bolton (she was a tiny little woman and was trying to carry around 10-15 grocery bags by herself). The husband obviously had other plans as he was staggering drunk and proceeded to open another can of beer while he was being yelled at by his wife. They made their way to the back of the bus where they continued to argue about the kids being left with her grandfather.

It was then that a man in a business suit stood up and started yelling that he has been at work all day and the last thing he needs to is sit on the bus listening to their domestic and that they needed to give it a rest. The drunk man decides to stand up and tell the business suit guy that if he doesn't shut up he is going to smash his beer can on the man's face. The little woman stands up and tries to get between the two men and finally the suit guy sits down and apologizes about getting involved and says that he has just had a rough day and didn't want to hear any more of the fighting.

Pansy.

My theory is if you are going to go out of your way to get involved in somebody else's domestic you might as well see it thru. It should not end with you apologizing to the guilty party. The little woman started saying that it was her fault (how she worked that one out I am not sure) and that she was the one arguing and that the drunk man has had to put up with it for seven years...

After we got off the bus Andy agreed that if he had to put up with the little woman for seven years he would also be a drunk.

This is quite possibility the most beautiful billboard I have ever seen. When we were walking by and saw it I had to just stop and stare at it for a few moments.

I am so excited that Andy is finally reading the book... He likes it also!

I can not wait until Friday December 19th.

I never had a beautiful park like this to play in when I was a kid!

Andy and I drove back into Bolton today to do a little bit more shopping and every time I go by this little park I want to stop... so today we did.

It was very wet and cold today so obviously we had the place to ourselves. There is this great sponge like floor where the kids play so that it will help them in not getting hurt. Even with the low hanging clouds the view is beautiful.

Well tomorrow is my first day of work. After we get home we will have about an hour to eat and change and then we are off to the Wigan v. Everton match. Wish me luck on all of it!

This picture was taken on the fifth floor of a parking garage in Bolton. Andy's dad added him to his car insurance today so instead of public transportation Andy drove us. Woo Hoo!

I wanted to get a bit of shopping done as I do not have a lot of nice work clothes. I was able to find quite a few cute skits and a couple tops. I am going to go into M & S tomorrow to see if I can find a couple more outfits.

After the shopping trip we went and picked up Andy's dad and we went into Liverpool. First we went to see Andy's Nan and there were a few other members of the family there. I have fallen in love with her little Yorkie dog William!

After that visit we went over to Andy's uncle's house (his dad's brother). His wife and kids were there and this was also a great visit. Andy's dad played on the wii with the kids but sorry no funny moments likes the one I posted before.

After we left we stopped by ASDA because we wanted to get one of their fresh pizzas to eat for tea as Andy and I had only eaten a small bowl of cereal all day... We got there at 9:55pm and as we walked up to the door the lady told us that they were closing in 5 minutes. I found this very odd as on the side of the building it says in big, bold, neon letters "Open 24 Hours". When I questioned this the lady at the door said that by law they can not be open on Saturday night all night as they can not work into Sunday Trading". This made no sense to me but I just said okay and we walked in so that we could grab the pizza. They open again on Sunday at like 10:00am. No sense at all.

Another cold and rainy day .. perfect!

I had my first phone interview today. They said they would pass everything on to HR and if I am successful past this part they will invite me into their offices for a few assessment tests and then if I am successful past that part they will do a face to face interview that day. The best part is that this is the same company that Andy works for. I will be in a different department but it would be great to be in the same building.

I do not have any nice interview clothes so because they may be asking me to come in my father and mother-in-law went with me into Bolton this afternoon so that I could pick me out something to wear. I ended up getting a cute skirt and cardigan from M&S, it was a bit pricey but it's not too fancy that I can't also wear it to work so it was worth it.

How cute are they? I had to take this picture as I was walking thru Bolton, I love these little 'smart cars', they are so tiny.

I honestly have nothing to report today, it was a very quiet day. Had a walk around Bolton on my own and then came home. That is about it really, boring day!

Andy and I took the bus into Bolton because he was offered a job this morning (YAY!!) and he wanted to buy some new clothes for work and he starts on Monday.

About a week and a half ago I bought a curling iron that was on sale at Boots. It's the kind that has the heated rod and you can change out the type of curling barrel and it had several sizes and even a flat iron option. Anyway, a couple of days after I brought it home I tried it out for the first time and was very disappointed. To me the iron never got hot enough to really curl my hair. I was using the largest curling barrel and I let it stay on for around 15-20 minutes and yes it was hot but I put my finger on it for a good 2 seconds and it did not burn me.. that is not hot enough! I even did the sizzle test... you know when you lick your finger and touch the barrel and it sizzles.. yeah it never did that!

Anyway I called Boots before we left and explained the situation and the lady on the phone said there was no problem just bring it back in with my receipt and off I went. When I got there I stood in line with my return and again explained everything to the counter girl, she took the box and told me she would be right back. She then came back after about 5 minutes and asked me to follow her over to where the curling irons are. She had the iron plugged in and continued to explain to me that the iron is in fact getting hot and she burnt her fingers on it. I look down at it and it was just the heated rod that was exposed. Okay, sorry for the lack of a better explanation the stupid girl had plugged it in and tried to grab a hold of the heated rod without putting any of the actual barrels on. I grabbed the barrel I was trying before and attached it. After a few minutes I told her as I was saying before it does not get hot. She threw up her hands and said "I'm not touching it again it has already burnt me once" and then went over to a manager and told her I needed help and she walked away.

The manager comes over and I go into my full spill yet again... She then explains to me that the kind that change out never get as hot as the ones that are just by themselves. I tell her it does not say that anywhere on the box so she pulls out the instructions to see if it says anywhere, and of course it does not.

Now mind you.. the iron has been plugged in and on now for at least 15 minutes and she tells me that we need to wait a bit longer to see how hot it gets... It was at this point when I ask her if there is a problem with me returning this item so that I can buy a stand alone curling iron and she says no there is not a problem as long as there is a default in the item. I told her the fact that it has been been heating up for 15-20 minutes now and I can still touch the barrel with my fingers shows it has a default. She said again "Well it is getting hot it's just that these type of irons do not get as hot as the others". I ask her how I am supposed to know that in the store the only way I can tell is if I take it home and try it. She then points out where it is now plugged in and says that is why they have these plugs here. Andy then said "So customers can try things out before buying them? Because there is no sign saying that?" and she says "OH NO I mean this is for us to try the product if the customer says it is faulty, we can't just let customers bring back anything they want.. a company would not stay in business". It was at this point when I told her that I was form the United States and you can pretty much return anything for any reason to any store, and Andy said yeah and those stores are doing just fine.

Finally I told her "Look if you are not going to let me return it I'll just contact the manufacturer directly". She then said she is not saying that if I wanted to get a new one that would be fine.

What did I just spend 30 minutes doing exactly?

Long story short (too late) she let me exchange it for a new curling iron and this one is sizzle hot within 2 minutes, if that. I will make sure from now on I am 100% positive in all of my purchases because I am not going thru that again!

While we were in Bolton today I ran into the bookies and placed a £1 bet on Obama to be the next US President! Seeing as how the odds are 1/12 I think they are pretty much predicting him as the winner just as everybody else is. Yay!

Andy says I should have put a £1 on McCain just in case and I told him it was not worth the money I could possibly win back as I would NEVER write McCain's name down for anything wishing for him to win.... No way.

To be honest my internal clock has just gotten used to the time here and now I have no idea how I'm going to handle tomorrow night. I'm thinking that if I were in the US I would start watching the election coverage at around 7:00pm EST and that will be midnight here. So I can either stay up all night to watch... and then just get some sleep in the morning or I can try to go to sleep early in the day and get a few hours and then wake up at midnight.. To be honest I'll probably just start watching at around 10:00pm and stay awake until it's official then go to sleep. We have a show to go to on Wednesday night but that's okay.. I don't want to miss a minute of this historic moment! : )

This is Andy .. in a phone box .. in Bolton .. on the phone with Bank of America customer service .. after I had just been on the phone with them for over an hour!

While we were in Manchester yesterday we tried to withdraw some money at Barclays and it declined the transaction. After we got home I checked my E-Mail and there was one from B of A saying that my debit card has been blocked due to some suspicious activity. *ugh*

I E-Mailed them back and they told me that I needed to call their 800 customer service line that they can not clear anything up via E-Mail.

So I stopped at this phone box thinking I would be on and off in no time, oh how wrong I was. First I got hung up on during a transfer.. then finally I get somebody. I fully explain to her that before we left the States I made a point to phone customer services and card services to explain that we are moving to England and since Barclays is a 'sister' bank we will be using their ATM's to withdraw pounds without getting any fees attached. Notes were made, my new address was updated to the UK for future bank statements and I was told there would be no issue. She listens to me explain everything and then says "We are so sorry this has happened let me get it corrected."

Then after some typing she comes back to says that this is more than just the UK transactions that B of A has had a security breach and my card has in fact been cancelled and they will mail me a new one in around two weeks. However since Andy's card has a different number on it she says his is fine as it was not part of the numbers that were compromised so we can continue to use his. The reason Andy is on the phone is because he had to authorize the information we were putting on his debit card number so that they don't stop it once we start using it now.

So we ran over to a Barclays ATM and it worked! Woo Hoo! We will not be penniless for two weeks. : )

I took this picture while I was inside the phone booth waiting on hold. When we came to Bolton last year I saw this shop that said "All - American" and I thought it sold American food, magazines, etc.. hhhmmm... I was wrong. Read the white sign above it!

"Adult Mag Exchange Centre" What?!?!? I mean really.. not to be gross or anything but having somebodies 'used' Adult Magazine is not something I think many people would want! eeewwww

Andy and I took the train into Bolton today to have a walk around. This picture is of Bolton Town Hall, we were standing in Victoria Square.

Andy would not stand next to me as I took it... he says in doing this blog I am going to look like a year long tourist. Oh well... I told him he will just have to stand off to the side then! : )

Don't let the clear blue sky fool you.. yes the sun was out but it was still only about 48f/9c! It was a beautiful day and since my lovely six umbrellas had to be shipped to me via USPS (we ended up needing another suitcase as we had more stuff then we thought) I was glad that it did not rain. Although my umbrellas should be here sometime next week and I am sure it will rain before they get here. I'll have to make do...

We also ate lunch in a little cafe (what I would call a 'greasy spoon'). They had jacket potatoes (just large baked potatoes) although they had some weird stuff on top of them! Things like tuna.... sweet corn.... I ended up going with a bacon barm (bacon sandwich on a large white bun) and chips (french fries). Andy had a sausage and egg barm and chips.. although he said it would have been better with some HP Sauce but they wanted you to buy a little packet of it for like 10p. I told him we could afford that but he said it was the principal of it.. Then we passed a few more cafes during the walk and he pointed out that they all had ketchup and HP sauce out on their tables. : )