Lottery

Last Friday was the big barn feast for Lee's work party.  We wore our 'country' clothes and ate a hog roast feast sitting in a barn hall under stringed lights with a DJ playing pop tunes...in England.  It was a sort of mismatched party, but I was able to meet all of Lee's work friends and make plans to meet up with new people.  Two raffle prizes were given out to the crowd of about 200 and Brian Ashton--an England coach--chose the lucky winners.  The first prize was a £100 voucher to JD Sports and the second prize was a blue child's bike equipped with training wheels.  Our number was called and guess which prize we were 'lucky' enough to win?!  Yep.  The blue child's bike.  This was a fun companion on the bus ride home with Lee's coworkers at 1 o'clock in the morning, and the walk home from the bus stop.  

Every week, we try a new restaurant or takeaway in Preston.  The first week we ate at a little Spanish-style restaurant called duk--I didn't have the heart to tell them that they forgot the 'c.'  Apparently, this place has a sister restaurant across town called pond and the one across town has more seating, but the same menu, which makes sense in relation to the names.  This past weekend, we tried an Indian takeaway, or 'chippy' better known in England, called Deepdale Tandoori.  We ordered a meal for two, but we ate the food for the next three meals.  Lee even ate it for breakfast on Sunday before church.

Sunday, we tried our first church in Preston and we were two of 15 in this huge, beautiful, old church called the Preston Parish of St. John and St. George the martyr.  It is gorgeous inside and out, but halfway through the service, I leaned over to Lee and whispered, "My bad."  He looked at me and then I said, "This is a Catholic church."  To which he replied, "Is there a difference?"  Well, not much really, but it was just different than what I'm used to and on the door, I read 'Church of England' and nothing about 'Roman Catholic' which the priest described to us after the service.  The sermon was great, but the chants almost put me to sleep.

So far, I'm still getting used to Preston and walking up and down the town to get where I need to go.  I feel like I'm in shape because the hills are very steep in some spots and are much more strenuous than any XBOX Kinect exercise I've tried.  Add on top of that, carrying 15 pounds of purchases at times will give you a good workout.  Lee's coworkers are a lot friendlier than our neighbours, so I'm more hopeful of making friends in this town--which can be fast-paced and cold at times.  There are some parts of this town that are beautiful and historical and others that have putrid-smelling, dank alleys that probably haven't been touched since A Christmas Carol.  Two alleyways in particular, I have to hold my breath to pass by because the air that shoots out of them and into the main street could be fatal.  

The town mimics the people here, too.  There are some really nice and friendly people, but there are some rude, scabby people that repel others in the town and create a circular void between themselves and passersby.  For instance, yesterday on my way home from babysitting, I saw two teenagers sitting on the steps of St. John and St. George's, scratching off their lottery tickets.  That was harmless enough, albeit ironic.  Then, about 30 feet away from them, on the church's bright green lawn was a man in his late thirties (approximately), laying with his knees bent upwards but his torso collapsed with his right hand on his exposed stomach and his left hand holding a 2-litre sized bottle of vodka.  I was so close to just telling that man, "Get it together.  Seriously."  All this while people were inside for Wednesday evening mass.

Well, that's the weekly update for now.  I've posted a few photos below for your viewing pleasure.  

If you see Sammie Miles Davis, Jr. and Bella, give them my love.