Boots Ads and Boot Sales

Wow. I am SO tired.

Today I went to my first ever car boot sale. (Your car's "boot" is the trunk. A car boot sale is, essentially a huge collective garage sale. Bring your crap to sell in your car, set it up in front of your car and hope to make a few pounds!) It was pretty cool. We solicited donated items from my husband's squadron to raise money for the squadron booster club, and managed to make a couple hundred pounds. Sweet! (Given the current exchange rate of almost exactly double, two hundred pounds is about four hundred dollars.)

Caleb was SO good, considering the fact that we were up at 4 in the morning to get ready for this thing and he was out with us in a strange environment till almost noon. His Pack 'n' Play (or "travel cot") was a hot item. Everyone wanted to buy it, but I had only brough it to put him down occasionally. Next time I'll bring a sign, "Travel cot not for sale...Nor is the baby!" That was the next most popular question. "How much for the baby?" Ha. Ahahaha. Ha. After the fiftieth time, I got tired of telling people to come back and negotiate when he got crabbier at the end of the day.

Tommy and I managed to leave the sale having only spent 5 pounds, which is miraculous. We bought a new dog bed for the Z's crate. Their current bed are becoming a bit too stinky for our liking, despite a recent wash. There were lots of baby toys for sale, but nothing I was willing to part with 10-15 pounds over.

We learned a lot in this first experience that I think will make us better boot sellers next time -- such as presorting the clothes and bringing more tables. My favorite experience, though, was when Tommy's coworker was attempting to sell jeans to a lady and kept asking what kind of pants she wears and telling her we had all kinds of pants. I don't think he realized that "pants" are underwear here. She abruptly change directions and left in a hurry!

In other news, I LOVE that song they play on the Boots commercial. (Boots is a British pharmacy that I really like.) Anyway, since at least Christmas they've had these ad campaigns with this great song, Ernie K. Doe's "Here Come The Girls." Their latest ad campaign has mom chasing their kids to slather them up in SPF, with that song behind it. It's just a great song, and really effective! It makes me want to shop at Boots. I can't remember looking forward to a commercial before!

(I'm also loving the new Weezer single, "Pork and Beans," but that's really no suprise, is it?)

And finally, if Caleb was a super hero, I think his name would be Nearly Naked Baby. And his superpower could be looking fantastic in a diaper, 'cause he does.

Another Day in Paradise

Yep, you guessed it. Another blog in which Kelly toots her British horn.


It's another beautiful day in England! The temperature is in the low 70s, and there's not a cloud to be seen.


Caleb and I took another walk down to the town center and explored a few new places. We found Castle Hill. It's an ancient groundwork. Essentially, it's a huge, 80 foot man-made hill surrounded by large man-made banks and ditches that was built by two groups between 500 BC and 1070 AD. There used to be a timber castle on top of the mound, but it's no longer there. You can climb to the top of the hill, but I opted not to with a napping Caleb in tow. It's surrounded by a flat meadow, which would be another ideal place for picnics!



We then walked down past the old Gaol House (Jail). It's now two private houses, but it served as the town's prison for many years. You can still see a plaque with a carving of manacles hanging on above the doors.


Then we strolled down Nun's Bridge (which, by the way, is not a pedestrian-friendly portion of the trail. The bridge is barely big enough for cars to pass through, let alone a pedestrian to walk along side the cars!) There is a sign after you cross Nun's Bridge that says that particular road is one of the oldest in Britian. I didn't know this until today, but Thetford used to be the 6th largest city in England!

After crossing the bridge, there is a pedestrial path that strolls along the river. This is such a beautiful and peaceful walk. I've walked portions of the path before, but never this section. It was a perfect day for a sunny stroll. Caleb continued to nap through our walk, but I still snapped a few pictures of him along the way. The path eventually leads you back to the town center.

On the way out of the town center, we stopped in the Ancient House Museum. This is something I've always wanted to do and never have. It's an old home that now houses a museum of all things Thetford- and Norfolk-related. It's not very big, but I enjoyed it all the same. I watched four short videos about the house itself, the town of Thetford, Thomas Paine (who was born in Thetford) and the Maharaja Duleep Singh. We saw various tools, coins, and household items from Thetford's past. By this point, Caleb was getting hungry, so we kind of rushed through the musem. It's a small museum, though, so I don't think we missed much.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love this town? We really lucked out. We kind of rushed into picking a house and didn't really know much about the town or the area. We really could have ended up anywhere, and I feel so fortunate that we landed in Thetford. It's such a cute town with so much to see and explore. I really wish I had done more exploring last year with the dogs. It's just too difficult to manage two excitable dogs and an infant. But last year I really stuck to the area around my neighborhood and didn't venture outside of that and the town center much.

Two and half more years left to explore the rest of Thetford and the rest of England. I can't wait to share all of this with someone. Come and visit me!! SOON!! :)