今朝は新しいイギリスの家のご近所の集会があり、丁度良い機会だったのでご挨拶がてら参加してから近くのパブでランチをし、わたしたちの住む村の近くにあるArundel という街をぶらぶら歩きました。お城があって、古い街並みが残る素敵な街です。

This morning we joined a meeting of on the neighbors of the house we’ll be living in as it was a great opportunity to introduce ourselves. After that we had lunch at a pub in our village and then walked in a lovely little town called “Arundel”, which is very near where we’ll be living.

空港のトロリーは重くてまっすぐ進まないし、トイレの便座は震え上がる冷たさだし、パブのサンドイッチはいまだに驚きのまずさだしで改善してほしいことだらけのイギリスですが、こういう昔からあまり変わらない素敵な街を見ると、やっぱりイギリスって好きだなぁとしみじみ思います。

The trolleys at the airport are so heavy and wouldn’t move straight, toilet seats are freezing cold (unlike Japanese warm ones), sandwiches in pubs are still often tasteless – so many things are already annoying me, these things haven’t changed as long as I know for the last 30 years, why can’t they be improved? – but with all its flaws I still love England, which has such well preserved beautiful charming villages and towns as this.

午後からはキッチンのリノベーションの打ち合わせをして、真っ暗になった道を義弟宅まで戻りました。お天気が良い日でも4時ごろに暗くなってしまうイギリスの冬、街灯もないところが多くて車で走るのは結構疲れます。

In the afternoon we had a meeting with someone from a kitchen shop about the renovation of our kitchen. By the time we left our empty house for my brother-in-law’s, it was as completely dark. In England, it becomes dark around 4.00pm in winter. As many areas don’t have many street lights, driving after dark is very tiring here.