Summer in England

I'm happy to report that the rumors are not true - there is a summer in England! We've been enjoying blue skies and 75 degree weather the last five days or so, so I thought I'd better hurry and report on that before it changes for the worse. I was a little bit worried when I got here. I'd said all along that we were not moving here for the weather. If weather was our top consideration, obviously we'd be best off staying where we were in southern California. And for the most part, the weather is fine. The temperature will be pleasant, so even if it rains a little, or is cloudy, it's still fine for going out. However, one day it was so cold I got out my parka I'd bought to get me through the English winter - and it felt about perfect. That had me worried. But now the sun is shining, and we've been enjoying it.

 

This weekend was Cambridge's Big Weekend, a festival that happened to be taking place in a park a couple of blocks from our place. They had all the usual community festival activities - rides, food, sports, booths and live music. We watched Hot Chocolate (can anyone name their one famous song?) and listened to The Kinks (If you can still call it The Kinks when the only original band member in the group is the drummer!) from our yard.

One thing we've learned about the English so far is they seem to be fond of fireworks. The first two nights we were here there were big fireworks shows. (Celebrating "May Week" - scheduled somewhat unexpectedly in June). Then that weekend were fireworks for Midsummer Festival - celebrated since 1211 apparently. Then this weekend there were more fireworks for the Cambridge Big Weekend. The best part of all these fireworks shows is that we could see them all from our house.

This last show was a little blocked from the trees, so I walked over for a closer look. I love fireworks where I can walk over after the show has started, see the majority of the show, and be back home less than 5 minutes after the show has ended.