Weekend adventures

Hey everyone!

This past weekend, we went down to London. I had a production meeting with a friend whose short film I am producing. After that we went shopping then headed to Phil's hometown of Leigh-on-Sea. Phil's Stepmother, Mel, made us an incredibly good meal of ham, mashed potatoes, and kale. I'm not a big fan of ham but the way she cooked it was fantastic. She said that all she did was boil it in Coca-Cola. I never would have thought of that!

On Sunday, Phil's dad drove us to Hockley where Liza

(whose bachelorette party we attended in Wales) got married. Well, she didn't exactly get married. Her husband is french so they got married in France, had their reception in Nottingham on Friday then had a blessing at St. Peter & St. Paul's church in Hockley on Sunday. As you can see

from the picture, the church was amazing! It's this tiny little thing out in the middle of nowhere at the end of church road.

They have a habit in England of naming streets after landmarks or the shape of the road for example my old street was Ramsdale Crescent and it was shaped like a crescent moon. I think this practice is a pretty good idea cause it helps you find things easier. Or it would if they had street signs! I can't tell you how many times I've passed a road I needed because I didn't know it was the road I needed because it had no freaking street sign! It's incredibly frustrating! You'll all see when you come to visit me (hint hint).

Anyway, I digress. The blessing was so sweet and so romantic with the acceptation of the bride's nephew getting a little cranky but who could blame an adorable two year old dressed up in a suit for wanting to run around. One of the cutest things about it was the gigantic

bee that was flying around. The extremely good humored priest stopped the ceremony for a moment with an exclamtion of "we welcome all of God's creatures here including bees" and tried half heartedly to shoo it out. I spoke with the priest after and when he brought up the reformation the bee flew out between us. I guess he wasn't one for a history lesson.

I asked the Priest, Father Jeffrey, what denomination the church was because it seemed to me that the ceremony was Catholic. I gat a very interesting answer. He said that the church was Anglican Catholic. I never thought that sort of church could be possible. It turns out that the church was 700 years old! unbelievable! It was originally Catholic but during the Reformation, it was forced to become Anglican (Church of England). It kept its Catholic roots however and is about to take the pope's invitation to become fully Catholic. Out of curiosity, I looked it up and found this article about that invitation from the pope:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8323607.stm

I hadn't heard about that till Father Jeffrey told me about it. It kinda made me excited that my Church and the Church of Phil's country were mending fences in a big way. The priest showed me a plaque with the names of all the Vickers that the church has seen and explained to me that Vicars own the church and live there which is most of the difference between them and Catholic priests according to him. The coolest thing about it is that the first Vicar was Geoffrey and he, Jeffery would be the last since they are becoming Catholic. There's a bit of symmetry for you!

Well that's about it for now. This weekend we're going to Edinburgh, Scotland. It will be my second time but that won't stop me from taking lots more pictures and posting them right here. I hope all of you are well and I look forward to hearing what you think about that church and its story!

Love from afar,

~Em

Perspective

Hey everyone. I know I haven't written in awhile and I'm sorry about that. You may be disappointed with this entry because it doesn't have any shiny pictures or tales of new adventures but it does have a little of my American soul in it.

Today I went to see a movie. Phil has signed both of us up for a pass that lets us see all the films we want to at the theater for less than the cost of two a month. I went to see a film that I wasn't expecting much from but was shocked beyond belief.

I figured I could use my pass to go see all the chick flicks that Phil wouldn't have any interest in seeing while he was at work. Today I started with Remember Me. I know you're thinking "Not that Rob Patterson crap". I wasn't expecting anything profound, I just wanted to pass some time outside of my flat. I had no idea what it was about going into the film and I'll tell you right now that you may not want to read on if you plan on seeing it and don't want the surprise spoiled.

I remember sitting down at the beginning of the film and thinking happily to myself that I was going to get my American fix (by that I mean hear the accent, see some of the landscape, culture, etc.). I got way more than I bargained for. It turned out that it was a nine eleven film and it doesn't even give you a clue until the very end at which point I promptly burst into tears and started sobbing.

I don't cry at chick flicks. I don't and I feel like Nicholas Sparks and Allen Coulter took a cheap shot. Well cheap shot or not, it sent tears running from my eyes like there was a fire and they didn't want to get evaporated. It totally took me by surprise and I just couldn't stop. I had to run past the janitor with my hand over my nose hiding the water works after everyone else had left the theater. Thanks goodness I went to see the movie alone!

No, I didn't know anyone who died in 9/11 and I obviously wasn't there but we all were. We all felt the blow that day and this movie took me back there and put me in that classroom at Providence High School where I watched it all on the news in tears then just like I was at the end of this movie.

Its something that will never leave me, an American, no matter what country I travel to and seeing that film and feeling all those feelings again made long for people who understand. I miss feeling that togetherness and the bond of a common culture with a common past.

I didn't write this as a 'woe is me' cry. I wrote this because I'm hollow with homesickness and needed to let it out. Nine years ago a tradgedy brought Americans together. Remembering from a country so far away is intensely sobering and I couldn't keep it inside.

Thanks for listening everyone. I promise a far more upbeat entry next week. I miss and love you all!!!