posted June 06, 2006 08:42 PM         

1) My warm, soft, inviting bed
2) My lovable, playful dogs
3) The full moon illuminating the whole garden
4) My lovable and sweet neighbours
5) Going out at night, into the garden, to see the stars shining brightly down
6) The view from the porch
7) The scent of the moonflower bush at night
8) Homemade meals...

posted June 06, 2006 10:19 PM         

Yang, home is where the heart is! Sorry to be cliche!!! Home is a good thing, I think of "home" often, but have made a new one, deep in the heart of Texas!

BTW did you ever get to Stonehenge?!?!?!

posted June 07, 2006 12:24 PM         

I know how much I miss my home if I leave it for any amount of time. In fact, I lived in London for 8 years before I moved to Lincoln so I suppose I still consider it my home really, and I miss it a great deal sometimes.

I was thinking... whilst we can't bring you your lovely dogs or the view from your porch, how about those of us who live in the UK perhaps suggest a few of the things we love about our home that you could maybe try/experience whilst you're here, and it might help to make your time here fun and a little bit more enjoyable? Gonna post this in 2 parts to stop it crashing so here goes...

Fish and chips from a proper sea-side chippie with lashings of salt and vinegar. It's a must-try!

A proper Cream Tea with sandwiches (crusts cut off of course!) clotted cream (Devonshire or Cornish,) Scones, Jam and as many home made cakes as you can eat!

A trip to the National Gallery - there's a really great shop at the National Portrait Gallery where they have a machine that will print out any picture found in the gallery so that you can frame it and hang it on your wall! I got a wonderful pencil sketch of Oscar Wilde (one of my favourite writers!) and he looks wonderful hanging in my living room.

A visit to the Tate Gallery (Modern or the old one) - my favourite pic hangs in the Tate Britain; a full length portrait of a 19th Century actress called Dame Ellen Terry playing Lady Macbeth... it's a stunning painting and one that kept me standing staring for ages!

A trip to Stonehenge and/or Avebury if you can get there. Both are extraordinary places and well worth the experience of simply standing and soaking up the amazing atmosphere. Glastonbury (Somerset) is also a beautiful place to go, but probably best to try and avoid it in the summer unless you like crowds!

posted June 07, 2006 12:29 PM         

If you fancy it, take the train from Paddington station out to Windsor and visit the castle and the Great Park there - lovely place and loads to do.

I love the view from the Hampstead Heath. You can sit and look out all over London. It's a smashing place to take a picnic and a lovely relaxing Sunday afternoon place to read a book or the papers. Kenwood House is situated there too, which has an open air stage, where classical summer concerts are held with fireworks and lots of bubbly!

Have a wander down to Speakers' Corner if you're ever bored and in need of a laugh! It's in the North Eastern corner of Hyde Park and it used to be a really interesting place where people would debate the political issues of the day... nowadays it's a bit of a free for all and mainly full of people prophecying the end of the world, but hey, it's a bit of a giggle all the same! It's on every Sunday.

If you fancy seeing a West End show (which I would strongly recommend) then the cheapest way to do it is to pop down to Leicester Square on the day you want to go and queue up at the Half Price ticket booth (it's called TKTS) - well worth a try as you get some really good deals.

If you're stuck for something nice to do at lunchtime, nip into St Martin-in-The-Fields church in Trafalgar Square. It's a lovely old church (very cosy and not at all stuffy) and as the name suggests, it all used to be fields round there! They have a lovely cafe bar in the crypt and they have free lunchtime concets and very reasonable evening concerts too.

posted June 07, 2006 01:06 PM         

homecooked meals.

innocence.

------------------
"WHATEVER the soul longs for, WILL be attained by the spirit"

"Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation"

posted June 07, 2006 06:28 PM         

quote:

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Fish and chips from a proper sea-side chippie with lashings of salt and vinegar. It's a must-try!

---

Two of the best meals in my life were in Scotland. One was fish & chips, for which words can't describe. Served in newspaper and a paper bag. It was amazing!!! The other was homemade spaghetti bolognese. Frankly, I just got lucky with the second. It was a brown sauce and I've not had anything like it since. Outstanding! (And the shortbread is to die for as well. )

quote:

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Have a wander down to Speakers' Corner if you're ever bored and in need of a laugh!

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posted June 08, 2006 06:09 AM         

AG I'm off up to Scotland at the end of next week coincidentally, so will see if I can find any of that special Spag.Bol! (as it's colloquially known round here) And I'll happily post you some shortbread if you like?

They also have a particular 'delicacy' round the Glasgow/Edinburgh areas sold in the chippies which is "Deep Fried Mars Bar"... extraordinary! Dunno whether you get British chocolate over there but Mars Bars are a little bit like Snickers just without the peanuts, and the Scots like them fried in batter. It's a weird one - the chocolate melts a little bit but not so much that it's runny. I found it too sickly but some people love it

We're going up to spend a week in the highlands where my partner's from (a gorgeous place called Easter Ross on the North East coast) so will take pics and put them up here perhaps. We're going to visit Rosslyn Chapel on the drive up and pop into the Glenmorangie distillery for a few free wee samples of the best single malt ever made in my humble opinion! I'm not usually a big fan of whisky but this stuff is uncommonly good and hey... it's free!

Then we're off to see the dolphins in the Murray Firth and we might pop over to Loch Ness to see if she's about

posted June 08, 2006 07:05 AM         

My mum tucking my vest into my pants....

The smell of cooking when I got home from school

My Dad always bursting in from work and cheerfully crying "hello my loves....how are you"

Having a mother that could be there for me....

Having a Dad that used to stroke my hair and tell me it was gonna be alright....

I miss all these things....

posted June 08, 2006 10:09 AM         

I miss going down to the corner shop with 50p pocket money and being allowed to buy penny sweets or a mini-milk ice lolly

I miss my mum reading me bedtime stories and doing all the voices

posted June 08, 2006 11:23 AM         

Sorry about yer Dad......

love to you