As of last night, I no longer live in Paris and am traveling the U.K. for about two weeks. This first week I’m staying with Gemma in her village of Oldbury and I have to say, it’s actually like a dream. Let’s start off with Gem’s house. It’s actually how I picture my life when I have my own house – a beautiful little cottage in the English countryside complete with old wooden doors for every room. It even still has the original bread oven installed in the dining room from 1760. I’m obsessed with this house and am currently devising a plan to dig it up and bring it back to the U.S. with me..
Anyway, today everyone in the house was either working or in school so I was left to explore the village and country alone. I love exploring on my own and discovering the world in the peace of my mind so today was absolutely wonderful. I took off on a walk and strolled through the country into the village. Immediately walking down the road I was ecstatic over the fact that I didn’t have to look down and avoid eye contact for fear of being hit on and instead was smiled at and waved at by pretty much everyone I passed. People in England are so incredibly friendly and it’s such a drastic change from my life in France. Constantly in smiles, I don’t think I’ll ever leave. Now Momma has another thing to worry about – I think I’ll be moving to England one day.
Anyway, I stroll into the village and immediately waltz into the only pub in town. It’s a quaint little pub with yummy pub food and delicious pub pints. I had the chicken and ham pie and a pint of Beck’s and just sat and enjoyed the company around me. Though I arrived at opening and it was empty, by the time I had my food it was quite full and I indulged in people watching and eavesdropping on my mother tongue for a bit.
After leaving the pub, I continued on my stroll through the village and stopped at about every other cottage to gawk. England is just so pretty! The architecture is just like out of the movies – it certainly didn’t disappoint. Anyway, I come up to a hill and climb to the top where a church is stood. The hill was a lot higher and steeper than I’d anticipated and by the time I got to the top I was a bit out of breath, I’ll admit. But once I looked down below me, it didn’t matter. The view was absolutely spectacular. The river Severn was rushing below and so many lush fields and adorable cottages lined the coast that I was in awe. I must have sat there on a bench at the church graveyard for about 20 minutes just staring and smiling and doing my daily devotion before returning to Gem’s perfect little cottage. God truly has blessed me in this life.
So, in case you didn’t notice, I had a wonderful first day in England. It’s all I ever hoped for and I hope to move here one day. To top it all off, I’m sitting here drinking a cup of tea before bed. Life is good.
The Wandering Sunflower 