Bank Holiday, 26 May 2014

I should have posted this on our first wakeup in England post, but didn't think of it at the time.  So here goes:

The first morning we were here, about 7:30 a.m., I was making toast for breakfast and it got a little dark with smoke and burned smell coming out of the toaster.  I took it out to put butter on it and the smoke alarm went off.  We started fanning it with a towel to get it to stop.  That didn't work so we started fanning the door as it continued to blare loudly.  I was for sure we were waking up the whole accommodations centre. 

 People started pouring out of their rooms in all stages of sleep and getting ready for the morning.  We felt bad because we did not know how to turn it off.  Well, we discovered it was the actual fire alarm and everyone was told to exit the building!  All I could think of, was: “Hello England!” 

What the blue circle says.

Dad was busy out on the lawn being Mr. Congeniality, smiling and warmly greeting and saying good morning to the evacuees as we grouped around in conversations, hoping the wait to go back in would not be very long.  I felt bad for the parents holding sleeping babies and listening to questioning children as they tried to make sense of their abrupt wakeup.  

The security officer arrived and made it very clear we could not enter until he gave us the go ahead.  He explained that there was no fire and these situations happen occasionally and in an effort to avoid embarrassment, he would not disclose who set off the alarm.  The Parkinsons thought it was them as they had multiple appliances plugged in using adapters and she was sure they had blown up the place.  (Remember the movie "Leap Year?")  We both commented on what an impression we had made at the temple!  

The security officer said we could all go back to our flats and the tenants slowly made their way back in.  Since we were not talked to by the security officer, or the Parkinsons, we agreed that neither one of us were guilty.  That was the best part – it was NOT us!!!!!!!  When we came back into the building and were walking down another hallway, we smelled a very strong aroma of burnt toast!

They are very cautious about fire.  There are instructions as to what to do in the event of a fire in the rooms and extinguishers are posted all up and down the halls.

 

The door to our hallway.  We are down three doors on the right.  Vacuum cleaners sit out in the hallways for tenant's use.

Today is a bank holiday in England.  That means the banks are closed, the buses do not run, some businesses are closed, and the ones that are open have limited hours.  When we got up we made breakfast and cleaned the flat.  Dad thought we should stand out on the road to see if a bus would come by and we could get to Crawley.  It was an overcast day with rain drizzling down and a temp of 61º.  

So, Dad donned his rain coat from his army days he brought with him and I had my umbrella in hand.  We went out to the road and began our wait.  There were cars going by and the first one stopped just ahead of us.  We looked at it trying to figure out why they stopped.  Dad said it was our ride.  Cars behind them had to wait for the oncoming traffic to pass before they could go around it.

Shortly a woman got out of the car and started walking toward us.  It was Sister Johnson (Temple Matron) and she was inquiring as to where we were going.  Dad explained we were waiting for a bus and she said we would be waiting a very long time for one today because it is a bank holiday.  She said they were headed to Sainsbury's in Crawley and we were welcome to jump in if we wanted to.  We took her up on the offer and off we went.

We had a very lovely time with she and President Johnson as we visited back and forth about their family, his service in the church (he is a former general authority), where they live, and some of the customs here in England.  A bank holiday is definitely a holiday: schools are out and families take a holiday to the beach.  The forecast along the east coast was sunny and warm.

This Sainsbury's was larger than the one in East Grinstead.  We found more selections of items and even found a blow dryer and a curling iron.  Happy day, I can do my hair now!  We found Paul Newman salad dressing, baking powder, and corn starch, which is corn flour here.  Aluminum foil is just called foil and comes in a yellow box.  I had overlooked it at the other stores.  We pick up a different kind of biscuit (cookie) each time we shop so we can determine what our favorites may be.  So, we are getting the kitchen supplies collected and organized but that just means more to move when we move in another week or two.  Argggggh!  We have to look at the bright side; more room will be better.

We were busy throughout the day with this and that.   Elder and Sister Christensen were ready and picked us up at 2:30 p.m. for a trip to Costco.  We were hoping to find more "American items," and we did.  We had a lovely rainy drive with them to Croydon, about a half hour away.

Croydon skyline indicates it is a much larger city than little Lingfield, East Grinstead, or even Crawley.  The roads were busy with high traffic volume due to the size of the city and it being a holiday.

              We found a couple of friendly faces!

We got home in time to put things away and catch the minibus for dinner.  There was a group of 9 of us and we headed to Crawley, to the Harvester pub.  We were seated and then went to the bar to place our order.  They had a salad bar that came with the meal and you could go back to it as often as you liked.  I had a grilled chicken sandwich with chips (french fries) and Dad had a hamburger.  They were both very good and it was nice to eat and visit at the same time.  One person had a stake and the rest had ribs.

                      Happy shoppers at Tesco.