Monday, July 19, 2010

Learning to Live in England, Part 15

Tuesday, 13 June

Today Claudia came over, the woman from whom we bought this flat, with her husband, David.

Claudia is the dear who either left or bought for us virtually everything necessary to set up housekeeping in this flat, including: a Hoover, an iron and ironing board, 4 mugs on a mug tree, a dish drainboard, bath towels, various toiletries and cleaning products, pretty pictures on the wall and a clock, a radio/cd player with excellent sound, bedding, silk flowers, crochet doilies, a glass scupture, and more. We were overwhelmed with her kindness and eager to know her better; and for her part, she seemed eager to have us meet her husband, David. So almost as soon as we acquired a telephone, we invited them to tea, but she had jury duty, so today was the first day she could come.

We set the time for three o'clock, and I prepared cucumber sandwiches, tomato sandwiches, egg mayo sandwiches, scones with jam and cream, toasted buttered crumpets, and an apple crumble made from scratch at the last moment. And this time, finally, everything turned out beautifully.

David turns out to be as delightful as Claudia. He has a Ph.D. in pathology, and his specialty is the effect of high altitude upon the human body. he is co-author of a book entitled High Altitude Medicine. So of course he and Demetrios had much to discuss, and Claudia, too; she is a retired researcher in hematology, specializing in blood transfusions. She was also very much involved in the big breakthroughs in treating the Rh factor. If you've ever been pregnant, you probably know about that. If your blood type is negative and your husband's is positive, you need a prophylactic to prevent complications. Claudia was involved in the development of the treatment you need.

David, who is from Liverpool, is also a big history buff, and told us many fascinating things about this area, such as that most of it sits upon reclaimed land. That is, once upon a time it was all marshland. Then some Dutch engineers came in and drained it and built dykes, as of course the Dutch well know how to do. Our own town, Ormskirk, is an exception; we're built upon sandstone. House on a rock, and all that...

Seven-thirty came and went and we were nowhere ready to end our tea, and we were had already missed our usual Tuesday night discussion group over at Stuart's house. So Demetrios suggested we walk over to the Five Ways restaurant for supper. However, by time we got there, sometime after 8:00, it had already closed from lack of custom, although its usual closing time isn't until 9:30. We walked a bit further to the Hayfield Inn, a pub, but with the same result.

So we went back home and luckily we had some stuff in the refrigerator for supper. I put a brie in the oven and made some toast squares upon which we spread chicken liver pate. The for dessert we had the other half of the apple crumble.

What time do you suppose they left? Well, it was nearly midnight! We were extremely pleased they were enjoying us enough to stay that long, and we certainly were enjoying them equally.

We shall be very sorry when and if they really do move to Wiltshire, as they are more or less planning to do.

2 comments:

DebD said...

tell Claudia thank you from me and my 6 kids. I'm A-.

Anastasia Theodoridis said...

I'll do it.

I'm O- myself.