Life in Osbaston

Chauffeur's Cottage in July

It really feels good to be unpacking all our stuff after six months here, and making this cottage our home. We haven’t met the landlord yet, but everyone in the village speaks very highly of him. He’s certainly been extremely fair with us. Once a month, there’s a ladies’ night of all the women living here. There must be 15 of us, I guess. I don’t know yet. My first one is Friday night. Every month is in a different cottage and has a different theme. This month, it’s foods starting with ‘C’ and ‘M’. Last month, it was ‘American’ foods, as the hostess had just come back from six weeks in the States. I met a couple on the other lane (the old village is only two lanes) yesterday morning for the first time (they  have a lovely dog – a Leonburger) when I was walking Aleks. Jill called down from their bedroom window as she wasn’t dressed yet, but was very pleased to hear I’d  be joining them this month (last month’s was two days after I moved in and I was shattered from the move, so I didn’t go). Geoff assured me that ladies’ night was not a stuffy evening in the slightest. LOL Apparently, they have croquet teas, too. You don’t have to limit yourself to tea, however, and sometimes, men are invited.

Foxglove in My Garden

We bought bikes last week and have ridden them into Market Bosworth a couple of times now. The carrot for doing this is the half pint we have at the pub when we get there! It’s only two miles or so, but there are a couple of hills and our butts aren’t accustomed to bike seats yet. Once we’re doing this more easily, we’ll go a bit further. There are a fair few villages in the area (Barlestone and Nailstone are a walk across the fields but up a massive hill by bike, Osbaston Toll Gate is over and down that massive hill, Cadeby is not far from Market Bosworth and Sutton Cheney is a bit farther than that) so it should be fun exploring them all in a time-honoured English fashion. Really, it feels like we’re in England of the movies, riding around on our bikes. I think one of the neatest things is that this area is stacked with history. The Battle of Bosworth took place not three miles from here. It was the final battle in the War of the Roses, between the Yorks and the Lancasters, and Richard III was killed at that battle. It’s the birthplace of the Tudor dynasty. Lady Jane Grey grew up not five miles from our old house and the village next to ours there was owned by her family. That said, I don’t think there’s a spot we’ve been to that doesn’t have some history I’ve read about all my life!!

We spent Canada Day at Duxford Air Base near Cambridge (about an hour and a half away) at an air show. It was one of the air fields used in the Battle of Britain and this year being the Diamond Jubilee, there are a lot of World War II memorials. Yesterday was no different and there were a lot of planes featured that were prominent in the war. It was kind of exciting, as most of them are only seen one or two at a time, but they had nine Spitfires. Watching all of them take off for their demonstrations gave me goose pimples. I’ve seen the movie “The Battle of Britain” several times, and it’s extremely good, using real footage from the war, but being at Duxford kind of brought it all home. It was easy to imagine what it was like to watch them take off to go fight all those years ago as we watched the end of show Balbo. Named for the Italian General of the Airforce in 1929, Italo Balbo, who was famous for his massive flights of aircraft, Balbo was the term used during the Battle of Britain for the big flights that left RAF Duxford (according to Wikipedia).

Duxford Airshow Balbo

On the weather, we haven’t had a truly summer day since March. We had flooding and a tornado last Thursday. It was pretty frightening, actually. My sweetie and I were driving to a village called Kibworth (south westish of Leicester) to check out something there. When I came back from walking the Princess before we left, we knew we were in for a storm. It got so dark that the solar lights in my garden came on. But, we decided to forge forth in the spirit of ‘keep calm and carry on’.  We’d got about half way, to a place called Enderby (south of Leicester – the equivalent of a suburb at this point) when it started.  It became so dark the street lights came on, thunder lightning (both sheet and forked) and hail. Now, we’ve had hail several times this season, but this hail was the size of golf balls. We watched it ricocheting off the hood of the car onto the road. We were stopped behind a large truck at a red light when I looked toward my sweetie to say something and realized that the sky directly south of our position was yellow. 

“I think we’re in for a tornado,” I said. Then I looked at the clouds. “Aren’t those the beginnings of funnel clouds?”

My sweetie looked where I was looking, looked at me and confirmed that, yes, indeed, these were tornado conditions and those were funnel clouds forming not two miles from us. “In LEICESTERSHIRE???!!!” The last thing we expected to see was tornado conditions in England. I looked at my sweetie, then at the red light and the very slow moving truck in front of us, then back at the clouds which were becoming more tornado-like by the second. We couldn’t move if that thing came toward us and it was not a happy feeling. Finally, after about 50 years, the light changed and the race away from the storm began. All done very legally, of course. With all the speed cameras (both fixed and mobile) there was no way we were going to speed. The thunder storm chased us through Wigston and Oadby, but we finally cleared it when we headed south at Oadby toward Kibworth.  

We spent an hour at our errand, then had lunch in a very cool pub before heading home. Now, Kibworth is about a half hour out of Oadby and we’d only been there for a little over an hour and a half. We’d just crossed into Oadby when we hit our first flooded road. Luckily, the water was mostly to the side, but it was still pretty deep near the centre. We came to several flooded areas in that drive home, but had no idea of the extent of the storm until the following morning. There was, indeed, a tornado that damaged Burbage, Nuneaton, Hinckley, Newbold Verdon, Barlestone, Thornton, Newbold Linford and then moved up to the Loughborough area. There were trees down, slate tiles off roofs, bad flooding in Anstey was reported (our friends there were fine, however), hail the size of soft balls in some cases. The photos and videos on the 'This is Leicester' website (I've linked that for you) were stunning. 

Luckily, Osbaston was missed. I’m not sure how because Osbaston is smack dab between Newbold Verdon and Barlestone. All I can think is that it’s in something of a valley and that was its saving grace. Our cottage barely had leaves blown off the trees that surround it.  That said, if this country doesn’t get about a week of sun right soon, it’s never going to dry out. The ground is sodden. There are spots in our yard that have been mud almost since we moved in a month ago. Nothing feels dry and the poor pup hasn’t been able to lie in her favorite spot on the patio in about a week because it won’t dry out. The moisture that creates such beautiful English gardens, is going to kill them if things don’t dry out. 

Out the Kitchen Window

It will take time to heal. But here, at our cottage, I feel like I’m starting to do that. It’s been almost six months since I got to England and a small part of me is starting to feel at home and that it’s time to move forward. My sweetie is so happy here, and so much healthier, so much more relaxed. Mum has said that having seen him here in May, and the changes in him, she now realizes that it truly was the right thing for us to do. I hope you will understand, however, when I say that there is also a part of me that just wants to get on a plane and fly home. I miss everyone so very much. I miss my home. But this cottage feels like home and has since we first saw it. And I love England. I love being here. I hate the weather. Frankly, it sucks. But I love it here, and the people. 

I've updated my flick'r account, by the way. Set "6. Mum and Bob" has a few new photos. The next set will begin with our meet-up with Patricia in Winchelsea!