This Is The Life OR A Tale of Woe (delete as required)

Root canal surgery, rain, no wifi, swingeing fines from New Zealand – still, sand flies, mosquitoes, noisy neighbours, dragging a 26-foot, six-and-a-half ton truck across large parts of North America, including the very scary highways of Southern California, car parks, fat people. We’ve had our share of problems and hardships, I can tell you. There, that’s for the pessimists among you. But really it’s been a gas from start to – well – now.

As we approach the first anniversary of leaving the UK (21^st Sept) we are just about to complete our fifth house sit. This is Susan and Jamie’s New England ‘cottage’ in Cohasset. The small matter of six bedrooms in an acre of land with a wraparound porch and views over Massachusetts Bay. Gillie sat on the porch on Sunday listening to an omnibus edition of The Archers and was transported to heaven…

We have loved all of our house sits – and all for different reasons. This one has us looking after two lovely old dogs – Sally the sweetest German Shepherd and Bear – sort of a hairy Rottweiler – named for obvious reasons when you see the pix, as well as Tigger the cat who lords it over them in the house, but is fair game as soon as he steps onto the porch.

Anyway, it’s fair to say that our misfortunes have paled into insignificance – touch wood - compared to the wonderful experiences we’ve had in all four countries. Obviously we hope that these will continue so that we can tell you all about them over the coming months. Strange to think that roughly six months from now we’ll be boarding a plane in ‘who-knows-where?’ to make our way, temporarily, back to England and all you lovely people. Then what?

We have now found a way to watch UK tv as if we are in our sitting room in Fleet. Just in time for the six-week festival of excitement that will culminate in Chris Robshaw lifting the Webb Ellis trophy at Twickenham on 31^st October. That, and successful Bittorrent downloads (???) and we’re set up for the next part of our adventure which will take us around New England to hopefully catch the Fall (their word) colours, before a brief stint back here then onto Washington DC and the south. Having a bit of trouble finding somewhere to stay over Christmas – Florida is the intention – but sure we can solve that.

After the loveliness that was Bar Harbor, we moved on to Scarborough (!) and had a couple of very pleasant days sitting on York Beach(!) Then, excitement after excitement, we bought two bikes !!! That night, staying in the very hot and humid Wompatuck State Park, I put the bike rack on the back of Molly Too and set the bikes up ready to explore Cape Cod for the Labor Day weekend. Gillie’s is a very fetching shade of pastel bluey-green and mine is a more manly blacky-browny-black (black) sort of colour. Suffice to say they are quite excellent and enable us to be much more adventurous in exploring our surroundings.

We had a great weekend at Cape Cod, where Rob & Lynette, Dylan, Kathy and their little girl Agnes were also staying and we had a couple of lively evenings featuring lobsters, which Dylan and Rob cooked (too squeamish), Wellfleet oysters – apparently the best you can get on the east coast – a very successful barbeque (if I say so myself [smug look – ed.] and two large boxes of empty bottles, some of which have already featured on Facebook – see below if you’re not an FBer. Little Agnes was very taken with Molly Too as Peppa Pig also has a camper…

On the Sunday we had a great day at Gull Ponds – three connected kettle ponds made by big lumps of glacier a few years (millennia, actually) ago. It was beautifully calm and warm and much hilarity was had by all watching each of us trying to climb into and out of the little rubber dinghy with some measure of dignity (and failing dismally, it has to be said).

We said goodbye to our friends who made their ways back to New York and Fleet and we wish Dylan and Kathy all the best for their new baby, due in November. We know the name and gender, but we’re not saying, just in case it’s a secret.

As we didn’t have to be in Cohasset until the Thursday evening, we spent a couple more days in Cape Cod, on the beach, providing lunch for the swarms of sand flies. On our way out, we detoured to visit Provincetown, a very pretty and buzzy little town that once again inspired Gillie to keep her sketchpad firmly in one of the many cupboards where it has spent its entire life during this trip.

Since we’ve been in Cohasset, the barometer has been up and down like a whore’s drawers on a Friday night, but it’s back to being beautiful again now, just as we prepare to leave for our tour of New England. (Gillie’s taken an age to add her bit, so we have already left and are currently in Vermont.)

With the wonder of the interweb and many thanks to Dylan, we have now bought TunnelBear – a truly wondrous app that allows us to watch – live and iplayer – UK tv!! So England v Fiji was a live reality. Many campers in Cozy Hills Campground gave me some funny looks as I shouted incoherently at the computer every few minutes. I did manage to restrain the language and only called the ref a wanker once – not very loud. Not sure what Gillie has left to write about but time to relinquish the keyboard. Love to all. Keep the comments coming #carrythemhome. Xxx

PS  Oh dear me, I don’t know where the time goes, but I just haven’t had time to do my PS until now (Sat) when Andy did his last Sunday!! 

As he says, we are now in Vermont, after two wonderful days meandering up and down the leafy lanes of New England.  (I’ve always wanted to come to Vermont, ever since I was 12 and heard Mel Torme (who?) singing ‘Moonlight in Vermont’!  Andy says he’s going to play a version of it to me later, but won’t tell me who it’s by…what’s the betting it’s by Frank Zappa!!)  It’s Captain Beefheart from ‘Trout Mask Replica’! – ed.

Anyway it’s just so beautiful here, the trees are starting to turn and the small towns are picture perfect.  Yesterday as the radio played ‘Sergeant Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band’, we sang along at the top of our voices, marveling in our good fortune.  However (this is for Lynette’s benefit) it hasn’t all been a bed of roses.  Last Monday I had my temporary filling replaced at a cost of $450 (£300)!!  No wonder these pesky dentists can roam the world killing lions etc.

Also, during our last night at our Cape Cod campsite, we both woke at about 1.30am to the sound of police sirens.  “They sound a bit close” we said to each other.  The next thing we knew, lights were flashing outside our camper, with a screech of brakes and a voice shouting “Please don’t shoot me.”  We put our heads under the duvet and pretended this wasn’t happening.  Everything went quiet, cars drove away, lights disappeared and then it was morning.  “Did that really happen?” we said to each other.  We decided that unless we were dreaming the same dream, it did.  We told this story to our house sit hosts and they said “Welcome to America!!”

The weather is still gorgeous and we are keeping our fingers crossed that it will continue until we head south again.  At the moment we are not that far from Canada, which feels very weird, as it seems ages ago since we left.  We’re looking forward to another couple of days in the gorgeous house in Cohasset, next weekend, as we love those dogs (+Tigger) and then on to Washington DC.  We’ve just finished watching the Kevin Spacey version of ‘House of Cards’ so can’t wait to see the White House in the flesh!!

Bye for now, love to all.   Gillie  XX

Gillie modelling our new wheels

Wellfleet oysters - well good!

Down the Hatch

A jolly evening of oysters and special recipe bbq potatoes, plus copious amounts of wine and beer

We tried, but we couldn't all get in!

Such a great weekend!

Gillie promises to draw this - I bet!

Oh dear - what happened to the theatre?

WTF?!!

Arty shite/shot - another sunset

Th'Archers on the wraparound porch - Gillie's idea of heaven!

Bear, Sally and Tigger the cat - look closely!

The little cottage by the sea - our house sit!

See - it's not all loveliness!

No comment - well it was very hot!

Not a bad night's work!

Molly Too making friends in Provincetown - the LGBT capital of Massachusetts, apparently

Back In The U.S.(S) A. (sorry!)

“Oh, you’re from England! Near London? We have friends who live near London. Manchester, the Smiths? Perhaps you know them: John and Stephanie? No?” Actually, we haven’t had that kind of apocryphal conversation, but some kind of kinship with the Motherland is often mentioned – even people linking with Scotland, which is kind of weird…

Proceeding sedately on from the delightful Acadian paradise that was the Richibucto campground, we headed towards Cape Breton and stayed in a lovely place called Baddeck, where we met a charming Swiss couple who were intrigued by our foccary stick, that we had brought with us all the way from Moab, Utah. It’s on its way out now, though, so a new candidate is being auditioned soon.

Quite how splendid some of the sunsets have been during our travels is hard to describe – and the photos don’t always do them justice, but, hey, we like ‘em. Some people collect photos of fire hydrants, or trees, or buildings, or each other; we like sunsets - and there was a truly beautiful one at Corney Brook Campground in Cape Breton.

Right now we’re sitting surrounded by our washing in a campground at York Beach, near Scarborough (see previous post for comments on unoriginal place names – no wonder this area is called New England!). We had an interesting and pleasant journey through Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, stopping in a variety of Walmarts and campgrounds – until 22^nd August…

St John in New Brunswick is famous for being a good viewing point to see the celebrated Reversing Rapids, where the very high tide comes up the St Lawrence river and clashes with the river flowing down from the mountains, causing the phenomenon of the tide pushing the river back upstream. Very exciting (sort of). It was about this time that Gillie started to get toothache. It got so bad that we started to seriously consider her flying back to the UK for emergency treatment, as her insurance isn’t the most comprehensive, but things went beyond that quite quickly and after much detective work we found a dentist who performed root canal treatment – on our anniversary!

There’s a lovely shopping centre in St John where they had a really good cheap books sale for charity, so we spent some time (and money) there, waiting for Gillie to stop drooling (not because of the Novocain, but the young dentist who treated her!) before we went  and enjoyed some refreshment at some of the many local boardwalk bars, followed by a lakeside dinner just by our campsite. So all’s well…

Undeterred by this setback and showing an indomitable spirit, we headed for St Stephen and our last stop in Canada – the Ganong Chocolate Museum. Not quite on the same scale as the Cadbury factory in Dunedin, but the end result – lots of yummy chocolate – was the same.

Virtually next door to the factory – along the high street – is the crossing to Calais (pronounced Kallus, of course) Maine. It was raining.

We waited in the queue (refuse to say ‘line’) and at about 4 pm, were in a position to show our passports, with their 10-year visas, to the border guard. ‘How long you folks plannin’ to stay in the USA?’ he said. ‘Until next January, sometime,’ we replied innocently. ‘Well, you’re only authorized to stay till October…’ uh oh. Long story short, what appeared to be a bit of a problem was solved initially by the request for $298 each to extend the stay, which quickly became $6 each when we pointed out that we had been in Canada for two months and they happily stamped us in for another six months – so we’re legal till end Feb 2016!

Xenia is the ancient Greek concept of hospitality, the generosity and courtesy shown to those who are far from home and we have experienced much of this – not least from travellers we have met journeying through this vast continent – we’re not finished yet - and tenuous (and not so tenuous) acquaintances. Stand up Hannah & Jai, Tyson, Barry Heals, Eva & Jeff, Susan, Lymaris, and only today Theresa (not to mention all the lovely people across Australia and NZ – you know who you are). Will let Gillie fill you in on some of these, but had to find a way of getting an ‘X’ in there!

Yet another lovely campground was in Bar Harbor (sic), where the charming Lymaris introduced us to the mysteries of Instagram and became an instant ‘friend’ on FB. Still not sure exactly how all the hashtags work, but may well be posting more pics, as on Sunday last, so watch out for all this ♯♯♯ stuff coming up…(Does anybody know a shortcut for this symbol on Mac keyboards – had to track it down in symbols).

Zappa, sadly, has not featured prominently in our iPod choices by the campfire, but we (I) have managed to find a few more albums that the Zappa Family Trust has issued sneakily (as well as far too many live albums to bother with at the moment), so have been able to keep the collection up to date, sort of. Over 100 now, I think. Enough of this frippery. Gillie’s champing at the bit to get to the keyboard. Stay well everyone, happy hashtagging (?!) xx.

PS Oh deary me!!!  Don’t talk to me about toothache!  The pain is forgotten when it’s gone, but when it’s there oooooh!! (like childbirth?) The idea was that it would go away if I ignored it…  Anyway after numerous attempts to find an emergency dentist, helped by the pharmacy lady in Walmart, we eventually found ‘Mr Wonderful’ in downtown St John, within yards of the lovely bars and cafes that we consoled ourselves in afterwards. 

So $600 dollars later I am free of the pesky abscess and infection that came out of nowhere.  One of the panic issues for me was that this weekend we are booked into a campsite on Cape Cod, for four nights, to meet up with our good friends Rob, Lynette and their son and his family. 

Thankfully I will now (hopefully) be on top form to enjoy the promised delights of lobster and wine (also to have a decent conversation with someone other than Andy!!)  He was really lovely to me when I was in pain, so I still love him, even when he rants on about Frank Zappa!

I must just say a quick word about the coast of Maine.  It has been a delight to drive through this amazing countryside, charming fishing port villages with beautiful clapboard houses and churches with tall spires reaching up to the sky.  Just perfect!  Also we have been blessed with glorious weather, to complete the picture.

In amongst all this trauma, we had some lovely news; we’ve been accepted for a six-day house sit in a seaside town between Boston and Cape Cod, beginning on 10^th September.  We’ll be living in a six bedroom ‘cottage’ overlooking Massachusetts Bay and looking after 2 dogs and a cat.  The house has a wraparound porch (and hopefully a rocking chair!)  Can’t wait…

Bye for now

Love to all

Gillie  xxxx

Yet another lovely sunset - Cape Breton 

Don't lean back!

On top of 'Old Smokey'!

Reversing Rapids, St John - and another lovely sunset!

Had a few fraught moments here

Rocky coast of Maine - Acadia NP

Abscess? What abscess?!!

Sunday sesh in Ba Ha Ba

Camden High Street

Lovely little Rockport, Maine

Getting a bit mean in Yorkshire! Oh no, it's Maine againe