hey!
For the next fortnight I'll have to deal with a really terrible internet connection, so the time I do have here I must use effectively.
This morning, we all picked up stakes and moved to our final destination while in this country. it's a little cottage--one of four--in an old barn on a farm that we stay in every year. It's quite scenic, though civilization is only a ten minute drive away. I've been, I suppose, as close to hell over the past week as one can get during their favorite month of the year. I like my grandparents and all, don't get me wrong, things just got a little too much by the end. My grandmother is fiercly opinionated and completely lacking in tact. She's really lovely generally(don't think me a terrible person!), but these traits do inevitably lead to problems on a egular basis. For example, my father being compared to her brother repeatedly, which my father didn't like first time round, let alone all the succeeding occasions. And basically being told again and again and again that I need to get my shit together and decide what I should do with my life....when I was with my cousin, who is in no better position. So, yeah. My life. I suppose any thought you might have had of me being a nice, non-judgemental person have gone out the window, yes? Oh well. At least I got out of there for a year. In more news of today's fairly typical events, the farm here has five new calves, it's my sister's birthday(first day of teenagedom, though she's acted like one for a couple years now anyway--she'll be all angsted out by 15), I watched a disappointing new episode of Shooting Stars, and I've started the most delicious/terrible diet one can imagine that will continue for the rest of my stay here.
On Friday, I got to go to the world's largest tank museum. I was a bit dubious of the place at first, even more so when watching a display I discovered the crowd was mostly middle aged men and their camo-clad ten-year-old boys. However, the place was really well done. I basically got a run-through of every aspect of 20th century military history possible, which is amazing because I will reach full Mark Corrigan-esque levels of history nerdishness given half a chance. They had seriously packed so much information into quite a small area--it took me half an hour before I even got out of WWI. I wasn't interested in the tanks in the slightest to be honest, it was the history I was all about. They had an amazing replica of a WWI trench, too. Wonderful! In the evening, some relatves came to visit. They were staying down the road, and as we were having a get-together the following day and they had to drive for ages, they figured they'd come by the night before. One of the cousins(17) is much the same, taking some course or whatever in dance and being as nice as always. The other just finished his first year in uni, and had grown both a beard and a ponytail. He looks creepy. It's up to him to look however he wants obviously, but still. I had to deal with a night of being vaguely involved in conversations from then on, but thankfully it wasn't too bad.
Saturday was the big annual family get-together. This year, we were only missing one person, my cousin in Chicago. Compared to some of the family of friends that I've heard about, I think I got off fairly lucky. There's only 15 of us, and amazingly we have more introverts than extroverts, and the extroverts we have are either extremely savvy to our introvertedness and know how to deal with it, or are completely oblivious to it and just talk at you enough to get rid of the silent awkwardness of the day. It works out nicely on everyone's part, I think. I woke up and our relatives from the night before were in the house, and we were then joined by two more uncles and aunts, and another cousin. Some small talk ensued, and then we took a bus we'd organised to a restaurant for lunch. It had an unnerving British School Coach quality about it. We drove a half hour through traffic jams and English countryside to this seaside fish restaurant. When we went in it seems we were that one table you see in a restaurant designed for a huge party of people. I sat down inbetween my 17-year old cousin and my 21-year-old cousin. I was presented with a glass of sparkly pink liquid. Here's one thing about the UK--if you're at least 16, having a meal at a restaurant, and with a parent, you can drink. And they don't check ID. So I was a bit startled when asked if I wanted this funny champagne or further white wine, but for some reason, I turned it down. Then, I was kind of startled by a more-sophisticated-than-expected menu, including ordering a starter, which followed by the minor alcohol fiasco, left me completely flustered and out of my depth. My mother was at the other end of the table so I couldn't really be like 'hey, I don't know what any of this stuff is'. So I ordered something that I didn't like, but then my main was nice. Also, I had tons and tons of bread and stuff, there was so much stuff being passed down the table, it was really crowded.. Then, I had treacle tart for dessert. There was a joke that arose among the table that almost everyone ordered the exact same, myself included. While my age and mysocial skills are at odds with eacfh other, all things considered it wasn’t that bad. I was mainly talking to three of my cousins, one aunt, and my grandparents. My cousins are only marginally better with my very outspoken grandmother. One of them was quiet throughout, another spoke when he was spoken to, the last was dragged through a painful discussion of computering and AI before she decided to drag ethics into it, at which point my cousin physically deflated. We also had cake, as this was my grandfather’s birthday. We got back in the bus, and everyone dispersed about the house or went for a walk. I went to a playground with my sister and a cousin, then hung around upstairs for some time. When I did associate myself with the adults again, I once again became relieved that almost no one is really social. Like,reading and jigsaw-puzzle solving are viable pasttimes for us. I joined in with seven other people solving a jigsaw for the rest of the night.
I couldn’t wake up in time on Sunday to say goodbye to some relatives. However, an uncle, an aunt, and a cousin stayed for lunch. We talked football, of all things. After they set off, we were planning to drive down to one beach but actually ended up on another. It was even better, because it had a huge sea arch, some sea stacks, and loads of caves. It felt like a secret beach, it was absolutely beautiful. I want to go back there next year.
I can’t wait to spend the next two weeks here. Especially, V is this very weekend. Excited? God, you’ve no idea. It’s going to be absolutely incredible.
No time to write, some QI awaits!
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