​Even in London, life gets busy!  I wrote this last week, but am just now getting around to posting...but it's still all true! 
 _____________________________________________________________________________

We (well, Charles & Jack, at least) were sad to miss opening night of Black Panther in London last week, but we finally made it yesterday afternoon.  Why not go to the movies at 4:30 on a school day?  I thought I’d steal a line from one of the extra scenes that seemed particularly poignant, especially after our recent adventures:
 
"We all know the truth — more connects us than separates us," T'Challa adds. "We must find a way to look after one another as if we are one tribe."
 
Last week, we rented a car and set off on a “Tour de UK.”  We realized early on how over-ambitious we were, and that England is not as small a country as one might think based on the map.  We chose to embrace it, and had some amazing adventures.  The wonderful thing about having a car in a country where there are far more beautiful, ancient, interesting sites than there are days in the year is that there is no pressure to even try to accomplish seeing all of them.  En route to our first night’s lodging with friends in the very north of England, Newcastle upon Tyne, we let ourselves follow signs to a “home” we’d seen once in a guidebook, and were delighted to find Burghley House, built by William Cecil in the mid-1500s, mostly to ourselves.  The kids enjoyed their first breath of wide-open spaces and (very) cold fresh air!  We had lunch in the charming town of Stanmore, splitting a pint of beer and enjoying the warm glow of the kids realizing this was an adventure.  Even our bathroom break was charmed- again choosing a random “historic market town,” we discovered a beautiful arched bridge (c. 1600), and an old mill adjacent to the car park.  I should pause here and give Charles appropriate props for managing all these small towns (and their related traffic circles) while driving on the opposite side of the street! 
​

 We arrived in Edinburgh at night and crashed into our AirBNB, sending Charles for Thai take-out and eating in our PJs (Valentine’s Day on the goJ)  We didn’t allow nearly enough time to fully appreciate this great city, but we were up as bright and early as we could be, with French pastries and lattes in hand, to be at Edinburgh castle when it opened (by way of the playground).  It really was the most amazing castle I’ve been to- so well preserved it was easy to imagine walking around in long dresses and capes.  For those who know Tolkien, I felt like we were in Minas Tirith!
​
I was most sad that we didn’t have any time to browse the adorable shops of tartans and wool scarves, but after a brief stop in St. Giles (in honor of our good Presbyterians) and a good lunch (complete with an Edinburgh gin & tonic), we kept our priorities straight and headed to Victoria Street for a feel of Diagon Alley and in search of Tom Riddle’s grave in Greyfriar’s Kirk.  Even I kind of loved how Edinburgh feels Harry Potter-ish, and I could see the ways JK Rowling took inspiration from her surroundings while writing it. 

​We hit the road again to head to our much anticipated “night in a castle.”  Somewhere in the middle of nowhere, we hit a pothole and got a flat tire.  When we called AA, the only landmark we could give was “the River Tweed on our left.”  Thank goodness for European engineering and the “drive while flat” tires they equipped our rented BMW with.  I will save the details of the saga, and now that everything has ended well, we’ll celebrate how we ended up staying the next two nights at Augill Castle, near the Lake District in England.  Charles and I have been able to stay in some very nice places in our 15 years of marriage, and we both agree that this was our favorite hotel experience.  I can’t even describe all my favorite things—the meat and cheese platter we were served when we arrived, the open bar (honesty service), the claw foot tub I enjoyed while my children were sleeping in their own room attached to ours, the good sheets and heavy down comforters, the family style breakfast served at banquet tables in the dining room, the free-range chickens, the dinner party, the after-dinner drinks, the genuine welcome and tolerance of families with children, the amazing hospitality of the proprietors’, who ultimately drove the kids and I into town for lunch as we were stranded?  If anyone is looking for a unique family vacation in England, I can’t recommend this place enough!  It was a wonderful occasion to embrace making lemonade out of lemons, and we will remember it forever! 

​As we drove home to London, we marveled at the blessing of a flat tire and how our travels had brought us into contact with so many decent human beings.  Friends we hadn’t seen in decades who welcomed us into their home, family members who drove out of their way to meet us, though we didn’t know each other existed last month, two exceptionally kind and fascinating tow-truck drivers (one of whom was heading off to play bagpipes at a wedding in Uganda!), car servicemen who advocated for us and shared donuts with Charles, waitresses and barmen who were happy to give directions and charge my phone.  Being out of context and needier than usual, we were humble recipients of kindness and grace.    We were the wayfarers to whom these strangers offered comfort.  And so, I’m back to T’Challla.  Rather than hoard our resources, life is so much better when we share our blessings and look out for one another, regardless of where we come from! 

Everyone is surviving (some might even say thriving!) at school!  I was asked earlier this week to meet with the “inspector” from the Church of England who was there to evaluate the school’s effectiveness in upholding the C of E.  We are the newest family at the school, but probably have the most kids enrolled at one time, and are pretty enthusiastic cheerleaders right now for church schools!
 
It’s a beautiful thing when your kids sing a praise song together at the dinner table that they each sing in their classes at school.  It’s hard not to be a fan when your thoughtful middle child tells you he’s been thinking a lot about a painting in St. Paul’s in which a man is knocking on a door with no handle, that can only be opened from the inside.  This image, (The Light of the World, by William Holman Hunt, c. 1904) which he heard about at assembly at school, is a vivid depiction of God’s invitation to us.  “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8, NIV)  Last night, the kids each enthusiastically worked on their entries for the "Pascal candle competition" in which the children submit an illustration for the candle to be used by the parish church this Easter.  For those who have been to Catholic school, I'm sure this is less exciting or different.  However, having grown up in good old secular public schools, Charles and I are grateful for the ways in which having overlap between school and church in a "public" setting is already a blessing our family, even just in terms of the conversations it has started with our kids and the ways it reinforces things we value.  All the joys of a diverse community PLUS the benefits of an explicitly Christian school!  And the uniforms...Did I mention I'm a fan?   

Yesterday, we attended Jack’s “Year 1 Assembly.”  Twenty-eight 5 and 6 year olds put on several mini-skits about what they’ve been learning this term—about nocturnal animals, phonics, gymnastics, odd and even numbers, polar bears and penguins.  It shouldn’t surprise anyone to hear that Jack was part of the PE skit—Let’s just say it was by far the most adorable thing I’ve seen in a long time!  I was so impressed by how composed and self-assured the children were.  It is hard to believe we’ve only been at school for less than a month! 

We got a taste of the UK outside of city life last weekend when we took a train to visit friends from Durham at their new home here in England.  We so enjoyed our "walk in the Berkshires" (I just wanted to say that!) and the fresh air.  It was a good way to recover from our big night at the exciting Arsenal football game... 

Except for a few touristy things (i.e., the London Eye, which is actually really cool), this has mostly been our month of living like Londoners and now we're "going on holiday."  Next week, there is no school, so we're taking our chances and renting a car to explore England and Scotland.  Wish us luck!