Digging in a Little Deeper

Monday I was able to travel to two very picturesque towns (Keswick and Windemere) in the Lake District with four ladies whose husbands are on the Sellafield project proposal. The Washington Group, headed up by Bob Pedde, is bidding on the next big nuclear facility, Sellafield, to come available. I’ve heard Sellafield described as the Savannah River Site inside 1 square mile, so it is a huge project. These people on the proposal are now living the limbo we lived all those months. Some of them are living in Manchester while their husbands work on the proposal. One was here just checking things out. (I recognized the look on her face and the quietness in her demeanor as I was the same way when I came to see for myself where I might be living). It was good to be with Linda Pedde. She’s leaving for the States today and will be back there for two weeks.

You’d be proud of me – I’m putting myself out there trying to learn my way around, navigating through the bureaucracy to try to find how to get a “wheely bin” or roadside trashcan, a phone book, yellow pages, football (soccer) team for Nathan, ballet school for AC, a library card or learn who owns the garages behind our street to see if we could rent one for our bikes when they arrive. I just ask lots of questions and explain that I’m not from here and don’t know what that means or how to go about that. So far, I don’t feel like an idiot.

Tuesday I got to experience the British medical system. Anna Catherine’s eczema has been way out of control ever since she went to camp mid July. We had seen the doctor in Augusta before leaving and had some medicine but it was clearly not better – keeping her up at night and looking like a terrible disease. I went to “register” the family with the local doctor or “surgery” as they call it. We saw the doctor and got the diagnosis of infected pores or hair follicles for which we were prescribed numerous medications. We then went to the pharmacy where I checked the box “under 16” for her before submitting the prescriptions. We then received two bags full of antibiotic creams, pills, steroid creams, bandages, etc. for the low, low price of $0. Yes, that’s right – nothing, welcome to the UK’s nationalized health care system. We paid nothing for the doctor or the medicine because she was under 16 but if you stay in school, it continues to be free. Wow! Of course it was a funny experience in the waiting room as we kept seeing people just get up and go into the examination room area but no nurse ever came out to call them. I finally got up to have a look to see if there was some number board I missed that was queuing them to go in or if it was a Candid Camera kind of thing. Finally, I realized the digital news board on the ceiling would change every once in a while posting what patient was to report to what examination room. Then I wondered if we had missed our queue. After inquiring the receptionist told me we were soon.

Dennis is digging into work, having meetings, working on schedules, trying to build bridges. I’ll let him tell you more about that.

The kids continue to enjoy going to school, though it is quite different. I’m trying to get used to the fact that I get little to no information from St. Bees so I’m having to rely completely on the girls for filling in the blanks and handling the details which they are very sketchy on as well. Things like showing up for a guitar or cello lesson and not being able to find the teacher. (Found out later, he was out back having a smoke. Oops didn’t think to look there. The kids continue to get a laugh at the different words they and we have for the same things like trashcan/bin, trapezoid/trapezium, tuck in/tuck up, line/que, listen/use lot. We’ll have to start a little British vocab section on this blog. Look for that in future installments.



- Julie