UK Experience

I've probably mentioned a few times that I'm curently spending some time in England. I've been here almost a year and have just 4 weeks left before I move to San Francisco with my Brit. For the most part, I haven't really liked being here much. A large reason for that is likely the fact that I'm pretty much stranded in the house all the time. I can take the train to London, or to some other towns, but it's expensive and there isn't a lot to see by going somewhere else. All the towns I've been to have the same shops, they're just arranged differently. I really enjoy going to London, but that's really expensive, about $40 American. That's a lot to spend just to get out of the house.
What I do like about England though, is the weather and the air quality, among other things. I'm from Southern California and have grown used to the haze and smog, and the HEAT! I'm not a hot weather person at all, and I don't miss it. People always ask me if it rains every day in England. It might rain a lot in some parts of the country, but the rainfall here is only high in comparison with SoCal. As a matter of fact, until this moment, it hasn't rained in the last week. It's been beautiful around here. When it does rain, it lasts a day or two & then goes away. Just enough to give you some variety. Anyway, I think the weather's almost perfect.
One of the best things is that I live near an actual castle. Not like the one at Disneyland either, a real one. Colchester Castle was re-built by the Romans, it's very very old. There's a nice park surrounding the castle & I have to pass it to go into town. As much as I don't like the fact that it's a 30 minute walk to the nearest post office, it's made a little better when I pass the castle. Spending this past year here has definitely made me appreciate how good I had it at home. I think I'll be a lot happier in California than I used to be.