Home Sweet Home

  




We  thought it might be nice for everyone back home to have a sense of our home here in England and where we spend our days.

Irene and Matthew's house is on a lovely quiet little cul de sac.  Unfortunately the red leaves on the tree have all fallen since I took the picture but they were really pretty while they were there!



James hard at work at the kitchen table which doubles as our 'office' when we need to get work done.



The sunny room where I practice yoga in the mornings and play the piano in the afternoons....lovely!



Our cozy little bedroom



We miss Wembley a lot but we have our new cat friends, Poppy and Charlie here to entertain us!



Robbie Williams - my dream come true!

It all started yesterday morning when Irene heard a rumor on the radio that Robbie Williams might be making a special appearance that night at the panto - Pantos on Strike at the Opera House in Manchester. For an explanation of panto go here: http://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Pantomime.htm.

Anyone who knows me knows that I have been in love with Robbie Williams forever and it's perfect coincidence that I have moved to England just as he has reunited with Take That and they are going on tour. My dream of finally seeing Robbie live was potentially about to come true!

Matthew and I went straight to the gossip blogs to see if we could confirm this potentially amazing bit of news. The fact that he wrote a song for the show and he is good friends with one of the main actors led us to believe that this was a plausible rumour and we immediately bought tickets!

The rumours were confirmed shortly after we arrived at the theater when a lovely usher told us not worry, we would see Robbie tonight!!!!!!!!!!

We made our way to our seats and began speculating. We didn't have to wait long because all of a sudden there was screaming and wild camera flashes in the lower area of the theater. Robbie had entered the building and was now sitting in the same theater as us...OH MY GOD!!!!!!

The empty row is where Robbie was sitting

It wasn't until the very end of the show that Robbie made his appearance on stage but it was worth the wait to hear him sing Angels!

Beautiful man singing a beautiful song!

Enjoy.....and yes that is me shrieking at the top lungs in the background!

Did that really just happen???!!!!!

June 8th and the Take That/RobbieWiliams Tour cannot come soon enough!

Oh yeah...Ryan Giggs was there too!

The Dixon Family History Tour

'The Dixon family history tour is waiting to take you away, waiting to take you away' (sung in the tune of the Magical Maystery Tour...badly...by James).

Last week James and Matthew took me on a tour of Manchester and the surrounding area which we dubbed 'The Dixon Family History Tour' or 'The Peter Dixon Experience'.

The tour included a stop at Grandma Dixon's former home in Urmston - also Peter's childhood home.

We also made at stop at Matthew's childhood home in Stockport (below).

Our next stop on the tour was a visit to Old Trafford aka 'Theater of Dreams'...Peter's mecca.  We made a return to Old Trafford on Saturday to catch a match...more on that soon!

And thats it for the family tour! 2 houses and a football ground!

After our tour around Old Trafford we finished with a rainy walking trip around Manchester City and a visit to Manchester Cathedral.

Being British

Since we've been here I've been doing my best to jump right in and embrace British culture.  Aside from discovering that I like prawn flavoured crisps, getting caught up on the current season of the X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing, and learning to pronounce Worcestershire sauce (that's a work in progress and will guarantee you a laugh if you ask me to try and say this), over the past week I have:

Hiked through the moorlands of Lyme Park Estate on the edge of the Peak district complete with rainy drizzle and deer!

Lyme Park and it's wildlife!

Tested our knowledge of British culture at pub quiz night...

Our team was lucky that James and I were there to answer questions about the Spice Girls and ice hockey! 

Neil and Matthew - fellow pub quiz team members!

And last but not least...been to one of my favorite places on earth.......

 

Hooray for England and Pret a Manger!

Remember Remember the 5th of November...

...Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
should ever be forgot.




So goes the poem about Guy Fawkes and the infamous Gunpowder Plot of 1605 which was a secret plan to overthrow King James by blowing up the parliament buildings with gunpowder.  The plots was hatched by a group of English Catholics in an attempt to assisanate the King ans replace him with a Catholic head of state. You can learn more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night.

November 5th is now commonly referred to as Bonfire Night and is commemorated with fireworks, bonfires and  a burnign effigy of Guy Fawkes.  We celebrated this year's Bonfire Night at the Woodford bonfire, complete with treacle toffee, candy apples and fireworks!  We arrived after the effigy was already burned but the bonfire and the fireworks did not dissapoint.

Pictures here - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2380282&id=81011013&l=550850535b

Welcome to Manchester!

As many of you know James and I are about to embark on an adventure and we thought this blog would be a great way to keep everyone updated on our whereabouts and travels.

James has been in Amsterdam for the past month staying with friends while he's been looking for an architecture job here in Europe but we're now both in staying in Manchester with his aunt Irene and cousin Matthew until he lands a job.  We're currently living in Bramhall which is lovely little suburb about a half hour outside of downtown Manchester.


People have been asking us recently why we've decided to pick up and move to Europe... there are a few reasons...

1. James has a EU citizenship and can therefore live and work anywhere in the EU without hassle and too much paperwork and because we're married these rights are extended to me!

2. We're not tied down by a house or kids yet and realized that it's now or never if we were going to do this.

3. In our wedding vows we promised to stand beside each other through new adventures and be co-pilots in global explorations...we have to honor our wedding vows!

We've been busy since I arrived touring around Manchester and enjoying a mini vacation before I start back to work on Monday...an update on what we've been up to coming soon!