So... It’s spring in Newcastle upon Tyne!

Overnight it has turned into spring and it has been a breath of fresh air!

Living in England and dealing with the lifeless dull weather has put a damper on our journey.  It has been cold, but hasn’t snowed and has been damp every day since November 1^st!  This is why I am soooo excited to have this gorgeous weather to blog about!

All this week I have thought I was running late, because it was daylight before 8:30am.  Today the sun did not set until, 6:30pm.  This is delightful, because, those of you who have been reading or have been in contact with me since being over here, know that the worst part so far has been the sun-setting at 3:00pm and not rising until 8:30am and then even, being overcast for the entire day!

With this darling weather I decided to walk to Jesmond and visit a few places (library, post office, Tesco).  I even brought the camera to make this journey fun!  It was grand until... I ran into a group of lads, no older than 13 years of age.  There were about 6 of them.  They were all on their bikes.  I was in an alley on my way from South Gosforth to Jesmond when I spotted them.  I was thinking, ‘oh jesus here we go’.  You see, if this was in Canada I wouldn’t have noticed them.  Here, in Newcastle, I know how these children think, I mark their literacy, I hear what they talk about during break time, and I know what they are capable of.  Anyway I tried to ignore them, as I was trying to look for some great shots for my camera, but no, they couldn’t be respectful human beings they had to go and ruin this gorgeous day.  

The first boy put his hand out towards my head and made some sort of noise, or grunt, or whatever (it could have even been Goerdie for all I know! Haha) then his mate went by and chucked something at me.  I didn’t know at the time what he had thrown, but all I know is that I could and would not let these twerps get away with ruining my day!

I was fuming...  I turned around and said, “Who threw something at me?  Which one of you threw something at me?  The boys all stopped and turned toward me.  At this time I was thinking, ‘what the hell am I going to say to them anyway?  What am I going to do?  I couldn’t show that I was scared or completely gone mad, so I just kept walking towards them with a serious teacher look.  One boy said that it was ‘so and so’ and pointed to his mate who was cycling away.  I just stared at the one who talked to me for a long silence, a long enough dramatic stare until I could feel that he was just as uncomfortable as I was, and then I turned around and continued on my way.

I can’t tell you why I reacted the way I did.  I would have never thought I would do such a thing.  I don’t know what it was, but I felt that I needed to do something, anything to show that they are disrespectful.  Of course I understand that they probably do not care, or are not thinking ‘oh my, I was disrespectful’ but I do believe I surprised them by at least doing something.  It was probably my accent that made them stop in their tracks but whatever at least I made them see that I mean business. 

 After walking away I found out that it was chewing gum that was thrown at me.  Yep!  That is right, in my hair already been chewed by someone else.  I wanted to puke, as I tried to rip it out.  Thankfully it was at the bottom of my tresses and thus was easily removed.  Next time I am taking his picture and warning him that I will take his identification to the Bobbies! 

Here are some pictures of my neighbourhood.  I tried to take pictures of the things that are different here.  I have become so accustomed to these things that I am forgetting about how they are actually unique.  It was close to sunset so forgive me for the darkness.  I plan to take more to add here during the morning and afternoon, but for now enjoy my walk to the library.

This, believe it or not, is a school.  Most of the schools that I have taught at look like old Victorian house just like this one.  I have not unfortunately worked at this school.  It would be a dream though because it is right down the street from us!

Every time I see this sign I think, 'that would not work in Canada'.  We would see this as a verb.  A sexual one at that!  What this is trying to explain, is that there is 'SPEED BUMPS' ahead.

This is an England speed limit sign.

This just makes me want to climb it more to find out what this paint is actually capable of.

This 'T' symbol is to signify a dead-end street.

Getting a wee bit dark here.  This is post 'gum throwing' incident.  Anyway I took this to show how they put street signs on walls instead of signs.

When we first arrived here I thought that the Brits have areas for 'disabled cars'  I was wrong...

All the sidewalks look like this, and they do not refer to sidewalks as sidewalks.

Another street sign.  Low to the ground and not on a post.  This caused and has continued to cause great frustration when looking for schools!!

Give way, is their yield.

These are at every cross walk.

See... I wasn't lying

Instead of renting, they 'let'

what street are you on?.... umm let me walk down the block a bit and look on the side of a building to figure that out.

A nice post at the edge of the corner... picture it!  It really is lovely.

I felt as if this tree captured the 'spring like temperatures'

I was inspired by this lovely weather to make something ‘spring like’ for dinner.  I decided to try something from Pinterest, and I have pictures to show you my new recipe for tzatziki chicken wraps.

Alrighty then!  You start off with peeling cucumbers...

Add white wine vinegar, lots of fresh garlic, salt and pepper, lemon juice, and the cucumber to natural yogurt.  Let the sauce chill in fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Add crushed garlic, red wine vinegar, olive oil, dried oregano and salt and pepper to chopped chicken in pan.

And voila!  This is supposed to be pitas not tortillas, but it is hard to find pitas here.

Yum yum!  The only thing is that our microwave decided to stop working...  Ryan doesn't come home for another 3 hours!! He may need to enjoy this cold... YUCK!

Until next time...Happy Pinning Pinteresters!!