Up and Away!

Oh, long-suffering subscribers. I haven't forgotten you, really.

Last Wednesday I managed to finally do something I've dreamed of since I was a teenager: flying. I visited the Cambridge Gliding Centre and enjoyed an amazing and even sunny day learning the very basics of piloting a glider.

I'd tell you more, but first I have to write it up for the Globe and Mail. You can also watch there for an upcoming column about the challenges of driving in the UK.

So rather than deep, insightful stuff, here are some highlights of the last couple of weeks. (If you follow me on Bluesky you'll have already heard some of these.)

We're continuing with bell ringing at Great Saint Mary's church. It's taken a few weeks to really get the feel for these great instruments, but I'm now feeling unafraid of the ropes, and can actually make the bells (well, one at a time) do what I want - on a very basic level. These are of course the "new" bells, launched to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the church.

Interestingly, the bell ringing is separate from the actual church where they're located. Ringing is the province of the Society of Cambridge Youths. (Susan is a member...) They're teaching us how to ring. What I'm realizing now is that bell ringing is very, very complex, and very, very specialized.

We're settled in here, and it's feeling more like home. The streets and the River Cam feel like we know them now, and we can travel from place to place (on foot) without getting lost. It's nice not having the expense and hassle of a car.

I'm back working on my novel, about my parents and my Dad's first wife, who died when killed by a train. Because we have so very little real information, the book is by definition fiction, so I'm developing new skills. After years of writing 1000 to 2000 word columns it's a little bit daunting to be working on such long form writing, but at 25,000 words it's feeling more comfortable.

Research continues. After finding out that my mother's family can be traced back to the United Empire Loyalists I'm now digging back into my father's side of the history. My starting point is that my paternal grandfather Otto Rueger was 29 years old when he married his wife Lydia Annie Graves - who was only 19. That was in North Dakota, in 1905, just before they moved to Saskatchewan. Sometime this week I'll find time to sit down and compare wedding dates to the birthdates of their children.

I'm realizing that around the turn of the last century it was not unusual to have very short pregnancies for first children....

One of the big things in Cambridge are "formal dinners", where students in fine gowns and black-tie suits dine on gourmet food. Tickets are traded back and forth, and needless to say the oldest colleges have considerable prestige. I will say that even Wolfson College, of which Susan is a member, can cook a tremendous gourmet dinner, with fine wines and port to finish.

So this week my task is to buy proper black tie attire. A tuxedo in other words, with a bow tie, and highly polished shoes. Whew. Sad to say I'm not shopping in the stores that offer shirts alone for £250. As much as I would love a tailored suit, the reality is Marks and Spencer or John Lewis. Although the Oxfam store also is a good option if your timing is right.

In the evenings though we've developed a new habit. When we lived in Canada or France we used a VPN to watch the BBC. Now that we're living in the UK, and don't have to "steal" the BBC, we're using the same VPN to watch Heartland. So far we've made it to season seven. Many horses, many cowboys, and in many respects a decent representation of rural Alberta.

For what it's worth, I have owned cowboy boots, but have never had a cowboy hat. I am descended from honest-to-god Alberta farmers and ranchers, so it all feels very familiar.