This is a test...

Have had a nice couple of relaxing days... went for a long walk to the Roman Lakes... a beautiful natural reserve that is close to here... it still amazes me how green everything stays here... everything is growing... pansies are blooming and bulb plants are out of the ground.

It is amazing too how people view the "voice" of a midwesterner. Our accent sounds more laid back and relaxed here then it does in America. I did a voice test today for a project and it was recorded. The person doing the test said I had a beautiful relaxed voice. A voice used for voice-overs on TV or radio. In America, its just another voice... here it is unique and something to gain attention.

Besides that I have had a couple of relaxing days and letting my body heal from a long year of work. In the past I have looked at back swings or inversion tables for my back and have been spending some time on them here and truly do love them. It is such a nice way to strecth the back...

This past weekend I went to places I visted last year and remembered it all in a heartbeat... simple places that just have that "homey" feel to it.

I do enjoy England and the people I have met in the two years I have visited here. I love the landscape and the feel of walking back in time. I love the less materialistic view Europeans seem to have and I really love the idea that this island has such much water running through it. The weather is unbelievable for the end of a year.

The thing that amazes me are the countrymen themselves. The Queen's husband, Prince Philip, had heart bypass four days ago and at 90 years old is already out and about. Obese people just don't seem to exist... if they are around I still haven't seen any. People in England, don't seem to be health crazy, yet they do care how they look and feel... I just get the feeling that people here expect to live to a hundred. Everyone walks somewhere... mainstreets in some towns are shut down to cars... you want to visit main street then you will walk it and these downtowns become bustling with a mall type atmosphere... and right in the middle of these towns within a town is a ferris wheel and a children's carousel. Miles and miles of city streets closed to cars and everyone loves it and everyone is walking...