Someone recently posted to me that she thought I hated England… if so, why did I continue to go back?
As I mentioned in my My First Experience in England blog post, things hadn’t gotten off to a great start. Nor did they get any better, particularly, over the next three years.
The first year we were there, my husband worked while I stayed at home, alone. I knew no one, and the folks in Harrogate weren’t particularly outgoing. I knew the young family next door and that was about it! Then, there was the Faulklands War (which the English thought we should have joined in on). When we didn’t, we got the cold shoulder (to put it mildly). About the same time, Cruise missiles were being sent to UK bases. The protests began.
The only things that saved my sanity back then were the ability to sightsee, my dog (Sheba), knitting, and taking university classes. By the time our three years were up, I remember my plane taking off for the last time and thinking, “I never have to see that godforsaken country ever again!!!”
Famous last words!
Over the next few years, something happened. I began to notice I missed the culture and the history… the tradition and the dialect. I made plans for us to take a trip back over the pond.
It was fun, but it was also difficult with my (now) ex video taping every single move we made! There *were* fun times, though, and I continued to muse about my penchant for England.
And then I divorced. One of the very first things I did was to go to England. I went with a friend back then, and had a blast. That feeling of how fun the trip I’d had was carried over to the next trip. And the next. And the next. Each trip adding on the last. My knowledge of dialects, places, history, literature, art, hiking, and sightseeing constantly growing with each trip.
I had become an anglophile! God, how I hated that. Anglophile sounds like some sort of English groupie. It’s not that. It’s a deep seated love for the land and the history that made it what it is and where it’s going.
And then someone said…
“Why don’t you teach a class on it?”
And I said, “me???”
Hmmm… well, it is my passion. I guess I could! So, I began teaching travel classes to the UK and enjoying the heck out of them.
And, of course, I continued my travels.
Well, it IS my passion. 🙂
