Toto The Horse Gets a Pedicure From Me

Toto, a nickname short for Toto-l Annihilation (love that!), is the fun loving 22-year-old (human years, that is) horse belonging to Jen, a friend I met through work. When she told me about her lick-crazy more-dog-than-horse horse I jumped at the chance to befriend him.

Located in Hurn Village, just a short distance from my house, are the stables were Toto and 5 other male horses are kept. Jen, being such a great horse owner, visits Toto several times a day to feed, ride, and groom him.

Toto came into Jen's life under less than wonderful circumstances. After being abandoned by his previous owners and left on his loathsome for 9 weeks, Jen was called by a friend who had spotted him and knew of her love of horses. She later made her way to Toto's whereabouts and he gladly ran to her; the rest is history.

Having no experience in horse grooming, I mostly watched and listened to Jen as she circled about him, clipping here and trimming there. Horse hooves have a tendency to crack if not properly treated, so I was given the easier task of painting his nails! I selected a brilliant shade of black, however, I was told some show horses get pink.

After, Jen took me on the path she usually rides Toto on, bringing me to a look-out point with amazing views miles in all directions of Bournemouth.



>>> Roger, Toto's neighbor, wearing protective gear to escape the wrath of pestering flies. I'm pretty sure I got bit by a horsefly today. My knee kills!
>>> Jen and Toto


>>> Pointing in the direction of downtown Bournemouth.

♡ - Kristen

Played and Won My First Pub Quiz!

Pub quizzes are a common thing around here. I've seen signs for weekly pub quizzes on nearly every pub I see. Basically, groups of people participate in teams, each person putting in £1 into a winners pool of money, the winning team taking all the cash. It's just something to do while your getting tipsy really. And I'm not complaining, I wish more places in the USA did this. (If there were any in Long Beach, I never heard of them.)

My roomies, Oli and Aron, and I decided to go to a local pub, Daisy O'Briens, and participate in the quiz. We named ourselves The Randy Marsh Experience, after the Southpark character (haha).

We were giving a sheet of paper with list of numbers and then asked a variety of trivia questions. What sign in London is stolen the most? - Abbey Road; What is the first man-made metal? - bronze ; What food gave passengers food poisoning in the film Airplane? - fish; How many presidents faces are in Mt. Rushmore? - 4, etc...

The second part of the quiz challenged the music lovers. The intro into popular tunes were played and we were asked to name the artist and the name of the song. We answered correctly 18 out of a possible 20.

The third part of the quiz was another set of trivia questions. What part of Michelangelo's statue David was painted red as a prank? - the toe; What is Canada's national animal? - beaver; What city is 'A Street Car Named Desire' based in? - New Orleans; etc...

The fourth part of the quiz required members of each team to list as many The Simpsons characters as possible on the back of our sheet of paper.

After a few minutes, the points were all tallied up and what do ya know... The Randy Marsh Experience won the quiz! We split the winning £35 among the three of us and went on our merry way. I think I like these pub quizzes. But was it beginners luck, or were we cheating...... (haha).

I took out my camera and filmed the end of the quiz. There's some birthday song to a guy named Gary, but after that you can hear our team win and see my team cheers'ing one another!




♡ - Kristen

English Cars: I've Never Seen These Before

Besides having the steering wheel on the other side of the car, I find the cars of England in comparison to cars in America generally smaller in size, a larger percentage running on diesel fuel, and a lot older classic cars on the road.

Although I had noticed an increasing number of tiny Smart cars in the months leading up to my departure from Long Beach, California, it seems to me that England has had the small cars on lock for awhile now. Smart cars, those Mini-Coopers, and just random foreign tiny cars I've never seen before are absolutely everywhere (just scan the pics below).

There are familiar car companies out here like Mercedes, Volkswagen, Ford, Suzuki, and Nissan except the models are a bit different, smaller usually. I was also surprised to see a lot of larger work vans as well as ambulance, police and emergency vehicles flashing the Mercedes symbol. I usually think of Mercedes as a more luxurious label, no?

Also, as I mentioned, there a far more older classic styled vehicles on the road than I'm accustomed to. I happen to really like these older big green military-looking jeeps. I see at least one of them everyday, and they're always a little different, but all old and some gray shade of green.














♡ - Kristen

A Visit to the World's Largest Bio-domes

Nestled in the middle-of-nowhere in Cornwall is the world famous Eden Project, which is home to the largest bio-domes in the world. Each bio-dome, the Mediterranean and the tropical, consists of adjoining domes made up of inflated plastic hexagons held together by steel beams. Ashley and I drove nearly four hours to St. Austell, Cornwall to experience the gigantic bio-domes firsthand.

When we arrived at Eden, paid our £10 for each ticket (normally adults pay £17.50, but we got the cheaper fare because we came after 3:30), and stepped out on the platform overlooking the park, I found the view surreal. Lying before me, in a giant creator, were the bio-domes, jam-packed in the hidden valley. Upon arrival I had been expecting to see the largest bio-domes in the world from afar, but now it made sense: due to the deep creator, they were all conveniently hidden beneath the horizon.

In the center of Eden was a large stage arena, where children's obstacle courses and toys were scattered about. A band played live music while a barbecue seemed to be going on.

In the Mediterranean domes, I found myself somewhat transported back home, to California! Different sections of the dome had themes, one being California. Flowers, vegetables, trees (palm tress! aww, miss them), soil, shrubs, even insects emulated the different regions. Statues and art also depicted the history of the regions and how the environment has affected life.

The tropical domes, on the other hand, simulate the rainforests of the world. And as Ashley and I walked along the guided paths, higher and higher in the dome, the climate became more hot and humid. Bullets of sweat beaded down our faces, as we witnessed set ups of huts and shelters, banana trees, waterfalls, and precious tropical crops like giant bamboo, sugar and rubber.

I feel privileged to have experienced the world's largest bio-domes. The visit conjured up memories of the 1996 movie Bio-Dome starring Pauly Shore, remember that one? Haha.





>>>This sculpture scene pays tribute to the historical celebrations of Mediterranean people to Dionysus, the God of wine.








>>> This is a stairway to a hanging lookout centered over the rainforest dome.




>>> This creepy guy is an art piece made up of trash from humans: vacuums, TV sets, stereos, microwaves, etc. It's a reminder of how man-made pollution is killing our delicate ecosystems.

♡ - Kristen

Seatown: Cliffs by the Sea

A long, extremely narrow two-way road hidden by tall hedges is the only way to get to the Anchor Inn, located in the aptly named coastal village of Seatown, Dorset. Wedged between two large cliffs is the small beach and the inn.

Ashley and I decided to take a walk up on of the ginormous cliffs over looking the sea, which was very steep and strenuous (for me at least). After some whining and a couple rest stops, we made it to the tippy top. The view was breathtaking. I could see far out into the ocean, as well as make out the small sheep farms surrounding the village. The countryside, from on high, resembled a quilt with different colored square patches of farmland covering the earth.

After a quick walk down, we enjoyed lunch on a picnic table by the shore at the Anchor Inn. I had a fresh salmon fillet with crushed new potatoes in a sun-dried tomato pesto, while Ashley had a hearty Tuscan bean stew with cous-cous. It was the best fish I've had in a long time (the only fish, really).

This was about the half-way point on our journey to St. Austell, Cornwall, to see the famous biospheres of the Eden Project.








♡ - Kristen