Our First Friends (aka Mates)

Keith and I ran to the B&Q (UK Home Depot) today and picked up a ton of extension cords (aka extension leads), plug adapters (all large 3 prong plugs - ours don't fit), and light bulbs. We brought all of our Canadian lamps (6) with us and in order to operate them here (different electricity) we had to get new bulbs and plug adapters. Not really having a clue about electricity (thank God Keith does or I'm sure I would have exploded all the lamps by now and burnt down the house) apparently our lamps are within the voltage limits here so we don't need a transformer to plug the lamps into. Good thing because they are expensive and weigh more than I do! The military provides us with 3 transformers so we use those to power our small appliances like our blender, mixer, bread machine, etc. One lamp Keith had to actually rewire, because of course the light bulbs here are different. Like everything else really. They have a narrow bottom, unlike our Canadian bulbs with a wide bottom (no technical terms here!). And they don't screw in, they somewhat snap into place. Anyway, it was a good learning experience and if you ever need a lamp rewired, I'm your lady! If you want your house burnt down that is. So that was my electricity tutorial for the day.

Early evening some of the crew Keith is on course with came over for a BBQ and drinks. These are all British Royal Navy guys who live at the base for the time being and are about our age. I met Mike, Simon (aka Blue), Kevin, and Matt (??) - can't remember the poor guys' first name. These guys are a riot. Their mission was to show us the Helston night life. We first went to the Blue Anchor which is a traditional old British pub - small, low ceilings, with lots of character. It is the popular pub for the older locals. This pub also brews its own beer and they are reknowned for their beer called Spingo. I had been warned by a few people in the past weeks to go to the Blue Anchor, but don't drink the Spingo. What does Mike order us all, but the Spingo! We figured we had to try it, even though I'm not a beer drinker! It wasn't as bad as I am been warned, it just tasted like strong beer to me and I made it through about 2 fingers (which apparently is the amount in your glass that is about 2 fingers wide - wrap two fingers around your glass and that's about it). Dad, Keith & I will be taking you for a Spingo when you visit! Next, we headed to the classiest bar (just across the street) in Helston; Big T's. For those of you who have been to the Palace in Halifax, well Big T's is its twin, just on a much smaller scale. Even better, they smoke on the dance floor here! I haven't seen this in years and was quite thrown back by it. It's strange enough to be in a restaurant and someone is smoking next to you (very normal here), but on a dance floor was a surprise. Despite the shadiness of the bar we hung around and danced the night away. These guys love to dance - Yay! And the music was just like at home. We cleared out of there at 2:30am - who'da thought you could dance in Helston until the wee hours of the morning! Kevin couldn't make it home so he crashed on the futon for the night. All in all, we had a great night! I have a feeling there will be more of those to come. Keith will have a great time on course with these guys - no shortage of fun and laughter.

Something else I learned today is that "Fancy Dress Parties" are very popular here, especially at the Ward Room. My first thought was get dressed up (like for a mess dinner), but no fancy dress means costume! Apparantly, they have quite a few costume parties throughout the year. Not sure why, but it could be interesting. I also learned that the Brits use many of our crude slang terms and was given the run down of some traditional drinking games. I am now much more educated than I started out to be today! Haha.