Neighbors

We hear there has been a big heat wave back in the U.S. There's a big heat wave over here, too -- it got all the way up to 81 yesterday. It was 78 today, and predicted to be warmer again tomorrow. The natives are sweltering. To us, it just feels like summer -- sort of. I think we're acclimating to the cooler temperatures. I've found myself out in a t-shirt when it's in the mid-60s and not feeling chilly.

We take a walk somewhere nearly every evening. We took a bit longer walk last evening and visited the Halal (like Kosher, but for Muslims) market. Yesterday was the first day of Ramadan, the holy month in Islam, so the place was packed. The Muslims fast all day during Ramadan, from dawn to dark, and then get their big meal, so evening shopping is big.

Fasting from first light until dark is not such a big deal when Ramadan happens to fall in the winter here (it's on a lunar calendar, so it moves around). At this northern latitude the sun is not out long in mid-winter. But since this is summer, it's light here well before 5 a.m., and the sun doesn't set until past 9 in the evening. That's a long day without food!

It was also a national bank holiday yesterday, so many other stores were closed. That also made the Halal market an attractive option, so the place was packed. It was a miniature United Nations, with every ethnicity imaginable jamming the narrow aisles. I lost count of the languages being spoken. And we also couldn't identify a number of the vegetables in the produce section. There were several aisles of products one doesn't see at home -- even things we haven't seen in stores in Africa or China. Fascinating.

By the way, we haven't quite figured out the bank holiday thing. Yes, the banks were all closed, as were many stores (but not all). Mail was delivered as usual, but garbage was not collected. Our neighbor who works for the county had the day off, but some other neighbors appeared to go to work as usual. So it's very confusing to us. There is another day near the end of August, creatively marked on British calendars as the "Late Summer Holiday." Perhaps we'll figure it out by then.