Hut hut hut hut hut hut

Well we have moved in to our new little terrace. Have slept there for 2 nights, and they have been the best 2 nights sleep I've had in ages. This is mainly because of the amazing super king bed and brilliant mattress that came with the house. The owner was planning to sell it origionally and get a cheaper bed (apparently its worth over £2000), but she was rushed at the end so we found it easy to talk her out of it with promises of special care. It's sooo comfy.

As mentioned our house is in Arborfield, not too far from Reading. Specifically, we live in a little place known as Arborfield Garrison. So I thought that there would be the ruins of a medievil castle or barracks or something. As Kat and I went for a walk yesterday, I found out how wrong I was. It gets its name because it is an active garrison. Just 1 block away, there is a massive fenced off, barbed wired area with numerous buildings. I had kind of missed it previously, although Kat assures me that she knew it was there.

There are tanks and missles and other bits of decomisioned military equipment just inside the fence, while at least part of the garrison is made up by an aeronautical engineering department. The terrace we live in is one of many in a large block with a few little streets weaving in and out. We also found that the other side of the area is all marked as being property of the Ministry of Defence. The houses are very similar to ours, and they are outside the fenced off area. So I guess we live in the civilian sector of a bunch of properties housing military families.

I found this a bit wierd and offputting at first, but then a few things began to dawn on me. Firstly, we had noticed that there are lots of kids aged 0 to 10 in the area, but a distinct lack of teenagers. Perhaps due to the young military families nearby. It also gives an odd sense of security. Not because of the military protecting us from invaders, but because the groups of teenagers that appear to be a blight on the rest of England just wont be tolerated here. Also, gypsies (I don't really know what they are, but the English news/currnet affairs suggests they are bad if they live near you) don't seem likely to set up shop nearby. There are also very well tended sports fields nearby, all of which we have access to. I was interested to note that there were signs prohibiting the exercising of dogs on the sports fields. Usually such things are "by order of the mayor" but this one was "by order of the commanding officer, Arborfield Garrison". That just seems to have more authority to me.

Beyond the military there are plenty of fields around the place, filed with rabbits and a black cat that seems to think it has some chance of catching one. We also found a paddock of sheep, including several little lambs. Awwwwwwww.