Hi there

[jonnyg]

Hi - just joined the forum. I'm formerly from the UK and snakes are really not that common there. Being the US now I'm starting to see a lot of snakes around, so figured I'd try to find out more about them... My cats seem quite fascinated by them - they keep dragging some into the house (or maybe it's always the same one that I keep taking back outside...!)

:)

[infernalis]

http://www.thamfriends.com/mat.jpg

Enjoy your time with us here.

[marvelfreak]

:)Hello and welcome! Hope you enjoy it here as much as i do.:)

[Feebo]

Welcome to the forum Jonny ! :) I can`t imagine why you left Blighty.... lol :D

[Hillsberry]

Hey Welcome!!! There are some really awesome people on here. Hope to see you around! :)

[siz]

Welcome to the forum!

[shaunyboy]

hello and welcome,feebo,i was just thinking that as i read jonnyg's post.another successfull escape from the land of miserable weather,i can only imagine how good it would be sitting over there in that big nice country e mailing back home with a big grin,thinking yesssss ive escaped.....!!!
i'm sure you'll have good fun on this forum jonnyg,its one of the few things that keep me sane.
cheers shaun

[jonnyg]

thanks everyone!

shaunyboy + Feebo: yep, I have to say I'd be reluctant to move back to the UK permanently. There's plenty of things I miss, good chocolate, good pint of bitter in a good pub, good Indian food, etc but you're right the better weather is such a bonus. Not to rub it in but I'm in the southeast so looking forward to several months of 90 degree+ weather now. Funnily enough I'll be in the UK next weekend, visiting my mum in Manchester (it's her birthday).

Thanks again everyone for your warm welcome :)

[Freebody]

welcome to the forum :)
i had some familly i just started chatting with from england,well my whole familly is from there but my grandparent left there before my folks were born and we had never met or known each other,untill a tree was made and facebook came out :). im from bc canada and shes asking me about camping and some tips.. im like make sure to hang your food and garbage up in a tree because people around here get eaten by bears n courgers< not older women guys keep with it here :P make a fire cook some wieners bring a rifle or some bear scare just incase .. and fill the coolers with beer. camping in a nutshell.she replies oh we got cows n sheep here , not allowed fire, its all done in camp sites..we have been makeing camp meals in the den over the burner but they dont taste good lol
what a cultral differance i had not ever considered, i got to do some travelling and open my eyes a little . i would love to go to england and travel europe.

[Chu'Wuti]

Welcome, JonnyG--and I promise you can find good chocolate here! Go to a specialty candy store, not a regular grocery. I agree that most American chocolates are pretty cra**y, but the specialty candy stores carry import chocolates and some very good American chocolates.

I can also promise that after three months of 90+ weather, you'll probably be wishing for some cool! Where are you living now? I'm in Oklahoma, and many people really begin wishing for cool after we have a week of triple digits! ;)

Cats are quite fascinated by snakes--they have a built in instinct about snakes. Mine even try to kill fake snakes. I used to have a cat that caught, killed, and ate rattlesnakes. Fortunately, my cats cannot get into my snakes' enclosures, or those would be dead as well.

Snakes make fascinating pets for humans, too. I love to watch them hunting, esp. the BPs (ball pythons) as they drape themselves as if they are tree branches or vines overhanging their water bowls.

Hope you enjoy the forum!

[shaunyboy]

chu'wuti,please believe me when i say,anyone brought up over here is that used to getting the cr*pest of weather.when good hot weather comes along we can bask in it for hours on end.it might sound a bit nuts to you all but the second the sun comes out over here everyone dons beach wear and soaks it up.you see we might not get another sunny day for weeks or months.so its grab it while you can.even when we had our hottest british summer on record (temps of 100f) people would still tuff it out for that very illusive sun tan.the hospitals were teeming with sun stroke victims,but the good old british mentality so what check out my suntan,haha its really hard to explain,its just one of our weird british pastimes.

freebody,your camping story had me laughing for ages mate.up in scotland we still pretty much do what you do.we camp out in the wild.we dont have anything more dangerous than sheep to contend with though.we have deer,badgers,fox's all of which are pretty harmless.we do have the golden eagle its our biggest bird of prey,lately buzzards have been making a come back.their numbers have probaley quadrupled in the last 10 years.would love to camp over your way mate,sounds much more exciting.
cheers shaun

[Chu'Wuti]

Well, Shaunyboy, you've reminded me of what it was like growing up near Seattle, Washington. One summer--just after I had moved to Oklahoma--my mother wrote me, "We are now on our 19th straight day of rain. I want to see blue sky, but the weatherman keeps predicting rain!" As I read her letter, I was standing outside in 100+ heat, and I looked up at our cobalt blue sky and thought, "I am SOOOOO glad I'm in Oklahoma!" So I'm sure you are absolutely correct--basking in the heat is definitely what I'd be doing if I lived in that clime again! ;)

Anytime you decide to visit across the pond, come to Oklahoma--we've got some decent camping! Of course, it would be best for us to take you to Colorado--they have some of the BEST camping!

[shaunyboy]

it all sounds pretty amazing chu'wuti,i must admit i had a laugh at 19 straight days of rain.theres some years we dont get 19 sunny days.it can be grey and miserable over here for months at a time.also our country so small,i can drive one end to the other in roughly 14 hours.you have so much variety,you can move to the part of your country with the weather you like.over here we just cant escape the misery that calls itself british weather.i would love to go camping in colorado.its sounds great...!!
cheers shaun

[Chu'Wuti]

Well, in that part of Washington, it rains from September through May and most of the summer, too! When my mother wrote that, it was July; usually in July it doesn't rain so much even in the Seattle area. As she was raised in Oklahoma, the nearly constant rain was not something with which she grew up, and she was getting depressed about having moved to a place she considered very rainy! But you're right--that's nothing compared to Scotland!

In contrast to what you live with, in Oklahoma it almost NEVER rains in July--or June or August. My mother grew up where the average annual rainfall is about 18 inches per year; where I live currently the average is less than 36 inches per year. Maybe a better comparison for you is sunny days--here we have an average of 139 sunny days per year!

Ah, I do wish to visit Scotland one day . . .

[shaunyboy]

chu'wuti,good old mother nature just backed me up.you see it was officially the first day of british summer time yeterday.it snowed all day long,the weather forecast is snow for the rest of the week.only in good old bl**dy scotland can you go out to your garden and make a snowman with your kids in summer time .....!!! its a good job god gave the scots an excellent sense of humor.i know how your poor old mum feels,rain,rain,rain and more rain.ah well we now both live in hope of the ellusive sunny day,haha
cheers shaun

[shaunyboy]

heres a reminder of what your missing johnnyg,haha

http://i429.photobucket.com/albums/qq17/spilota01/diamond1/snow002.jpg

cheers shaun

[jonnyg]

just back from UK so late catching up on all the posts...

yep, I can confirm it's not warm in the UK right now. I was near Manchester so not surprisingly it was cold and wet (around 40 max.). I hope UK gets a good summer this year - it makes a world of difference...

I'm in Tennessee and it's 86 today so summer arrived whilst I was away. It's so nice to feel the sun on one's skin! I can confirm that you don't get tired of it when you've grown up in a cold wet climate. It's funny for our US friends when they come over - we usually have the thermostat on the AC set at >80 degrees. Everyone is very concerned that we don't have to operate the system because they think it should be set at 68! I have to explain that we are enjoying it being warm... it's kind of the point of the season...

Also on the chocolate point, since I've just brought a suitcase load of Cadbury's home with me: it's not right that I say US chocolate is not good. I'm sure it's well made to a good standard. It would be more accurate to say that I just can't appreciate the taste. It's so strange. I read somewhere that it's to do with the milk that's put in. I believe the story was that in the past they couldn't keep the milk well and that it soured during the process. Now people here are just used to it and it tastes normal of course. Wanted to correct that as I'm sure noone in US wants a guest in their country to moan about everything :-)