Dreary day; Dinner at The Crown

Today was overcast, very windy, and threatening rain all day. The rain never materialized, but we couldn't be sure. Bill did his usual walk into Nettlebed for a newspaper and we both did our short walk through Crocker End. The wind was consistently high and the overcast was dismal, so we just stayed in and read. We had an electrical problem and had an electrician in--his name was Sparks (how Dickensian). As soon as I opened my mouth, he said "Hey Mate, you Canadian?"

For dinner, we went to The Crown Inn in Pishill. This is a popular restaurant out in the countryside (just fifteen minutes from our house) and it seems a long way from anywhere, not another building in sight. I only made one wrong turn on the way! It's a group of old buildings with several dining rooms and an entertainment barn. It has a thatched roof over a foot thick; I'm told these roofs can last one hundred years if properly done.

This is a great restaurant (or pub). It has a very inviting and comfortable interior and supurb food. Bill had a salad of bacon, mushrooms and Stilton on a bed of greens. Claire passed up the salad because she saw the dessert menu on the way in and wanted to save room. As the main course Bill had salmon crusted with crab and Cheddar on a bed of vegetables while Claire had duck breast. The desserts were sticky toffee pudding for Claire and apple/raisin crumble with custard for Bill. Definitely overkill. We certainly want to return to The Crown at Pishill.

Now for some more commentary on living in the UK.

Accents are an issue. There are many accents on this island, so many that often residents can easily identify what town a person is from by their accent-- even towns just a few miles away. Adjacent neighborhoods in London can have different accents. In our neighborhood in Catslip, it's not much of a problem since the people here are mostly upper middle class and it's been easy to get our ears tuned into the accent. That's not always the case, however, and I've had to ask a few people to repeat what they've said. One guy told me I should look for something at the "coffin warehouse". Even though he repeated it, I was still lost. It ended up being the Car Phone Warehouse. I suspect this will continue to be a problem, and it will probably be the same in Ireland next month. As Winston Churchill once observed, "The United States and the UK are two great nations separated by a common language".

In addition to accents, terminology can also be a problem. The Brits simply have different words for things than we do. Their biscuits are our cookies. Their crisps are our chips. Their chips are our fries. Their jumpers are our sweaters. And so on.

We have also found getting directions difficult. Everyone is VERY friendly and always willing to help. But their directions have been "inexact". The guy telling me how to get to Car Phone Warehouse told me "just go down Bell Street a ways and you'll find it" while waving his arm as if it was quite a ways; it was 2 blocks. More than once I've heard "well, you go down X Road aways, then right on Y Lane until you reach the red barn, the left again; but that's the long way, so you might want to go ...; but no, Z Street might be better." ARGH! In addition, sometimes the directions have left out a vital step, such as a turn. It's gotten to the point that Google and Google Maps is all I can depend on. People's intentions are great, but translation into practice needs some work.