Final day at Cherry Cottage

Today is our last day in Cherry Cottage, Catslip, Nettlebed, Oxfordshire, UK. Time has passed much too quickly, but it's time to move on. Next stop is Paris.

Yesterday afternoon, we noticed an elderly couple standing in front of the cottage doing a close inspection. Bill went out to talk to them and discovered that the woman's grandmother used to live here many years ago. Her aunt lived in the attached unit and another relative lived in the house next to that. This was all a long time ago but she remembers visiting here often. They currently live in nearby Cholsey and pass by this way occasionally. We invited them in so she could reminisce and tell some stories about the house.

We spent time on Thursday cleaning the cottage, packing, and getting ready to leave. We then went to dinner at the Crown Inn in Pishill. This was our second time eating there ans we had another delicious meal. Our taxi comes tomorrow morning to take us to St. Pancras station and the Eurostar to Paris.

We've had a wonderful time staying at Cherry Cottage and we'll miss it. But it's time to move on. But first some observations from each of us about our stay in the UK.

BILL'S OBSERVATIONS

The UK is a wonderful country. The countryside is beautiful and the towns are very picturesque. And the people are great; very polite and considerate. So polite that sometimes it seems too much when you constantly hear “sorry” (or excuse me in US-speak). The service people are very friendly and sales clerks act as if they really enjoy waiting on you.

England is small (half the size of California). While we are used to long distances between towns, everything here is close together; every few miles you hit another village. And there are a myriad of tiny hamlets and villages. In each place, you can feel the history.

Language is interesting. In the US, we have only a few regional accents and they are, with few exceptions, usually understandable by all Americans. In the UK, it seems there is a different accent on each block. People from Cornwall and Yorkshire have trouble understanding each other. Winston Churchill once said “England and the US, two great nations separated by a common language”. Accent is not the only problem. Terminology is also an issue. The Brits and Yanks just have different terms for things and it takes some getting used to. I’m afraid that when I get home, I’ll be using British terminology all the time.

The beer is Fantastic. The best to be had anywhere. And the low (2.4%) alcohol content in draft beer makes it possible to drink without getting a buzz (we won’t discuss the calories).

The UK is a country in transition. A way of life is disappearing. Like the US, all the towns are getting the same stores and are starting to look alike. Every town has a Boots (pharmacy), Marks & Spencer (food & clothing), Tesco (food) and W H Smith (books). Also, McDonalds and Starbucks are appearing everywhere. In the small towns and villages, the local pubs, shops, post offices and surgeries are shutting down. Cars are pervasive and don’t fit well with the old, narrow roads (one of my neighbors thinks cars have ruined Britain). In the last twenty years, the UK has undergone enormous change; in the next twenty, life as they know it will be completely different. Things change everywhere, all the time. Still it will be a shame when this disappears.

At this time, the UK is in serious financial trouble. They have the same problems as the US (housing bubble, credit crunch, recession) but even worse. And as it gets worse, they will have trouble getting out because of the enormous costs involved in maintaining their social programs. Gordon Brown is in deep trouble. But one wonders if the Tories have a solution.

British politics are interesting with many parallels to ours. The newsmedia does not dote on trivial inanities like in the US. They ask direct questions and the politicians actually answer the questions. US politicians please take note of this and emulate it.

Overall, we have greatly enjoyed living here for several months. It is basically an expensive place to live and the value of the dollar against the pound makes it even worse for Americans to live here. But it has been a great experience and we’re glad we did it. We'll miss it when we're gone.

CLAIRE'S OBSERVATIONS

Things I will miss about England:

1. The Channel Four Evening News with John Snow. The thing that is most interesting to me about this newscast is that I watched it for a couple of months before I found out that it's a "conservative" newscast. Now in order to understand this, you have to know that here in Britain both the Conservative and Labour parties would fit, idealogically-speaking, pretty comfortably into the US Democratic Party. The Brits don't really have anything to compare to the loony-bin right wing conservatives in the US. Well they do, but here they are actually IN the loony bin and not living in the White House or running a cable news channel. So I guess that's why I didn't recognize a "conservative" newscast when I saw it (plus the fact that they are very smart and incisive and not constantly all fraught and frantic-y and trying to scare you to death). Besides, he (John Snow) wears the most incredibly cool and colorful ties and socks--I can't wait to see what he'll come up with each night!

2. British TV in general, which (most of the time) seems to assume that its viewers are thinking about what they are watching as opposed to mindlessly flipping through channels and eating Doritos.

3. The Saturday Times, which has as many magazines and special-interest inserts (and not nearly as much advertising as at home) as the Sunday Times. So that gives you one more day a week to loll about reading the paper, guiltlessly wasting whole mornings secure in the knowledge that you are keeping up with current events and learning about another culture.

4. Sonning Common News Agents, who seem to have trained their delivery persons to actually place the paper so close to the door you don't even have to go outside to get it.

5. "Indeed," as in thank you very much indeed. The British are so polite that they not only thank you very much, they thank you very much INDEED.

6. Learning a new word or phrase just about every day. Today's word is "chav". It means, I think, the underclass, the riff-raff. We've actually taken to calling the garbage can the "bin". Other particular favorites are "fancy" and "bolt hole". Yes, of course I knew about fancy before coming to England, but it's just so charming when you actually hear/see it in everyday use. Like the other day I saw a sign at the gym: "If you are tired of your programme and fancy a new one, leave your name at the desk." See? Charming.

7. Gordon Brown. Especially as Heathcliff (you don't want to know). In a misery-loves-company sort of way, it's nice to know that another once-great country has totally screwed up choosing its leader.

8. The accent. Or, actually, accents.

9. Knowing that I could be in London in an hour.

10. Aga toast. Toast is the main dish that I have perfected on the Aga. You put the bread into the snowshoe thingy, tuck it between the simmering plate and the lid, set the table and fry up the bacon, flip the snowshoe thingy, cook the eggs and pour the juice, turn the eggs out onto the plate, raise the lid on the simmering plate, open the snowshoe thingy, and voila--your toast is uniformly brown and crisp and ready for the Irish butter.

11. Irish butter.

12. Cook. "Cook" is the name of a wonderful shop in Henley that sells delicious, expensive frozen gourmet ready meals . They heat up beautifully in the broiling oven--the other thing I have perfected in the Aga.

13. Calling dessert "pudding." Especially Sticky Toffee Pudding.

14. Calling cookies "digestive biscuits." It's so much more civilized to say to oneself, "I think I'll have some digestive biscuits" (which sounds positively medicinal) as opposed to "I think I'll stuff my face with cookies."

15. The English countryside. It's as glorious as they say. Rolling hills with little villages tucked down in. And the skies.......

16. Thatched roofs, brick-and-flint, half-timbers, cottage gardens.....sometimes all in the same house.

17. Houses with names. In our neighborhood alone, we have Bluebell Cottage, Aranza Cottage, Cat Cottage, St. Swithin's, Wisteria Lodge, Catteslip House, The Old Laundry, Solar House (a squarish brick, wood and glass affair that's totally out of character with the rest of the neighborhood--where is the Design Committee when you need them?--but whose occupants always wave cheerfully as we pass by), Gorse Cottage and, of course, our own Cherry Cottage. Yes, I know you can name your house in the states, but over there it seems so pretentious. Here it's a bona fide means of identification, recognized by the Royal Mail.

18. Day trips to ancient historical sites.

19. Day trips to stately manors with fabulous gardens.

20. Living with history. Living IN history, considering the age of Cherry Cottage.

21. Life on a human scale. Here everything is not "bigger and better," or culturally homogenized (although there is a Starbuck's in Henley and those Land Rovers are pretty humongous). Our neighbor tells us that until fifteen years ago there was a pub in Crockers End. Crockers End is a small neighborhood of maybe a dozen houses across the field from our cottage. Distances between towns and villages (and even major cities) is much less than at home. Just feels cozier, somehow.

In short, I have loved every minute of my time in England--even the white-knuckle, death-defying journeys down single-track roads. Now if I can just get that picture of Gordon/Heathcliff out of my head........