A day in the life...

A very good friend of mine wants to know what life is like over here in England during the intervals between all our historical gallivanting. She knows (because I complained bitterly to her about it before I left Canada) that the flat we are living in is very, very small. She knows (because we have been friends for over 25 years) (sheesh) that I like my elbow room, real and metaphorical, and that chances are good that the lack of elbow room will drive me crazy.

Fear not, friend (and any others who may be wondering): I have not yet lost my sanity. Emphasis on the word "yet."

A while back I showed you the outside of our building, which looks like this:


The door with the white X is ours

The two-paned window above the door is our bathroom, the four-paned window to its left is the double bedroom (dominated by full length, closet-wide funhouse mirrors) and the six-paned window is our living room. Looking out our living room windows, we can see the local recreation centre and several of the Ramsey School buildings.


On Saturday mornings there's not a parking spot to be found

Across from those buildings is the Halstead Cemetery. Quiet neighbours, which is more than can be said for the guy downstairs, who apparently fancies a career as a rock guitarist, but who should not quit his day job.


This was taken on Easter Sunday. See! We DID have snow this year.

I think the biggest trial for us has been learning to co-exist in an environment which provides virtually no place of escape. For example, two people, especially two rather large people, can fill up the entire living room.


Lounging

Keep in mind that this room is Taylor Central, where all eating, reading, conversing, computing, tv-watching, and knitting happens. To say nothing of eternal clothes-drying.


Did you know that it takes two days to dry a pair of jeans by this method?

Poor Nick and Ben are at a distinct disadvantage in this place. Everywhere they go in the flat, they eat up space. In this picture, they're standing on the bathroom floor; the floor of the bathtub is several inches higher; take a look at Nick's head in relation to the light fixture, and at the location of the shower head, and then do the math.


Talk about lack of elbow room


Doorways can be a problem here


But not as big a problem as in Yorkshire

Lest you use up all your sympathy on the twins, please note that there are challenges to living in cramped quarters even for average-sized people.


Stocking the Wee Fridgie

Heading outside is a welcome relief from all this squishing. Our usual route to the high street shops takes us through the cemetery, a walk I particularly enjoy. The citizens of Halstead seem to have been fairly long-lived, as the tombstones of all the Elizabeths, Sarahs, Isaacs, Edmunds, Elishas and Maryanns frequently record ages in the 80's and 90's. Anyway, it's a lovely place in which to spend eternity, and a remarkably quiet one for being in the centre of town.


My favourite tombstone

Of course, devout parishioners of St. Andrew's Church (C of E, naturally) would prefer to spend eternity in the churchyard, which we also pass through on our way downtown, but alas all the spaces are taken. And who could blame them; it is a very beautiful place, isn't it?


Daffodil time

Here's a view of the high street, not far from Nick and Ben's favourite chip shop, and looking back up the hill toward the northern end of town where we live. Somerfield's (grocery store) is on the left, the building with the bright blue trim.


It is up this hill that we must schlep our groceries

Halstead came of age in the nineteenth century with the success of the silk-spinning industry. The white building in the background of this picture is the old Courtauld Mill, which was opened in 1809. Nowadays it houses an antiques centre, which we have yet to visit.


Boatful of flowers

Here is one of our favourite destinations - the local library. The Halstead Library may be somewhat small, but it's fully automated in terms of check-in and check-out, there are six internet-connected computers available for public use, videos and audio-books galore, and the librarians are cheerful and friendly. The county of Essex has an excellent inter-library loan system; you can search for and request books online, and they appear in Halstead in a matter of days.


Love this place

I'll leave you with a view of Halstead, taken while exploring one of the rural walks that circle this pleasant town.


The spire of Holy Trinity Church

Wish you were here...

Abbeys and castles and forts! Oh, my!

Boy, do I have some catching up to do. I've been getting the gears from several of my offspring on account of my blog-laziness. Here's a start at bringing things more or less up to date.

Sudbury, Suffolk
Waaaaaaaaay back in February, on the 23rd in fact, we drove to Sudbury, a market town about 20 minutes from here. It was market day, so we explored.


Two guys trying to look interested in vegetables


We bought some lovely purple broccoli

If you squint really hard you can see the statue in the background behind John. It's Thomas Gainsborough, palette and all. He was born in Sudbury and they're proud of him, as well they should be. Behind the statue is St. Andrew's Church, which is quite old and very pretty, and which boasts this inexplicably small door.


Vestry for Munchkins?

The best thing about Sudbury? We finally found ice cube trays. Made the whole trip worthwhile, didn't it.

Tilbury Fort
In order to get Nick and Ben to look at vegetables without moaning, we promised them a bit of military history. On Sunday, February 24th, we headed off down the Essex coast to the Thames estuary and the mighty Tilbury Fort.


Aerial photo of the fort

The fort protected London's seaward approach from the 16th century right through to the second World War.


Nick and Ben firing on Gravesend


The question is, can they see the whites of your eyes?


Not the best idea this recruit ever had

Henry VIII built the first fort on this site, and it was near here that Elizabeth I made the resounding speech that inspired her soldiers as they prepared for an invasion by the Spanish Armada.


The heart and stomach of a king...

Well, thanks to some bad weather, the Armada never arrived. Nor did the fort experience any of the action that its moats, bastions and powerful artillery had prepared it for. In fact, we learned that the worst bloodshed within the fort occurred in 1776, when a fight following a cricket match left a cricketer and the fort's sergeant dead. Hooligans.

I'm going to stop here and publish this post right now, as Tilbury was the last interesting thing we did in February. March, however... March was chockablock with fun stuff. Just you wait...

It's possible that we are too easily amused.

We love grocery shopping here in England. Which is a good thing, since we are doing a fair bit of it. Our fridge is a typical British one, with a capacity of about 5 cubic feet (not including the freezer section), and that means we could put four of them into our fridge at home.

There are two good-sized food markets here in Halstead, Somerfield's and Solar, as well as a really good bakery, so quick trips during the week for carrots, milk and eccles cakes are an easy fifteen minute walk each way. If we want to stock up on staples and meat we trek into Witham, or Braintree or Chelmsford, and visit Tesco or Morrison's. Mind you, stocking up here is a lot more modest than dealing with our monster pantry and freezer at home.

We enjoy these outings, and not only because they are sometimes followed by a trip to Pizza Hut. We are amused by British grocery shopping, and I'm here to show you why.

On a recent visit to Morrison's - it was last Friday, if you want to know - I was approached by a nice managerial type who wondered why I was wandering around his store taking photographs. I muttered something about showing my relations back home all the neat flavoured crisps that we can't get in Canada, and, reassured that I wasn't some kind of nefarious marketing spy, he smiled and went back to his office. Here are some of the things I wanted to show you.

Only in England

Everyone knows about those flavoured potato chips, or rather, crisps, that they sell here, like these:


Steak and Onion

Oddly enough, the package says that they are suitable for vegetarians. Interesting, eh? Or these:


Smokey Bacon, with Prawn Cocktail ones lurking at the right

I can vouch for the Prawn Cocktail. The Smokey Bacon ones I haven't tried. You can also get Roast Chicken, Cheese & Onion, or Worcestershire. It's harder to find plain ones, and forget about a whacking great bag of crisps; all you can get if you want to binge are big bags containing lots of small bags. ????

Looking for something different for your relish tray? Try these:


Pickled cockles

How about a new and different appetizer?


Jellied eels

This one doesn't bear thinking about:


Bloater paste

The Way-Too-Cute-to-Eat Department:


Bear baloney

The Department of No-Comment:


No comment

And last, but not least, for the real Hungry Man:


Everything you need in one easy-open can

When I sat down to write this post, I was thinking about raiding the wee fridgie, but for some reason I seem to have changed my mind.

Travelogue, Continued

(Technical note: clicking on a photo will give you a bigger version. If you want to save a picture, right click on it, click on "save image as", give it a name, tell it where to go, and bob's your uncle.)

When we arrived in Market Drayton on February 14th we were greeted by the smiles and warm hugs of our friends Ian and Cathy, and by some mouth-watering smells wafting from their kitchen. It was Christmas in February! Turkey, stuffing, gravy, roasted vegetables, and profiteroles for dessert - a feast lovingly prepared by these two wonderful people:



We hadn't seen the Gaskells since our trip to England four years ago, though we have corresponded and talked on the telephone several times, but it was as if no time at all had gone by, and we simply picked up where we left off without missing a beat.

Iron Bridge
On Friday the 15th of February we all set off for Ironbridge, Shropshire, where, logically enough, the world's first iron bridge was built over the River Severn in 1779. It is a beautiful bridge, indeed.



The area around Ironbridge is described as the "Birthplace of the Industrial Revolution" because it is near the place where Abraham Darby I perfected the technique of smelting iron with coke, allowing much cheaper production of iron. It was his grandson, Abraham Darby III, who built the bridge, and it is hard to imagine that this beautiful place was once obscured by the smoke and smells of the factories and blast furnaces that flourished here.


View of the Severn from the Iron Bridge


View of Ironbridge from the Iron Bridge

There are a number of very good museums at Ironbridge, but the highlight for us was Blists Hill Victorian Town. This re-created town has many shops and other buildings rescued from all over the country, and it is populated by friendly docents in period costume. You can change your modern money into Victorian token coins at Lloyd's Bank at the top of the village and spend your shillings and pence at the shops throughout the site, such as the sweet shop, the chemists, or the bakery:


No plastic bags to be found here!


Ye Olde Teacher in Ye Olde Schoolhouse


Self portrait in the Museum of Iron

All in all, a lovely day, followed by a mountain of Chinese take-away and several cut-throat games of Boggle back in Market Drayton.

Shrewsbury
It wasn't our intention to visit Shrewsbury on the 16th. We left Ian and Cathy's with plans to visit Stokesay Castle, after a brief stop for picnic supplies at two Market Drayton supermarkets, Lidl and Morrison's. But when we came to the checkout at Morrison's John discovered that he had lost his bank (debit) card. Panic ensued, followed by scrounging everyone's pockets for coins to buy our bread and cookies, followed by two or three thorough searches through all the grocery bags to see if the card had been bagged by mistake. No luck, so the bank was phoned, the card cancelled, and the plans changed. We were only a hop, skip and a jump from Shrewsbury, so we decided to visit there and leave Stokesay for another day.


Three guys near Grope Lane

We were successful in finding a duvet cover for Ben, the guys bought themselves a computer game - something that always makes them happy - and we set off for home. Unloading the groceries later, we discovered the lost bank card, lodged firmly in the rim of a tin of peaches which had been bagged and de-bagged at least three times earlier in the day. Grrrrr.

Never mind. We are having a splendid time.

A Bit of a Travelogue

Since it’s and cloudy and cool out today, and a good day for staying inside where it’s cozy, perhaps I should take the opportunity to bring things more or less up to date on this blog. Just a sec while I make myself a nice cup of tea.

Now then.

Southwold
Half-term holidays gave John a week off, beginning on Monday, February 11th. We set off in late morning for Southwold on the Suffolk coast. This holiday resort is a virtual island, surrounded as it is by river, creek and sea. The streets of the town are lined with Georgian and Edwardian houses, and the beach is beautiful, with sand the colour and texture of brown sugar. Southwold’s pier, built in 1899 and refurbished in the late 1980’s, is home to restaurants, shops and an arcade. We had a delightful afternoon and promised ourselves that we would go back when it gets warm enough to swim.


Looking toward the pier


Midway along the pier, looking back toward the town

The Colchester Zoo
On Tuesday, February 12th we decided to visit the Colchester Zoo, reputed to be one of the best in the UK. It did not disappoint, as it has a huge collection (over 260 species, says the brochure) - many exotic species and some familiar ones like elephants, rhinos, chimps, sea lions, and giraffes.


Kindred spirits


In the glass tunnel under the sea lion tank - cool!

Anyone who has visited and enjoyed the Toronto Zoo might worry that at Colchester the enclosures seem small; still we were impressed by the naturalistic conditions under which the animals are kept, and the zoo’s breeding program has been very successful - sometimes inadvertently. Ever seen a zeedonk? Here’s one, thanks to kind volunteerism of the zebras and donkeys at the Colchester Zoo.


Striped pajama pants

Kenilworth Castle
On Thursday, February 14th, we set off to visit our dear friends Ian and Cathy Gaskell in Market Drayton, Shropshire. Along the way we couldn’t resist the lure of a ruined castle, and so spent several happy hours exploring at Kenilworth in Warwickshire. Begun in the 1120’s and added to many times over the centuries, the castle was successively owned by Henry I, Henry III, John of Gaunt, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, who gave it to her favourite courtier and would-be-husband Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. You cannot walk in such a place without thinking of the feet that walked there before, without wondering about those hundreds of people who lived, loved, worked and died there. Is it possible be pensive and thrilled at the same time? We certainly were.


Misty weather suits the setting


Robert Dudley walks the tower


Looking out over Warwickshire

Let's take a break here to indulge ourselves in a bit of Renaissance daydreaming. We'll resume our travelogue shortly, starting with a glorious turkey dinner in Market Drayton.