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.