Happy Thanksgiving!

As some of our American friends and family have noted, it is strange to be in a country that doesn’t ‘celebrate’ Thanksgiving on the big day.  You will all be happy to know that we have been wished a Happy Thanksgiving locally.

This morning I stopped by the butcher shop to get some meat for tomorrow’s Lasagna.  When I came through the door Keith wished me a happy Thanksgiving.  He was proud to show me that he had a Turkey in the case.  This is quite special, as Turkey is very hard to find other than at Christmas.  He said he had sold several for English families having their own little ‘Thanksgiving’ dinners or parties this weekend.

He asked if we were having a turkey, I said no, since it is just the two of us, and he’d have to import one of our moms to come over and cook it:-)

Steve and I are going out to dinner with our old neighbors from the farm house, so we’ll be having a nice meal with friends – so no need to feel sad for us over here across the pond.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Salisbury cathedral

Here are a few shots of Salisbury cathedral.  It is a really beautiful building. 

I never knew that my 17-85mm lens had so much distoriton at 17mm.

Salisbury

Salisbury is a neat city.  We had a great couple of days wandering about.

They had some great pubs…

…and a great donut van…a hot donut is bliss on a cold day…

The town had a very authentic vibe to it.  Lots of great old buildings being used to meet the needs of the city, not just painted up as relics of some life that doesn’t really exist anymore.  The Saturday market was great, vegetables, food carts, a butcher selling meat out of a special truck that he sets up on market days, stands with hardware, and shoes, and old lady underwear.  The town centre doesn’t have a big superstore, so the market is where people do their shopping.

We stopped in many intersting shops, including a tool shop that had a mix of new, antique, and used tools.  It didn’t discriminate.  If it was a tool that someone might need, they had it.  There was a very cool old hunting store.  I forgot you could even buy guns in England.  We also stopped in a fabulous kitchen store that was probably the best kitchen store we’ve ever been in.  A great assortment of kitchen tools.

Overall, a great city to be in.  Tomorrow I’ll post pictures of the Cathedral.

English Heritage Pass

While at Stonehenge we noticed a placard advertising the English Heritage Overseas Visitor Pass.  It looks like a great deal worth checking out when planning a trip to England.  For £36 per couple (just £4 more for up to four kids) you can visit all the historical sights you can stomach in 7 days.  It doesn’t look like all of the English Heritage sites are included, but over 100 are, more than enough to wear out even the most ambitious traveller (that means you, Margie and Robbie).

Stonehenge

This weekend, after being home for a month straight we were finally ready to head out for a short road trip.  We went about 90 minutes south of here to Salisbury.  On the way there we stopped by Stonehenge.

Stonehenge, the world-famous, instantly recognizable site of ancient archaeological significance.  Well, it is pretty much a bunch of rocks in a field bordered by a 2 lane highway that just happens to have bus loads of tourists walking around.

It was cold and windy, so paying £15 to stand around for an hour with an audio guide stuck to our ears was not our idea of a good time.  Instead we parked, crossed the street, snapped a few pictures from outside the fence and high-tailed it back to the car.

It is pretty amazing to think that the pre-historic people lugged those rocks around and built the thing using extremely primitive hand tools.  The Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum has an interesting exhibit on Stonehenge, and of course, it is well covered in many books and on the web. 

So, no disrespect, but unless you are dead-set on seeing it, we’d suggest leaving it off most England itineraries, but it is worth a quick stop if you are nearby for something else.

The hazards of having a gardener

One of the best features of our current dwelling is that the services of a gardener are included in the rent.  This is fabulous as we don’t lift a finger for yard work.  A welcome change after 5 years in Seattle.

But, it is not without its perils.  Ends up that when the gardeners trimmed the vine this fall they snipped our phone line, which caused the DSL to die a slow and painful death, getting slower and slower until it ceased completely, as the water got in and corroded the line.  We finally got back online on Thursday after almost 3 weeks of disconnectedness.

Despite the invonvenience I think I would rather give up DSL at home in exchange for not doing yard work.