Whew, trip is over. I was particularly happy to get back home after this voyage for some reason. Old age perhaps. I was out of gas, that’s for sure. In retrospect I think I can say “good trip,” but it was time to leave the UK. It’s not a well-kept secret that I tend to get a little anxious travelling by myself, and that was coming to a head quickly. I swear if I had to ask one more person to repeat themselves because I couldn’t understand the combination of mumble-mouth accent and made-up words, there was going to be an international incident. I’d list “highlights” as the architecture, the cask ales, and work went pretty well too. On the “lowlight” side would be the food, the weather, and every single resident of the country. I say that about half-jokingly, maybe a little more. They were actually quite nice and very accommodating on the whole. The fierce resistance to changing their customs to suit my day-to-day routine had me a bit put off though.
But, it’s all “last week” now, I’m semi-comfortably back home. I say “semi” because I’m still just a bit jet-lagged. Eight hours is a harsh time switch. And of course I made the poor decision to go wine tasting with some friends Sunday after getting back, I don’t think that helped things. Probably should have unwound for the day. Oh well, why start making sound decisions now?
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- Probably the best thing I ate while I was there; A chicken and chorizo sandwich. Would have enjoyed it a lot more if I didn’t feel like I had to eat the whole plate with my knife and fork in a vain attempt to “fit in.”
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- At least they have a sense of humor about the crappy weather
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- Of course I had to have a few pot pies while I was there. This one was spinach and mushroom, darn tasty.
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- I found the lack of chairs at the bar rather unpleasant; How am I to belly up? On the other hand, I was a fan of the “dogs allowed” rule at most places.
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- One of many perplexing questions I was asked when ordering. “Straight glass or proper jug?” Errrrr…. I eventually figured out they were asking what type of glass you wanted. Can’t imagine why the difference, but kind of a nice touch I thought. For the record I decided i was partial to the jug, on the left.
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- I’m a fan of the architecture over there in general. I don’t know how old most buildings are… I’d guess “pretty darn old.”
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- A little pit mix at one of the pubs I stopped in. He seemed to be a resident pup, he just kind of roamed around table to table greeting everybody.
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- One day was actually rather pleasant out and I got to sit on the patio at the Antelope.