UK cheechako

Living On The Edge

2006-12-05T14:45:00.000Z

See? I wasn't fibbing. I really did stand on the edge. I have to tell you though, it was a little scary.

Yankee Tried To Kill Me!!!!

2006-12-05T12:49:00.000Z

OK. Maybe that was a little dramatic. He may not have been trying to kill me, but he sure seemed to be out for pain! I'll let you decide for yourself.

Last month Yankee and I drove up to the Peak District to check out some quaint small towns/villages and do a little walking/hiking. Well, as it turns out the area where we wanted to hike really required proper hiking boots and I did not have any. We still had a good time exploring an old bookstore, where we found some great old books. We still wanted to do some hiking in the area so I bought some boots and we headed back up there the following weekend.

My first mistake was letting Yankee select the walk. He picked a 7 mile Baslow and Curbar Edges walk out of the Peak District Walks book. Here's the word-by-word description of the walk from the book:

A magnificent gritstone escarpment stretches along the eastern rim of the Derwent Valley from Birchen Edge northwards to Derwent Edge, providing both exhilarating walking and glorious views. This ramble traverses Baslow Edge and Curbar Edge, two of the finest sections of this long cliff, before plunging through thick woods to the banks of the Derwent and returning along the riverbank and across fields to Baslow.

Sounds pretty tame right? Well, maybe except for the "plunging through thick woods" part. Not to worry, we didn't do any "plunging through thick woods." Even though we had directions we missed the "not-so-obvious rocky path that doubled back steeply into the woods below." Not-so-obvious was an understatement to say the least. Anyway, we did wander through the woods, which were beautiful, but ended up at least a mile off course. Never fear though, we had our ordinance map with us and were able to get back on track. Of course that entailed walking along a two-lane road without a shoulder for quite a while. Oh, did I mention that it was a winding road with blind curves? Every time we heard a car coming we stepped off into the brush. My heart nearly stopped when a Ferrari zoomed past us - twice. Now that was exhilarating!

Unfortunately after this little detour we still had several miles to go. This 3 1/2 hour walk was looking more like 5 hours. And I'm not talking 5 hours of leisurely walking at an even grade either. We had to keep up a respectable pace, trudging through wooded areas, mucky fields, farms, etc. Yes, there are public footpaths that run through otherwise private properties. Very cool. We walked straight through the cow & horse barns on one farm and one of the workers just waived and said 'Hi'. Back home we might be run off with a shotgun if we walked through someone's property.

With about 1.5 miles to go, the directions said to follow Curbar Lane steeply uphill for 1/4 mile. This is where I really thought I might not make it. They weren't joking about the steep part, but the 1/4 mile was more like 1/2 mile. That is something I've noticed over here - oftentimes the distance stated in directions is grossly underestimated. Usually we're in the car and I could care less, but this time I was livid. I thought I might die right there on Curbar Lane. Thankfully I made it and the terrain wasn't too bad the rest of the way. However, it soon started drizzling and by the time we got to the car it was full on raining! Surprisingly, I wasn't too upset about the rain. I guess I was just so darn glad that we were finished walking that I didn't care.

Before we headed home we stopped by the Chatsworth Farm Shop where I rewarded my hard work with a snack. We also picked up some other goodies, including local herbed bison sausages. As the English would say they were 'gorgeous'. Very tasty. I sure am going to miss all of the local farm shops after we move back.

PHOTOS

Here I am in the parking lot where the 'Death Walk' began. Sweet hat huh? I was happy I had it when it started raining.

Here's Yankee as we start off down the public footpath.

This is me after maybe a mile or two. I hadn't begun to suspect Yankee's master plan at this point.

This isn't the best photo, but the stone cross is The Wellington Monument on Baslow edge, standing high above the village of Baslow. It is dedicated to the Duke of Wellington and a celebration of his victory at the battle of Waterloo in 1815. It was erected by a local, Dr Wrench, who as an army man, felt the need to counterbalance the memorial dedicated to Admiral Nelson on nearby Birchen Edge.

It's difficult to tell from the below picture, but the Eagle Stone is massive in size. Situated high above the village of Baslow on Baslow Edge, is this interesting rock. In years gone by, the young men of Baslow used it to show off their prowess and fitness for marriage by climbing to the top. Now it is just one of the many interesting rock formations to be found in the Peak District National Park. When Googling Eagle Stone I found this picture from the New York Times. Interesting.

That's Yankee standing on the cliff along Curbar Edge. I wish I could have gotten this shot without the other guys in it, but it was a fairly busy day out there.

Don't laugh - it was actually a little scary even where I was standing. But I couldn't look like a big baby, so I ventured further out. Of course I can't seem to get the picture posted here. I'll put it in a separate post.

Nottingham Christmas Market

2006-12-02T18:41:00.000Z

The German Christmas Market in Nottingham's Old Market Square has been going on for just over a week now. Yankee and I went down on opening day to check things out and had a German burger. Since we were there early in the day (and had lots of things to do that day) we didn't get to enjoy a nice mug of Gluwein (hot mulled red wine) or any German beer. After waiting all week, we finally made it down there again this afternoon. As you can see from the pictures it is a popular place to be, especially on the weekends.

Check out the mass of people around the Gluwein & beer garden.

There are stalls set up all down the streets, selling everything from crafts to handmade German sweets. Last week we tried some amazing chocolate covered gingerbread. They were little slices of German heaven!

Here's Yankee enjoying his Paulaner Dunkel Hefeweizen, which is a dark wheat beer. I went with the Gluwein since it was a bit cold out. But then I warmed up and had a 1/2 pint of pilsner, but only because I wanted the commemorative glass tankard. Likely story huh?

I was really happy with this shot of the Council House. The lights on the pillars continuously change color. It was just luck that some of them were pink, picking up the color in the clouds.

I am looking forward to checking out the Christmas Markets in Belgium, Germany and France on our upcoming holiday. Yankee was able to see the one in Berlin earlier this week during a business trip. He didn't take any pictures, but said it was like the one here, only on a much larger scale. Check back in January for more Christmas Market stories & photos.

~YG~

I know it's not nice to toot your own horn, but......

2006-11-11T19:30:00.000Z

I'm going to do it anyway! About 2PM today I got a serious hankering (is that a real word?) for some meat. Red meat to be exact. I spent the next hour letting my mind wander over all of my options. My first thought was to head straight to Delilah's for a Bison Burger or maybe a Spanish Sausage sandwich. They are both darn good. Then I started drifting towards some homemade meatballs - never made those before. Nah, maybe I should try the Boerewors we made at our last cookery course (African Outdoor Cooking - more on that to come at a later date). I guess I should explain, Boerewors is a South African pork sausage. Good stuff. Then I noticed the recipe called for letting the sausage mixture sit overnight before making into patties and grilling. While time didn't allow this step at the cookery course, I figured if I was going to do it I wanted to do it right. Plus, pork isn't a red meat. So, time to come up with another idea. I finally settled on meatloaf. The only meatloaf I think I have ever made was using Heinz, or maybe it was Hunt's, Meatloaf Fixins in a can. Surprisingly it is pretty decent stuff, but it's not available over here, and I was in the mood to experiment anyway. I finally found a recipe on the Internet that sounded good, but decided to make a few modifications, such as using 1/2 pork and 1/2 beef instead of all beef. I also added some spices as the recipe only called for salt & pepper. Boring. Anyway, this turned out to be the absolute best meatloaf Yankee and I have ever had! I'm not exaggerating either. This stuff was amazing. So I'd like to share the recipe with everyone. Unfortunately, I'm not exactly into measuring, so you'll have to have a little confidence in yourself to wing it a bit, but I know you can do it. I'll try to give pretty good estimates to get you started.

The Best Meatloaf Ever

Ingredients:
*2 Eggs (hard not to measure those suckers)
*1/2 Cup or so Milk
*3 Slices White Bread - try something a little on the heavy side - none of that Wonder Bread crap
*Spices (see below)
*400g each ground pork and ground beef (not exactly sure what the conversion to lb. is, but if you are able to find this blog on the internet you can definitely find an online conversion calculator)
*1 finely chopped yellow onion
*1 grated carrot - no kidding
*1/2 Cup shredded cheese - again no kidding, (the original recipe called for cheddar, but I sused Double Gloucester since that's what we happened to have)
*About 1 - 1 1/2 C. of Sauce (see below)

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and then add the milk, bread & spices. Mix until bread is disintegrated. Add the meat, onion, carrot & cheese and mix well. I don't like to stick my hands down in a bowl of raw meat, so I wear latex gloves. Walgreens sells a box of 50 for $4.99 and they come in size Small which I love. These also come in handy for chopping onions, chili peppers or other stinky things. Pat down into a baking dish. Any dish will do. I used a covered round Le Creuset dutch oven, but then again I'm the one that made a square pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving last year. Bake at about 350 for roughly 1 hour or until nearly done. Drain off the grease. Spread sauce on top and return to oven, uncovered, for about 15 minutes to finish. Serve with mashed potatoes (scratch - don't even think of using instant) and green beans.

Spices:
I'll tell you what I used, but I definitely can't tell you how much of what. Just use what you like and try to end up with about 2-3 Tbsp. total.

*Mustard Seeds (I didn't use too much of these)
*Coriander Seeds
*Cumin Seeds
*1 dried chili pepper (I used a small red one)
*Mixed Peppercorns
*Rock or Sea Salt
*Whole Cloves (only use 4 or 5 of these)
*Italian Herb Seasoning
*Italian Seasoning (yes, there's a difference - just found this today at the grocery - a mixture of red pepper, sea salt, basil, thyme, oregano, white pepper, rosemary, onion & garlic)

Using a mortar & pestle, grind all the spices together. I'm sure you could just as easily use ground versions of all the spices, but Yankee bought a mortar & pestle several weeks ago and has been dying to try it out.

Sauce
*Equal parts ketchup and brown sugar
*Prepared Mustard (I just quickly grabbed a jar of Colemans yellow mustard at the store today. I didn't notice until I opened it that it was English mustard, which evidently means mustard with a bunch of horseradish in it. I was pleasantly surprised how good it was in the sauce, but I only needed about a 1/2-3/4 tsp. of this stuff - a little goes a long way!)

Below is a picture of the finished product, minus the big chunk that we ate.

More Donington Park Pictures

2006-11-08T14:37:00.000Z

It was pretty cool to see an Indianapolis Motor Speedway display less than an hour away from our home in England.

I believe this was a replica Bugatti, but still quite impressive.

An equally impressive Alfa Romeo.

OK - that's about all I have time to post for now. I'm going to try my best to get caught up on here real soon. Hopefully Yankee can find some time to entertain you as well. :o)

~YG~

Maybe it won't be so bad getting to Donington...

2006-10-06T15:03:00.000+01:00

The day after our journey to Belvoir Castle, we decided give the bus another try and head to the Donington Race Park to see the Donington Grand Prix Collection, the world's largest collection of grand prix cars. I could tell by the bus map that there was a stop very close to the track. When we got on the bus I asked the driver if that was the best stop and he said yes and he'd let us know when to get off. Great. Good to know we won't be having any 'adventures' this outing I thought to myself. Wrong. We proceeded to the back of the bus as we had the past two trips. Well, that would turn out to be a big mistake. There were quite a few stops and at each stop more people got on the bus than got off the bus. The bus was so full there were people standing all along the aisle. People were commenting that they had never seen so many people on the bus. Lucky us. We tried to make our way to the front of the bus well before our stop, but of course we weren't successful. I pushed the 'stop' button but the driver apparently didn't hear. As soon as we made our way up there and told him we were going to the track (something he must have forgotten as soon as we pulled out of the bus station) he pulled over and pointed us in the right direction. After walking along the motorway for more than a mile and some fence jumping (see picture below), we arrived at the track.

Here are a couple of pictures taken inside the race museum. I've got more, but Blogger is again being an uncooperative pain in the arse. I'll just put them in a new post.

The long journey to Belvoir Castle

2006-10-05T13:35:00.000+01:00

Prior to my family's visit, we had never used public transportation in Nottingham, simply because we never had the need. However, with only one vehicle, which Yankee was using for work, we had no choice if we wanted to venture outside the City Centre. Our first experience taking the bus was uneventful. The five of us went to the Denby Pottery Factory, where the bus dropped us off right across the street from the entrance. Piece of cake. So we decided to take the bus to Belvoir Castle the next day.

I consulted a bus schedule/map and, while there wasn't a stop right at the castle, there appeared to be two or three right by it. I figured I would just tell the bus driver we were going to the castle and ask him what the best stop was. I thought it was a realistic expectation that the bus driver who spends the day driving that route over and over would be of some assistance. Nope. He wasn't really sure, but thought the first stop in that area would be the closest. So we got off at The Unicorns Head pub in Langar. As soon as the bus pulled away I got this sinking feeling that we had made a mistake. We walked into the pub, which wasn't even open yet for the day, and found a staff member to ask for directions. You should have seen the look on his face when I told him we didn't have a car, that we had taken the bus. Come to find out we were a good 10 miles from the castle. Luckily I had a cell phone with me that day (which is unusual) and we were able to call a taxi. We did find out that we probably couldn't have gotten any closer to the castle by bus anyway, which made me feel better. In the end all of the trouble getting there and back was definitely worth it. The castle and gardens were absolutely beautiful. After touring the gardens and castle, we had a nice lunch at the castle's restaurant, Steward's. Funny story. After our rough time getting there I decided I wanted to enjoy a beer with my lunch. So I asked the waitress if the local brew was good. She said yes, but that it was a rather large bottle for a lady. Needless to say, I proceeded to order one and my Dad and Brother-in-law followed suit. It was really good too!

Below are some pictures of the castle and gardens. We even saw a peacock when we were walking around the gardens!

Amsterdam wasn't our only adventure....

2006-10-05T11:22:00.000+01:00

Although Amsterdam was probably the highlight of my family's trip, it wasn't our only adventure. While Yankee was working (don't know why he would want to go back to work and not hang with us every day???) we had quite a bit of fun in/around Nottingham. One day we took the Crime & Punishment tour at the Galleries of Justice. My sister & I were both chosen to take part in a mock trial - she as the judge and I as the accused. Sounds about right huh? Apparently I played a big part of burning down a silk mill in Beeston during the Reform Bill riots. Not surprisingly, she found me guilty and I was sentenced to hang. Here are some pictures of the trial and the museum. I don't know why she got to wear a nifty costume and I didn't. Maybe I just looked the part without one?

After the museum we headed to the nearby Pitcher & Piano bar for beverages. Now, the Pitcher isn't any ordinary bar. The first time Yankee and I saw it we didn't even know it was a bar. That could have had something to do with the fact that it is a Church turned into a bar. Yep, that's right. A bar in a church. Seems wrong, but that didn't stop us from checking it out. I wish I could post some pictures, but I can't seem to find them at the moment. You can check out their website or this other link for some pictures. I'm sure I can twist Yankee's arm to go there this weekend and take some pics - for the sake of the blog of course. :) Anyway, back to the story. We all went inside to check out the bar and order our drinks and then headed outside to sit and enjoy the nice day. As soon as we sat down my Dad excused himself to take a walk down the street to enjoy a cancer stick. Well, my brother-in-law & I had nearly drained our Hoegaarden pints and he still wasn't back so I went looking for him. I looked everywhere with no luck. By the time I got back to the bar he reappeared. It seems he had walked down some steps to a courtyard and made a friend. Mind you, I walked down the same steps while looking for him, but turned back when it started to get a little too secluded for my taste. Well, it seems he met this guy down there and got to talking with him. He learned the guy was originally from Portugal and would like to visit the US someday, but didn't think he would be able to because he had been in jail. I wander what the guy did that was so bad he didn't think he we be able to get in the US? Needless to say, we kept a careful eye on my Dad after that.

Another day we took a tour of the City of Caves. Yankee and I had not taken the tour because to be quite honest the entrance, which is inside Broadmarsh shopping centre, looks really cheesy. But the tour isn't cheesy at all. It's really quite fantastic. The only negative is having to wear a hardhat during the tour. It was amazing to walk through the underground caves and hear stories about their history. The tannery was especially fascinating. You can read all about it on their website. I'm guessing I'll be going back with Yankee one of these days.

Amsterdam with the in-laws

2006-09-23T18:47:00.000+01:00

Many of you will know that my in-laws (YG's parents along with her sister and her husband) came over about two months ago.

Prior to coming over, they had decided that they wanted to go to Amsterdam. I know it seems like an odd place to go with family, but lets be honest, who doesn't want to visit the red light district with their in-laws.

After minor delays, everyone arrived on Friday. After resting and seeing a bit of Nottingham and the Midlands on Saturday, we got up Sunday morning and headed to Amsterdam. We were only going to be there for a couple of days so we had to make the most of our time there. We were hoping to arrive early enough to see the Ann Frank house, but unfortunately due to flight delays we arrived behind schedule and had to settle for a late dinner at one of the many Indonesian restaurants in Amsterdam. Until that day I had no idea that Indonesia was a Dutch colony until the mid 1900s (I guess you do learn something everyday). Below is a photo of us with part of the feast we had (the line of food extends out of the photos). I can't remember half of what we had, but it must have been about 25 things, most of which you couldn't identify by sight. It was good, but I am probably set with the Indonesia food for awhile.

After that we called it a night and headed back to the Hotel Fita. It was a nice little 10 or 12 room B&B right in the heart of the museum district.

The next day we got up and headed to the museums. Our first stop was the Rijksmuseum. The museum was being renovated, which was actually fortunate, because they had all of the most famous pieces housed in just a few rooms. We were able to see all the best stuff in a couple of hours. In honour of Rembrandt's 400th birthday they had a special installation of the Night Watch, where they used a special light show to illuminate the painting. It was almost like watching a movie, as the lights changed to highlight the various scenes in the painting. It was one of the cooler things that I have seen. If you go to the website, try and find the commercial for his birthday (it uses the Night Watch).

Next we set off for the Van Gogh museum. This was my kind of museum as well. You could see just about everything in an hour or two, which is more than enough time spent with people crowding you and rubbing up against you (unless of course you like strangers rubbing up against you).

After a brief stop at the hotel to regroup, we ventured out again. As we were walking down a street lined with various shops, someone claimed Mick Jagger had just gone into one of the stores (I'm guessing it was true since there were multiple guards at the door, and a few official looking cars outside, not to mention the fact that The Stones were playing a concert that night in Amsterdam). After standing there waiting for several minutes we gave up and found the local Hard Rock Cafe.

Once we had some grub and a few drinks, we decided it was a good idea to take a canal boat ride (since it was right across the canal from the HRC). The boat ride was probably my least favorite thing, but it was good to sit down for a while.

Now that we were all rested up from our relaxing boat ride (not), we navigated our way to the Anne Frank House. Unfortunately you can't take pictures in the house, and there is not really anything to see outside, so you will have to settle for the pictures on the website. The house was pretty cool to see, but it is difficult to imagine how 8 people lived in that place for more than 2 years. After that, it was time for dinner and bed (after a brief walking tour of the city courtesy of some incorrect navigation on my part).

The next day we split up so that some of us could go to the Heineken Brewery and some of us could go to the museum showing the Anne Frank Letters (I'll let you guess which one YG and I did). I must say, prior to this trip I was never a big Heineken fan, but on tap in Amsterdam it was pretty tasty.

It was a good thing they give you three beers on the tour because we needed that slight buzz on the way back. Just a couple of minutes into our 25 minute walk to meet the other two at the museum it started to rain, and then it started to rain harder, and then it was like someone was pouring buckets of water on us. With only one umbrella between the 4 of us, we got soaked.

Once we were all back together again, we headed off in search of a pancake house that the hotel had recommended. I never knew Amsterdam was known for it pancakes either. I just assumed hookers, dope and tulips were all they had to offer (who knew there was so much more).

Fortunately we found the pancake place with no problem. The place is called Upstairs, and they are not kidding. You have to walk up two flights of stairs which are virtually straight up. Be careful if you go, as you might just hit your head going up the stairs, causing you to scream, thereby alerting everyone in the restaurant that you are about the enter. In the event that this does happen, don't worry because it entitles you to the first pancake. That may not seem like much, but keep in mind that there is only one guy, Louie, working there, and he serves the pancakes one at a time. The other consolation is that the maximum number of people who will hear you scream is on the order of 8, as that is about as many as it can hold. I read somewhere that it is the smallest restaurant in Europe. Oh yeah, the food is pretty good too. If you ever make it over there, tell Louie I said hi, and that I have decided not to sue.

Once we had filled up on pancakes, it was off to the red light district for a quick tour and then back to the hotel to collect our luggage.

Prior to our trip, Amsterdam was not someplace I would have picked to go, but after being there for a few days it is someplace I would definitely recommend.

Cheers,

Yankee

Scotland Day 5 - Further into the Highlands and Back

2006-09-04T20:17:00.000+01:00

After a great day on the river, and another good evening in the pub, we left the Taynuilt Hotel and headed further North into the highlands. Our first stop was a little further upstream on the river we had fished. There were some falls, so we stopped to enjoy the scenery and take some pictures. Below are some shots of us hanging out by the river. The first one is just a picture of the river, which hasn't been tainted with any of our mugs.

Me just hanging out on the rock.

Not exactly sure what he is doing, but he is obviously having a good time doing it.

Just happy to have clean clothes, although you couldn't tell it from that face.

Me trying not to go in the drink.

From there we ventured toward Fort William via Glen Coe.

While driving through the Glen, we pulled over to take some pictures and we found a piper (what are the chances).

After listening to the piper for a few minutes, we got back in the car and finished our journey to Fort William. Fort William is the home of Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in the UK. Unfortunately we didn't have the time to make the trek up the mountain. I hope to make it back there next spring to actually climb the mountain (Ren, let me know if you want me to pick you up a patch).

Fort William sits on Loch Linnhe. To the right is a picture of the loch with some sail boats. After grabbing some food at the Grog and Gruel, we turned back South toward Oban. We stopped in Oban to pick up some souvenirs for the tourists and to see the tides.
After Oban we stopped by Kilmartin Glen to see the stone circles (and the sheep) and the old church with the ancient head stones. After that, we started back towards Glasgow.

On our way back we were going to have dinner at the original Loch Fyne Seafood Restaurant, but unfortunately we decided to use the restroom prior to getting a table, and while we were doing that someone came in a took the last non-reserved table. It must be good, since it is in the middle of nowhere, and they were fully booked. Unfortunately we will probably never know. We were literally 30 seconds from having a table, but instead we were forced to find something else. The next place we tried looked good, but we were told they couldn't serve us unless we wanted to wait until after the party of 25 (which wasn't there yet) had left. Instead we ended up eating what looked like frozen appetizer food in the only pub we could find.

After all of that, we finally made it back to Glasgow for our last night in Scotland. The photo to the right is our obligatory group photo, just after last call at the pub.

Here's looking forward to the next fishing trip.

Yankee

Day 4 - Fish Beware, and is that Ren's Luggage I see?

2006-09-03T17:33:00.000+01:00

After a successful day traveling the Scottish countryside, and a relaxing evening in the Taynuilt Hotel Pub on Day 3, we were ready to slay the fish on Day 4.

We headed to the River Orchy bright and early to ensure we got our full day of fishing in. As you can see, the river ain't a bad place to be. As you probably guessed, Ren's fishing was limited to the bank as his gear was still somewhere trying to catch up with us. Unfortunately, most of my early moments were spent on the bank as well, since my third cast went high into a tree. I spent most of the first 30 minutes trying to cut it out (the fly, leader, and at least 5 ft. of the fly line were up there). Below are pictures of each of us fishing. The first one is Elwood, unfortunately all I have is the back of him. Remember that net as it will come into play later.

The next one is Ren. As you can see, the lack of waders kept him confined to the bank, but it didn't discourage him from getting into the river. I'm not sure what he is looking at. It might be one of those flying fish.

The next one is me.

They look just like scenes from A River Runs Through It, don't they? After a few hours, Ren decided that he ought to call the hotel just to see if his luggage might have arrived.

Since the cell phone was in the car, I gave him the keys so he could go call. As we had walked down the river quite a bit I told him to drive the car down to the next pull off. Now there are several reasons not to let Ren drive your company car in a foreign country, but despite that I gave him the keys with a few instructions and he was on his way.

For those of you still thinking of all the reasons not to let Ren drive the car, I will just go ahead and give you the number one reason.

HE WILL PUT IT IN THE DITCH!!

As Ren points out in the photo below, it happened. These photos are after several benevolent Scottish people pushed him out. Fortunately I came up from the river just in time to catch the aftermath. All I could see were several people and cars huddled around my car. On my way to see what was going on (imagining the worst) I passed someone, who appeared to be in his work clothes, covered in mud and swearing under his breath. As I approached the crowd around my car I could see that the car was intact, albeit a little muddy. Apparently he had gotten too far over, while trying to get out of the way of the other cars, and ended up in the ditch. The muddy guy was the victim of Ren gassing the car too much while the guy was trying to push him out

In Ren's defense we hadn't seen more than 2 cars the whole day, and as soon as he pulled out cars appeared from both directions. This was exacerbated by the fact that it was only a one lane road.

After the car was rescued from the ditch, we learned that he was unable to reach the hotel. We decided that we would go down to the southern portion of the river and fish for a little while before going back to check on the luggage.

Ren wasn't the only one having problems that day. Now as you may have seen, I was wearing hip waders. For anyone who has ever worn them, you know you have to be careful or you can easily go too far into the river and then you are wet. Well I didn't go too far in, but while I was getting out (to go back to the hotel, after several hours of staying dry), I slipped on a rock and my left leg filled with water. You can see me checking out the water below.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. We went back to the hotel, where half of Ren's luggage was waiting in the room. Fortunately for him, it was the half with his waders and other fishing gear.

After a brief celebration by Ren, and a search for plastic bags and dry socks to wrap my feet in, we headed back to the river, for another 7 hours of fishing.

Scotland Day 3 - Highlands here we come

2006-08-23T19:17:00.000+01:00

Day 3 was devoted to driving North to find our fishing spot. We decided that we should see some of the countryside on the way so we took the long way up. First on the list was Stirling so that we could see the castle and the William Wallace monument (if your paying attention, you already knew that). That's the castle pictured above. I probably enjoyed this castle more than I did Edinburgh. Edinburgh was nice if you like "fancy pants" castle living, but Stirling was definitely more of a battle castle. The slits you see in the side of the castle are places for shooting arrows, cannons and other things to kill people. It was pretty cool.

As you probably guessed, after we left the castle, we proceeded to the Wallace Monument. In order to stay on schedule, avoid some of the tourist, and save a few pounds, we opted not to actually tour the monument. If you're interested in more pictures or info, you'll have to visit the website above.

Instead, we set off in search of Bridge of Allen and the Bridge of Allan Brewery, to taste some beer and pick up a few pints for the trip. They have some excellent beers, including one made with whisky. You can see my failed attempt to get us a few more beers above.

From the Bridge of Allan (or Bridge-o-fallan if your name is Elwood), we headed North to Callander in search of wool for the future Elwood baby. Unfortunately there was no wool fabric to be had in all of Scotland (sorry little Elwood). After the failed wool search, we headed to the Taynuilt Hotel, which was our fishing lodge for the next two days. Below is a picture of the hotel. It is a nice place to stay if you find yourself in the South Highlands for a few days.

For those who have tuned in just for the continuing saga of Rens luggage, he still doesn't have any, as evidenced by the photo below. Yes, macdougal a shower does help, even with four day old clothes, but not nearly enough. We kept asking if he wanted to stop and buy some clothes, but he never did take the hint.

I hope my friends at Shiggs Diggs Bar & Grill like the free advertising (Ren is wearing my shirt from there).

Scotland Day 2 correction

2006-08-21T18:32:00.000+01:00

Apparently no one is reading this blog, or no one knows that it would be virtually impossible to see the William Wallace Monument from Edinburgh Castle, since the monument is in Stirling and not Edinburgh.

Therefore what you actually saw was the view of the Monument from Stirling Castle (which you will get to read about soon). Since pictures are such a pain in the arse to import and move around in blogger, I am going to leave the post as it is, and you'll just have to be comforted by the knowledge that I am indeed human and therefore make the occasional mistake.

For those keeping score at home, we actually visited the Wallace monument on Day 3 (so remember that when we get to the next post).

Yankee Girl has just pointed out that if I hadn't waited so long to post, this might not have happened. While I will take her snide comment as constructive criticism, I am reassured by the fact that this is my first mistake in over a year of blogging.

Apologies for any confusion,

Yankee

Scotland - Day two - The Arrival of Elwood (but not Ren's luggage)

2006-08-19T08:37:00.000+01:00

Fortunately, Elwood's arrival was substantially less eventful than Ren's (proving that contingency plans will ensure nothing goes wrong, as we had several back up plans for picking up Elwood, but none for getting Ren to Nottingham).

In case you're wondering, Ren still has no luggage at this point, in spite of the many phone calls attempting to track it down (look to the right for the first in a series of photos documenting his efforts to find his luggage). In any case, Elwood arrived at the designated pick up spot 2 minutes before we arrived.

After a brief stop at the hotel, we headed to the Auchentoshan Distillery for a little Scotch tasting. Here we discovered all the ins and outs of making Scotch Whisky. We also discovered that none of us are all that crazy about scotch. I actually liked the un-distilled wort better than some of the Whisky. The guide let us taste it straight from the fermenting barrel (hopefully no one in the tour group had any communicable diseases as we all had to drink from the same jar). Below is a picture of the wort. I know it doesn't look too appetizing, but trust me it was pretty good.

After the Whisky tasting we were off to Edinburgh (that's pronounced Edinborough right Ren?). After driving around for what seemed like forever, we finally stumbled upon the castle.
I don't know how they knew we were going to be there, but as soon as we got out of the car we were greeted by a parade, including bagpipes, kilts and the whole bit. After lunch and a few pints at one of the local pubs we ventured up to the castle. It is definitely a sight to see. It sits high on a a rock overlooking the entire city. Below is a picture from below the castle. Once again, since he couldn't take his own pictures, Ren winds up in the pictures. From the grounds of the castle you can also see the William Wallace Monument (that's the thing sticking up in the distance in the other picture below). There is also a picture with us in front of the Wallace statue. Don't you think it's amazing how much it looks like Mel Gibson (Braveheart Mel, not mugshot Mel)

After a long day of trekking around Edinburgh we headed back to Glasgow. We finished off the day with a few pints and a traditional Scottish meal of haggis and mashed turnips. I won't tell you what haggis is, but if you're interested you can check out this website. If you want to try it, I recommend having it before you know what it is (kinda like black pudding). It is surprisingly good, albeit a little dry.

Stay tuned for Day 3 (Ren might even have some luggage by then).

Remember that you can enlarge any of the pictures by double clicking on them.

Cheers,
Yankee

Yankee Girl's New Blog

2006-08-18T17:01:00.000+01:00

Before I get to introducing my new blog, I want to let everyone know that Yankee has pledged to update this blog over the weekend (in between a garden party tomorrow evening and an all day cooking class on Sunday.....). Anyway, I'm sure everyone has been patiently awaiting some more of Yankee's clever writing.

Now, back to me! I have been meaning to get this started for months now and have finally gotten off my tushie and done it. I have taken tons and tons of pictures during our travels overseas and there really isn't room for posting large quantities of them on this blog. So I have set up a blog dedicated to my favorites. Not being near as clever (gag!) as Yankee, I have named the blog Yankee Girl's Photo Album. Yeah, I know. But hey, someone once called me stupid and told me to keep is simple, so whatever. Not really. Just striving to entertain on the same level as Yankee. I know, I know - it's an unattainable goal. Anyway, check it out. I am just getting started and will be adding many new pics real soon.

~YG~

Scotland - Day One - Ren's Arrival and the Trip Up

2006-07-22T21:45:00.000+01:00

Here is the first installment of the greatly anticipated (at least by 2 people) Scotland post.

Over Memorial Day weekend a couple of my mates from the States, we'll call them Ren and Elwood, came over for a trip up to Scotland. Our annual beer drinking, chicken eating, race watching weekend, was replaced by Scotch (and real ale) drinking, Haggis eating, and fly fishing.

It didn't start off well. Ren was supposed to arrive at the Nottingham train station at 3:30 on Thursday afternoon. After his own personal version of Planes, Trains and Automobiles (or Buses) he finally made it to Nottingham bus station a few minutes after 4 AM on Friday morning, albeit sans luggage. After Ren got 3 hours of sleep, we got in the car and headed north (in the pouring rain). We were meeting Elwood in Glasgow on Saturday morning, and had planned to see some of the sights on the drive up.

We traveled up the east coast to see the English countryside.

We endured the pouring rain, the cold and the sheep to stop by Hadrian's Wall, also known as the old Roman Wall. The wall was constructed over a 10 year period beginning in 122, and much of it is still visible. It runs almost the entire width of England, and was originally used to divide the Roman Empire from Scotland (probably before it was known as Scotland). Housteads Fort is supposed to be the best preserved of the 16 forts along the wall, so that's where we went. To the left is a shot of Ren standing on the wall. You'll probably notice that Ren is in quite a few of the
pictures. I guess that's what happens when you don't have a camera (or any thing else for that matter).

To the right is a shot of the Fort's latrine. Notice that there is even water in the basin (pretty authentic huh?). It's hard to believe that this place is almost 2000 years old. It's also hard to believe that it's just in the middle of a sheep pasture.

Next we drove along the coast toward Baburgh Castle. It is a castle that sits right on the east coast, overlooking a beach. According to someone, it is the "Finest Castle in England." Unfortunately, Ren and I will never know, since they were getting ready to close by the time we got there. Like us, you'll have to settle for looking at the outside.

Just up the road, is Holy Island. Unfortunately we didn't get to see that either as the tide was still up, and we couldn't get across the causeway. We had to settle for pictures of the water on the road, and a long distance view of the island. Due to the tides, the causeway floods every day, and you have to plan your visit accordingly.

After that, we headed for a night of drinking in Glasgow.

I knew I would figure this out one day

2006-07-05T12:25:00.000+01:00

I FINALLY found a way to post the monkey videos!!! Check it out here - and make sure you have the volume turned on. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about see my post dated 12-7-05.

Happy 4th of July from the UK

2006-07-04T19:01:00.000+01:00

Here we are, yet again, at another American Holiday not celebrated in the UK. Other than the occasional mumble of something regarding the British Empire and lack of respect thereof, you would have thought it was just another day here in the UK.

In recognition of our independence (and the continuing quest to enlighten my readers) I thought I would do some research on our founding fathers in the UK. Click here to find out more about our first President, and why our Capital could have been called Heartburn DC if it weren't for his ancestors

One Year and Counting

2006-06-29T20:10:00.000+01:00

Today is the one year anniversary of our arrival in the UK. In honour (notice that is spelled with a U) of this glorious occasion, I have decided to create a top 5 list of the good and bad things about living in the UK. You would get 10 but I just got back from the pub and that would require way too much thought.

Top 5 good things about living in the UK.
1. The Beer
2. Proximity to other places
3. The weather (when it's good, it's really good)
4. The landscape and countryside (if I ever get around to publishing the pictures of Scotland and the Peak District you can see for yourself)
5. Being within walking distance of 20+ pubs

Top 5 bad things about living in the UK
1. The customer service (or lack thereof)
2. The roads (a small accident can create hours of traffic back ups - they don't believe in shoulders here, they also don't believe in the grid system)
3. The weather (when it's bad, it's miserable)
4. Sports (I have resorted to watching football (soccer))
5. 17 hours of darkness in the Winter (some might argue that the 17 hours of daylight in the summer should be a good thing and counter act the bad part, unless you actually like to sleep)

Looking forward to seeing all of you in another 12 months.

Cheers,
Yankee

Venice

2006-06-22T18:51:00.000+01:00

Since there are no cars in venice you have a choice of walking, taking a water taxi, or riding the bus. We opted for the bus, since we were doing enough walking already, and the taxis were too expensive (at least for my cheap arse).
Since we have been over here, we have gotten pretty used to using public transportation, but the water buses in Venice are a different story. They are essentially floating cattle cars where they pack you in like sardines (you'll have to excuse the mixing of metaphors). If you look closely (or you could just click on it to expand it) at the picture you can see all the people crammed onto the water bus. What you see (people riding the bus) is actually the least traumatizing part. It is literally a free-for-all getting on and off these things. There is supposed to be an entrance lane for people waiting to get on and an exit lane for those wanting to get off. It seems this is merely a suggestion, because once the entrance line gets too long people just rush the exit line, thus creating the free-for-all. If going in the out door doesn't work for you, apparently you just yell 'permesso', act like you are getting on another bus which is about to leave (there are multiple bus routes), and push your way through the crowd. I thought permesso meant excuse me I need to get through, but it obviously means "I'm an old Italian woman and I can't be bothered to stand in line, so get out of my way".

But other than that, Venice is great.

Our hotel, Hotel Al Ponte Mocenigo, was fantastic, and they served the best cappuccino I have ever had. If you ever get to Venice, I highly recommend both.

To the right is a picture of Saint Mark's Square and the Cathedral. It's pretty impressive, but I don't recommend it if you have any issues with birds. You can't see it but there are pigeons everywhere you look. Apparently people don't realize that pigeons are nothing more than flying rats, because they let their kids feed them from their hands. I didn't have bird issues until I visited this place.

With your bus pass you also get access to the islands of Venice, so we toured the islands one day.

To the left is a picture of Burano (known for its colorfully painted houses and lace). They call it a miniature Venice. And no trip would be complete without a visit to Murano and it's glass factories. Below is a picture of one of the glass
making facilities. Pretty fancy chandelier for a factory huh? There is also a shot of YG on a bridge in Murano.

To the right is a shot of the Accademia Bridge. It was originally built in 1922 out of wood as a temporary bridge, but it was left becuase of it's popularity. It is the only wooden bridge still crossing the Grand Canal.

I'm tired of writing and thinking, so now you're just going to get some shots of Venice.

The Grand Canal and the Rialto Bridge, with the obligatory Gondolier.

More gondolas in the side canals around St. Marks square

Beer, It Does a Body Good??

2006-06-13T19:58:00.000+01:00

Not that I needed another excuse, but here is a good one for all you beer drinkers.

According to this article, researchers have found that beer may help prevent prostate cancer (albeit at the expense of the liver).

Does it mean anything when half of your birthday cards make references to beer?

Drink up loyal readers.

Cheers,
Yankee

It's getting hot over here

2006-06-11T17:20:00.000+01:00

Today was supposed to be brewing day here in the UK (my second batch of home brew), but unfortunately it is too freaking hot. Therefore, I'm sitting here on the balcony, drinking a beer, writing a blog post, and sweating my arse off. Whoever said it doesn't get hot in the UK was full of shite. I'm guesssing it was the same guy who said you don't need air conditioning either (hence the sitting on the balcony).

Yes, I am alive

2006-06-10T15:59:00.000+01:00

For those of you wondering about me, I am still here. I have returned safe and sound from my travels around the world, despite the efforts of many Italian drivers.

After trips to Italy, Indianapolis, Seattle and Scotland I am back in Nottingham for a while, and therefore able to blog.

I guess I should explain my comment about Italian drivers. For those who have never experienced it, Italy is quite possibly the most dangerous place on earth to drive. As many of you know, YG and I went to Italy for our anniversary (yes, I am well aware that that, along with my last post, was almost 2 months ago). After several days in Venice, battling the Venetians on the Water Buses (story to come later), and a train ride to Rome, we needed to get away from the crowds. So, we decided to rent ourselves a Ford Ka and hit the road up to Tuscany.

To the right you can see YG standing alongside the massive Ka. As you can also see, the rental car place is on the same road as the Colosseum.

We should have known it was going to be an interesting day, when it started with a cabbie with questionable mental capacity. This guy couldn't speak English, which I don't mind, but I am not sure he could speak Italian. After an interesting drive through Rome and driving around the block a couple of times, and us yelling at him to stop, he finally slowed down enough for YG to jump out. Yes, she left me in the car to deal with the Italian version of Rain Man. This nearly sent him over the edge. He started speaking some gibberish and pointing at all kinds of stuff. At this point, I was so mad it took me several minutes to get the money together to pay this idiot. I got myself calmed down, counted out the money, threw it onto the front seat and jumped out. As we came to find out, we had been within a block of the rental car place for a good 5 minutes.

Fortunately, after that ordeal, the acquisition of the rental was uneventful. Although they didn't have a map, so we were forced to navigate with a tourist guide (not an easy thing to do given that the road system is less than intuitive).

Anyway, back to the Italian drivers. After many near death experiences, for us and several scooter drivers, we made it out of Rome and on to the motorway towards Tuscany. This is where the fun really started. Two lane winding roads, 70-80 mph, and drivers willing to pass 3-5 cars at a time resulted in more accidents than we have seen the entire time we have been in Europe. It also seems that the dashed white lines in Italy indicate where the middle of your car should be. What I thought should have been a 2 lane motorway was essentially 3, again at 70-80 mph.

It doesn't stop there either. Apparently it is common practice to pass people (especially us)
when you are driving around blind curves in the mountains of Tuscany (gratuitous picture to the left).

Anyway, enough ranting about the Italian drivers. Gotta go.

Cheers,
Yankee

A use for cats?

2006-04-10T20:43:00.000+01:00

I always knew there was a use for cats, and apparently someone has found it. It appears that they are useful for putting stuff on, or at least that's what stuff on my cat dot com says.

For those of you that knew him, don't you think this guy looks a lot like TDC? Coincidently the title for this picture is "Just another day at the frat house".

FYI - TDC was our cat at Purdue.

There's more than just drinking in Dublin

2006-04-08T19:51:00.000+01:00

For those of you wondering if we do anything that doesn't involve alcohol, here is your answer.

While in Dublin we also visited Trinity College, which is home to the Book of Kells. If you don't know anything about the book, don't feel bad. I had never heard of it before we started researching Dublin. In any case, the book is a decorated version of the 4 Gospels, written around 800 AD, and it is amazing. You can't take pictures inside the Library, but below is a picture from the book, which I found on some guy's website (you can go there yourself if you want more).

This is a portrait of Christ on folio 32V of the book. You can't necessarily see it here, but the coloring is just amazing.

This website also has some images from the book. Apparently there were 1480 facsimiles made a few years ago, at a cost of $18,000, and it looks as if these guys have decided to post some pictures from those.

We also toured Dublin Castle while we were there. Most of the castle has been rebuilt, but there are still some portions of the original castle remaining. Below is picture of the original castle wall.

In addition to that, we also toured Kilmainham Jail. It is only a tourist attraction now, but from 1796 until 1926 it was not a pleasant place to be. This is where the organizers of the 1916 Easter Rising were held and eventually executed.

To the left is a picture of me in the "new" part of the jail, and below is a picture of the old part.

Below is a picture of the Stonebreakers yard where the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were
executed, along with a plaque commemorating their executions.

More Dublin

2006-04-08T19:03:00.000+01:00

YG just reminded me that I am really behind in the blogging department, especially considering we are about to leave for Italy and I haven't finished the Dublin stuff (doesn't life just suck?).

So here you go, more of Dublin.

While we were there, YG found that she quite likes Irish coffee. Our hotel happened to be just around the corner from the Jameson Distillery, which is also home to the Jameson Bar (pictured above). We can honestly say that they serve the best Irish coffee (we tried others just to be sure).

We didn't just spend time in the bar though. We also went to the distillery for a tour, where I discovered that I actually like Irish Whiskey. During the tour YG also became an official whiskey taster. This is a special part of the tour, for the "chosen few". YG was chosen because all of the other women were scared. I wasn't chosen (no matter how much I volunteered) because she was.

To become an official taster you "have" to try 3 whiskeys made by Jameson and choose your favorite. After that, you try the one you selected against a popular Scotch (Johnnie Walker) and a popular Bourbon (Jack Daniels). Amazingly the Irish whiskey came out on top.

Picture to the left is Yankee Girl with her placemat full of whiskey. She also has a dipoma which I am told will be hung up in the basement when we return to the US.

For anyone going to Dublin and specifically the distillery, be sure to volunteer when they ask at the beginning of the tour.

But What About The Pot Of Gold?

2006-04-01T19:43:00.000+01:00

We have been having some crazy weather here the past couple of days. It rains, then the sun comes out, then it rains again, then the sun comes out again....... Kind of a bummer, but ideal for seeing rainbows. Yesterday evening I was so disappointed when I spotted the most beautiful rainbow from our flat, only to discover our camera battery was dead. Luckily I charged the battery last night because I saw another rainbow today. Actually, while I was reviewing the pictures I took I realized it was a double rainbow. I never knew there was such a thing. To make sure my eyes weren't just playing tricks on me I did some research on rainbows. I found this educational website which confirmed there is such a thing as a double rainbow. In fact, there are two types of double rainbows. In one, the secondary rainbow's colors are in the same order as the primary rainbow. In the other type, which is what I saw today, the secondary rainbow's colors are in inverse order compared to the primary rainbow. Kind of cool. As for the Pot of Gold, here is a story with one version of the fable.

Happy Belated St. Patty's Day from Guinness

2006-03-29T20:57:00.000+01:00

As many of you know, Yankee Girl and I went to Dublin for the greatest of Irish holidays. Despite the wintry conditions, we had a good time. I'm not joking when I tell you that we had some sort of winter precipitation every day, including snow, freezing rain, and sleet. Luckily there was plenty of "The Black Stuff" to keep us warm. For you non-drinkers, that would be Guinness. I think I might have converted YG into a Guinness drinker. If not, she has at least learned to appreciate a good Black and Tan.

Once we got settled in to our hotel, our first order of business was to visit the Guinness Storehouse. You can actually smell the Guinness for several blocks as you approach the Brewery.

Pictured above is the famous Guinness Gate on St. James Street, otherwise known as the entrance to the St. James Gate Brewery. I never knew that was why the brewery was called the St. James Gate Brewery, possibly proving that drinking can make you smarter. Another thing that I didn't know was that good ole Arthur's house was attached to the brewery (hence the picture of the sign).

That ends the educational portion of the post. Next we enter into the actual Brewery Tour.

It is definitely one of the best brewery tours we have taken (and we have taken a few). Unfortunately for you, the brewery is pretty dark, so we didn't take many pictures. Therefore you will have to just visualize. Before you enter the tour, they have a display of every Guinness bottle ever used. As you enter the tour, there is a huge display of barley so that you can feel and smell it. Then there is a display of roasted barley, which you can taste. I now have souvenirs of Guinness dry barley and roasted barley. Something else I learned was that roasted barley actually tastes good (it's almost like a crunchy version of Guinness). As the tour progresses, it takes you in front of and behind a huge indoor waterfall. The rest of the tour is just your normal brewing stuff which I won't bore you with.
The tour ends at the gravity bar, which is on top of the brewery and offers great views of the city. Here you can see me at the Gravity Bar , about to drink my first Guinness in Dublin. Apologies for the lack of scenery, but we weren't thinking about that (truthfully I was just focused on the beer).

To the right is a picture of the Gravity Bar from street level.

Stay tuned for more of Dublin in coming posts.

Apologies

2006-03-29T20:28:00.000+01:00

Apologies to those faithful readers out there who have patiently been waiting for a blog post. Stay tuned for a flurry of posts.

Happy UK Mothering Day

2006-03-26T20:52:00.000+01:00

For those that don't know (I didn't until a few days ago), today is "Mothering Sunday" in the UK. Those in the US know this as Mother's Day, albeit on a different day.

So, to all those British Mothers out there, have a happy day.

I guess you non-UK mothers can have a good day as well.

Happy Pancake Tuesday

2006-02-28T18:06:00.000Z

I now know why one of the recipes that we tried on Friday was pancakes. Apparently Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras is also know as Pancake Tuesday in England. I guess it's really called Shrove Tuesday, but who is counting.

To learn more about Pancake Tuesday, including pancake races, click here or here. I never knew people could get so excited about pancakes.

BTW - We just finished our chilli pancakes, and they were great.

HOT STUFF

2006-02-26T18:57:00.000Z

Yankee Girl and I spent all day Friday learning how to cook with chillies. We attended "Turn Up The Heat ~ The Art of Chilli Cooking", at the Manor School of Fine Cuisine. We can now set your mouth on fire any time of the day with any meal. Well I guess that's not exactly true, some chillies can be quite mild.

Beginning with chilli pancakes for breakfast and concluding with chili shortbread and chocolate chilli cheesecake for dessert, we cooked and ate all day. By the time we finished I was so full I could hardly move. It is amazing what you can do with chillies. I would have never thought of putting chillies in pancakes or shortbread, but they were both quite good.

The instructor has her own website dedicated to chilli cooking, where you can find other information about chillies, including the 2 chilli farms in the UK (I never knew the UK was good for growing chillies), along with the menu for the day. I have also attached some photos of the day, for your viewing pleasure.

To the right you can see me giving Yankee Girl instructions on the finer points of frying noodle nests, which we used for our Yin Yang Prawns. Below, Yankee Girl is perfecting her chilli chopping skills while the instructor poses for the picture (she is the one in the chilli apron).

Today's Word and More

2006-02-22T20:57:00.000Z

Today's word is Gob.

Gob is British (Scottish) slang for mouth. Now you know (or at least you should be able to figure out) the logic behind the naming of Willy Wonka's Everlasting Gobstoppers. Any one with kids might be interested in this website that I found while researching gobstoppers.

For anyone who hasn't done so, please vote for one of Yankee Girl's photos (see previous post).

If you're paying attention, you will have noticed that I added some new links. If you weren't paying attention, look to the right. I have posted liks to a couple of the UK newspapers, the Sun and the Evening Post.

The Sun claims to be the UK's biggest selling newspaper. I'm not certain, but page 3 might have something to do with it. However, before you turn directly to page 3, I must warn you that it won't be for everyone (especially if you are viewing this from your work PC)

Cheers,
Yankee

Yankee Girl Needs Help

2006-02-19T20:11:00.000Z

Below are some pictures I took yesterday at Hodsock Priory Gardens. I'm going to submit one for their photo competition. I just need some help deciding which one to send in. Any suggestions?

Words of the Week

2006-02-08T19:55:00.000Z

Keep this in mind when talking to a Brit.

Us = me, and me =my.

For example:

Give us a call actually means give me a call. For some reason people like to refer to themselves as us.

I've lost me fags, means I have lost my cigarettes (fag=cigarette in case you didn't get that).

Happy Groundhog Day

2006-02-02T18:36:00.000Z

Yes, its that time of year again.

February 2, otherwise known as Groundhog Day, is here. In case you're wondering, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today, indicating six more weeks of winter. Anyone wanting to know more about Phil and this tradition click here. You can even join the groundhog club.

And for those wondering, Groundhog Day is strictly a US tradition. However, that didn't stop the BBC from running related articles about real life groundhog days or other psychic animals .

P.S - Tell Flanders I said hi.

Wednesday's British Words of the week

2006-02-01T19:43:00.000Z

This week you get two words and a funny T-shirt store.

Minging (or mingin) - Rumor has it that this originated in the British Army and originally meant dirty. It has most recently come to mean ugly, disgusting or rank, and usually used when referring to people. It can be used as a noun as well (That girl hitting on me in the pub was a real minger).

Dodgy - If someone or something is a bit dodgy, it is not to be trusted. Dodgy food should not be eaten. Dodgy people are best avoided.

This baby carriage looks a little dodgy to me.

While doing some "research" for the blog I also came across this T-shirt website that I thought you might enjoy.

Anybody out there with a DVD Recorder?

2006-02-01T19:20:00.000Z

Is case you didn't know, the Super Bowl is coming up this weekend. Also, in case you didn't realize it, the game comes on TV at roughly 11 PM in the UK. Since our beloved Colts are not playing, I am not planning on watching it live. Although we can get the game on TV, I can't bring myself to take a vacation day to watch the Steelers.

Therefore, if any of our loyal readers out there have a DVD recorder, YG and I would really appreciate it if you could record the game for us. I'll gladly pay for the DVD and the postage. I'll even send it back, if you happen to be recording it for yourself.

Can I offer you a Petrovitch?

2006-01-30T20:11:00.000Z

While only my fraternity buddies from Purdue, and possibly a few others, will appreciate this, I had to post it. Prior to Christmas we found these at a local food shop. Although not spelled the same (as far as I remember), I thought these were an interesting tribute to the brothers from Munster.

As you can probably see, these are fruit jellies filled with liqueur. They are also very sugary and a little goes a long way. Anyone interested in trying these can find them at Lakeland Limited.

Wednesday's British Word of the Week

2006-01-25T19:28:00.000Z

For those wondering where I've been, I was on holiday (that's a vacation) in the States for a couple of weeks at Christmas, and I've spent the last few weeks recovering from all the running around trying to see everyone.

Anyway, this post is the first of a new feature for the blog called "Wednesday's word of the week". So until I run out of new British words, or people stop saying things I don't understand, there will be a post similar to this every Wednesday.

Today's word is:
Crisps - Crisps are what we Americans would call potato chips, which shouldn't be confused with UK chips (think Fish and Chips), which we would call French Fries. If you click on the link, you can get a brief history of the crisp. There you will learn that the flavoured crisp was first developed in Ireland. The UK has continued with this development, taking flavoured crisps to the extreme. If you can think of a flavour, they probably have it here, along with several others that you would never think of. Walker's is probably the biggest crisp manufacturer. Some of their flavours include:

Chargrilled Steak & Peppercorn Sauce
Four Cheese & Red Onion
Oven Roasted Chicken & Thyme
Roasted Onion & Balsamic Vinegar
Sea Salt & Cracked Black Pepper
Slow Roasted Lamb & Mint
Thai Sweet Chilli
Barbecue Beef & Onion
Cheese & Onion
Heinz Tomato Ketchup
Marmite Yeast Extract
Pickled Onion
Prawn Cocktail
Ready Salted
Roast Chicken
Salt & Vinegar
Smoky Bacon
Worcester Sauce
Paprika

I've only been brave enough to try the Salt and Vinegar, Ready Salted, Prawn Coctail and the Ketchup, all of which were pretty good.

They also have special holiday crisps. At Christmas time you can get several turkey flavoured variants.

Long Time No Blog

2006-01-13T14:41:00.000Z

Sorry for the lack of activity on the blog lately. J & J, I'm sure you were about to give up on us. Yankee and I were in the States for the Christmas holiday. Yankee came back on New Year's Day and I just returned Tuesday from a month-long visit. I had a nice visit with my sister, brother-in-law and niece in El Paso, TX before backtracking to Indy to meet up with Yankee. It was definitely nice to be home and especially nice to spend time with our dog. Here he is with his new blanket he got for Christmas (Thanks R & J!!!).

The trip back here went much smoother then the trip there. It's a long haul from Nottingham to El Paso, especially when dealing with weather delays in Newark and Chicago. After having to get off one plane and literally run to another terminal in O'Hare (was the first time I heard my name over the airport intercom) I made it to El Paso after 22+ hours of traveling. Not recommended. The only snafu coming back happened before I even left for the airport. Some of you may know I have had some trouble with the stairs in our house in the past. Specifically, I have fallen down them on more than one occasion. Now before anyone goes calling the Spousal Abuse Hotline on my behalf, I don't "fall down the stairs." I have always been unassisted. Plus, I would only "fall down the stairs" once before Yankee was involved in an unfortunate "accidental shooting." Catch my drift? Anyway, this time I fell down the first five stairs carrying one of my suitcases down. No major injuries, just a hideous bruise on my arm. Perhaps I should be supervised on the stairs from now on.....

So, other than nursing my arm back to health, not much has been going on here since our return. We just booked a trip to Dublin for St. Patrick's Day. That should be a lot of fun. Yankee is really looking forward to visiting the Guinness factory and having some fresh-as-you-can-get-it Guinness. Not me - I'm just hoping they have the Guinness Bitter on tap there. Now that is some good stuff. In addition to Dublin, we have a few other trips planned so far this year. We'll be spending a week in Italy in April, then I believe Yankee is going fly-fishing in Scotland with a friend from the States. My parents, sister & brother-in-law will be coming over to visit this summer or fall. We'll be doing some traveling while they are here, just not sure where to yet. Amsterdam is looking promising.

I've Got To Get This Monkey Off My Back

2005-12-07T01:23:00.000Z

Hi all. Yankee Girl here. I usually leave the posting to Yankee, but I just had to tell this story myself. And it's a good one. Trust me.

The story begins with Pettigirl (see Pettifogger's blog) venturing across the pond for a visit. While here, she and I took a trip to Marbella, Spain. As you may recall, Yankee and I holidayed (is that a real word?) in Marbella in September. Great place. Needless to say, it didn't take any arm twisting to get me to go back. During our trip, Pettigirl and I drove over to Gibraltar to check out the Apes Den up on the rock.

After a treacherous drive up the rock, we arrived at the Apes den. Before we even got out of the car an ape jumped up on it. That was the first indication it was going to be an eventful day.

Here's a picture of me next to one of the monkeys we encountered on the way up the rock.

And another of me looking a little nervous as a monkey walks by. It was amazing how they didn't seem to be phased by all of the tourists.

Here I am checking out the monkeys eating. Again, none of them seem to be phased by my presence.

This next part would be much more entertaining if I were able to download video here. I may be able to figure out a way to put them on a website and add the link, but until I do the still shots will have to suffice.

Yeah, that's right. I've got a monkey on my back! The little sucker just jumped right on me from behind. Pettigirl barely had the words "there's one behind you" out went he lunged. Unbelievable. And of course, never having had a monkey jump on me before, I didn't exactly know what to do or how to get it down. I didn't want to touch it or aggravate it in any way. It eventually jumped down, but before it did I managed to draw quite a crowd. Seriously, there were complete strangers taping me, people calling out to their friends to come over and look.... On the video there is a guy asking me how he got on there. Not that I heard a word he said at the time. Too bad. I could have said something smart like "Well, I leaned down and then my friend over here picked him up and threw him right up on my back." or "By golly, that special perfume with monkey pheromones really did the trick!".

The Holy Grail of Shopping

2005-12-03T20:02:00.000Z

We had to go to London last week to take care of some things. It just so happened that where we had to go was right next to Knightsbridge. Knightsbridge is home to some of the finest shopping in London, including Harrods. It has to be the biggest store I have ever seen. You could literally survive in this place for weeks at a time. If they don't have it you probably don't need it. To the left you can see Yankee Girl standing in front of the entrance. She likes to think that the green traffic arrow pointing in the direction of the store is an omen. Sort of like some some sign that she is meant to go in and shop. Since we were pressed for time, we managed to escape with only a minor hit to the bank account, but I have a feeling that won't be my last trip.

Since we were there, we felt obliged to go and see the Dodi and Diana memorial. I can now say I have seen it, and therefore certainly don't need to go back. It was just a little weird and creepy for us.

As a side note, for you ER fans, YG swears she saw Thandie Newton going into the Millennium Hotel in Knightsbridge. Unfortunately I missed it.

Beware of Otter Clause

2005-12-03T10:48:00.000Z

Don't try this at home, or anywhere else for that matter. This could possibly be the worst beer on Earth, because it is certainly the worst I have ever had, and I've tried a few. I've not met many beers that I couldn't at least drink, but not this one. After two drinks of this stuff, it went straight down the sink. It took two because I didn't think anything could possibly be that bad, so I had to give it another chance. I was wrong and regretted taking the second drink.

It claims to have a "distinctive Christmas flavour." I'd agree, if Christmas is supposed to taste like dirty wet socks drying over a campfire.

It sucks that it was so bad, because I was looking forward to the challenge laid out on the label.

"Drink a bottle, Christmas Otter
Christmas Otter, drink a bottle
Bottle Drinker, Christmas Otter
Otter Christmas, bottle drinker"

How many bottles can you drink and still say it?

For those looking for a little Christmas cheer in a bottle that doesn't suck, I can recommend the following.

Christmas Pudding Ale
John Young's Christmas Ale

Both of these are from Young's Brewery in London

Happy Early Festivus

2005-12-02T19:13:00.000Z

I know it is a little early for Festivus greetings, but I thought those that celebrate (or at least appreciate) the holiday might enjoy this.

As I was logging on to our blog the other day, I noticed a blog dedicated to Festivus. There you can find links to all types of articles and information about the holiday, and you can even order a Festivus Pole.

For those who aren't fans of Seinfeld, and therefore have no idea what I am talking about, you can find out about the holiday know as Festivus here.

This site is also good for those people who would like to send out Festivus Cards, or get more accessories for the holiday.

Happy Thanksgiving

2005-11-24T17:32:00.000Z

Happy Turkey Day from the UK.

Believe it or not they don't celebrate Thanksgiving over here (I think it might even piss them off a little). Consequently I spent most of the day at work, but Yankee girl spent the day making a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. For those that miss our smiling faces, attached are some pictures. At the right I am cutting the turkey in preparation for the feast.

We just finished eating, and it was great. Yankee Girl cooked her first complete Thanksgiving meal including homemade noodles (my grandmothers would/should be proud). The meal was complemented with a bottle of champagne from the French woman's garage (see previous post about France). It will be topped off with square pumpkin pie (we didn't find a pie pan) once I can breath again. You can also see evidence of the square pie in the picture. In the other picture you not only get to see YGs pretty face, you can see proof of the noodles (can you tell I am proud of YG). With all of the food, we will be eating Thanksgiving food all weekend.

And, since there isn't any American Football on to watch over here, you get the pleasure of a blog post from me.

Well I think that my turkey and champagne are starting to kick in, so it's time for the couch.

Hooters to go?

2005-11-21T21:34:00.000Z

Yankee and I went to Hooters last night to catch the Colts game. We only recently discovered that Hooters plays American sports on Sundays so this was our first game. With the time difference, we only got to see the first half of the game, but it was still great to see some 'real' football. So, while we were enjoying the game (and some buffalo shrimp and a couple too many beers) we saw that they have a takeaway menu. Anyway, I was just wandering, who the hell gets Hooters to go? Isn't the whole point of eating Hooters to be at Hooters??? Seriously, the food is good, but not that good. Just wandering.

I should mention, this wasn't my first trip to Hooters here. A couple of months ago I was craving some American chain restaurant food and suggested we go there. Well, it just so happened that we got there right before the Trent Bridge cricket test matches were wrapping up. So it was me, Yankee and about 150 drunk cricket fans (99.9% of them male) in Hooters. It was definitely interesting and entertaining at the same time. By the way, Hooters of Nottingham is the only Hooters in the UK.

Happy Halloween from the UK

2005-10-31T19:10:00.000Z

That's probably just a coincidence though.

Here is some more useful (or less) English Trivia for you.

Trick or Treating originated in the British Isles. Click on the link to discover what the "trick" in "trick or treat" is supposed to be. This sounds like a good idea to me. At least this way you get something for the pounds of candy you shell out.

Apparently Halloween also originated in the UK. Click here for more info on that and other slightly interesting stuff.

Thanks to Pettigirl for the Halloween card.

And thanks to PDE for causing me to look up all this crap.

Movie anyone?

2005-10-29T17:57:00.000+01:00

YG and I continue to discover the attractions of Nottingham. Did you know that Nottingham has the worlds smallest public cinema? The Screen Room has a capacity of 21 and is listed in the 2006 Guinness Book of World Records as the smallest cinema in the world. And I can now say that I have been there.

We went to see The Aristocrats on Friday night. I'm guessing that most of you have never even heard of this, let alone witnessed this spectacle. For those that have had the pleasure, I assume that you either liked it or were repulsed by it.

The movie is a documentary on the "oldest joke in the world." While we found it funny (I'm sure the 2 pints at the pub across the street beforehand helped), this movie is definitely not for the easily offended. To say the least, the joke is dirty.

If you do plan to see this film, I recommend you check out the website first. If you are not offended at that point, you will probably enjoy it.

While I am not endorsing the movie (lest you think less of me), I do recommend a 2 pint minimum if you do go.

3 Reasons to Own a Hatchback Vehicle if You Live in the UK

2005-10-27T20:11:00.000+01:00

and those reasons are:

1. The size of the parking spaces in the UK
2. The guy parked on the left.
3. The guy parked on the right.

Fortunately I have only had to worry about #1 and 3 so far.

That's right, for the second time since I've been here, I had to get in on the passenger side of the car and crawl over. I couldn't even walk between the two cars. You would think that the guy who did the parking would have seen it, but I guess not. Either that or he just didn't care (which I just can't believe).

I am just waiting for the day when I come out and I can't get in either door and I have to get in through the hatch back. That should make for some good CCTV footage for the security guards I am sure.

People of the UK - widen your parking spots and learn how to park!

Beer Drinker's Paradise

2005-10-23T17:39:00.000+01:00

England is definitely the place to be if you like good beer. Yankee Girl and I just joined CAMRA about a week ago. CAMRA is the CAMpaign for Real Ale. Ale is considered "Real" when it is cask conditioned, and usually hand pulled. Click on the CAMRA link if you want more info. When you get right down to it, it's basically a club for beer drinkers. Anyway, as card-carrying members of the club, you get free admission to most of the beer festivals. Before you get too excited, admission is free, but you still have to pay for the beer you drink (usually about 1 pound for a 1/2 pint).

This weekend just happened to be the Nottingham Beer Festival, hosted by the Nottingham branch of CAMRA. They had over 350 beers on tap (hence the title of this post). Unfortunately, due to the half pint servings, we were only able to try about 16 beers. I guess that just gives us something to look forward to for next year.

I'm Back

2005-10-17T20:47:00.000+01:00

After a brief hiatus, I am back. I was in the US for a week, and free wireless internet is not as prevalent there as it is in Europe. That, combined with the fact that my editor (YG) just got back from the States last Saturday, have prevented me from posting. Anyway, stay tuned as there should be a flurry of posts over the next week.

Over the weekend I did find one more thing to like about being in the UK. At least over here I wasn't forced to watch another pitiful Purdue football loss by less than a touchdown. Not to mention, since it was Homecoming, I would have been forced to drive home hungover, tired and depressed. Even though I didn't have to endure that painful performance, I did miss having a beer (or 10) with my closest friends. I hope you guys had a beer and rang The Bell for me.

As if the Purdue loss wasn't enough, my next alma mater, Penn State, had their national title hopes smashed by the Wolverines. The only saving grace was that USC prevailed over the Irish.

I'd never pay you Tuesday or any other day

2005-09-27T18:29:00.000+01:00

While driving back from France we decided to stop and get some petrol (that's British speak for gas) and some food. The only thing that was really open was a Wimpy hamburger restaurant. I had seen these around the UK and had always wondered what they were like. I wish I had kept on wondering. The hamburger I had was quite possibly the worst thing that I have ever eaten. The only reason I have included the link is so that you know what to look out for. So, visitors to the UK be warned, no matter how hungry you think you are, you are probably not hungry enough to eat a Wimpy burger.

For those not understanding the title to this post click here. You might want to click even if you do understand the title.

Bubbly Anyone?

2005-09-26T19:43:00.000+01:00

OK, so this post is a little out of order since we went to France before Spain, but I forgot to take the computer to France.

Anyway, at the end of August, Yankee Girl and I went to the Champagne region of France with the Yankee parents. Pictured above is a photo of all of us at the Piper-Heidsieck tasting room. Heidsieck is pretty cool. They have a ride that takes you through the cellars and caves and gives you an audio tour, which includes the history of PH champagne (it's like Disneyland for winos). The picture to the left is of the chalk caves which have been carved out in the shape of grapes.

Some of the other Champagne houses that we visited were (with links):
Veuve-Clicquot , Taittinger , Pommery

For those interested in more, this LINK will take you to a site listing almost 300 Champagne Houses.

While in Reims, we took a day and drove out into the country to see some of the vineyards. Eventually we arrived in Epernay. Epernay is the home of Moet & Chandon (we also have pictures of us with Mr. Perignon if you want to see them) and Perrier-Jouet.

On the way back, we also stopped at this small champagne house which was basically this woman's house. When we walked up, there were just a bunch of people sitting around having a cookout. Unfortunately, none of them spoke a word of English. Fortunately, Yankee Girl speaks a little French, and we all spoke the language of alcohol. We tasted some Champagne and biscuits, and ended up buying 3 bottles of Champagne.

We also stopped by a little Champagne village called Ay. While we were there we found this small Champagne house called Lallier. They only bottle around 200,000 bottles/year, and they only export around 15%. It's good and fairly cheap, so if you manage to find some, I would try it.

These are just some pictures of the French countryside and some pinot noir grapes that we thought were pretty cool.

Check out my "suiteness"

2005-09-14T09:05:00.000+01:00

Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, and a slight SNAFU in the reservation system at the Gran Hotel Gvadalpin Banus, this post comes to you from the private terrace (pictured above) of our deee -luxe suite. And believe me it is sweeeeet! The terrace is on the second floor and comes with its own private hot tub, and overlooks the entire hotel including a great view of the pool and Mediterranean Sea (see below). Something happened to our original reservation, and the place was booked solid, so we were upgraded to a deluxe suite for the same price. What a deal.

Ok well, this post started on the terrace, but it now comes to you from Nottingham. I got distracted by the sun, beach, drinks, hot tub, pool, etc, and neglected to finish it. So anyway, Marbella was wonderful. Sunny and low 80s every day, as opposed to the 60s and rain in jolly ole England.
To the right is a shot of the sunset as it goes behind the mountains. You'll have to ignore the crane in the foreground. They are doing a lot of construction around where we were staying.

If you ever get the chance to go to southern Spain, I highly recommend it. The weather, food, and accommodations are great. In addition to that, the people actually seem to want you there, as opposed to some of the places we have been where they seem to bothered that you are there trying to spend your money. More pictures and details of the trip will be forthcoming, so stay tuned.

Hola de Espana Soleado

2005-09-10T17:51:00.000+01:00

For you non-Spanish speaking readers (or maybe even the Spanish speaking ones depending on my Spanish writing skills), that means "hello from sunny Spain".

For those concerned, Yankee Girl and I arrived safe and sound in Marbella, Spain yesterday afternoon. We are staying here.

Dumpster Diving - The perils of drinking accessories

2005-09-08T21:30:00.000+01:00

We just returned from a trip to the Champagne Region of France. While we were there, we picked up a Collar Thermometer from the Piper-Heidsieck shop. A collar thermometer, pictured at right (apologies for my poor photography), is wrapped around the bottle to tell if the wine or champagne is at the correct temperature for drinking.

As you have probably guessed by the title of this post, our collar ended up in the trash. The first time we used it we threw the bottle away without removing the thermometer. It is amazing how you forget about those sorts of things after a bottle or two of wine. Luckily Yankee Girl wanted to show it off to the Yankee Parents, so we discovered it was missing. Fortunately the garbage only gets picked up once a week, so we were able to sift through the dumpster to find it. So remember, the next time you see someone digging through the garbage don't be too disgusted. It might possibly be your drunken friends.

More posts from the trip to France will follow shortly. Right after we return from Spain next Friday.

Weekend in London

2005-09-02T11:44:00.000+01:00

Yankee and I recently spent a weekend in London. On Saturday we saw David Schwimmer in the play 'Some Girl(s).' The play was just OK, but it was pretty cool seeing 'Ross' up-close in person.

On Sunday we visited Buckingham Palace and the Diamond Exhibit at the Natural History Museum. At Buckingham Palace we toured the Queen's Gallery, The Royal Mews and the State Rooms. The Queen's Gallery collection includes paintings by Rembrandt and Vermeer, among others. At the Royal Mews we were able to see an impressive collection of cars and carriages. However, my favorite thing at Buckingham Palace was the grounds. As you can see from the pictures below it was absolutely beautiful.

The Diamond Exhibit at the Natural History Museum was quite extensive. My favorite thing was an exhibit of colored diamonds called The Aurora Collection. It is a private collection of 296 naturally colored diamonds. The diamonds are arranged together in one case. The exhibit shows how many of the stones glow under ultraviolet light. Simply amazing. Unfortunately cameras were not allowed in the exhibit.

Whiskey Diet

2005-09-02T11:22:00.000+01:00

I saw this card the other day and immediately thought of a former co-worker. I couldn't resist buying it and posting it on here. I figure it has been awhile since he has been given a hard time about a certain 'lost day' of his own.

Bocce Ball Anyone?

2005-08-19T19:36:00.000+01:00

If you like Bocce Ball and beer (and who doesn't), this is for you. If this becomes an annual thing I will be there in 2 years.

As this is a site more or less about life in the UK, you should know that I stumbled onto this site while I was trying to find out if you could get Guinness Bitter in the US. I had it the other day and thought it was pretty good. Has anyone in the US had this?

For those Guinness fans out there, this is like a lighter hoppier version. I recommend trying it if you can find it.

Bitter Genius Anyone?

Weekend Update III (7-Aug, 2005)

2005-08-11T20:57:00.000+01:00

To round out the weekend, we got a little exercise. While at Sherwood Forest, we met another couple from the US who happened to be members of a country club near our flat. After we talked to them for a while, they offered to take us to play golf the next day. As a result, Yankee Girl got to play her first round of golf. She did rather well for her first time (with a little coaching from our new friends). She even got on the green in one shot on a par 3.

I think she has found a new pastime.

Weekend Update II (6-Aug, 2005)

2005-08-11T04:17:00.000+01:00

Sorry to keep you waiting. The weather has been beautiful here this week, so there hasn't been much time spent inside blogging.

Anyway, last Saturday we decided to check out Sherwood Forest. We figured we would just go up and hike around the Forest and maybe see where Robin Hood hung out. When we arrived, we were surprised to discover that it was the last weekend of the Robin Hood Festival. While this didn't sound all that appealing (all I could picture was thousands of children wielding bow and arrow sets), we decided to brave the crowd and join the festivities. While there were several bows to be found, the festival was fun.

We went on a "hawk walk" in the Forest, where we learned about the sport of falconry. For those who don't know, falconry is hunting game with birds of prey. During the walk we saw a demonstration by Loci. To the right you can see our guide Chris as Loci comes back from the hunt to land on his arm.

Below is a picture of Loci (in the back left) on his perch and his brother, aptly named "Loci's Brother." In the back on the right you can see an African Barn Own (its the white one).

Chris is a professional Falconer, who takes people on hunts. Yankee Girl and I are thinking about going on a hunt. If she can bare the cold, we may go on a hunt in Prague.

Next we went to the jousting arena, to witness our first jousting match. To the right is a picture of the Sheriff of Nottingham preparing for the joust against Robin Hood (pictured below). Believe it or not, Robin Hood and his merry men won the jousting contest.

After the joust we headed to the Major Oak. The Major Oak is a huge oak tree in the heart of Sherwood Forest. It is rumored to be the place where Robin hid out. The trunk is 33 ft. in circumference, and the tree is somewhere between 800 and 1000 years old. As you can see from the pictures, it can no longer support it's own weight. It is held up by a series of supports and tension wires.

Definitely a cool thing to see.

Weekend Update I (5-Aug, 2005)

2005-08-08T19:48:00.000+01:00

After a month we have gotten fully settled in. As a result, this weekend was devoted to getting out and having a good time. We started off on Friday evening by going to one of the oldest pubs in Nottingham. I say one of, because there are three that claim to be the oldest. As you can see from the photos, the pub claims to have been established in 1189. Rumor has it that is was used as a cellar at that time, but not actually a pub. Either way it is pretty cool and the beer is good. Yankee girl had a pint of Friar's Fancy (I couldn't understand what the barkeep called mine). For the tourists, they also sell souvenir T-shirts, pint glasses, etc.

The pub is actually built into the side of Nottingham Castle. The Castle is built on a rock (creatively called Castle Rock) which has a series of caves that run under the Castle. Some of the walls of the pub are exposed rock. From the picture of the small sign you can see part of the rock.

For those concerned that we may not have gone to the "oldest" pub, never fear. We will be frequenting the other two, just to ensure that we have had a pint in the oldest pub. Each visit will be documented in a future post.

So, that covers Friday. Stay tuned for parts II and III.

British word of the day

2005-07-30T19:23:00.000+01:00

Since I was already on the subject of clothing it reminded of another word.

PANTS - These are not what you think. Over here pants are underwear. The things you wear over your pants are trousers. So beware of telling people you have stained your pants.

Need some new clothes?

2005-07-30T19:17:00.000+01:00

If anyone is interested in some new shirts check this out. There is something for almost everyone.

WARNING: not for our readers who are easily offended.

I know this has nothing to do with England, but I thought it was worthy of a post anyway.

Glory Days

2005-07-30T19:11:00.000+01:00

After nearly 5 weeks, and several frustrating phone calls, we can now communicate with the rest of the world. Yesterday we got our cable, phone (I can now call and sign up for phone service), and (legitimate) internet. If you would like our new phone number, shoot me an e-mail (from your regular account so I know who you are) and I will send it to you.

Which way do I go?

2005-07-27T19:10:00.000+01:00

If I have managed to attract any UK residents out there, I need some help. I can't figure out which side of the sidewalk to walk on. I assumed the left, since that is the way you drive, but this doesn't seem to work, although the right side doesn't seem to work either. It seems no matter where I go, I am in someone's way. Is there some walking etiquette that I am missing, or are people just trying to run over the lost American?

Info on Nottingham

2005-07-27T18:56:00.000+01:00

For those thinking of visiting us over here in merry old England, here is a link to some interesting things about Nottingham. It will even teach you how to pronounce Nottingham. I thought I knew but I was wrong. It even gives some interesting tidbits on ole Robin Hood.

FYI - I found this when I was looking for the local dialing code for the phone I don't have so I could give it to the phone company (yes - I'm still pissed about that).

We're Having a Dinner Party!

2005-07-19T10:57:00.000+01:00

OK, so we're not having a dinner party. But if we were, I would hire these guys to serve the champagne!

You probably can't read this (yes, there are words next to the picture...) so here is the website - http://www.butlersinthebuff.co.uk. I seriously thought this was a joke, like one of those 'spot the fake ad' contests. After all, the rest of the magazine was just your run-of-the-mill entertainment guide - the kind you pick up at restaurants, grocery stores, Blockbuster...I think you get the picture. I'm still trying to figure out why they named the magazine '69'. I guess I'll have to check out their website - http://www.69-247.com.

British Word of the Day

2005-07-18T19:51:00.000+01:00

QUEUE - In the US we would call this the line. It is what you get in to wait for something (say for instance phone service). Queues tend to be very orderly, and jumping the queue (cutting in line) is not taken lightly.

Phone Service (or not)

2005-07-18T19:22:00.000+01:00

We have now been waiting over two weeks for telephone, internet, and television service. For those anxiously awaiting our new phone number, you will have to wait a bit longer. They were supposed to do our install today, but believe it or not, no one turned up.

Appparently having a confirmation number from your internet registration, which they encourage you to do, doesn't mean S%i#. All that gets you is 2 hours of wasted time arguing with the phone company, and a spot at the end of the registration by phone queue (see word of the day). Apparently the rule for jumping the queue still applies to those wronged by the telecommunications companies of the UK.

Apparently you also need a telephone to get a telephone, as this is the first thing they ask you for when you call to sign up. And if you can't give them one? No phone for you!

Beware of sales in the UK

2005-07-17T20:01:00.000+01:00

For those that might be visiting the UK, beware of 2 for something sales. Unlike in the States where you get one item for half of the 2 for whatever price, here you actually have to buy 2. As I'm sure you guessed, we learned this the hard way, and paid nearly the same price for the 1 item we bought.

Nottingham News

2005-07-16T11:07:00.000+01:00

For those that might be interested in what is going on around us, check this out: http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/. It is the local newspaper, and is quite useful. The lead story today is that one of the London bombers actually lived in Notts.

Black Pudding Anyone?

2005-07-15T11:34:00.000+01:00

Before we came to the UK, Yankee and I spent a day with some really wonderful people at the International Center in our hometown. I can't remember how it came up in conversation, but it was suggested that we try black pudding. It was also suggested that we don't find out what is in it before we try it. OK. I'll try anything once. So during our first week here we had dinner at a really great little cafe. And low and behold one of the dinners came with black pudding. Now anyone that knows me very well knows what happened next. I convinced Yankee to order that for dinner while I ordered a wonderful salmon and pasta dish. I was the first to try the black pudding. Not too bad I thought. Kind of a savoury taste if that makes any sense. Yankee tried it too. He wasn't completely put off, but I sensed he wouldn't order it again. Well, now I know neither of us will. I finally just remembered to look up black pudding and this is what I found! http://www.sausagelinks.co.uk/black-pudding.htm#whatisbackpudding

2 Weeks and Counting

2005-07-12T18:50:00.000+01:00

Today marks the end of our second full week in the UK. We are getting settled and things are going fairly well. So far I have only burnt up one appliance (the iron). Apparently the voltage converter that I was using was not for irons (should have known that by the warning on the side). I also learned the hard way that power strips require a lot of wattage. 1800 to be exact, so they don't work well when used with a 1600 watt converter. This little experiment knocked out the power to the whole flat (read:apartment). Not the ideal way to find out where the main fuse to the whole flat is, but it worked nonetheless. In case you're wondering, it is not in the flat where the other fuses are. It is out in the hall, so everyone knows what you have done.

Attached you will find a picture of our first sightseeing event. This is us in the pub at the Coors (formerly Bass) museum of brewing in Burton. As you can see, I have not quite mastered the art of taking my own picture. The tour was nice, and as a result I have a couple of new beers that I like. If you can find them in the US I recommend Worthington's 1744 as well as their local brew St. Modwen (you will probably have to come and see us to get a taste of this).

For those parents out there, you might want to check out the attached flyer we found at the brewery. You just might want to have that next birthday party there. Fun for the whole family!

Cheers,

Yankee and Yankee Girl