Roads are gaits. Gates are bars. Bars are pubs.
Parking lots are car parks. Cough drops are throat sweets.
“Give Way” on a road sign means Yield,
It’s almost like learning a new language… Almost!
Roundabouts are at most major intersections. Stoplights count down top to bottom, red, amber, green, like ready set go! Driving on the left is interesting, and it’s hard to remember to look right when starting to walk across the street.
And speaking of walking, we took a walking tour of York today. The guide, bless his dear heart, knew way too much, and he wanted to make sure we heard it all. This got tedious fast, and after about an hour, Rick and I struck out on our own.
Rick was cold and I was in shirt-sleeves and rather comfortable, so I parked him at a Starbucks (in York!) with a mug of hot chocolate and walked the streets with hordes of other tourists. Mostly, the center of town streets are high-end shopping stores, but occasionally, there’s a real surprise, like “Poundland,” where everything is just one Pound!
Plenty of cute candy shops, and I bought some peanut brittle and some coddled fudge and of course, a refrigerator magnet or two. Then together Rick and I attacked an ATM and got some pounds at a good exchange rate, enough for the rest of our trip, we think, and if not, VISA is accepted everywhere!
Went to Sherwood Forest and walked a long, long, long, woodland path to see “Major Oak,” which is a thousand year old tree that allegedly hid Robin Hood inside its hollow trunk. Such a pretty walk, but coming back was uphill most of the way. The sign said 750 meters one way, and 700 back the other trail. Since there are 1609 meters in a mile, and we walked plenty more to the motor coach and the restrooms and coffee shop, it was a good afternoon’s walk. Nice red gravel path, quiet in the woods, many ancient trees along the way, and frequent benches to sit on, thankfully.
Sue, our YMT guide, told us we would be “gobsmacked” when we saw our hotel in Oxford. It’s a huge mansion and had early 20th century touring cars parked out front! However, there is no “lift”—No elevator! And we are on the third floor! The rooms on the third floor are tucked in under the gabled roof, the shower stall won’t allow me to turn around, and to write this note, I had to go down and sit in the lobby, as there is no free Internet in the rooms! Yes, I’d say we were gobsmacked all right!!!
The dinner was provided tonight—one of four on the trip, and it was mighty tasty salmon and sticky toffee pudding for dessert! Double yum!