Random Things I Love About the United Kingdom

1. Many places don't have top sheets on the beds...and I mean nice places, with great down comforters and feather beds. The fact that they don't bother with top sheets makes me feel better, because I always put one on my bed, but it disappears immediately, and I always think, "why do I bother, I should just go without a top sheet." Now that I know the English and Scots and Welsh go without their top sheets, I'm gonna start going without.

2. They have a tv program here called something like: Trees That Made Britain. It's all about cool trees and why they are so important to this country. It treats trees like celebrities. There is nothing wrong with a country that elevates it's trees to star status. Except maybe what this guy is talking about....

3. There is this big-wig politician here named David Davis, conservative as far as I can follow, who just resigned his post as a way of protesting the way the governments seems to be systematically taking away the civil liberties of, well, everyone. This happened the same day I said to myself, "geez, there are CCTV cameras everywhere in England." And they are, almost everywhere you go there are cameras watching you. That's just one little part of it, it's a wee bit 1984 around here. So this guy resigned to force a new election, where he will run again in hopes of proving that his constituents are as fed up with the governments antics as he is. You can read more about it here. Why can't I imagine that happening at home?

4. Scones.

5. The accents. It's like a symphony of music everywhere I go. I've begun to get a feel for what accent belongs to which part of the country, which is exciting. Though people from Bristol and people from Ireland sound strangely similar....

6. It's green everywhere. Okay, not everywhere. The cities can, some of them, feel like strange black holes where the color green has been banned. But maybe that is because there is so much green everywhere else.

7. I was in a pub the other day being flirted up by the five guys who were having a wee tipple and had invited me in as I walked by. They were perfectly harmless and very funny and among them there was a guy who worked on the ferry, two fishermen, one builder, and the last was a world class weaver. He weaves cloth that is sold all over the world ("Very top drawer stuff." imagine that being said with a Nottingham accent, which means the "r"s become "w"s.) That's just not a combination of blokes I think I'm likely to meet anywhere else.

8. From almost everyplace I've been, except the big cities, I can get up, walk out my door and walk through stunning fields or mountains or right near the seashore. There are trails that link all the towns, whether you have to climb over a mountain or through a field full of sheep poo (speaking of...why the tourism board doesn't hand out complementary boots to all visitors is lost on me), you can walk from anywhere to anywhere thanks to the handy dandy signposts that guide you through wilderness and forest.

9. The pet names total strangers have called me: love, my love, duck, duckie, pet. Better watch out, I'm bringing that back with me. Hope that's okay with you, eh Duck?

10. Digestives....thank goodness I don't know where they sell these yummy little biscuits at home. These after dinner-what-we-would-call-cookies can be plain, or covered in chocolate (milk, white or dark), some have caramel, I'm sure there are other kinds, but I kinda got stuck on the Dark Chocolate ones and pretty much settled in right there. If you live in America and know where these little delicacies are to be found, DO NOT TELL ME!

Okay, I'm gonna go eat a digestive now.