Scattered Thoughts about England

I'm trying to work at my day job at the moment, although, according to my body, it's about 11 p.m. Feeling a bit guilty about not posting at least one other time while on my walking trip in the Cotswolds. I'll have more to say about that when I'm better rested. For now, a list of impressions.

When the English say "hill," that is precisely what they mean.

There's no real American equivalent to clotted cream.

Maybe it's my imagination, but orange marmalade tastes good in England.

Compared to getting on and off buses in England, Chicago's a freakin' roller derby.

Sheep watch you ever so soberly as you walk straight toward them.

Sheep do not pose for the camera. By the time you've lifted it up to snap a shot, they have realized that they don't know you and have gone trotting away.

Sheep dung has no smell that I noticed. English cow shit smells just like American cow shit.

Wildflowers flutter everywhere, and even the intentional flowerbeds look exuberant and unruly in a gorgeous kind of way.

People in the English countryside really are friendly and helpful.

However, an outsider in a local pub feels that she's an outsider.

England is green because it rains so much.

A hard soaking rain is called a "wet" rain, as opposed to a less aggressive and more pleasant rain, I guess.

There are a lot of doves in England--fat, lovely, sonorous doves whose robust coos can sound downright intimidating.

"Kissing gate" can mean any of several designs.

The English take their dogs into shops, cafes, trains, buses--and no one seems to mind.

Lots of Labrador retrievers and various spaniels, and dog rescue is a big trend.

What the English call a walk, Americans call a hike. I discovered this use of understatement pretty much every day of "walking."

If you are about to fall in the mud, do not grab onto stinging nettle to save yourself. It's named that for a reason. In my case, the points of contact were weird and tingly for almost two days.

Until you have experienced mud in the English countryside, you have no idea what I'm talking about.