Welcome to Slough

Slough, wonderful little town-of- nothing-to -do-in-it, Slough. Seriously, if you're on the train and headed to Slough, DON'T GET OFF stay the way to London. Aye well, I'm not being fair to Slough. They do have a Tesco 24 hours (which is an equivalent to Walmart super-center--and everyone knows I loathe Walmarts).  Onward, it has only taken me eight months, but I've finally figured out how to ride the train (properly, without getting lost) and I found that I can give directions from town to town as well from the train! Case in point, I'm on my way to my train when a woman stops me and asks me if I can tell her which train goes to Maidenhead (yes, that's an actual town--no snide remarks please). It so happens I'm going that direction, so I offer to show her to the train and get her a seat. We spoke for a wee bit, and she tells me she's visiting from Norway. Very cool. Apparently she is visiting her daughter in Maidenhead. During our little chat she asks me where I'm from. My typical response is, "Every where and no where." She tells me I have a very lovely accent, which I then thought she would say was American but catches me off guard with Scottish??!?!? Rrrrrrrally. I dinna ken. HAHA. Yes, she tells me a roll my R's. *crinkles nose*

So back to Reading then, eh? I stop at the local chemist (Pharmacy) in search of Neosporin or triple antibiotic ointment for 1st Aid. The chemist assistant (pharmacist assistant) and I have a few words and agreed to disagree that TAO doesn't exist on the shelf in the UK. He informs me that I need a bloody prescription "over here" (the UK)  for an antibiotic and goes on to tell me that "over there" (the US) they do things differently. Bet your knickers, they do! It's OTC in the bloody states! What is soooo difficult about this?? *sigh* I give up. I then ask, quite afraid of this answer, if I could purchase hydrogen peroxide. Oh why yes. This they sell to anyone, at 6% instead of the typical 2% in the USA. Go figure! (Quick aside here...when I was in college doing research they gave us 100% peroxide in the chemistry lab and I thought it harmless, dumping a large quantity on my hands finding it burns the skin and turns it ghastly white!) So the higher percent, the more "toxic" peroxide becomes. So my question now is, why can't I have Neosporin when I can have 6% hydrogen peroxide??? Alright I'm giving it up. Case closed. I must stop or I'll have to change my blog from "Adventures in the UK" to "Rantings and ravings of a crazy woman."

So let's discuss my experiences shopping. I go to a place in Reading I like to call "little America." Here you will find a shopping plaza with some famous motherhood maternity shop, ALDI's, TGIFriday's and (much to my delight) a wine warehouse! Yes! An entire warehouse filled with wine!! You betcha, I went in. Wine gets better with age and I get better with wine! So now I'm off to top up my glass. Cheers!

PS. 'top up' means to refill :-P