Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

In my recent travels I've been to Turville. Where, you ask? Exactly. It's a tiny, little, out- of- the- way village my own (English) housemates never even heard of! (well, except one mate). We took a little country drive (and I mean little). The driving lane to this spot was narrower than Jennifer Gray's new nose.  Massive hedges grow on either side so even if you wanted to pull over to let another car by, you could not. The hedges must've been over seven feet tall on this particular part of the road into the village.  Basically it's like a green wall of ivy. But enough on the road ways in the English countryside. The entire reason for this trip was to find the pub near the old TV show setting for  The Vicar of Dibley and see the famous windmill from the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. As we were driving to the pub my friend (who is an actress) pointed out the filming vans we passed by, filming another movie of sorts. Apparently a lot of that goes on around those parts.

So we reach the Brakspear pub, very English-like and I love it immediately. Inside the pub there is a 'table' you must sit at if it is available. When you enter the pub, go to the right and into the first "room", walk to the table at the front window. This "table" was once a well full of water. The pub owners have welded a glass top to what once was a water well...if you look straight down through the glass, you'll still see water at the bottom of it. So neat! The center table 'leg' is the stone well wall and they've placed chairs around it with flowers on the glass table top. A must see if you're in the area. If you walk about the little village of Turville, you'll spot one of those antique red phone booths that every tourist climbs into to take a photo. Next, you can visit the parish church and see where The Vicar of Dibley was filmed.

http://www.thebullandbutcher.com/#

As you leave the pub turn to your left and look up the hill. Atop that green hill stands the infamous Cobstone Windmill from the lovely film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang where in the film, Dick Van Dyke creates his wondrous inventions. On a good day, one without rain; (which will be difficult to find because...well...it IS England after all...or Isle of Rain as I like to refer to it),  you can climb up the hill for a closer look at the wonderful windmill.

So if you're up for a day in the country, why not stop by the Brakspear pub for a pint --or in my case a half pint ;) and check out Buckinghamshire. Until my next adventure...Cheers!

To walk or ride? That is the question...

Choices, choices....I needed to go into town centre and couldn't decide if I should walk the 20 minutes or take the bus (since it was already at my stop). I picked the lazy way = bus. WRONG DECISION. Of course, I picked the verra front seat to admire the view. We made it half way to town during rush hour traffic only to have a car pull out into our bus lane. The bus driver quickly swerved up onto the curb just barely missed hitting a pedestrian walking innocently by. The car did graze the bus but the innocent bystander was unharmed. I,  lucky me, got to witness the entire scene...(dumb car!!!) and had to give the police a statement. The ambulance, who was sitting in the rush hour traffic, suddenly pulled over into the bus lane to make sure no one was hurt. I'm not really sure at this point if it's safer to walk or ride in the UK. Such excitement!

PS. Having thought about it, if I had been walking to town I'd probably been near to that sidewalk the bus driver drove up onto. So cheers for taking the bus after all.

Freedom of speech

Today in the news, the council has shut down a young girl's blog because she frequently posted pictures of the horrible and malnutritious school lunches served in the cafeteria. What happened to freedom of speech? I'll tell you what...you're permitted to speak if the government agrees with you, that's what. It wasn't her fault the school serves manky meals and it's not her fault the local newspaper decided to be cheeky, take her idea and run with it on a newspaper headline.

http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/martha-payne-school-lunches-never-seconds-blog-banned.html

There is still hope for public opinion, the support of this young student from the peers around her caused the council to revoke it's demand for shutting down the blog.

In other food news, Me news, I've decided to try 'Turkish delight' after watching "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". I am unhappy to report it was not 'delightful'. It tasted like Mr. Clean-lemon scented jelly covered in chocolate. Never again! Blech!

American Woman in London

I was asked multiple times today at work if I was Canadian. Do I look Canadian? Surely they don't think I sound Canadian. Never call a Canadian an American, they get soooooo insulted. I've been told that I have a verra soft accent. What's that mean, eh? It's not as if I go aboot adding 'eh' to the end of all my sentences now do I, eh? Och, aye! So the Norwegians think I'm Scottish and the English think I'm a bloody Canadian..what gives, eh? Then, when I do come back to the States, every one there thinks I've an English accent. Would y'all make up yer mind? ;-)

The Daily Grind

 I've found my daily commute to work (from Reading to Newbury) to be absolutely unfavorable. Riding the train in Europe is like riding the subway in New York City. YUCK! I just don't like doing it. **Sigh* I'd even prefer to ride the "L" (when in lived in Chicago) during a Cubs game!

In other news...the "little people" of Britain (this what they actually call themselves, not something I've created) are hopping mad because they've not cast them in roles for dwarfs in the new film, Snow White and the Huntsman. Let's be real here. No one actually wants to work with Kristen Stewart, right?