Category: UK/England

Would you pay £4 for this?  Why not just walk it?  This reminds me of the lady in Columbia, MO who told us the TCBY was a “far piece” and we should drive.  Turns out, it was just across the street.  Here’s a link to an article about London’s Shortest Tube Journey.

In Serbia, Cyndi and I got in a habit of going to coffee.  Lydia and Isaac both like it too.  That habit has continued to England.  However, we don’t have nearly the choice of coffee shops in Redhill that we had in Cacak.  One of our favorites (or favourites) is the Costa in Redhill.

I wanted to give them a special shout out.  I think they went above and beyond yesterday.  Cyndi bought me a insulated mug from Costa for Christmas.  Well, after using it twice (and only hand-washing) it had a bed condensation problem between the outer and iner mugs.  So bad that the paper inside was wet and wrinkled.  I took it in, spoke to the manager, and asked her if I could get another.  She said that usually I would need the receipt; however, since I was a regular, she would just exchange it even up.

Thank you Costa Redhill for fixing my cup even though you didn’t HAVE to.

Image from Kiran Raja Bahadur SRK via flickr

This morning was our first frost of the 2012/2013 winter.  It was cold and foggy at first; however, the fog burnt off.  Nice and crisp!

Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot…

I don’t have any idea who to give credit to for that poem; however, I first heard it in the film V for Vindetta.  But, here in England, they still celebrate Nov 5 with bonfires, effigies, and fireworks.  This year (like in 2010) we went to the Brockham Bonfire.  Below are some pictures from there.

[Update 2012-12-26 09:38:35] There was a bad link.  I updated it.

Here are some pictures of the fall (or Autumn) weather we are having here in England.

the 10th was a great fall day.  Here are two pictures I took:

I took this picture a few days ago.  I was leaving work in the afternoon when I noticed the water droplets on this plant.

I took this picture a few days ago.  I was leaving work in the afternoon when I noticed the water droplets on this plant.

Yesterday in the UK 2 police officers were shot dead while trying to arrest some dirtbag.  This has caused a furor over whether police should or shouldn’t be armed.  I don’t get it.

Society asks police officers to go into dangerous situations and deal with the scum of society, at times.  Sure, most of the time people are nice and cooperate; however, they still are criminals.  Criminals break the law.  If I were a cop, I would want to be able to protect myself from these dirtbags.  As a member of society, I think we should allow police to protect themselves.

Image from elvert james via flickr

Today was a church picnic.  After everyone had eaten, there was a pickup game of rounders.  I hadn’t heard of it so I was going to sit out.  But everyone convinced me to play.  They said “it’s like baseball.”  So, this post is a bit about rounders and baseball.  But first, here’s two pictures:

In these pictures, you can see about all of the similarities between rounders and baseball.  There’s a ball (but it is smaller) and bat.  The goal is to hit the ball and run around the bases (or sticks in the case of rounders).  You get out if the ball is caught or the stick is tagged.  But you don’t run home as in baseball…you run to 4th base.  There’s no such things as fouls or strikes.  You run on the 3rd pitch even if you don’t hit the ball.  If you don’t hit a homerun–called a rounder–you don’t get credit for making it home; however, if you don’t make it all the way around, you can move to the next base as soon as the bowler bowls the ball (pitches it).  To switch sides, you have to get people “out” by catching the ball.  Tagging them out doesn’t count.  BUT, once you are out, you are out (like in dodgeball) and you don’t get to bat again.

So, even though it isn’t really like baseball, I had fun playing.