Musings on England at the end of a year

The usual greeting is Hi or Hello are you well? It takes me by surprise, but is really not too different then our Hi, how are you?

Winter is a nice time to take scenic drives through the English countryside because most of the hedge rows have lost their leaves and you can actually see the view through them.

One disadvantage no matter when you take a trip all of the bridges and over passes have high stone sides so you can’t see the stream, railroad tracks, cannel, or pathway you are crossing. Of course most of these bridges are hundreds of years old and are made of stone, thus the sides.

The English are always early even delivery people. If they say they will be there at 3, start looking for them between 2 to 2:30.

Everyone is very polite. Where Americans would get impatient and crabby the English are calm and well mannered.

Village life is very friendly.  Everyone greats you as you walk through the village.  I’ve had teenagers on the other side of the street say good morning to me. Amazing.

Shop keepers end transactions with “Cheers love“ even ASDA which is England’s branch of Walmart.

The attitude in the country is “it could be worse.”

If a lot of people are waiting, a queue will automatically form.  No one has to direct this event, and everyone will patiently get in line and take their turn with no complaining.

Weather reports are interesting. Remember it’s like being at the Oregon coast here. A typical report is something like: Today will be cold with warm spell, sunny with some rain.  Yesterday our report was partly cloudy for the morning and partly sunny for the afternoon.  The morning was a brilliant blue sky and the afternoon had threatening clouds rolling through.

The Post offices in villages are privately owned, like Oregon liquor stores, and sell cards, stationery, wrapping paper, and you can have a savings account there.

Common phrases heard “get it sorted”, “sort it out”, “I sorted it.”

Sugar in the Us is granulated or powdered.  Here it could be granulated, caster sugar, icing sugar, pickeling sugar, canning sugar, or preserves sugar.  I may buy some of each just to see the difference.