Strange Radiation Archive
May 5 03: lie back
Right. So. England. Excellent. Easily among the best vacations (sorry, holidays) that Paul and I have ever taken. First we spent a few days in Oxford at Robin and Peter’s house. Then the four of us rented a self-catering cottage in Porlock, which is on the Bristol Channel in the southwest of England, between Exmoor and the sea. Highlights included:
- Long walks through green fields
- Lovely old churches
- Quaint villages
- Narrow twisty country lanes (“This is an A road?”) bordered by high and ancient hedgerows
- Spring lambs
- Excellent Indian dinners
- Paul’s quest for the Perfect Hat, which ended well and provided the rest of us with rich opportunities for mockery along the way
- Vast quantities of Earl Grey
- Wells Cathedral and its astonishing scissor arches. Built only a century after the cathedral was consecrated, they have a clean, modern look. Cooool.
- Mmmmm….cider…getting a pint of cider at the pub is a lovely thing. Be really really careful. Man. Now I want a pint of cider.
- Gorse!
- Peter teaching me how to approach British-style cryptic crosswords. Like cider, these may cause the heads of the uninitiated to spin and/or explode.
- Hey, they’re serving wild boar!
- Paul driving on the left side of the road (I kept meaning to take a turn at the wheel, but it never happened)
- Gin and tonics with lemon! Shocking! But not unpleasant.