“HOW QUAINT”
No wonder Americans are so fat. Don’t get me wrong, English folk are not renowned for their health and well being (deep fried anything and beer for example). Sorry if I offend any Americans here but you do have the largest obesity problem in the world. I thought about this topic this morning as I got up to get breakfast. ‘Things’ over here are just smaller. The milk carton, the coffee cup, the cereal bowl, the cereal box size and as the English body is not so big there isn’t the need for larger towels as well. It is like living in ‘miniature’ world. No wonder Northern Americans think England is so cute and quant, it is. As a country it has survived quite well over the years without having to supersize all its products, it has me realize how I live in Canada,- I am not super excessive but there are defiantly some areas where I could cut back on.

OK, different topic, my 5 year old nephew is determined to have me ‘run around the world’ with him, setting off on this magnificent adventure in just a few minutes. He has been up for hours making start and stop signs. In reality I am still not sure what the afternoon will hold, but an adventure it will definitely be.

LATER THAT NIGHT
Well I eventually made it to the pub for my first ‘proper’ pint in a proper English pub. We went to the Black Swan in Barwick in Elmet, a wee village on the outskirts of Leeds, famous for having the world’s largest maypole. Some of you may be thinking ‘what on earth is a maypole’? Imagine a seven- foot wooden pole painted white with red and blue strips, with ribbons coming off the top that kids hold and dance around it together. In short, an ancient tradition that young  kids have to suffer through (often with varying degrees of embarrassment) at school. So back to the pint, a creamy pint with a slight ‘hoppy’ taste. Went down well, and so did the following second and third pint. Couple them with several bags of Pork Scratchings (another healthy yummy English culinary delight – deep fried pig fat and skin) and bacon crisps and we had the recipe for a good traditional pub visit.

But better than the booze and deep fried grub was the atmosphere. The pub was quiet for a Saturday night  which had the landlord ‘lurking’ looking a little concerned by the lack of punters (people), but this didn’t matter. The atmosphere I am referring to was from the four of us that were at our table. We chatted, reminisced, tried to flip beer mats off the table and catch them in the same ‘flick and sweep’, as well as seeing who could balance the most amount of pennies on our elbows and then sweep our arms down and catch them all in our hands (a fun games we played when we were kids, pre -computers).

It is this type of ‘bonding, sharing and social atmosphere’ that is created often uniquely in a pub that I miss. The beer was OK (not great), but the evening was fantastic.

SEE IMAGES ON FLICKR:
part 1, part 2, part 3 & part 4

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