"Cherrio" of Chap

Well.... we are off on our whirl wind adventure and I have to say that everything has lived up to the our expectation of the experience.

Right Brain verse Left side of the Road. Talk about crazy, of all the things that have raised the blood pressure it has been trying to drive on the left side of the road WHILE using a stick shift with the LEFT HAND!!! Try to imagine turning right and being sure you are in the left lane so you don't get hit! So far no accidents but we have side swiped a few trees on my side (the passenger side). The next crazy thing is that the many streets are only big enough for two cars, one on either side, but for some odd reason these people think they can park on either side regardless of if there is space or not. SO you will be driving down one of these roads and have to come to a dead stop because there is a parked car in your lane- facing you!!!
This happened one particular time and Kenton was going a wee-bit
fast for the street so he just drove up onto the sidewalk! Thankfully no one was there at that moment.
And one more thing about driving. The traffic lights do the craziest thing, they go from Green -> Yellow -> Red just like at home but then they change back to Yellow before they turn green!

The Best Thing about Englishmen So Far: They are more than willing to give driving directions - if you can understand "mumble mumble right, mumble mumble left, mumble mumble plain as the nose on your face". Really they are helpful but we have learned not too expect too much from their directions.

Also - it is easier to find a Pub than a Hair brush! I forgot my brush at home and it has taken 2 days to find place to get one! yes, we went into stores.

Funny Food Info- We had a "traditional lunch" today. Fish and Chips with vinegar AND "MUSHY PEAS". The fish and Chips w/vinegar was the best I have ever tasted in my life, but the peas only reminded me of baby food.
Interesting thing: we have spent more time on wrong roads than on right ones BUT the serendipity of it has paid off. Yesterday we were trying to find Derby (they say Darby) and got off on a road (the wrong road) that lead us down to a cool 19th century family cemetery. Here are a few picture from that side trip




Another serendipitious trip that we found ourselves on was in search for a man named Les Oakes, the owner of the largest anitque warehouse in all of the UK. Turns out that while he may not actually be family he did pull out a pedigree chart to top all pedigree charts. Here is a picture of this Oakes fellows chart with Kenton laying by it!