Sunday, September 29, 2013

UK 2013 - day 9: Wendover, Windsor, Scrooby and Wigan

Sunday, July 28, 2013
Today... was it the two ciders from last night? My stomach wasn't holding anything. Or was it the realization that I'm a loser who walks all the way to Paul's house and doesn't ring the doorbell? ...

Now on to the things we actually did!!!

We learned at Breakfast that  the Morse code was invented here in Bletchley. Our tavern owners told us how to get to the place, Bletchley park. So, if you have a chance go there. But we had to make it to the church on time, and the park didn't open till 10, so we skipped it and drove straight to Wendover.

At church we learned that the priest - a woman - is very much a defender of evolution, but we had very little success finding anyone with our family name. Talking to the locals was fun as usual.
We ate lunch at Shoulder of Mutton with our genealogist Robert Watt and his wife. It is recommended to make reservations on Sundays, but we couldn't use our phone to call With all those issues with Orange), so we took our chances and got lucky!

Food was yummy, and I was sad to hear from the waiter that they were changing their menus from that traditional book-like one to the more AppleBees style. I like the old style menu better - at least for traditional restaurants.

I wanted to get pudding (desert), but I had a feeling Robert would be paying for our food, so I didn't.

After lunch we figured we could drive to Windsor and at least take pictures. Maybe go in. BUt we didn't really go in.
By the way, Windsor traffic is insane! I wonder if it had anything to do with the fact that the baby was just born.

We parked at a residents car park just to go check out the castle and take a picture. We were not supposed to park there, but for 5 minutes I don't think anyone would complain. It turns out you can't get near near the castle unless you pay. We heard the guards saying that standing on that line wouldn't guarantee entrance for that day... h'm... Yeah... The line was long - very long. We opted for taking a picture outside, then hopping in the car and heading to Wigan.

First we detoured to Scrooby to see the church where the pilgrims plotted their escape to America.
Dean called his Parents from there, and our credits ended. Oh! That will be another big fight with Orange. A few hours later, we had a huge discussion with EE (Orange) customer service. Their foreign service is pitiful.

Scrooby's pub food serving time was till 8 pm, and it was 5 of 8 when we got there. It was a two-hour drive to Wigan... we passed on the pub and ate on the road :(.

We got to Lu's house by 10 pm, talked to her and her hubby till 3 am. Why so late? Bc no one could figure out how to get the air mattress to inflate. It is a foot pump that gets the job done in 5 min. When we figured it out every one was worn out from trying it other ways.

Lu's hubby grew up near Liverpool, so he sounds a little like the Beatles to me.
Remember I said that it is good that tourist don't have internet because they get to talk to people?
Well, yesterday, by talking to our hosts at the inn, we learned about speed cameras. They are everywhere and we were terrified of them. But everyone else seemed to be fine with it. Actually they seemed to not care at all.
Well, it turned out speed cameras allow for a 10% above the speed limit error.
But do you know that those skinny roads have a limit of 60 MILES per hour? Should I laugh or cry?Dean has been very annoyed by the way that they keep cars driving slowly in cities. They build some sort if a curb on the road with a sign that says "give way to oncoming traffic", so that you have to stop, give way, then drive on the oncoming traffic lane.
Another traffic habit thing that annoys Dean and confuses us a lot is the habit people have here to park on the oncoming traffic lane. This is illegal in both our countries, and we never know if we are the ones driving on the wrong side.
Today we saw a Ferrarri Enzo ... Not sure of the spelling ... and Dean is almost sure it is some famous musician, because only a handful of people own that car, including this guy.
Well, how do you own one if those? You have to be asked to purchase one.

Today's purchases:
rest stop £7.13 (credit)
petrol station - £39.40(credit) (42.13mpg)
rest stop - £4.75(credit)












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