Things I Love About England

Things were a little rough the first week here but I don't want to give the wrong impression. So I decided this post to talk about all the things I love about England in addition to the inexpensive wine.

1. The produce smells and tastes like it looks. The grocery stores in the states like to sell a lot of imitation produce. Stuff that has been so engineered to travel and store well that it has lost its' natural smell and taste. Here, if it looks like a tomato it will also smell and taste like a tomato. (But, no, it won't last for two weeks, more like 3 days: okay with me.)

2. I can walk to get meat from my local butcher, cheese from the cheese shop, and produce from the farmers market. There's something nice about meeting and talking to the people you purchase your food from. You actually feel a sense of community and they are more than happy to advise you on what to get and where to go to get it, no matter the topic.

3. It only takes 20 minutes to get to a place where you can let your child run amongst the remains of a castle built around the time of the crusades. Crazy!

4. No guns (except for hunting).

5. The news is incredibly boring (see #4). Either they don't talk about it or the occurrence of : drug busts, drive-by shootings, etc.. is rare to non-existent. I feel way safer here than I do in the states. The only time I worry about random criminal acts is when I'm in London proper where I do worry about pick-pockets. Not a big deal as far as criminal acts go.

6. People are incredibly helpful and civil and always offering you tea. I have yet to witness a confrontation here. I think as a culture it is far less acceptable to lose your temper, yell, be rude, etc. Quite refreshing!

7. It's not hot! I HATE the heat! It's so much nicer to run in the rain than the heat.

8. Government funding. So, they are highly taxed here and I'm convinced the government has a hand in everything but there are some wonderful things that come from this. For instance, there is a place in town called the Children's house that exists solely as a resource for parents. They have playgroups there, listings of childcare facilities, you can "rent" out bags full of beautiful, practically new toys and activities and keep them as long as you want, then turn them in for a new bag and it only costs 2 pounds per bag. Thank you government subsidies!

9. It's clean. It is rare that I see trash, graffitti, or homeless people. Maybe it's the rain and the cold but maybe it's just the way of things here as well.

10. It's not home, but it's close to it. I can get pretty much everything I get in the states here from my cereal to my music and movies with the added bonus of being able to get to France in 2 hours, or hopping on a train to London to see a world class theatre production. Not so bad...If only I could find a good babysitter to help out through August...