Saturday, May 26, 2012

One Week Down, Many More To Go

It's official, I've been in Chester for one week.  I've done some exploring, am slowly learning the history of this lovely town, gone through a very stressful situation (more on that later), and have learned the following things:

1.  When crossing the street, LOOK RIGHT!  We, as Americans, are trained to look left first and then right.  Well, everything here is backwards and old habits die hard.  When I get to the corner I tell myself, "Look right.  Look left.  Look right again."  So far, so good. 

2.  There is a wonderful show on British TV called "Come Dine With Me".  The premise is that four strangers are brought together to have dinner at each other's homes.  Over the course of four days, each person holds their own dinner party while the other three judge the food from 1 to 10.  Whoever gets the most points wins 1000 pounds (roughly $1500).  We definitely need an American version of this show.

3.  It doesn't get dark here until after 10pm.  I'm not used to so much sunlight in one day but it is quite nice.

4.  People here eat late; usually 9pm or later.  I, for one, enjoy the late dinner but when my husband has to go to work at five or six in the morning we don't always get to partake in that tradition.

5.  The people here love American music.  Case in point: my husband and I were at a bar last night that had a DJ and next thing you know, everyone in the bar is singing along to Journey's "Don't Stop Believing"!  I didn't know Journey was so popular here. 

6.  A cooktop, or stovetop, is called a hob.

7.  I cannot make heads or tails of cricket. 

8.  The bartenders take the art of making cocktails very seriously.  They mix the ingredients in a shaker and then taste it and adjust accordingly.  This reminds me of chefs that taste their food before serving it to make sure it is properly seasoned.   

9.  And last but definitely not least but probably the grossest, eating the worm at the bottom of a bottle of tequila is so last year.  The popular thing now is (drumroll please) Scorpion Vodka.  Yuck.




That's it my friends.  In order to get rid of the bad taste the scorpion might have left in your mouth, here is a picture of the Eastgate Clock of Chester:

This clock stands on the site of the original entrance to the city and is the most photographed clock in England, after Big Ben.

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend.  Enjoy your Sundays and, as always, good health to you all.

5 comments:

  1. Hi Rebeca,
    So happy to know you're getting settled in and enjoying your time in England.
    Love the photo of the clock.
    We missed you yesterday at Saturday Writers--and congratulations on your win!
    Take care, and keep writing.
    Donna

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    1. Hi Donna,

      I miss SW and C&C but am glad I can still keep in touch with everyone. I hope to start writing and have many, many stories to read when I get back.

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  2. With all that you'll be a Brit in no time. Love the beautiful clock! It is so hard to grasp how old things can be when we US Americans only have such a short history. Thanks for sharing the wealth of knowledge.

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    1. I am continuously amazed at not just the history in this town but just how old the structures are. We have nothing that resembles this history in America. We are too busy knocking things down just to rebuild them brand new. It gives a new perspective on things.

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  3. Awesome post, lady! Do the people there sleep in as well, since they are in daylight so late at night?

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