November 27, 2007

Well it's official- G's work is sending him to the Sydney, Australia office in January! My good friend Noella lives in Melbourne, just a short flight away from there. So we're both going in January. We're currently checking into round the world tickets- they're cheaper, and considering that we'll basically be going from Detroit to London, London to either Hong Kong or Singapore, Either of those on to Sydney. If we schedule it right we can come back around to Detroit in time for the Scottish Dancing Ball in February. :) I have a friend I would love to visit in Hong Kong as well....on this visit I don't think we'll be able to manage a stop in Cambodia, but maybe in the summer we can take a good long trip and stop in lots of places around the world. The funny thing is that it is way cheaper to get a round the world ticket than to get separate ones from London to Detroit, and then on to Sydney! We'll keep you posted with the details.

Back to good old England. :) I did a teeny photo shoot of our local Swavesey pub, The White Horse, with my phone camera. Pubs can actually be cool- I don't like crowds so we try to go when there's no one else there. :) The owner, at least one of them, is a very nice lady who calls you "love" or "darlin'" and they have great service. They also have good food prices- it's crazy expensive eating out here.

The pub, like many pubs, has a separate area for eating, and a separate section for just ordering drinks. This is the dining side of the pub.

The bar.

The first and most important thing to know about pub dining is that you have to order from the bar. You order and pay at the bar, and then they'll bring the food out to you. First you order drinks, which they give you. Then you order your food. Then you pay, and if it's busy they'll give you a number on a stand and they bring the food out for you. This is where you order at the White Horse. We're still on the dining side, so basically there's another bar for people who are just ordering drinks.

Sorry this is so dark- there's only so much you can do without flash on a phone camera. The door in the corner is the door you come in through.

Those black roundy things are slates that they write the menu of the day on. They have those at the bar and you can order from them.

Here's G's dinner. :) He ordered some sort of fish, but he didn't realise that the menu said fish, cheese, etc tart. He thought it meant fish, plus a cheese tart which is that round thing. Actually it meant the fish and cheese and potatoes were in the tart. :) That happens to us all the time.

If you come to visit we'll for sure take you here. We really like to eat here for 2 reasons: 1, it is cheap but good food. 2, since Americans eat much earlier than British folks, when we want to eat the pub is empty. :) Seriously though- we've consistently noticed more Americans in restaurants when we are there. We tend to want to eat between 5:30 and 7. When we go to a restaurant, frequently we're the first ones there. But depending on the place there may be other groups there, and they are usually Americans. Then when we're paying and leaving, that's about when British folks are coming in to eat, like 7:30-8:30. We thought that was interesting. :) It's kinda nice actually to go into a place and hear American accents at the tables around yours.