Getting Settled and Sightseeing with Nigel



My new digs for the next five months

 My third day in England already!  It's Sunday, and I'm taking it a bit easy today--finishing unpacking, figuring out how things work in my cute little flat, taking a walk through the neighborhood, checking out how long a walk it is to the nearest stores.

After a long plane ride, Rachael's coworker, Nigel, picked me up from the airport in Birmingham on Friday.  When we got to Rachael's apartment, he carried my two heavy bags up three flights of stairs for me!  After a briefing on how to work the appliances, etc., we set out to the grocery store so I could buy a few things to tide me over until I can go shopping more "in depth".  We had a coffee (I ordered white as opposed to black), chatted and made plans for the next day.  Nigel fit my idea of a proper English gentleman to a tee!  He told me that he absolutely loves America and has been treated extraordinarly well by Americans, so it was apparant that he wanted to return the courtesies.  He genuinely is excited for me to have an awesome adventure here, and he has offered to help me in any way he can.  It's hard for me to ask for help, but I'll just have to get used to that here.  I have two British friends now--Rachael and Nigel!  Cool!

Yesterday, after I had a good night's sleep and felt human again, I was waiting for Nigel to come and pick me up for a day of exploring.  It was then that I made my first little faux pas.  I kept hearing a telephone ringing and thought it was from another apartment.  I poked my head out the French doors and heard the ringing from a distance but couldn't identify where it was coming from.  Finally, I remembered that Rachael's apartment has a buzz-in system at the front door, and I realized that the ringing was coming from that!  I pushed the button, and the voice--which I thought was Nigel's--said, "Hello, can I get in, please?"  To which I responded, "Why don't I just come down there?"  The voice then said, "I just have to be rung in for the post."  It took me a few seconds to realize that, oh, this was the mail man!!  Geez!  Was my face red!                                                                                                                                     

Nigel picked me up and we spent the day exploring three little towns (villages? hamlets?) called Much Wenlock, Ironbridge, and Bridgnorth.  How beautiful is the English countryside that we drove through!  Just like in the pictures I've seen.  The three towns we stopped in are charming and old, with narrow streets, inviting little alleyways winding in and out through buildings covered in window boxes filled with flowers, and serene rivers, parks and gardens.  I noticed that all the buildings (including where Rachael lives) are made of brick and stone.  I asked Nigel about that, and he said it was because England doesn't have access to lumber like we do in America so brick is much cheaper.  (I think it's the opposite in America, isn't it?  Brick is quite expensive.)  Anyway, all that brick lends a very charming feeling of antiquity and stability to this area.

In Bridgnorth I have to admit I behaved like a proper American tourist.  I stopped in one little shop that had lots and lots of hats, both new and vintage--you know, those fancy little "English" hats that one might wear to a high tea or to a royal wedding.  Well, camera in hand, I asked the proprietor if it would be alright for me to take a picture of the hats.  She laughed and obliged me, and we had quite a nice chat.  I left the store smiling all the way down the street because it was such a lovely feeling that I was making all these little connections with people I may never see again, but they were special to me.  In yet another shop, I actually took a picture of a sign on a step that read: "Please mind your step".  It was just typical of the "polite" signs you see here!  Call me nerdy, but I think it's the little things like that that many people pass right by that help define a culture.



My new friend, Nigel

 Nigel and I stopped in a REAL fish-and-chips shop in Bridgnorth, ordered REAL fish-and-chips wrapped in butcher paper, and ate them outside, standing on the sidewalk watching a little railway tram ascending and descending the route between "High Town" and "Low Town".  Later it was seeing an old, still-working steam train in (I think) Ironbridge, and finally back in Bridgnorth for some dinner.  It was a wonderful day with a wonderful and oh so accomodating new friend, and the weather was quite perfect.  There was even some sunshine that Nigel seemed to really crave!  (I told him about our Colorado sunshine and crystal blue skies.  He seemed envious.)       

I look forward to more days like yesterday that has left a permanent smile in my thoughts!