The Moors

England has several areas known as moors. I'm not exactly sure what makes a moor a moor, all I can tell you that one minute you can be driving through the lush, verdant countryside that is so typical of England and the next minute you are in a place that is utterly different--a moor.

They are empty, almost arid vast stretches of land that extend as far as the eye can see. Moors are slightly eerie yet oddly compelling places.


There are no people living in the moors but lots of sheep call them home.

And there are no fences to keep the sheep in any particular part of the moor--they pretty much have the place to themselves and go wherever they please.

Q. Why did the sheep cross the road?

A. To get a starring role in Morley's home movie.



"I'm ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille. Just don't shoot my baaaaaad side."

career dilemna

Although the opportunity was tempting, I quickly calculated that would only allow me to buy 168,000 sticks of rock, which is not nearly enough sticks of rock to get by on.

PS I have no idea what sticks of rock are but since they were being sold in a sweets shop I assume it is some sort of candy. But it sounds like something you'd buy in an ally from some guy wearing a hooded sweatshirt and sunglasses.

PPS Any American store advertising sticks of rock would get a visit from the popo

Beer

One day as we were driving around going nowhere in particular, we spotted a village named Beer on the map. So we headed off to find Beer.

You know we had to go there....just so we could say we had a beer in Beer. We stayed overnight at this hotel:

Thus, we can truthfully say we have slept in Beer.

PS: there is a little creek that runs through Beer.

Corn Exchange

Back in the days of merchant ships, the Corn Exchange in Bristol was where the big boys went to cut big deals. The outside of the building positively reeks of power and big deals. Its a huge building that almost fills a city block and the architecture is spectacular.

Back in the olden days, merchants gathered there to buy and sell staples of European life--things like spices, silks, and grains. Today the Corn Exchange is where tourists gather to buy wheatgrass smoothies and refrigerator magnets shaped like English phone booths.

I took a pass on the wheatgrass smoothie but I had to have one of those magnets.

Tomorrow: the night we slept in Beer

villages by the sea

We love them, can't get enough of them, crave the very sight of them.

As soon as we land on British soil we head for a pub the sea and a quick fix of Old Speckled Hen fresh salt air and natural beauty.

Hey! How did that one get in there?