Double-Decker Buses and English Public Transportation

When most of us think of England, one of the images that instantly comes to mind is the English Double Decker Bus. The ones that I remember from way back and what I used to see in movies looked pretty much like the one here on the left. The driver sat up front in what had to be a hot little compartment right next to the engine of the bus. Next to him was the hood (or bonnet as they say over here) covering the engine. Entry to the bus was at the back of the bus where a ticket agent/conductor stood selling and checking tickets. The stairway up to the upper deck was right at the very back end of the bus next to where the ticket agent stood. Having never rode in one of these models, I'm not sure what the comfort level was like. These buses are narrow so that they could drive down the narrow streets of London and other English cities where often cars were and still are parked parallel on the street sides leaving little room for traffic. And the upper deck gave greater passenger capacity.

The same rules apply today in English cities, especially the old parts of town. So the English Double Decker bus still lives on, but in a more modern guise. The best part, I'm sure, is that the suspension is more modern and now they have moved the engines to the back of the buses. This has forced a change in the layout of the bus. As you can see, the buses are a bit wider and much more modern looking. I can testify that the ride is . . . well it's a bus, not a limo. :-) Since the engine is in the back of the bus, the builders had to move the entrance/exit door to the front of the bus and the driver takes care of all ticket sales. When I get a chance to ride one of these buses, I like to climb upstairs and sit as close to the front bench as I can. It's like no other ride in town! The majority of bus companies still use Double Decker buses on their high volume and or inner city routes. Occasionally, we'll see one drive past our house when it is being substituted for a regular bus which may be broke down or undergoing maintenance. And in the afternoon, when the local high school lets out down at the end of our street, I can see two or three Double Decker buses, painted yellow, waiting to take students home - these are for those students who live a fair distance from the school, more than a half mile or more.

The buses that I am most accustomed to are the more recognizeable single deck buses. These buses are even wider than the Double Decker buses and the seating is not quite as cramped because of this. But as my bus driver neighbor who lives across the street can testify, the Double Deckers are easier to manuveur around the tight suburb streets where everyone is forced to park on the streets. All of these buses have something akin to an active suspension in that when they stop to take on or let off passengers, they can drop several inches to make the step up or down easier on the passenger. And for these in wheel chairs, they also have a push-button ramp that lets down to allow the passenger to be wheeled on the bus. And on the bus, the front section of the bus, just behind the front wheels, is an area where wheel chairs or baby buggies can be parked, and fold down seating for passengers accompanying them.

As you can see from the above pictures, the manufacturers have made some effort to make the bus more aerodynamic, but there is only so much you can do to make a brick shape aero-efficient and still have plenty of room for passengers. Actually, there are Electric buses (with some kind of onboard regeneration, most likely a small gas turbine) that are quite aerodynamic. The cities of Newcastle and Gateshead run these Q-Link buses (Q standing for Quay - pronounced here "Key") from one side of the Tyne Riverside to the other. These are the newest buses to join the fleets here in Newcastle and it shows in their shape. They are not only much more aerodynmic in shape, but they run on electric motors and batteries. Every so often, at the end of their routes, they have to park and let their batteries be recharged. I ran across one doing this one day and all I could detect was a small high pitched whine coming from the windowless back of the bus and I could see the unmistakeable signs of very hot air rising above the back end of the bus. These buses are whisper quiet! Pedestrians hear mostly the sound of the tires on the roadway more than they hear the bus itself when it drives by, but there is still the sound of an electric motor when it gets real close to you. In the background, you'll see the Millinium Bridge which is a pedestrian bridge built over the Tyne to commemorate the 21st Century. To learn more about this amazing structure, click here.


But absolutely the wildest bus ride in Gateshead is the X66 Express Bus from the Metro Bus Station in downtown Gateshead to the MetroCentre, the local mall. The bus pictured above is not a Gateshead bus (the driver is on the wrong side), but it's a similar model. All passengers enter the bus at the front, but can exit from either the front or the rear sections. For the best excitement, I highly recommend riding in the back section where you can watch the hinging action in the floor of the bus. There's nothing like riding a bus that's bending and twisting in ways that buses shouldn't be bending and twisting. The GoNortheast bus company chose this type of bus for this high volume route because of problems with clearances for Double Deckers. There are several places where the bus must pass under very low overpasses, thus ruling out the more economical Double Decker.

One of the reasons that the Double Decker bus is still around and popular with bus companies is that all traffic signals are mounted on poles next to the street instead of suspended over the streets as we are used to in America. Power and other utility lines are buried, so there's no worry about overhead clearances in most cases And for the most part, they get a high capacity bus that's of similar length to a regular bus with nearly the same overhead costs.

So, why am I going on and on about the buses here in England? Well, there are several reasons why buses (and trains, for that matter) still figure prominently in the English image. Even though England has a proud automotive history in such names as Rolls Royce, Bentley, Jaguar, Morgan, ect., the English population were not in a place to embrace the automobile. First and formost, they didn't have someone like Henry Ford who decided to make an automobile that the ordinary worker could afford. And at the same time, The English economy was in a shambles at that same time because of the very, very expensive Arms Race England had with Germany for the twenty or thirty years leading up to the First World War and the tremendous costs of that same war. On a side note, the reason the British call WWI the Great War is that they suffered over 3 million casualties in that war, compared to about three quarters of a million (military And civilian) in WWII.

Being that I am no expert, this is merely my own humble opinion, but I'd say that automotively speaking, the UK is about where we were in the United States in the 1950's and early 1960's. Most families that have cars have only one car. It is a rare household that has two cars permanently based there. And for a great deal of the people, the very, very well established bus lines serve them well enough that they don't bother with the tremendous costs of owning a car. By far and away, the biggest cost of owning an automobile over here is simply the cost of fuel!!! As I have said in posts before, gasoline (petrol), costs the American equivilant of about $10 a gallon! In a recent conversation with a man who is a district manager for Esso gas stations (yes, Esso still exists over here), I learned that more than 70% of the cost of gasoline is in taxes. You would think that with the North Sea oil fields, gasoline would be quite cheap. But it is some of the most expensive fuel in Europe.

Here, there are not only bus lines criss-crossing cities, but there are local bus services between all towns and villages, so if you are diligent and have enough money, you can transverse the whole of England via local bus services. I'm not talking about something like the Greyhound Buses we are familiar with that travel from major points to major points. I can go out of my house, walk about 200 yards or so to a bus stop and catch a bus that will carry me as far as Durham, England (about 15 miles or so away) and then the bus turns around and comes back to Gateshead, weaving around to the various and different villages in between, stopping at various bus stops according to passenger needs. Oh, there are long haul buses too, but they are mostly for hire, you know, private tours and such. Anyone without a car who wants to travel a great distance will catch a train to the nearest point and then work the local bus system to get to their destination.

However, this may be coming to an end in the near future with major consequences for the majority of the rural population that do not own an automobile. Recently, the fast growing bureaucracy of the European Union in Brussells has informed the Royal government that all the bus companies here in England are in violation of EU regulations and the companies will soon be facing major fines for non-compliance. Apparently, no bus route can be longer than 31 miles (50 km)! So what some bus companies have been forced to do is when the route reaches the 50 km mark, the bus driver must stop and make all the passengers disembark the bus, change the number of the bus route and then allow the passengers back on the bus only after they buy a new ticket. Some companies are afraid that the Brussells bureaucracy will not be satisfied with even this. The European Commission says that this does not present a problem in any of the other countries. But then again, the rest of Europe may not have places as sparsely populated as parts of England and Scotland.

From what I am reading here, there are many in Parliament who are not so impressed with the European Commission. But then again, the whole idea of becoming a part of the European Union is not a popular idea with most folks here in England, no matter how popular the idea is within the Labour Government now in power. Whatever the case, if the government determines to enforce the regulations, then this will put a lot of the smaller bus companies that serve the sparsely populated areas out of business and forcing the government to finance some kind of alternative transportation at, no doubt, a much higher cost that will ultimately have to be passed on to the electorate. I am very interested to see just how far the Labour Party is going to go out on this limb with the European Union before they see themselves voted out of office by a landslide election.

A Post Script to the British Pound Stirling

My habit has always get rid of change that collects in my pocket whenever I get to the Checkout lane. Otherwise, I'd wind up with several dollars worth of coins weighing me down. Today, I've had to relearn [again] that this habit doesn't work over here in England. This morning, I started out with a £10 note. When I got on the bus, I asked for a Day Pass so that I wouldn't be constantly buying tickets every time I got on a bus. So when I forked over the £10 note, the driver duly made change, all of it in coins, mostly Pound coins. One fact I forgot to mention is that some of their coins, especially the Pound coins are heavy. So when I got to my destination, the MetroCentre, I went in to the McDonald's to buy a meal and I paid for it with all those pound coins.

After finishing my meal and seeing that I had a little time before catching my next bus, I went into a bookstore and found a book for £2 that I was interested in buying. At the cash register, I found that I had not enough change to buy the book and as I was getting out my debit card, the cashier told me that I couldn't use my card there for purchases of less than £10s. However, she told me that there was a cash machine just around the corner beyond the McDonald's if I wanted to get the necessary cash. So off I dashed to get another £10 note to purchase the book. What a hassle!

The British Pound Stirling

Ever since London became a world financial center, due mostly to the fact that the British Empire was not only world wide, but was commercial too, the British Pound Stirling has been a benchmark of international currencies. The Spaniards built their colonial empire mostly to exploit the indigenous people of their precious metals, a short sighted goal to say the least, and they didn't follow up with exploiting the agricultural potential in much of their newly conquered territory. Thus it was doomed to miss out on long term success. The Dutch had better luck, but most of their colonies were in the South Pacific and there entailed a very, very long logistical trail. Nevertheless, they made up for this deficiency by establishing a large banking industry that helped finance much of the rest of Europe.

Many of us remember hearing from books we've read or movies we've watched words like "Shilling," "Six-Pence," or "Guinea." These were names of various coins that made up the smaller fractional denominations of the Pound Stirling. It was all quite complicated and very arbitrary based upon no logical divisions. This was simply the historical baggage that accumulated over the centuries. In 1972, Great Britain changed all this, I'm sure with a great deal of pain on the part of the population, but with relief too. The Pound Sterling became divisible by a series of [mostly] logical coinage based upon 5's and 10's. Now the coins make much more sense.

We Americans are used to dealing with mostly 4 coins, but we also recognize 2 that are not part of every day life: 1 cent, 5 cents, 10 cents, 25 cents, and the 2 less used 50 cent coin and the dollar coin. From there, everything else is paper money starting with the 1 Dollar denomination going up to the $5, $10, $20, the rare $50 and $100. We even go so far as to have a name for each coin. There's the Penny, the Nickle (named for the metal it's made of), the Dime and the Quarter. The 50 cent coin is known as the Kennedy Half Dollar because of JFK's visage on the observe.

Here in England, there is no paper money denomination below the 5 Pound note. Everything below that is coinage! Be thankful for what we have, because even though the coins in our pockets can add up fast, it's nothing compared to how fast and how heavy pockets get over here with coinage. It all starts with the 1 Pence coin and then goes to the 2 Pence, the 5 Pence, the 10 Pence, the 20 Pence, the 50 Pence, the £1 and the £2 coins. The £2 coin is distinguished as being bimetallic; essentially one coin surrounded by another, the inner being brass and the outer being silvery.

The one thing that they did when they changed there money that makes sense to me is that each denomination of their paper money is of a different size so that the blind can tell the difference between the denominations. The one thing that's going to cost them a lot of money every so often is that they print their paper money with some notable person on one side and the Queen on the other side. When she either steps aside or dies, they will have to start printing up a lot of money quickly, both paper and coins with her successor on the new money. Come to think of it, every time they change monarchs, they have to change the words to their national anthem for the same reason. Of course, The Bank of England may elect to do as we do and simply replace the bills and coins with the new monarch's visage as the money wears out and needs replacing.

There's something else that is unusual to us Americans that is part of the British monetary policy, they let certain banks print their own paper money! The Bank of Scotland and the Royal Bank of Scotland are each able to legally print up their own British Pound notes of the same denominations as the Bank of England and they are legal tender here on this island, though some merchants refuse to take them. And if I were to go to Northern Ireland, I'd have to get all my money changed to the Northern Irish Pounds. As I understand it, the English and Scottish Pounds are not legal tender over there! Very interesting indeed. So far as I know, there is no equivalent in Wales. I guess that is because Wales was conquered by the Normans and made them a part of England in the 1100's. It wasn't until the 1701 Act of Union that the English and the Scots were unified as one nation even though they had both been sharing the same king since King James I (James VI in Scotland) of the house of Stuart from nearly a hundred years before.

I am very interested to see what happens in the near future now that both Wales and Scotland have their own Parliaments, with certain powers reserved for the Parliament of Great Britain reserved for itself, of course. Sooner or later, the Welsh will want to have their own Pound notes printed up by their own Bank of Wales - if there is such and institution. Very interesting times indeed, now that while Europe is trying to unify under one government, Great Britain is slowly devolving in the opposite direction and splintering back up into very ancient borders and ultimately very ancient, but at the same time new countries of their own right.

Royal Mail Post Offices

The United States Post Offices are owned and run by the United States Postal Service. We Americans are all familiar with them and somewhat familiar with all the services you can get at a U.S. Post Office. When I came over here to England, I figured the post offices here would be similar.

Wrong!

While the Royal Mail owns the post offices here, they are run as franchises. And because of this difference, they are run as a business by the people who have the franchise for any particular post office. This doesn't mean that they get to set the rates of postal services, but that they also offer other services and/or products beyond what we would expect to find in a post office.

The first time I came to England to meet and visit with Rebecca (before we married, obviously), I had U.S. money that I wanted to get changed into British currency. Instead of going to a bank as I expected us to do, she took me to the local post office just up at the top of the hill in our neighborhood. They didn't have enough cash on hand to make the exchange, so they sent us to another post office that handles larger cash reserves. I've come to learn that this is the common place to make currency exchanges, especially now that the Euro is the defacto currency of most of the European Union.

At our post office, the Lobley Hill Post Office, a person can go in and pay many of their bills, do some limited banking chores, buy insurance of most kinds, buy candy and/or a drink, buy greeting cards, ship parcels, pay car tax (theirs is a little paper disk displayed in the lower left-hand side of the front windshield). Some others offer a large selection of newspapers and magazines instead. And the largest ones are much like a drug store, just without the pharmacy part.

Not only that, but the British Post Offices also allow a person to take care of a lot of their government business there too. They'll have forms there for what most people would need to interact with the Royal Government. Council government forms and such are an entirely different matter; you have to go down to the Civic Center (their word for our Court House) and enter into a maze of confusing offices that make most of us feel like we're back home trying to find our way around a hospital. But that's an entirely different story and will be told another time.

Our post office, the Lobley Hill Post Office is run by a lovely Indian couple (Christians no less) who deal with all the myriad duties with such aplomb that it amazes me. It doesn't seem to faze either of them to switch from making a deposit for someone into their banking account, regardless of the bank, to figuring up shipping charges for a pile of packages and letters to selling insurance. We usually pop in to make a cash withdrawal from our bank account there because there is no charge . . . and we get a chance to visit with the couple who run the post office, if they're not too busy.

The things that you will find missing from Royal Mail Post Offices are post office boxes! Nor do they sort mail for delivery. That is handled by a different branch of the Royal Mail. Speaking of mail delivery, the mail here is not delivered to a mail box out by the street or hanging on the wall near the front door. The Post Man walks around to each house and slides the mail through a mail slot in the front door. If there is a package too big to go through the slot, the Postman will try to deliver to you by hand if you are at home. Otherwise, he/she will leave a post card with details of how you can get your package, either by going down to a central warehouse where service is somewhat spotty and only before lunch, or by making arrangements to have it delivered to the local post office for the charge of 50 pence. We usually find it much easier, if a package number is given on the card, to arrange online to have it delivered to the Lobley Hill Post Office.

I've also learned that there are certain days that one should avoid going to the post office if one is in a hurry. That's when all the pensioners come in to pay their bills just after they get their pension checks. I just have trouble remembering when those days are. LOL But then I wind up either meeting up with someone from my church or meeting someone new. As you might guess, they all love to hear me talk; my accent is so rich to them. So, all in all, it works out to the good no matter what. And no matter how long the line or how busy they've been all day, the couple who runs our post office always make you feel like you're their best customer.

There has been a lot of worry lately because the Labour Government has been talking about closing down a fair percentage of post offices across the land because of rising expenses. I don't know why they don't just go up on their postal rates like our Postal Service does every so often. not only that, but the local post offices here are the focal points of the various neighborhoods! I think this is something that we Americans might not appreciate as much nowadays. Now me, I'm the new kid in the neighborhood. But most of these people have lived here all their lives; some for more than a few generations. The three places where everyone congregates in these neighborhoods are at the church (sadly, this is not like it used to be), the corner shop and the post office. Everyone knows everyone else by constantly running into each other at these places. Since the local church is not the center of the neighborhood like it used to be - I heard two years ago that only 14% of the population here in England are Christians and attend church - that leaves the corner market and the post office as the two remaining focal points of the neighborhood. By closing down a lot of post offices, the national government will be taking out a big chunk of the heart of a lot of neighborhoods, leading to further decay of neighborhood unity. And when I say neighborhood, you can also read that as village, because in bigger cities, that's what local neighborhoods are, just villages that have been overtaken and absorbed into a larger city. For villages out in the countryside, it would gut them completely!

Travel tips for First-Timers to England

Just because we speak the same language . . . well, almost the same language (see my first post), that doesn't mean that everything else is going to be the same over in the UK as it is in the United States. They do a lot of things differently over here from what you are used to back home. The obvious thing is that throughout the British Isles, they drive on the wrong side of the road, so get used to getting in what you and I consider the driver's side and NOT find a steering wheel. It's over on the other side, along, I hope, with a driver who's used to driving over here. It takes some getting used to, being on the wrong side of the road and not cringing thinking that you're surely driving against the flow of traffic.

If you are bringing electrical/electronic stuff along, make very sure that you also bring along an appropriate voltage converter. If your equipment has built in adapters, make sure you have plug adapters also. The electrical outlets, called the Mains over here, are quite different and much larger than what we use in the States, so there'll be no adapting on the fly with your handy Leatherman pocket tool. :-) Hair dryers require high amperage converters!!! Most everything else you can stuff in a suitcase can get by on a regular electrical converter. Oh, and while I am on the subject of hair dryers and the such, you will not find ANY electrical outlets (Mains) in any of the bathrooms here in the UK! Not even in the hotels. There is one and only one electrical device in the bathrooms of the United Kingdom, and that is the light switch, and it is a string by the door as you go in. This is the law over here. The switch itself is up on the ceiling where hopefully the water won't get to it and cause a short circuit. This means that if you are going to shave with your electric shaver, you'll have no problem because they are all battery powered nowadays. But it gets the women folk out of the bathroom faster because there is no place to plug in their hair dryers in the bathroom. They'll just have to find a mirror somewhere else.

As for cell phones, you'll just have to check with your provider on that one. Some cell phones sold in America are not compatible with the networks over here. Strangely enough, all cell phones sold over here are compatible with the networks in the States. Apparently, some of the phone companies in the States are not keeping up with the technology that's used in the rest of the world.

Most Americans are used to drinking iced drinks, even water. Over here, cold drinks usually means room temperature! If you want ice, you'll have to provide it for yourself if you are staying with someone. Hotels have ice machines just like back home. Restaurants will add ice if you request it, but for the most part, it's not needed in restaurants since cold drinks are served reasonably cold anyway . . . and you get a bit more to drink that way because ice takes up volume that could otherwise be filled with your drink of choice. DO NOT expect to find Iced Tea over here!!! It just ain't gonna happen. You might even get thrown out of the establishment for asking for it. :-) The British think that this is one of the most barbaric things we Americans do; drink iced tea. Tea is meant to be served HOT and no other way!!! You can get coffee instead of tea if you prefer. There are many coffee drinkers over here who don't bother with tea. If you are staying with someone in their home, just ask to go to the corner market where they will usually have small bags (about the same size as a bag of french fries) of ice for parties and such. Or you can simply bring a plastic ice tray or two along and hope that your host has room in their freezer for them. They'll have no problem letting you get ice one way or another. In fact, they'll be expecting you to look for ice. :-) They think it's funny of us and get amusement from it.

If you must go out and walk by yourselves, be sure and look several times both ways before crossing the street. This is because the cars will come from unexpected directions. Remember, they drive on the wrong side of the road. The local governments, called Councils, often times are good enough to paint instructions on the road as to what direction to look before crossing the street . . . no joke, they do this! Mostly, they do this because almost all foreign visitors need this reminder - and the British would rather have you live long enough to spend your money over here before you get killed becoming a hood ornament for some car. Always keep a small umbrella with you too. I like the ones that are small enough to fit in your pocket. It's almost guaranteed to rain sometime during the day, even if there isn't a cloud in the sky. I personally have stood out in the rain while looking straight up and not seeing a cloud above me from which the rain could come from. Apparently, the rain can blow sideways for a while before falling on some poor hapless soul without an umbrella.

When eating out, make sure to try one of the many pubs in England. They are everywhere and you'll get excellent food at most of them. In some places of England, they are called Free Houses. They'll usually have two main rooms; one for the drinkers and the other for dining. As for English cuisine, you can't beat their Sunday Roast Dinners. The only other thing that the English are good at when it comes to cuisine is their Fish & Chips. This is why you don't see English restaurants like you would see Italian or Chinese restaurants. The English cuisine is usually made up of different pies where they just throw all the ingredients for dinner in a pan lined with a pie crust and bake it. Not very imaginative. Now, if you order Fish & Chips, if you don't like green peas, make sure to specify "No Peas," or otherwise you'll get those peas thrown in under your chips (french fries). Also, make sure you're very hungry because they're going to serve you what appears as a side of whale! The Brits don't dally around when it comes to Fish & Chips! Oh, and their idea of french fries (chips) is more on the order of steak fries for us. If you happen to go to one of their Chip Shops - short for Fish & Chips, the fish and the chips will be wrapped up in plain newspaper (plain meaning it hasn't been printed on). This is to soak up the grease, and there will be plenty of grease because they are most often served right up from the cookers with little time for draining.) Chip shops are like everything else, some are great, some are good and some are not so good. However, at Chip shops, if you want green peas, you have to ask for them and they'll serve them up in a Styrofoam cup for you. One interesting thing about the peas here is that in the South, they serve the peas whole, whereas up here in the north, you'll likely be served mushy peas as not. It's one of those North/South things that many countries have.

If you drink mostly soft drinks, be prepared to be disappointed. While they do have Coca Cola and Pepsi and all the variations on those two particular drinks, you won't find too many other of their brands over here. The British seem to think that Sprite and 7-Up are lemonade and as such all their lemonades are fizzy. They don't have much variety in carbonated drinks (fizzy) here. Sometimes you can find Dr. Pepper. But don't expect to find Root Beer over here. Their idea of Orange Fanta needs some work. And beware if someone offers you something they call Squash. It's not the vegetable like you'd expect. It's a watered down version of orange juice and grapefruit juice combined. Nobody I know over here likes it, but many people keep it on hand for visitors. I'm not quite sure why that is or what the implications are. :-) No matter how they talk it up, it tastes terrible! Restaurants will serve you Squash when you ask for orange juice unless you ask for fresh orange juice. Just to be on the safe side, ask before ordering!

When you start to talk to someone over here who doesn't know you, be prepared to be asked if you are from Canada. I don't know why it is, but most Brits cannot tell the difference between the American and Canadian accents. I am especially puzzled because I have a distinct Southern accent, not something that could ever be mistaken back home for Canadian. And this is from people who can tell you what part of England, and quite possibly what town another of their citizens is from just by hearing them talk. They can distinguish what part of Africa, Australia or India other English speakers come from just by listening to them, but they cannot for the life of them tell us Americans apart from Canadians! Go figure. Oh, and when they find out you are from the South, they'll ask you to talk for them! They don't care what you say, just talk for them because they love to hear what you and I would call a good Southern accent. What I find particularly strange about the British is that throughout the Islands here, you'll find that they have several many dialects of English (I remember an English professor of mine telling me that English had no dialects at all, just regional accents), and they can tell them all apart, but they cannot tell a Canadian from an American. LOL

One of the most interesting (my words, not the words of most English) dialects is the Geordie dialect. It is peculiar to the Newcastle/Gateshead area out to the mouth of the Tyne River, an area I would estimate at about 5 miles by 10 or 12 miles (the distance from where I live to the Tyne Mouth). The Geordie dialect has a good mixture of Anglo-Saxon (Old English), Scots (Celtic) and Modern English with the occasional Viking word thrown in for good measure. Nobody is certain how it got it's name, but its origins come from the fact that this part of England has switched hands more often than most. Travelers here will have to take extra care when conversing with many of the locals. The same is true for certain other parts of the United Kingdom. Wales is one of them. While a Welsh accent is beautiful to listen to (think of Richard Burton), if you come across someone whose Welsh doesn't have enough English mixed in to it, you'll not understand him or her at all. The same can be said of the Geordies. If you come across someone speaking pure Geordie, you'll not understand him or her for love nor money. :-) Now the locals are aware of this and try to speak in a fashion that is understandable for most visitors. Many have just what is called a broad Geordie accent that is beautiful to listen to. But to get a bunch of them together and try and understand what they are saying? Forget it! You have to gain an ear for it. I've been here 20 months and I'm just starting to understand a little of pure Geordie. But I digress.

Back to the food thing. They have over here what they call the Full English Breakfast. It consists of 2 fried eggs, usually sunny side up, what we call "pork & beans," 2 hash brown patties (think Arby's potato cakes and you'll hit the nail right on the head), toast, and either a link or 2 of the local sausage (Devonshire, Yorkshire, etc.) or what passes for bacon around here. The bacon is irregular cut and is not cooked done enough to suit most American's taste. Stick with the sausage. Of course, you can order your eggs scrambled or cooked some other way without any trouble too. You'll not find pancakes or waffles on the breakfast menu! They are both considered deserts for after dinner. By the way, dinner over here is usually called Tea and desert is called Pudding. Why? I don't know!

When you travel across the countryside, you may find that you are traveling by train. This is still a convenient option for travel here in England. Or you may travel by car. They have the same kind of roads we do in the States, just different names for them. Then there is the stereotypical English countryside road which is just barely two lanes wide and lined with hedgerow bushes. At the time these roads were paved, the cars here in England were considerably smaller than now. And even now, most of the cars here are smaller than what we are used to in America. If ever you get a chance to be driven along in the countryside along these small roads, take it! You won't regret it at all. You'll encounter beautiful little villages everywhere, usually with an old stone church in the middle. Occasionally, you come across a large stone church in the middle of a very small village. This indicates that at some time in the past, the village was much larger and was able to support and fill the large church. Speaking of churches, you'll find none more beautiful than the churches here in England, scattered across the countryside. Then of course, there are the giant cathedrals that are everywhere. Visit some of these too. Many of them were built between 500 and 1000 years ago. Not too far from where I live is the Durham Cathedral which is one of the oldest and finest examples of Norman architecture in all of Europe. For those of you who are familiar with English history, in particular the period of Henry VIII, you'll know that it was he who founded the Anglican Church when he broke away from the Roman Catholic Church. Sometime after that, he ordered all the Roman Catholic monasteries, abbeys and convents seized and taken over so that he could have access to the tremendous wealth they had amassed for several centuries. The ruins of most of these monasteries are littered across the countryside and are worth a visit. Many were small, but there are some that were quiet large and very impressive. Their ruins today still inspire awe. Here in the Northeastern part of England, there are more castle ruins than in any other part of England. Most are small castles built by the British to guard against the Scots in their many border disputes, but there are some also that are very large and impressive. No matter what part of England you visit, be sure to include both old monasteries and castles in your visit. Oh, and one last thing all visitors will note over here: the grass is a brilliant green year round! I guess that is where they have earned the nickname of the emerald Isles.