"The sky is full of noughts and crosses/I draw them with my reaching." --"noughts & crosses", Lady Maisery
“The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see.” --G. K. Chesterton
Well hello and welcome to the first of Sam-is-not-in-England-any-more-and-is-instead-doing-cool-things-in-Europe-so-you-get-prewritten-Sam! (You got that? XD)
I thought it would be fun to do a quick (very quick!) wrap-up of my time in England with almost the same headers I use for my usual wrap-ups, but a slightly different style of doing it. Off we go!
Travel (in which answers can be from anywhere in the British Isles)
Favourite seaside town: Berwick-Upon-Tweed
Favourite town: Totnes
Favourite tiny village: High Bradfield (Nether Padley gets an honorary mention)
Favourite port city: Portsmouth
Favourite city: Sheffield! (Oxford gets an honorary mention)
Favourite castle: Blarney Castle in Cork, Ireland
Longest continuous train journey: Sheffield to Berwick-Upon-Tweed (3.5 hours)
Favourite church: St. Dominic's in London
Favourite chapel: Margaret Clitherow shrine in York
Favourite museum: James Herriot museum in Thirsk
Places I'd be most likely to move back to if I moved to England (in order): Sheffield, Oxford, Totnes
Favourite hike: Padley Gorge (Bamford Edge gets an honorary mention)
Number of countries I've been to other than the UK in my time here: 5
Books
Number of books read while in England: 100 (give or take a couple)
Percent that were rereads: 42%
Best reading-a-book-in-the-right-place experience: Finishing Surprised By Joy on Magdalen Bridge in Oxford
Favourite bookshop: the one in Berwick-Upon-Tweed
Favourite library: Broomhill Library, Sheffield
Current number of library cards owned: 7
Music
Number of concerts attended: 2
Coolest musical experience: tossup between the Lady Maisery singing weekend, and Sea Shanty night at the Llandoger
3 Favourite songs discovered while in England: "Follow Me Up To Carlow", "Mingulay Boat Song", "Llongau Caernarfon"
Favourite song about England: "The Llandoger"
Food
Favourite English food: jam & (clotted) cream scone
Favourite British food: haggis
Favourite British junk food (savoury): Bacon-flavoured Walkers crisps
Favourite British junk food (sweet): Ginger biscuits
Way I take my tea: with milk and one sugar
Objectively best brand of British tea: Yorkshire
Food I miss most from the US: goldfish crackers
Favourite niche dessert: flapjacks (a very Yorkshire thing)
So, so, so! Hopefully this was a fun little wrap-up, even if it was short! Longer post next week for sure. :)
This was fun! It's amazing all the things you did in a short period of time!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed it! It was fun to think back and remember all the things. :D
DeleteOh, this was very fun! I like Totnes, too, and Oxford is, of course, sublime. With your scones, did you have them with the jam or the cream first?! Though I don't do cream on scones, people say it Matters. (I think it's a Devon vs. Cornwall thing?) Personally, my favourite tea is Earl Grey, though Yorkshire is nice, too.
ReplyDeleteI'm really enjoyed reading about your travels in England! (I know I'm rather late.) How many counties in the UK did you visit eventually?