- the whole ice thing / warm drink is true - eat in v. take away pricing - not using the dish on the bus to pay bus fare but handing the fare to the bus driver - radio 1 addiction. i don't even listen to commercial radio or pop music here. but now i'm completely addicted to the chris moyles show - dave, rachel; colin and edith; joe wiley; jk and joel chart show. what kind of crazy is it to be driving through a wee country village listening to, "gold digger' by kanye west, "now I aint sayin she a gold digger but she aint messin wit no broke 'beep'" over and over again. i'm goldfrapp'd out. - love being able to pay for goods without having to figure the tax. you pick up a £2.50 sandwich and £.50 drink, it's just £3.00 - not £3.21 - a people that recognizes the fine art of lunching parked in the car - - the highway was fast but everyone knew and followed the rules, no loners hanging out in the overtake lane, fantastic - nearly no tailgating - the joy of hopping in and out of a roundabout - the joy of tea, i'm a tea drinker but now it's got a whole new dimension. one morning, the host brought tea to myself and couple sitting near me for breakfast, after she left the room and the couple tasted the tea, the husband murmured quietly, 'it's not very good tea, love' the wife says, 'oh, no it's not...' 'it's probably stewed' she says, 'stewed? but what's the pleasure in that?' - that's it, the pleasure in a cup of tea. well said. - 'morning, my love' - 'that'll be all for you, love?' - 'cheers, love' - how can you not smile when complete strangers speak to you so? charmed - that was said mostly in scotland - saw way too many men in capris pants. stop the madness.

i've been back a week now. i've got 15 rolls of film to develop and a few sovenirs to linger over while i mope about the apt remembering how i was standing on top of a heather-laden hillside overlooking loch ness a week ago. it was a fantastic visit, the accomodations were outstanding, with the exception of one night, and everybody i met was friendly and quite accepting of this american visitor in their midst. i'm going to take some time to blog this right and getting it written up properly. the biggest error i made was not using a digital camera, i've always liked film but i think it will prove out to be a mistake. one roll has come back from the pharmacy photo lab and it's not great. it is an odd feeling to be one place so very far away and so very different and then to be no longer there as if it never happened. but having been there finally, after all this time of wanting to visit, is a relief of sorts. the basic things are not all that different from here, with some minor adjustments, one could adapt to live in the UK. a few alarming things, asda/tesco - which are basically upscale walmarts - burger kings, kfc, pizza hut and mcdonald's - i hated seeing those. nothing more jarring then to be wandering the streets of glasgow surrounded by gorgeous old buildings and feeling transported back eras in time to turn a corner and see a pizza hut. i actually felt embarrassed, that's what the u.s. has exported to the uk, garbage fast food retailers. only ran into americans twice and both times they were loud and foolish acting. i'm really glad i went on my own, it allowed me freedom to change my mind for the day's plans as i saw fit and it also forced me to continue to interact with those about me and not hide into chatting with a travel companion and miss the many conversations i got to have with people around me. i miss being there very much.

fantastic trip so far - the flight was bearable, spent most of the 8 hr or so trip talking with a nice english fellow who currently lives in aberdeen. arrived sunday - the drive from gatwick to st. ives was mr.toad's wild ride - btwn the traffic, my lack of sleep and the general delirium of being in an entirely different country and the (i can say this because i'm here) bloody speed of traffic. the car rental company is very trusting, they just hand over the keys without any primer on driving in the UK and then you're off! sort of hit the ground running... monday - every nook and cranny of cornwall is stunningly (new word?) picturesque, the hike from st. ives to zennor head was the hardest hike i've done in my life, fortunately met up with a couple of women from york who i ended up hiking with, thank god because not all the path is marked, there are loads of vague off shoots paths. the views are simply stunning though, more then the mind or eye could take in, i hope the pictures i took come off good. the pub at the end of the trail to zennor was a welcome sight - met a lovely couple from cambridge who had been walking the same path with me and introduced me to my first lemon shandy! at the same pub, a woman sat down near as we were chatting about cornwall and turns out she's the editor of the guidebook i was using, nice gig, eh? her job is to walk all the paths in cornwall and edit manuscripts of various travel books - took the bus from zennor to pendeen for a lovely evening of pints, cod and chips in the pub at the inn that i was staying at, they held the local pendeen v bath dart competition. tuesday - got some fantastic shots of the cliffs near the lighthouse in pendeen. didn't hike yesterday, a couple at the inn i stayed at, offered to hike with me, but they were a pair of adonis super athletes who i would've held back. i spent yesterday snooping around pendeen and a lovely busride in the countryside to porthcurno - spent the evening at the local pub watching liverpool v cska sofia with a couple of locals, had a couple pints of guiness and a beef pastie (sp?) wednesday - got up and had my third full english breakfast, which i've developed a taste for now, and it was pouring out and although i've got waterproof things for hiking in the rain, who really wants to hike for 10+ miles in the rain? not me. it's after 3 now and after getting to penzance, found 24 hour parking and walking up and down chapel street and down by the wharf, i found this internet cafe and a chance to update my blog. have made a few tourist mistakes, but not too bad overall, haven't run into a single north american yet, all i hear are british accents around me and my ears are understanding them a bit more now, as soon as i get attuned to it, i'll be in scotland and will have to start all over. - i'm taking loads of pictures, i don't remember why i did this, but i decided to use film and i'm kicking myself now - film is costing £5.99 a roll.

its been a hellish week at work, i've been paying dearly for my upcoming vacation - haven't been to the gym or taken lunch and have worked to 7or8p evry nite. it's friday and i left work at 6 today to go home and take a nap, just to go back there at 8p until 1am this morning. but i left all in good shape and not worried any longer about my absence. so it's 1:26am here, i have to leave by 5 am to drive down to tampa (3.5 hr drive from here) to get to the airport by 9a. i'm high on a grande frappuccino and frankly gidddy as a schoolgirl to be off~

just 5 days away til i land in the uk. unbelievable. work is mad crazy scrambling to get things straight so people won't be pissed off while i'm out. i can't wait until i'm far enough away from work that it's out of my system. until i'm on a path just focusing on one foot in front of the other.

as i'm preparing for this trip, i've had to acquire a few essentials. first was the ergonomic backpack designed specifically for women - alpine lowe is the brand and by golly, it's great, I've done 3 hikes here in florida and it's been fantastic. second was the proper shoe, this was difficult because i'd bought a pair of birkenstock hiking boots and had been pretty well okay with them but hadn't hiked more then a couple hours. well they're horrible wretched shoes after 2 hrs and thought i'd never walk again (an exaggeration). so moved onto KEEN shoes TAOS design. brilliant shoe really. fully tested today with 3.5 hrs hiking and it was like walking on a soft forest bed the whole time. had a minor sock malfunction resulting in the requisite blister, but better to blister here, then while walking on vacation! [img]http://www.keenfootwear.com/img/men/trailhead/main/1201_BSNR.jpg[/img]

so this is it, in a nutshell! 8/21/05 - arrive Gatwick 7 am - pickup car drive to St. Ives, tourist St. Ives, sleep St. Ives 8/22/05-8/24/05 - 3 days walking, 4 nights sleeping in st.ives, pendeen watch, porthcurno and penzance - 40 miles!! on foot. 8/25/05 - depart penzance, drive to Manchester, sleep Manchester at Old Trafford Lodge on Lancastshire cricket grounds 8/25/05-8/26/05 - tourist Manchester - morning at salon, drive evening to Glasgow, sleep Glasgow at The Belhaven Lodge 8/26/05 - tourist Glasgow, drive to Fort William, sleep Fort William 8/27/05-9/1/05 - 5 days hiking, 6 nights accomodation from Fort William to Gairlochy to South Laggan to Invermoriston to Drumnadrochit to Inverness, Scotland - 73 miles on foot!! 9/2/05 - depart Inverness, drive to York, sleep York at the Stanley House B&B 9/3/05 - tourist York, drive to Horley, sleep Horley at The Lawn Guest House 9/4/05 - return car, depart from Gatwick

a month from now, i'll be already 5 days into my trip to england. not to be completely sentimental about it, but it'll be a realization of a dream i've had since i was old enough to make those sorts of wishes. part of it being a dream come true, having time to explore parts of england and scotland - part of it being a dream that will never be realized, i'll never step foot in a smoky pub, never be able to have a pint with some cute english guy while joy division is on stage. and it's not just joy division either, it's that whole era, the late 70s early 80s in manchester.