06.04.05
Down to the pub for a pint
Saturday, June 4, 2005 7:50PM
I love Teresa’s apartment but her sleeper couch is very stiff and I woke up with a bad crimp in my neck. All day today I have had limited head movement. Teresa made me a grand traditional British breakfast of eggs, ham, beans and English muffins.
After breakfast we drove up the M5 and then down some darling single lane country roads to the Chedworth Roman Villa. The excavated villa is surprisingly large and today had medieval re-enactors. We ambled around the villa reading excavation notes and spent some time watching the re-enactors have at each other with short arms hand to hand combat. The fighting was very similar to what one would see in a US SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) event except that they were all using live steel and wore minimal armor. A couple of people got bruised or scraped but there were no serious injuries. Amazing what not living in the land of the lawsuit can do for you.
We took other country back roads back to the M4 stopping by at ‘the Waterside Inn’ run by Mick & Karen and having “real ales, walkers & Ramblers welcome”. I ordered the typical local dish of Bangers & Mash along with a half pint of cider and Teresa ordered a Potato Jacket (baked and stuffed potato) with Chicken Tikka.
South West England is incredibly beautiful and Whales even more so. You cannot tell you have come into the country of Whales (at least we did not see any signs) except for that the signs all of the sudden in two languages. A drive to Monmouth and then down the Wye river with a stop at the Abby at Lancaut brought us back into Bristol just in time for Dr. Who.
We then dropped by Sainsbury’s (the local supermarket) for some Cheddar Cheese from (guess where) yes the area of Cheddar and then off to the Pub. It is worth mentioning that pub culture is big around here and the street just outside Teresa’s flat is a big pub crawl area. The revelry was well under way as we walked up Highburry Vaults for a pint and a chat. Highburry Vaults is a surprising place with a short door and narrow hallway that leads into a narrow pub that just keeps going and going and going and opens up at the end into a beautiful and well populated patio. While Teresa went in for the first round I eavesdropped on the two college girls next to me and realized that while I understood the words I had no real idea what they were talking about.
The pub closed at 11pm (they all do and then everyone moves on to the clubs), which gave us enough time to go home for cheese on crackers and to sort through the photos from our digital cameras. It was after midnight by the time I bedded down. I like Bristol. A lot.