My Exotic Summer Adventure: England Outside London (gasp)

[Paint Horse]

Thank you for the pictures, jjpb3.
Now where are the view from above?

Food looks yummy. You had the sausages, didn't you? Liver belongs to ...
The nickbots seems such a great host! No tan yet this summer? And I wonder whether painthorse is thrilled seeing nickbot being tied up as punishment for that unfinished business.
Please do tell more about Robin Hood and his Merry Men! Imagine outdoor scene with those green tights!


PS: Don't forget to plan the visit to Hollywood for the Thanksgiving Party @ Taipei Flyer!
Nickbots, are you going to have the green tight costumes on?

Yes indeed. But why did they release him? This is what we should do to all trip reporters who fall to finish their reports.

Even better we could apply another old English punishment to the nickbots. As Wikipedia says:

"To be hanged, drawn and quartered was the penalty for high treason in medieval England, and remained on the statute book but seldom used in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until abolished under the Treason Act 1814. It was reserved only for this most serious crime, which was deemed more heinous than murder and other capital offences. It was applied only to male criminals, except on the Isle of Man.[1] Women found guilty of treason were sentenced to be taken to a place of execution and burned at the stake, a punishment changed to hanging by the Treason Act 1790 in Great Britain,[1] and 1796 in Ireland."

Now this sounds like a punishment we would use in Texas. If Mr. nickbot ends up here anytime soon, I do have four horses in the barn. This should make the quartering process quick and easy.

[mec]

I wonder who is this man that is always cut in half and seemed to have lost his green tights?

It's my fault really

I was telling nickbot how not to always compose the subject in the centre of the frame when taking photos.

Somehow, jjpb3 heard it and used it on this series

[Nick C]

Very entertaining Train Report.

No cockpit visit?

[SQ TPP]

No cockpit visit?

The day of cockpit visit is long time gone, isn't it?

[jjpb3]

Part 4: Venturing into the East Midlands

Having witnessed mec’s awesome influence over the usually capricious English weather gods the previous day, our hosts now felt confident to follow through with their plan to introduce us to the beauty of the West East Midlands.

Note: the English are a mite tetchy about where you place them in their nation, so be very mindful. The title of Faulkner’s novel The Sound and the Fury is, for example, an understatement for MAN Flyer’s reaction to being called a Mancunian or, I think worse to him, someone from the Midlands. But the flip side of this, um, endearing tribalism, er, I mean, regional pride, is that you will run across regional special(i)ties that lend that special je ne sais quoi (that expression is to remind nickbot to join us in Paris next time) to home-cooked meals.

Home-cooked food, in the form of a barbie (ha! Eat your hearts out, Oz-based SQTers), later in the day was what our hosts had in mind. To fortify us for the day’s journey into the West East Midlands countryside, our hosts prepared a truly delicious breakfast. I enjoyed a delicious bacon and egg on wholewheat toast



Don’t let the straightforward presentation fool you. That’s a heart-shaped egg with a yolk dead center. It was a breakfast for champions. It was grrrreat!

Naturally, our host made sure that our the breakfast was accompanied by his world-famous home-cooked tea (note: his word, not mine; I myself merely brew my tea).



I think the mug brings up good memories for the host, and naturally, the Master of the House lurks prominently in the background. (He’s very conscientious, the Master of the House. He checks in on his guests even at 3:30 am to make sure they’re OK. He came into my room to say hello at that time. ).

Anyone else notice that bird logo on the teaspoon? It was a sign for us that we could expect endless gracious hospitality ... which we did experience. We confess, we sort of expected our host to serve us donned in a form-fitting blue kebaya (a bit too unpolished for green ; our pretty hostess was easily a purple), but I think he was too busy executing the day’s schedule to change into uniform.

So, what of the day that this breakfast fortified us for? First we had to make a stop to make dessert (I guess I should have said, ‘pudding’?) worthy of the VVIPs visiting. In fact, nothing less than a famous Bakewell tart (mind out of gutter, SQ LPP) would do. On the way to a famous country estate, we went on a wee detour into the small town of Bakewell. Okay, we did it partly to grab lunch, as I, being the one who got grumpiest the hungrier I became, got to call lunchtime.

(This picture, snapped en route, is dedicated to a SIN-based SQTalker:




Orienting ourselves in the very charming town (village?) of Bakewell (yes, that’s the actual name for a town famous for a baked good – gotta love the English)




we took note of where our prize was



Note: as you see, being traditional is an important selling point for tarts in Bakewell.



Note the array of diet-decimating items.

[jjpb3]

Part 4 (cont. - 2): Venturing into the East Midlands

Our host wasn’t too impressed with the traditional tart’s establishment, so he channelled us to a place more worthy of our VVIP status. (Note SQ LPP, at no point did I need to flash the card for this sort of treatment.) TBH, I think the proximity to our parking space was to quiet my rumbling stomach .

For lunch, I had the Derbyshire hot oatcake (see? I support vibrant regionalism )



which on that day enclosed Cumberland sausages and who-knows-from-which-region bacon. It was a delight for those, like me on that day, not watching their cholesterol levels. Might I add, it was also more interesting than the healthy option mec chose:



Our hosts went for scones and yes, tea:

.
I think they thought they needed the carbs and caffeine to keep up their energy entertaining us.

We couldn’t be ungracious guests and not match choose our own sweets, could we?



To try to work off our calories, we also shopped around for a jumper (yay, I use a British term there) that I foolishly forgot to pack and that weather forecasts predicted would be needed for my stay in Yorkshire. But the choices were dismal. Thank goodness our host did not yet know how to freeze moments using my camera. I hereby deny that I ever was in the proximity of garments that would cause a rash to break out on StarG’s or taipeiflyer’s skin:



or that I ever contemplated buying them as stop-gap purchases.






(Sorry, SQTalkers, wonky internet connection at home. I'll have to continue this TR later. )

[nickbot]

I've been holding off on commenting on jjpb3's excellent TR until the right time But this evening's most recent installments have forced my hand...

Having witnessed mec’s awesome influence over the usually capricious English weather gods the previous day, our hosts now felt confident to follow through with their plan to introduce us to the beauty of the West Midlands.

Note: the English are a mite tetchy about where you place them in their nation, so be very mindful. The title of Faulkner’s novel The Sound and the Fury is, for example, an understatement for MAN Flyer’s reaction to being called a Mancunian or, I think worse to him, someone from the Midlands. But the flip side of this, um, endearing tribalism, er, I mean, regional pride, is that you will run across regional special(i)ties that lend that special je ne sais quoi (that expression is to remind nickbot to join us in Paris next time) to home-cooked meals.

Sir, may I respectfully ask you to cast your mind back to the name of the train company that you and mec used to travel Northwards from London (in such F splendour), and consider this in the light of the two bolded sections above. I expect your apology on my desk by 09:00 tomorrow

[jjpb3]

I've been holding off on commenting on jjpb3's excellent TR until the right time But this evening's most recent installments have forced my hand...



Sir, may I respectfully ask you to cast your mind back to the name of the train company that you and mec used to travel Northwards from London (in such F splendour), and consider this in the light of the two bolded sections above. I expect your apology on my desk by 09:00 tomorrow

What did I say? Tetchy.

Looking forward to more of your comments, sir.

[nickbot]

What did I say? Tetchy.

Tetchy,...moi? I was merely pointing out the gross geographical errors made in your last two posts Sir.

Looking forward to more comments, sir.

Mmm, not so sure, I'm so offended I might go silent for a little while

[jjpb3]

If you ever find yourself in the West East Midlands, do try to visit Chatsworth Estate. It truly encapsulates a part of England that tourist brochures love to dwell on. As you step through stately arches



or gaze upon the facade of the estate



you’ll have little trouble transporting yourself to the life of a country gentleman or lady.

You can easily imagine yourself relaxing in the lush gardens








or, if you’d like something more manmade, contemplate neoclassical sculptures (I’m not sure how many of these were purloined in the good ol’ imperial days )

[jjpb3]

Tetchy,...moi? I was merely pointing out the gross geographical errors made in your last two posts Sir.

Mmm, not so sure, I'm so offended I might go silent for a little while

Grievious errors; apologies, sir. I shall endeavour to make it up to you.

[mec]

If you ever find yourself in the West Midlands, do try to visit Chatsworth Estate. It truly encapsulates a part of England that tourist brochures love to dwell on.

I am a tad confused now.....were we in the West or East Midlands?

[SQ TPP]

The building looks like in a recent movie. Is it Brighthead Revisited?

[KeithMEL]

I am drooling at all those yummy looking food! Awesome TR, jjpb3.

[Paint Horse]

Tetchy,...moi? I was merely pointing out the gross geographical errors made in your last two posts Sir.



Mmm, not so sure, I'm so offended I might go silent for a little while

Silent for a little while? Silent for a little while? I just looked up silent in an online dictionary, and there was your picture as the very definition of going silent and leaving your poor readers in permanent suspense. Then on checking for synonyms for the word silent - or at least a long time between posts - what do I see? A picture of some DeltaFlyingProf writing a trip report.