Stony Stratford

We had a whirlwind visit in London, only stayed two days because we are always anxious to get out in to the green, wet and wonderful English countryside. Mostly we just shopped and visited friends. Met my old friend Bernard who does research in black holes in space at Queen Mary College, and teaches-he used to work with Stephen Hawking. Got a tour of his school then met his Japanese wife Mari for an East Indian meal. Took the tube back to our fabulous hotel where I felt like royalty, whew, what a change from my usual motel world.

Tuesday we started off with a snafu from Hertz (as in Hertz Hurts), they "lost" our car rental reservation so we went with a different company, that lost us 3 hours of time. But soon my brave sis got us thru the crazy London traffic. She's amazing. Driving on the wrong side of the street, thru many more traffic circle than Taos will ever see, and finally out into the countryside. Bill and I are too chicken to try. Eventually we arrived at our destination of Stony Stratford, I love these English village names! Stone and brick houses, old old inns, cozy pubs, spooky graveyards, churches, and lots of East Indian restaurants. We stayed at The Cock Inn, right next door to the Bull Inn, and really, this is where the term "a cock and bull story" originated. This village was a main coach stop from London, and travellers would hoist a pint and tell stories of their travels. I hoisted a pint myself, of hard cider, my favorite drink, and we found an inn dating from 1609 where we had dinner. I don't care what people say, I love English food: jacket potatoes, fish and chips, lots of peas, rich and wonderful cheeses, salmon and scrambled eggs, all washed down with pots of tea, brewed to perfection.