Sunday, December 2, 2007

rainy sunday

sundays in the uk are pretty low-key. most pubs offer a sunday roast 'with all the fixins'. ususally some kind of meat with peas, carrots, mashed potatoes, etc. the shops and the pubs all close early, if they open at all.

our day has been pretty simple. woke up (before noon!) and headed down to the keystone for dinner. i like the keystone here in gford, because it isn't a chain. or if it is a chain, their food is at least fresh, tasty and made in house.

a lot of english pub food i've had has been rather stale, because most pubs are owned by breweries who sort of make all of their pubs just as lame as their last one. it's akin to eating at a really boring chain restaurant in the states that serves lots of heated frozen things. some are better than others, but for the most part, i avoid the food in them. it really just leads to me complaining for an hour. instead, i'll drink the beer. it's much more satisfying.

but i diegress. so after dinner at the keystone, which included hendrick's gin and tonics, we bought a drying rack at robert dyas, after we tried to buy the same one at argos but were given a really cheap knock-off instead.

argos is an enigma. actually, it's not. it's got most of what target has, but it's really obnoxious. i guess it's sort of like service merchandise, that old store? you go in and order everything from a catalog, pay for it, then wait with 40 other pushy people in a 5 ft by 10 ft area for your items to appear. your number is called, so you push your way to the front, only to realize your items actually aren't ready, and you get to be the jerk that's standing there keeping others from pushing their way to the front. this goes on for about 15-25 mins. you know what they could really use at argos? a proper british queue! i think it's the only place i've ever not seen the british queue in action.

so anyway, we're home and it's really horrible and rainy outside. the only thing i wish i had was another hendrick's gin and tonic in my hand.

and oh yeah, i think we've defeated the jet lag. woo!