whistling busker

this man is by leaps and bounds my favorite street musician in guildford! he has the dedication and to be honest, is the most refreshingly original busker i've seen outside my window. he started sometime before 9.30 this a.m., as that's when i originally heard him, and he's been going, albeit with short pipe-smoking breaks, ever since; it's after 3 p.m.! and he's blind! which makes his standing in the freak hail storm, whistling his heart out, that much more sincere. this isn't his best song for sure, but you can see his pure determination, his british stiff upper lip, if you will, at belting out the notes despite the large ice balls cascading down around him!

and a picture--

so, hail! i've never seen hail in england, and it's been a long time since i've seen any in the states. we've had a few hail storms now, all in the last 24 hours. what was so freaky, especially yesterday, was the cloudless sky about 2 minutes before the hail storm, which was followed by rain and thunderstorms. and then sun. just before the hail, we'd been out walking around town, running errands etc., talking about what a lovely day it was to take a long walk--which we canceled soon after uttering the words. today was similar--sun, hail, snow flurries, more hail, sun. then more hail, snow, sun.

and it's easter, right? if not, i'm worried that people are starting to crucify everyday guildfordians at the top of the high street on saturday afternoons--

instead of whinging

your british word of the day:
whinge [winj]
-verb (used without object)
to complain; whine.

the weather this past weekend was absolutely stunning--sun with hardly a cloud in the sky. it's such a rarity here we sort of didn't know what to do with ourselves. we spent yesterday walking around oxford, and today we took the camera out for a stroll around guildford. so, instead of whinging about all-things british, i present you with a mini-tour of our town. most of these pictures were taken within a 5-minute walk of our front door.

guildford high st--looking up the hill; our flat is across from the clock, on the 3rd floor

me on the high street, outside of our flat

the millmead lock on the guildford canal

a man and his dog, beside the river wey (pronounced 'way')

the river wey, meeting the guildford canal; and swans. and ducks.

view from bridge street, walking toward town center