A Few Random Observations

I'm breaking out of the usual 'what I did today' style of post here. These are just a few things that have been on my mind. 

1 - Alright? 
When an English person asks if you are all right ("alright mate?"), they certainly don't want any information about your state of wellbeing. It causes consternation if you answer that you either are or aren't all right, and downright confusion if you ask your interlocutors how they are in return. I have yet to find out what an English person says when they genuinely want to know if you are all right. I will take that as a compliment; thus far, I must look as though I am all right, otherwise people would not keep asking me if I was. 

2 - Save the Pub
Britain is currently losing about six pubs a week. The total number of UK pubs is now down to 39 thousand, 30 thousand less than in 1980. The pub down the road from Anita's houseboat closed in the 5 days I was staying there! It used to be cheaper to drink in pubs that take it home, but that has reversed now, so Anita tells me. They still seem to be everywhere, and always have clientele, but overheads must be so high, you'd need to pack them out every day to keep them viable. It's a shame, because cask ale on tap is so much better tham from the bottle, and because pubs are purpose built to be pubs, and often look a bit sad when remodelled as something else. The pub I am staying in right now (The George and Dragon in Chester) is a gorgeous Tudor building, but the remodelling inside is like a MacDonald's. It's now a burger joint run by Indians. I've seen lots of old pubs take over by restaurants and other businesses. I've also seen several local campaigns to buy the village pub and run it communally, because if it dies, the village life dies with it, and up goes another housing estate, complete with a Tesco's Supermarket.

3 - Dogs
British dogs are extraordinarily well behaved. Every day, I see doggie encounters that would turn instantly into snarling fights or butt-smelling contests if they happened in Australia, but here, they simply don't. The dogs sit compliantly by their owners, waiting for the other to pass by. Dog trainers in this country must be making a packet. The dogs still have lovely personalities, and are allowed in most pubs and many shops, so long as they are well behaved, which they all are. I have posted a picture of my favourite so far - the self-appointed guardian of the canal path. I think his name is Hector. 

4 - Film Sets
Anita pointed out to me that manor houses in the area of the South I have just left behind (Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire) are often used as film locations, and have been included in everything from Wicked to Downton Abbey to Batman. This is probably a good way for the cash-strapped landed gentry to make a buck out of their crumbling estates. Other options include running guided tours, renting out their lands to campers or car-boot sales, or, hocking all their family heirlooms on E-bay. (But definitely not getting a job.) But, it seems like the real money comes from letting a film crew loose on your estate.  

5 - County List
I've been getting a bit obsessed with doing things in as many counties as possible, to the point where I was even considering getting off my train today in Stafford and then getting back on the next one an hour later, just so I could do something in Staffordshire - but I am not that retentive. So far I have been to Essex, Kent, West Sussex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and today, Cheshire. Tomorrow I am going to the Welsh County of Flint, at the Dee Estuary. 

6 - A Month Is Up
I am now 4 weeks in to my travels and I now have 7.5 weeks to go before I go back home. The rest of the trip is now in Celtic lands outside England. This seems like a decent balance, but I am looking with wonder at how much of the North of England is barely habited, and fantasising about walks in the various wild areas they have up in Yorkshire and Cumbria. Next time...