MYDEAS: A Glimpse Into England

Ok, it's only 4:55 pm as I write this, but let's start by noting how cool it is that as I sit at this little English pub, writing on my laptop, with a pint next to me, the Dire Straits song Sultans of Swing — all about a small-town band at a local English pub — has come on the sound system.

           Well now you step inside but you don't see too many faces
           Coming in out of the rain they hear the jazz go down
           Competition in other places
           Uh but the horns they blowing that sound
           Way on down south
           Way on down south
           London town

Serendipity.

In fact, as I've mentioned, this part of the three-month exile is ... pretty fantastic. I still want to go home, of course, and I miss my friends and my cat (and my clothes and my bed and and and), but ... this is a damned good second choice. Marks & Spencers! Oliver! Dave Goodwin! Crystal Palace! English pubs with Shepherd's Pie and Fish & Chips and the footie on the telly! Watching The Avengers — no, not that one — every day on TV!

You could do worse.

Still, it's pretty great to know that one week from today I will be able to go home, sleep in my own bed, and say hello to this little creature for the first time in three months.

To celebrate this exciting news, let me simply share some photos of and around Chichester.

Some local graffiti

More graffiti

You'd have to zoom in both on the Clarks' sign and the top of the boot, but ...
they damn sure don't want any pigeons!

From the "Big Yellow Taxi" File: The Old "Meat and Fish Pastes" shop has been
replaced by a sporting good store

Don't be silly — of course we don't have TJ Maxx here.
Ohhh, you mean TK Maxx! Sure, we have that.

It's very strange to me that meat pies as a concept barely got to the US, and then never really at restaurants. Here it's huge — a delicious. Shepard's Pie, Steak-and-Kidney Pie, Cottage Pie, Fish Pie, and so much more! Yum.

John Keats, who spent time right in this square in Chichester, about which he wrote The Eve of St. Agnes. It's long, though — he was clearly quite inspired. And I live on St. Agnes Place here!

According to that plaque over the door, it's only been in its current location since 1253,
so it's not THAT old ...