England So Far: observations on tea, architecture and much more...

We've only been in England for four days, so obviously I'm no expert, but even the person with the least amount of real qualification is allowed their own opinion and these are some observations and opinions of mine.

Firstly, English people drink a lot of tea. I don't like to buy into the stereotype, but stereotypes exist for a reason. British people drink tea at all hours of the day in extremely large quantities. Tea is available with every meal and it's almost expected that you'll drink it. People do drink herbel tea, but not very much. When we were in the cafe for the Wakefield art gallery my mother ordered Herbel tea and was presented with green tea. Not exactly decaf. Obviously, this drives my mother slightly insane (that's an exaggeration) because caffeinated tea keeps her up to all hours of the night. I, of course, approach this as a personal challenge: drink more tea than a British person. This can't be good for my health.

Secondly, everything here is very old. Now don't misunderstand. I LOVE it. Being in England makes you realise how young America and Canada are. The houses here in Yorkshire are mostly Georgian, Victorian or even older. The neighborhood we're staying in is particularly beautiful. It's filled with classic brick houses that are reminiscent of Peter Pan or Mary Poppins. I've come to the realization that almost everything in Yorkshire is either old and quaint or old and dignified. It's easy to see it as the land of Beatrice Potter and Tolkien. Our host, Sally, is a veritable encyclopedia of information on the architecture of the area and I've learned tons just visiting various sights with her.

Thirdly, England is going through a revival of the fifties. Yesterday, my mum and I visited Leeds (capitol of Yorkshire). Leeds is a surprisingly large city (thirds largest in the UK) and was actually quite amazing. It reminded us a bit of San Francisco. There were two main things we kept noticing there. People dressed a lot like the fifties, from the hair to the clothing there was a definite fifties thing going on. Today when we were talking to Sally and she mentioned that there was a psychological study that showed that in times of economical problems (like right now) people tend to like vintage things. That just seemed like an interesting idea... The other thing we noticed was that we heard a lot of good, old American music. At one point we went into this boutique mall and there was a record fair going on which was really cool. My mom and I joked that the English had better taste in American music than Americans.

Fourthly, this is getting really long so maybe I should stop at three...but I did promise "much more"...
Our host, my great aunt Sally, is not only an amazing source for information on architecture, she also knows a LOT about the Spore family (my mothers side). While staying with her we've heard quite a few amazing stories about my great grandparents. For instance, my great grandfather was a war journalist in the second world war and my great grandmother was an orphan.