Jeremiah Watt

My crew and thier friend Ari.

About a week before we left on our holiday trip, a good friend of my kids had left on her first Mission trip to Wales. And so it has been in planning for quite a time now that we would stop and try to visit with this friend Ari Griffin if at all possible, and that was the primary goal for this morning adventure.

Heavy rain filled coulds are the "sky du jour"

Not even sure now why I took this picture, so I put it up here to see if you can remember why?

We had the English version of the Ulster Fry at the Hotel at which we had stayed. The fellow who runs it is a very large rotund fellow of good humor and just average cooking and cleaning skills………………yes, come to think of it does sound a lot like the average camp cook now that I think about it. The difference is that with the English version, it seems the Sausages are a little softer maybe more pork not sure. Besides that, and when in England you do not get the Soda Bread nor the delicious Potato Bread that has been fried in Bacon drippings. With the English version you will most often have two kinds of bread toasted, usually a white and a whole wheat, and the last difference is that in England you always get a sweet baked beans portion and no potatoes on the plate.

Just a small street, where farmers sell thier vegetables on the sidewalks, and stores sell fresh fruit from sidewalk stalls, meat comes from a Butcher Shop, and bread from a Bakery. NOt like here where you can buy your bread, steaks, lumber, car tires and condoms all in one convienient stop....................Costco/Wal Mart etc

My friend the Butcher, Mr.Petersen

Fresh is the word, cut as you like it, Lamb, Rabbit, Pork, Beef etc

Whilst eating we had the chance to visit with our sociable cook, and found a few funny things out about how at least some of the Brits think about us. It seems that for some Brits the knowledge of our Laws is not shall we say, not very well understood. And then there is the misinformation, stereotype that some fanatics seem to enjoy endorsing. More on that a little later. This fellow and most of his friends believed that for instance the simple act of Jaywalking would land you in Prison for a short stint of a few months. They had come to believe that the ALL YANKEES carry a gun and we still have old west shoot outs on the street…………….he even claimed to have friends who seen that sort of thing in USA and for that he believed it in earnest. Its funny how stereotypes develop, for instance from my first trip to Russia I had come to think that all Russians are unfriendly………………for the second time now I find myself in Russia and my first impression was absolutely correct. IN any matter, we tried in vain to allay his fears and phobias about visiting USA, but with little or no success. Not sure that FAT guy who makes those hate America movies does much good for the stereotyping that settles upon the Euro-Mind.

The Pastie of the day was a Ham & Leek with Stilton Cheese, wowzer Grommit t'was fine.

The roof of the St.Marys Cathedral is done in Pine, a marked difference from most Churches of this age.

Dwon the 200 feet or so to the rear most wall of St.MArys Cathedral. I have found out that this wall is commonly called the Reredos.

The only repair that was required in this Abbey was the arched stone wall that you see here, repairs were done in 1765.

Off we go to the small village at which our church going friend was staying, her place of abode was an old farm with a few small cottages and a main house, the actual barn had been turned into a dorm of sorts. This proved to be a “no frills” missionary trip, and one in which the kids are engaged in hard work that has no benefit to them but can and will have a lasting act of goodness for those who will eventually make use of this retreat for battered women and separated families. Ari herself was in good spirits, albeit covered in mud and mire from her hand work on a water system being developed on the spacious grounds. We visited with her team leader and found some interesting things about the basic European community ( stereo-typing at work again ) for example. Statistics say that within the USA we have a 71% Church going community, keep in mind that this is an all faiths statisitic. That same statistic within western Europe is only 2%. Europe is a faithless community, which explains how it is that you can have such beautiful Cathedrals and Churches and only camera toting tourists inside of them.
With all the rain falling as we talk, it has come time to say our good byes, give our hugs and best wishes to a young girl far from home doing the Lords work and spreading his sunshine within a greying community.

Original Stained glass work on the rear of the St.MArys Cathedral

I have looked back and taken a picture of every Spiral Staircase I have been on, and this is a contemporary steel replacement inside of Shrewsbury Abbey.

We loaded up our sleek grey Swedish bitumen culvert and headed into the hills of Wales with a tact that would by days end have us in a rustic Welsh Farmhouse for the evening. But in the days trip we would see many very narrow roads, and many rock fence lines. It has become apparent to even us, that there are many styles of rock fence to be stacked and we can now sort of recognize about 5 maybe 6 versions each with a few small differences. The rock about this area is not the usual round boulder, but more of a flat layered rock more like a shale, so this will determine the type of stacking that will take place. Its raining cats and ducks, and its time to feed the crew, not to mention that Jeremiah needs some batteries for his camera. It was while wandering the streets of this very cute little town that I happened onto the Petersen Butchers & Pie Shop. I struck up a conversation with the owner, over the beef hind he had hanging behind him at that moment and also to ask him about the assorted Puddings that his shop exclaimed as being the best. What I learned was of amazement to me, my daughter being a certified bloody beef eater has had steak on a few occasions and in tasting it we all thought it not only tasted different but also had a different texture to it. I had told her it most likely the difference in being grass fattened versus that of grain/corn fat like USA.

One thing common amongst all of the work done over here, was the phenominal plaster work that could be seen.

It turns out much different, and the grass versus grain fattening has less to do with the difference than more. I learned from Mr. Petersen that he had been to many parts of the western USA and in doing so had sampled much of our beef, which he liked but felt in all cases it was a tad on the tough side. “We still hang our beef as they did in the old Chicago Butcher Yard days” exclaimed my butcher friend. Is that right I reply, and follow on with just what is the time frame that you folks here in England would hang a beef carcass? Well he says, in most USA shops 10 days is the normal time of hang, and in some areas they may still go as long as 14 days. But here he claims, a minimum hang during our busy time would be 30 days and most of our cut and serve carcass will hang 60-a premium hang of 120 days. As far as he is concerned that is what holds American beef back form having its full potential. I know for a fact if I told my good friend Gloria that is what she should ask for at the Butcher shop, she would cough up her false teeth and her hair would go strait in absolute horror at the thought. It struck me as being somewhat ironic how simple marketing hype can change our out looks and expectations on such things as our food………….we’ll leave the weather thing alone for the time being. SPECIAL NOTE OF THE WRITER< and disclaimer to those who may have thin skin and sensitivities: When dealing with global warming and global drought………….bring a rain jacket.

The side court of Shrewsbury Abbey

Next stop……………oh , almost forgot. I was going to tell you about the Black and White versions of pudding served in the morning so often in the UK. Now I have to say, that I arrived here having already had plenty of warning about eating either of these meals or for that matter Haggis which I found to be just superb. Anyways the Puddings are really more like a typical bread pudding, than that of the consistency of say Chocolate Pudding. The Black pudding is just that, almost Black colored. Made of a little bit of ground liver, along with old bread crusts which have been toasted and crisped to which some spices like All Spice and such are added. The whole thing is held together by a little toasted Oatmeal and bacon fat and beef blood till a bread like pudding is formed all of which is then cooked in a tin loaf and served warm. The white pudding on the other hand is less often served but tastes better to our western tastebuds since it has no blood nor liver in it. It is made with mostly white bread and no crust edges, along with some oats, to which all the scraps from Bacon production are added, then some Ham scraps and drippings with White Wine. Enough to hold together for cooking and serving, warm once again. This stuff is WOWZER GROMMIT< would go great with that Wensleydale Grommit old boy. Time to leave, and in exchange for his forthright answers to my constant prodding for answers, I promised him a fine steak at Harris Ranch back home if ever he drops in. Which by the way, I fully expect him to do.

Lordy, I say Lordy, praise the Lord and bring us rain. Brother does the Lord provide. We are almost too deep for our silver Swedish Rocket to pass thru!!!!!!!!!

Next stop is the Abbey at Bath, which turns out to be just beautiful. It was as much wood work as it was stone work, a nice change amongst the phenomenal Churches of England. Built in , well commenced in 1220 and served a population of some 45,000 people.
It is just puring down rain, and we are having a tough time negotiating the very narrow B roadways that we are on. With all the rain, and the hedge fences it is making visibility rather tough. But we soldier on until……….oh,oh. I m looking ahead at a flood across the road and folks out pushing there cars. This was just the first flooded low corner and we had many more to go. As the afternoon wore on and the rain not abating, we washed the sides of our Swedish rocket ever higher. Finally we are up to that level that is above the bumper and washing into the headlights and I am starting to think about it stalling out right in the middle………………….we are so close to our nights stay that we can almost see it but this village is built right on the rivers bank.

The venerable Pack Horse Bridge

We finally make it, and are glad to see a steep hill that rises to the farm house we will be staying at for the night. But none of this happens before we get to turn at the “Pack Horse Bridge” which is the focal point of town and the water is about to top the bridge. We are greeted at the door by a middle aged man named Connor, and he shows us to our rooms. Mom and I are in the oldest section of the house built in 1604, then the kids are in the new section built in 1630. It has its creaks and shutters that come with age, the smells of centuries hang within the house like invisible curtains……..aromas of musty rock and wetted wood, Oak and Lichen to name but a few. As it is said, if houses could talk then indeed this house could dictate several books on its account of the events that have unfolded in the tiny valley that lays below its antique glass panes. The winding wood and stone spiral staircase leads us to our old but modernized second floor bedrooms. Each is furnished in antique period furniture, and within or behind each item that is old lies hidden a modern convenience like a bubbler or a tiny China Tea Pot etc. The shower is huge and very high tech. It was fun to have a full hot shower for a change with no company on the pot so to speak. The kids are equally well taken care of with their rooms amenities.

We head into town to a local Pub called the White Horse Pub, which came well recommended amongst the pubs of town. There are two, and the other was closed, which raised the recommendation level quite a few notches. Typical English Pub, in that the rooms are old, heavy timber in most cases, with dark interiors that invite visiting and beer drinking. Pubs in England are under attack, and will fade from the local scene in a few short years with the very aggressive smoking regulations that have been put into place. I would not know, but for those who are local Pub goers, the Pubs have taken on a new face and it is not the same local information centers that they used to be.

Its 8pm in a typical British Pub, and we are about to have another very fine meal in the friendliest places in Britain.

With that said we will visit more about the Pub grub we had and less about Politics. One thing we all felt good about was the seeming ease at which children are admitted into a Pub and how every one blends in with the setting. There was a 90 plus year old women who sat directly behind us……………..yes, yes I do know she was 90 because I counted the growth rings around her ankles. While we ate over the course of some two hours this old gal consumed 3 strait up shots of whiskey and won every arm wrestle challenge that came her way………………………..okay, okay I WAS KIDDING ABOUT THE ARM WRESTLING. None of us observed anyone drunk or even looking a little in that way, so it was a fun stop. We ate a very good pub grub course, with pastie pies and fish and chips etc. Then we had the dessert of chocolate cake and some chocolate sauce , and the obligatory Sticky Pudding. Great meal, then off to home before the river rose much more, and we could not cross the bridge.

Which reminds me, the bridge is known locally as the “Pack Horse Bridge”, built specifically to allow a man with a loaded pack horse to cross with out any problem. Yes hand stacked rock, 55 feet long and a total of 8 feet in width, topping a rise of 8 feet above normal water stage……………year of construction…………..1410. To this day it has never been reworked nor tore out by flood damage, a solid testimony as to the skills of those who built it. And we will get to see it as close to being in trouble as any can remember……………..so stay tuned.

Good Night and God Bless