Back to Bizness

After yesterday's lapse, it's time to get back to talking about food and beer. Last night we dined at The Three Horseshoes, over in Allensmore, down Kingstone way, around the corner from Lock's Garage (pronounced ga-raj.) You know the place, right? There are at least six places by the same name in Herefordshire so make sure you get it right if you ever get out this way. I added it to the map below just in case.

I would go back for the beer but I'd think twice about the grub. I had two pints of Wye Valley Brewery Butty Bach. Nice, golden beer with out much bite. I could drink this one all night without too much trouble. They had a bunch of beers on draft and I also noticed a new certification, Cask Marque, that is similar to the Beautiful Beer award I blogged about a fortnight back. There are many, many more local pubs on the Cask Marque certified list, so I'm not sure if its just more accepted or more lenient. I think I want to become a Cask Marque field acreditor. You show up unannounced and they have to give you six free pints of your choice. I might start my own acreditation that requires the qualifying pub to provide six rounds for me and my 'tasting crew'.

Service was excellent and the wait staff was very friendly. They always seem quite surprised when they ask us if we are on holiday and find out that we actually live here.

To start, I had some duck pate (3) while the missus had cream of mushroom soup (2). The pate was decent enough but I wouldn't get it again. The soup was quite good -- thick with chunks of mushrooms and a broth that was not too heavy.

For dinner, I had the 'monster mixed grill' (3). I had a very similar dish at the Grafton near our place, and it was good when I had it there. The basic idea is they bring you a small chunk of about 7 or 8 different grilled meats. Last night it was beef steak, pork chop, kidney, blood sausage, some other sausage, lamb chop, gammon (smoked ham), a fried egg, some grilled tomatoes, and some sauteed mushrooms. All of this with a giant side of fries. And all of it cooked well past a happy medium, even by English standards. Not so good. The missus had the faggots (3) with mushy peas (2) -- which ended up being large meatballs with a livery after-taste in a rich sauce. They were better than my mixed grill. The mushy peas were the best I've had.

No dessert on this trip. I helped the hostess swipe our credit card (she'd never done that before) and we went on our way.

I think I might get back and try a few more pints here, and maybe something different off the menu (should have got the steak and Guinness pie!) It's right between home and work so for convenience alone, it's worth a trip back.

Cheers!

Here There Be Dragons

Once again, reality has tread on blogality and work is keeping the blogger down. This hasty post is a Google map I've started to give a feel for the Hereford experience and where we have been so far. Nothing much, but drag it around, do some zooming and be... be... be the Hereford. More detail to come, I'm sure this will one day be a permanent blog page fixture. Cheers!

Oh -- and yes, men on horseback are my twisted way of marking a butcher shop.


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The Sky Is Falling

Knock it off, yankees. The dollar is getting stronger and now that the bread winner of the family is paid in pounds sterling, you are hurting our conversion rates! The nerve.

It took some digging to understand why the dollar is getting healthier -- and I think it has more to do with what didn't happen in Europe as opposed to what did happen in the USA. Decision makers on this side of the pond held base interest rates in place while the USA bumped theirs up. The end result is that the dollar now looks better for investors and is worth more.

The good news is that potential UK visitors will finally get a break and my meager US-based earnings don't go so quickly when I use my US bank card.

Cheers, wankers!

Under the English Weather

My wife and I have both been fighting an English cold. She had it first, then one goodnight kiss later, I was right there with her. The typical stuff: cough, aches, sore throat. Not fun. The benefit of the cold is that I am in the proper nasty mood to provide a recap of our progress with life in the UK.

I just realized this past week that over here 'moving home' doesn't mean going back to Chicago. When they say 'moving home' here, they simply mean moving to a new home or change of address. This is a relief since I simply felt the Brits knew too much about me since every website I logged on to asked me if I was moving home.

We still don't have a car. I don't even know why. The car guy claimed the Royal Mail packet of signed documents, credit card authorizations, etc. took 6 days to get to him. Uh huh. Royal Mail, by the way, is a shining star here. Most stuff is one day delivery to almost anywhere in the UK. He then was waiting for us to call and give him credit card details. I asked why he sent us a credit card authorization then. "Oh," he said, "right. There is one of those here, isn't there?" He then mumbled something unintelligble and the conversation soon ended. He was going to call last Friday and give an updated delivery date. But he didn't, which is good, because then I might expect that sort of response in the future and face further disappointment.

Our new bank, NatWest mostly came through. I have UK credit cards and debit cards with microchips in them. The missus, for some reason, only got the debit card and we had to re-convince NatWest she was my wife by filing out some more forms. This weekend we went Saturday afternoon into bustling Hereford to deposit a check in to the NatWest account so we could write checks or use the debit card. Unfortunately, it seems here the bank has to be open and you have to go inside to make a deposit. The ATMs allow cash withdrawel and topping up your pay-as-you-go phone but no deposit. I haven't talked to a bank teller in at least 15 years. I won't even know what to say.

Silver Surfer

So NatWest, our new favorite UK bank, came through. We have saving accounts, tax-free investment accounts, checkbooks, debit cards, online banking, and -- soon -- even credit cards. Does this mean we will start building the coveted UK credit?

The car people have asked for money now and we had to sign official looking papers. The grey Volvo was somehow no longer available so we had to take silver instead. Whatever, just get me a car! Rumor has it we might get it next week.

Can't You See This Is The Land of Confusion?

A smattering of updates on life in the UK...

We have officially ordered our Volvo V50. We even were able to pick a color from three choices (grey, gold, funky blue) and we went with the Titanium Grey Pearl. We HOPE to have delivery in about 2 weeks but I will believe it when the car is parked out front. We got a 1-year lease for 20,000 miles. We pay a bit extra for the "non-standard" means through which we were forced to go, but really not a bad deal. Rachel has forced me to take on as captain of the SS Lexus 430 and sail all over Hereford. I have been practicing driving with my right hand (I almost always drive with my left) so that my left hand will be ready for shifting the manual tranny.

In my ignorance, I didn't start thinking about car insurance until the 11th hour. I called the company in town that supplies our renter's insurance and they quoted us about triple what we expected. Long story made slightly shorter: I ended up finding a company that had no problem with our non-UK driver's license and gave us a good deal -- I actually found 3 companies that were OK. They have an interesting insurance service here called CallConnection. You call them and they figure out what companies will actually give you insurance and then they somehow transfer your calls all over the UK to different companies as you get quotes. Nice.

The next big step (once car is in hand) is we have to start working on getting first our UK provisional driver's licenses and then we have to take a couple of tests, including a driving test that lots of people fail multiple times. We have until April 18 next year to complete this. Training and testing are both apparently expensive. Amazon UK carries quite a few 'pass the test' books and software packages to help you pass. Big annoyance: the UK has reciprocal agreements with many countries through which you just trade your home country's license in for a new UK one. They won't do it with the USA, but they will with Canada, Japan, and Zimbabwe (for example). Huh?

Yet another company here floored us with its complete lack of customer service. Again we were told that this 'wasn't represenative' of how the company normally works -- and I am trying to believe them this time. This time it was NatWest, the 2nd bank we tried to get a joint account at. Here is how it went: We completed an app over the phone, received paperwork in mail two days later. We then went to local branch, stood in line, then supplied proof of ID and address to complete application. Couple days later our account advisor called and said all was in order and we should have our cards and such in about 3-4 days. Cool. Then, nothing shows up. I call NatWest and find that our account advisor has had some sort of 'crisis' and is away from work indefinitely. Her voice mail gives a new number to call (which had two digits swapped) for a guy that now works somewhere else. After a week of calling NatWest everyday I FINALLY got a call back from a branch manager. Our paperwork, he thinks, was locked in said missing person's desk and un-obtainable short of "jimmying the desk". This past weekend we were forced to go to the bank in person, again, and start the process over. The only saving grace was when we walked and said we had an appointment, the lady immediately responded, "Mr. Edwards?" Whew -- now we are getting somewhere! We walked out in 30 minutes with our account open and our account numbers in hand.

Rachel and I both have our National Insurance Numbers (NIN), now. I even have a very official looking card. These, by the way, allowed us to open Cash ISA accounts at NatWest -- I think these are basically the UK equivalent of tax-sheltered Roth IRA accounts. Don't tell Uncle Sam but my money will be hiding in there.

There, now you know more than the average customer service agent here.

Break My Chains

Kept Man needs a car and more reasons to refer to himself in the third person. Right, Bob Dole? Right, Kept Man.

Here are the wants:

1. Bluetooth Communication: Ok, this one is a must! My mobile phone and portable navigation need this so I can use them hands-free in the car. They are stricter on using phones in the car here. When you see the web of roads here, you will understand why navigation is needed. I'd opt for built-in navigation but just like the US, its too expensive here.
   
2. Two Bike Capacity: We have great outdoor space right outside our backdoor and some even better places not far away. I've got the bikes tuned up so the car needs to hold them. Ideally, a roof rack.
3. Kayak-able: I really want to dig in to kayaking. I went a few times around Chicago and on various vacations and want to do more. Some of the nearby coasts are supposed to be great for this; not to mention the River Wye right up the road. The car should be long enough and have a shape conducive to holding a kayak.
   
4. But Not Too Big: Herefordshire has narrow roads and short parking spaces. Too big and the car won't fit. Yes, I know this conflicts with the kayak requirement. It's my blog.
   
5. Ooompf: A very typical engine here would be less than 90 horsepower. This is quite timid by American standards, even for small cars. For comparison, my last car had 280HP. I am shooting for 120HP+. They don't use horsepower as a measurement much here, though. You will see the German unit Pferdestärke abbreviated as PS, and that means horse strength. 1 PS is roughly 0.98 horsepower; for most people we can just say they're equal.
   
6. Price point: Less than 300 pounds per month including VAT. VAT is like sales tax except more painful at 18% on top of everything. I think I get charged VAT for blogging. Please don't convert pounds to dollars... its not worth the pain.
   
7. Odds and Ends: A nice stereo would be a plus. I like tech stuff, so anything like keyless start, rain sensing wipers, reverse sensors, etc. is a nice bonus. Oh, and an automatic transmission would be nice (shift with my left hand???) but these are quite premium here.
   

With these rules in mind, I have some contenders, in current order of preference (and yes, I like wagons; they call them 'estates' here):

1. Ford Focus Estate: Fords here seem to have a great set of features at very good prices. With everything I want above, I think this is one of my best bets. Bluetooth is currently a free option and a 145HP engine is a reasonable upgrade. Roof rack is cheap. You can even get the fancy keyless ignition and voice recognition in these. Not common so leasing might be hard to do. Rachel sometimes thinks its ugly but I like it, just fine.
   
2. Volvo V50: I almost bought this car in the US. Similar to the Ford shape-wise, but with nicer trim and higher price tag. I love the interior on current Volvos; the design around the stereo controls is very cool. Very common lease car here, though, so may be able to get a better deal. This sentence is just filler so the pictures line up better.
3. Audi A3 Sportback 5-Door: I had an Audi A4 in the USA and loved it. Performance-wise, this might be the best on my list but I think its also a bit smaller (both a pro and con.) Options are expensive on these guys so Bluetooth and bike-hauling gear might be an issue. Target engine would be the 1.4 TFSI @ 120PS; next one up is too expensive. Fairly common lease car; getting a deal may be a possibility.
   
4. Nissan Qashqai: A new entry from Nissan that might be called the Rogue in the USA. These seem to have good standard options and a great look. The body style might be a problem for kayaks. Roof rack would need to be aftermarket and options are limited. Rachel likes it.
5. Volvo C30R: The sportiest of the bunch; I like the look. Very hip. If I could get one of the better engines, it would be a great performer, too. Its a two door hatchback, though, so not so convenient for having guests. Kayak may be an issue but its longer than it looks.
6. I added this one last minute as a tribute to the GM heritage of my family. Vauxhall is the GM-brand in the UK. I like many of their cars but there are sooo many options they are a bit hard to sort out. The Astra, for example, has around 15 trim levels and 3 body-styles, ranging from kid-haulers with no oompf at all to the super-sport 240HP Nurburgring Edition. This one, the Astra SXi Sport Hatch, is one of my favorites. It has a sporty look, a 115PS engine option, and a good price point. Minimal options included as standard, so might be hard to get Bluetooth and such.
   

Runners-Up: Ford C-Maxx, Ford Mondeo, Audi A4 Estate ($$$), Peugeot 308 SW(questionable style), Nissan Note (a serious bargain option)

You've seen the contenders, let's put it to a vote! See panel at right.

Ungoliant: Creature Of Darkness

Ah, the country. Fresh air, green grass, and a hella lot of spiders. Most of them, I'm not to concerned about - to the point where my indifference irritates one of my other two housemates (and its not Boo.) That was until I found this guy hanging out by one of our motion lights. Each morning I half-expect there to be something like 'redrum' or 'go home yankee' scrawled in web-script as a friendly reminder that we're not welcome.

I did some reading and found that the UK doesn't have much to worry about in the way of poisonous things. There is only one poisonous snake and not much as far as "really" dangerous spiders go. There are spiders that can bite and cause some pain, maybe some localized irritation -- but not too much beyond that (this should be good news for the spider-phobes and snake-fearing parents that read this...)

Then I started following a chilling series of articles and postings about the recent spread of what is known as the 'False Widow' spider or Steatoda nobilis. It has been in the UK for about 100 years but until global warming came around, it was only warm enough in the south of the island. It probably won't kill you -- but 'probably' means maybe it could kill me, right? There are real stories of nasty bites from these guys. Could this be the beast that lives on our light?

Well, after further review, I have decided it is not the infamous black widow wannabee. Sorry for the let down folks. I think its just a Steatoda bipunctata, also known as the Rabbit Hutch Spider. It too is also sometimes called a false widow (due to idiots like me). I found a forum where someone is asking exactly the same questions but even when experts got involved, there was still some uncertainty.

Either way, I might play Mayor Daley and pretend the spider is right where my new runway is going to be built. Sorry, Mr. Spider, you need to find a new home. For those of you who also may have a widow to deal with, be sure to watch the extra footage to ID that rascal.

Salmon and Broccoli Lasagna?

Maybe its better than it sounds. Salmon and Broccoli Lasagna popped up as a recipe in one of the newer features on the blog: Tales from the Hob. Look far bottom right to see an occasionally changing list of English recipes from RecipeZaar.

Planes, Trains, And Saloons

Found a smart site for finding your way around the UK using multiple travel resources, including walking, trains, ferries, and buses: Traveline. I'm still clueless as to how to get around this country, especially not having a car yet, so this website provides a lot of information for when I want to meet Rachel for the weekend in -- oh, let say -- Amsterdam. It's quite detailed, given that it allows you to enter your post code for an origination point (post codes cover smaller spaces here and can narrow down an area considerably). In my case, it even told me to get off my ass and walk to the bus station to start my journey. Or at least that was implied.

The Ghost of Strongbow

On my first trip to Hereford with Rachel (our house-hunting trip), we passed through Wales on route to Hereford. Near Chepstow, we passed the eerily beautiful Tintern Abbey. The picture in my title block is Tintern Abbey.

Tintern was founded in the year 1136 by Walter de Clare, the then Lord of Chepstow. Tintern was home to the White Monks, a monastic order that followed the 'Charter of Love' and had six guiding principals:

• Obedience
• Poverty
• Chastity
• Silence
• Prayer
• Work

The Abbey prospered for almost 400 years as a quiet monastery that received little historical note. Much of the Abbey was rebuilt with endowments from local lords. In 1349, The Black Death swept Europe and this, combined with the affects of a Welsh uprising, caused labor shortages and financial difficulties for the Abbey.

In 1536, King Henry the VIII took control of the church of England, one of the main reasons was to take over the considerable wealth held by the churches. The valuable lead that held the roof in place was pillaged and sold. Tintern fell into quick ruin as it was looted and its treasures sent away. The pictures above are what is left of the Abbey despite significant restoration projects over the last 100 years. It still stands as one of the best preserved examples of its era.

But what about the ghosts?

It is said that a group of young nobles visited the Abbey in the 17th or 18th century, now in ruins, and dug about the grounds looking for valuables. They did find two skeletons and in celebration, they prepared a great feast amidst the ruins.

As they sat and joked about the monks rising from their graves, a sudden storm surrounded the Abbey with fierce lightning and thunder that shook the hills. The sky grew darker and a heavy mist shrouded the site.

In a doorway, a gleaming light grew and took shape as a knight in full armor. Then, around the knight, the forms of withered monks and abbots came forward. The storm paused and the knight, with visor raised, pointed at the exit to the Abbey. The young nobles scattered in fear and found themselves lost in the mist. The storm resumed and a violent whirlwind tossed the feast beyond the walls of the Abbey.

The men had disturbed the rest of the monks and their protector, Gilbert fitz Gilbert de Clare, the son of Walter de Clare. Gilbert was known as "Strongbow" -- either because he skillfully used an abnormally large and powerful bow or because of his battle tactic of utilizing Welsh bowman against the Irish. Either way, Strongbow's legend was known and his image commanded obedience.

Strongbow is also the name of a mass-produced cider made right here in Hereford and very popular throughout England. Ahh, refreshing!

Learning London

We spent three nights in London this weekend (Monday was a bank holiday here). We stayed in the Docklands, a sorta out of the way area that I think is London's financial district. It is a small peninsula created by the Thames but has great access to the rest of the city with both a passenger rail line and subway stop within 5 minutes of our hotel. The subway in London is called, officially, the Underground, and un-officially, the Tube.

Our hotel had great pet perks: a dog bed, toy, and food and water dishes were waiting in the room for Boo. It took her about 30 seconds to become very acquainted with bed and toy.

Friday, we arrived just in time for our reservation at the Narrow, one of Gordon Ramsey's pubs. The food here was good but the service was very spotty. What'd we have? Note the food ratings in parenthesis.

Beer
Meantime Grand Cru Wheat

Starters
Chicken Liver and Bacon Salad, with Poached Duck Egg (2), Welsh Rabbit (3)

Mains
Fried Hake and Chips with Marrow-Fat Mushy Peas (2), Cock-a-leekie Pie and Mashed (3) aka chicken pot pie and mashed potatoes

Dessert
Sticky Toffee Pudding (3)

Saturday we had a lazy morning then walked around some of the sights, including the London Bridge, Tower of London, the Salvador Dali Museum, Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey. We found a great market right at the London Bridge tube stop -- great artisanal cheeses, meats, field mushrooms, and more. We wrapped up the walking tour with a pint at a small pub near Westminster.

That evening, the food highlight of the trip was St. John restaurant. Decor was very simple with painted white cement walls, simple white wooden tables, and nothing at all fancy about it. The food was awesome. During the meal, they walked through with a whole roast suckling pig for a table in a back room -- very cool (feeds 16 people, 320 pounds including sides -- we need to make English friends!) . The guy at the table next to us ordered a special and it was served towards the end of our meal -- a roast pig's head. This restaurant is known for using all the pieces parts of all the little animals, especially the pig.

Our meal?

Starters
Roast Bone Marrow and Parsley Salad with Toast (1!), Fried Skate Cheeks with Aioli (2)

Mains
Roast Ox Tongue with Chips (1!)
Snails, Sausage, and Chickpea (2)

Dessert
Eccles Cake with Lancashire Cheese (2)
Moist Gingercake with Butterscotch Sauce (3)

At the end of the meal, I caught a glance of a patron just sitting down at a table. I nudged Rachel and lo and behold it was Ralph Fiennes. He is doing a show in London and apparently frequents St. John.

Sunday we just lazed around a bit, went to another recommend restuarant, The Gun. Good food and right on the river near our hotel. They had Abbot Ale on draft, so I was happy. Sunday night, after walking Boo around the Docklands for a couple hours, we took the tube into the city and had Indian food at Punjab, one of London's oldest. More good food!

Monday we did our best to get out early and make it to IKEA (there are 4 in London) to get 'stuff' to hold our clothes since the Lilacs isn't real big on closet space. We hit miserable traffic heading our of London and I for one am glad to be 'home'.

The Queen In Her Damn Undies

We're heading to London for the weekend! Real beds! Great restaurants! Tonight we are heading to one of Gordon Ramsey's places, "The Narrow". Looks good. Tomorrow night: St. John, a legendary restaurant and known as the place that other chefs go for "real" food. I've wanted to go there since my Chicago friend's gave me the book, "The Whole Beast". Should be awesome...

Walk This Way

The missus touches on this in her evil blog, but to my American understanding of property rights, the idea of the 'public footpath' seems foreign.

Basically, the gist of this is that Great Britain has a great heritage of walking. Part of that legacy is the right for anyone to use footpaths that have traditionally criss-crossed the countryside. While you're driving down the A49 to Ross-On-Wye, just past Llandinabo, you might see a sign on the edge of a farmer's field proclaiming a public footpath. This sign marks one end of a path to somewhere -- it doesn't necessarily tell you where -- and you have protected rights to take that path as you wish. Your rights to do so are the same as your rights to use the 'Queen's Highways' (the normal roads) with the one exception that you must be on foot. In fact, if the path crosses a farmer's field and his crops (or anything else, for that matter) get in your way, you have the right to walk over it or move it. If something you can't get around or move blocks your path, you can report it and some sort of 'path officer' will investigate and clear the path. They seem to take this pretty seriously. Some of the paths go through pastures with livestock in them. They have come up with various means to allow people but not animals free access to the paths, like the 'stile' shown here. To get an idea of the walking obsession, take a look at a few of the 13000+ different walks that are described here.

But even this wasn't enough to satiate the English and Welsh thirst for walking. In October 2005, new laws were enacted that grant the "Right to Roam" to more areas that aren't marked as footpaths. Now, mapped areas of unfarmed, open countryside (including mountain, moor, heath, and down) are available for the walking in both England and Wales. I think this means if isn't farmed, it's open land, and it's on a map, Boo and company can probably mosey on through.

Needless to say, if you come to visit, bring your walking shoes!

Green Eggs and Hamlets

Our new home is in the "hamlet"of Callow - but what's a hamlet? In England, there are hamlets, villages, towns, and cities. A hamlet is recognized as a collection of less than 2o buildings (mainly houses) not necessarily having any public service. A village is larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town and will have some communal building. In days past, that building would have been the parish church -- now it's as likely to be a public house -- better known simply as the local "pub". It's hard to tell when a village has become large enough to become a town, but town's will add organization, administration, and possibly a legal charter. Cities, according to one source, are defined by having a branch of Marks and Spencer. That's supposed to be funny, I think, but I'm not that English yet.