England: Radlett, Hertfordshire

On Thursday, July 2nd, we rented a car at the Asheville airport and drove to the Charlotte airport, where we boarded a direct U.S. Air flight to Dublin, arriving at 6:35 in the morning on the next day, Friday, July 3rd. After a bit of a delay in Dublin, we caught an Aer Lingus flight to Gatwick Airport in London. We then hopped on a Thameslink train to the village of Radlett, in Hertfordshire, where Martin, Sue and Hannah Crewe greeted us at the train station. Let me stop here to say that for some reason, during all of our communications with Sue prior to our trip, I got it in my head that the fourth member of their family, their son Tommy, was named Jonathan. I continued my mistake at the train station when, on seeing just the three of them, I asked where Jonathan was. They all looked at me with very puzzled faces and said, "Who is Jonathan?" To my horror, it then dawned on me that I had made the same mistake on the lovely welcome card that awaited them on our dining room table addressed to: Martin, Sue, Hannah and.......... Jonathan!

45 The Crosspath

The Crewe's house at 45 The Crosspath was well-situated: just a short walk not only from the center of town but the train station as well. The house was the typical English flat: kitchen, dining room and living room (or lounge) downstairs, with three bedrooms and the bathroom upstairs, and a lovely garden in the back. As much as Gary and I were amazed that four people could comfortably share such a small house, I am sure the Crewes were equally puzzled at the amount of square footage taken up by our home in Asheville, especially since only two people normally inhabit our house!

July 4, 2015

Since the Crewes were not leaving until the next day, Saturday, we had the pleasure of having dinner with them on Friday evening after our arrival. After dinner, we sat and talked a while, but I was so tired that I literally couldn't keep my eyes open during the conversation. Since they had an early flight the next day, Martin and Sue insisted that we sleep in their bed and they slept on the sofa bed downstairs. A very nice gesture indeed (you see, I'm already beginning to pick up the lingo)!

We spent the Fourth of July exploring the town of Radlett, which turned out to be the quintessential English village, but with more than its share of Bentleys, Mercedes, Ferraris and Maseratis. We found a lovely little pub, The Cat and Fiddle, where we ate dinner. They served the perfect English fish & chips!

July 5, 2015

One of the (choose one):
___ Advantages (in Kerry's opinion)
___Headaches (in Gary's opinion)

of our exchange is that one member of the Crewe household stayed home, and that was their most excellent cat Tigger. More to come about Tigger later!

In addition to Radlett being the perfect English village and Tigger the perfect English cat, the Crewes have the perfect English garden. Unfortunately for the Crewes, Kerry and Gary have met their latest horticultural victims!

July 8, 2015

Lee Compton, a Coats colleague of Gary's who lives nearby in Tring, came to Radlett (where he used to live, by the way, just up the street on Scrubbits Park Road) to work with Gary at the house. After work, he drove us to his house, where we met his wife Sandie and his son Ben. We all went to dinner afterward in Berkhamsted at an Italian restaurant, Zaza, which was quite good.

July 11, 2015

On Saturday, we took a short train ride to the medieval city of St. Albans for the market, which is held on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We took the stairs to the top of the clock tower for some of these pictures. We had dinner back in Radlett at The Red Lion, a local hotel and pub.

July 18, 2015

Mainly because Martin had so vigorously recommended it at least three times (and we didn't want to hurt his feelings by not taking his advice on places to visit), on Saturday we took the train south to Brighton on the coast. It reminded me a bit of Coney Island (albeit a more sophisticated version). There was a craft fair going on, so it was crowded and lively. The main attraction in Brighton, apart from the beach and pier, is the Royal Pavilion, built for George IV. It is an imposing, ornate structure which grew over 35 years from a simple lodging house to a spectacular oriental palace. We stopped for a bite to eat in the Plateau, a wine bar and restaurant with "modern European sharing plates". After strolling around Brighton a bit more, we boarded the train for the trip back to Radlett. We had dinner at Isot, a surprisingly good Mediterranean Turkish restaurant in Radlett.

The rest of the story about Tigger the Cat:

Tigger, who the Crewes adopted from the shelter, is a very self-sufficient cat. With the convenience of a cat door, he has unimpeded access to the garden from the kitchen and can come and go as he pleases. On one hand, Gary found this quite convenient, since there was no litter box to keep clean. On the other hand, Tigger continually found it necessary to impress his new "cat-sitters" by regularly catching field mice and depositing the remains, dead or alive, on the dining room carpet. Being an early riser, Gary was unfortunately the one who would discover the carcasses (or the uneaten entrails) upon starting his work day at the dining room table. Over the three weeks that we stayed in Radlett, Tigger caught from 10-12 mice and presented them to us. Being more familiar with the habits of a cat, I just chalked this up to confirmation of their reputation as "king of the jungle". Gary vehemently disputes this claim, although he grudgingly concedes that cats are perhaps "king of the garden".

A week or so after we arrived in Radlett, we noticed that Tigger's left eye started to droop, and after another day or two, it started oozing. After emails back and forth to Sue, we decided that we needed to take him to the vet. Normally, I would be more than happy to tackle this chore by myself, but since we didn't have a car, we had to walk to the vet, who wasn't far away, but I couldn't carry the cat in his carrier by myself, so Gary had to perform that duty. Sue advised us that they carried insurance on Tigger which cost more than their car insurance! We ended up ferrying the cat back and forth to the vet three or four times. Gary was delighted.

July 21, 2015

The town of Luton was so close (only a train stop away) that I decided to take a trip there to see where our

friends Gérald and Ghislaine had lived during his teaching exchange in 1976. When I got off the train, I walked through the city center and began my trek up Farley Hill. It was a hike, but I finally reached the top of the street and located their flat: #78. I sent these pictures and more to Gérald, who seemed pleased that I made the effort.

Some random memories of our time in this lovely little village:

Our salvation from the cafetière was the amazing coffee shop Caffè Nero, which serves wonderful lattes as well as pretty darn good croissants. Since

the cafe was only a short walk from the house, we became regular customers.

Our salvation from the very few channels (other than BBC) on the TV was Netflix. We started watching the series Breaking Bad, and became hooked. We binge-watched all five seasons!

We began watching a British game show, Tipping Point, initially because I was amused by it. I thought that this show, which consists of four contestants trying their luck with a slow moving "shove-penny-coin-drop-machine" would never make it in the U.S. because it doesn't have fancy graphics, flashing lights or a studio audience creating a lot of hoop-la. The joke's on us: we became hooked; especially by the host, Ben Shephard, who endeared himself to me when, in his efforts to share in his contestants'
Random memories (continued):

frustration at the machine, he would periodically emit a "goodness me!" or "crikey!" I don't think I have ever heard a grown man say "goodness me" in

earnest, but I found it quite charming!

July 25, 2015

The time has come to say goodbye to 45 The Crosspath, Radlett, Herfordshire and hello to the big city of London!