DAY 279

Sunday 15 April 2012


What else should one do when visiting in the countryside of merry olde England than have afternoon pork or beef roast with yorkshire pudding? The Mulberry was a perfect choice by Nigel and Mary for our Sunday lunch and we drove there on side roads since there had been an accident and power outage earlier. (In fact, Mary had been pressed into service while walking the dogs with Dian and Nicole as many drivers stopped to ask her how to get around the road block.)

Mary giving directions

We enjoyed the atmosphere of the Chiddingfold restaurant owned by famous radio DJ Chris Evans, and after a Guinness or two and a round of arm wrestling, we left for a little tour through Godalming, (in the news that very week as the home of Jack Phillips, a hero of the Titanic disaster who was the young telegraph operator who stayed at his post until the last minute, and perished while trying to send a message for help.) The cricket players in their white sweaters and pants barely looked up on the green near the famous Charterhouse School, one of the original nine founding British "public" (private) schools, built 1611 and still operating with about 750 students (yearly tuition: $40,000/25,000 pounds/30,000 euros). The band Genesis formed there, and we thought the classic '60s counterculture film "If " (introducing Malcolm McDowell) was shot there but it wasn't. S'posed to be, till the headmaster discovered the controversial content of the movie.

Mary and Nigel

Yes, fig and goat cheese is nice, but...

...bring on the meat!
Photo by Dian

Elderberry sorbet

What, you don't fight over the bill like this?

This arm wrestle was purely for fun...well, maybe fun for Nigel, Dian's arm hurt a lot after!

Cricket at Charterhouse

Charterhouse school

After a nice cup of tea back at Tigbourne Farm, we watched the Sarah Palin biop, "Game Change" then played a game of trivia (with Nigel contesting nearly every answer in the book). We ended the night by calling Grandmother and Granddad in Rancho Palos Verdes, then had eggs on toast and asparagus whipped up by Mary, yum.

Sandy and Poppy, none the worse for ware!

Like a good English dog, Sandy is quite proper and formal.