Strolling in Sunshine

So England is doing its best to surprise me. Oh, we've had our share of rain, but so far the bulk of the weather has been sunshine. Windy--oh yes--after all Bristol is very close to the sea, but gorgeous blue sky and sunshine has been occurring a lot and today is the best of them all! Today is also the day I decided to stroll furthest afield since I have been walking around enough both by myself and with Mark to see what is on our road. And I must admit, despite the risk of sounding condescendingly American, that I just love the small shops, tiny roads, and ways that the British have which have not changed much over the centuries. Certainly, modernity is all around us as well. And I realize that the small spaces necessitate certain lifestyles. Still.
For example, today I decided to go look at a bedroom furniture store which is going out of business, to see if I could find Mark and I some better pillows at a good price. But I also decided on the way to pop into any shop that took my fancy as well as run some information errands. So one of the first stops was the butcher shop near us to find out if they do indeed stock fresh turkey around Thanksgiving. I asked this and the butcher (who looked quintissentially like a butcher should: short, balding, in a white coat, and somewhat stout) had to ask me the date for Thanksgiving. Ah yes, religious persecutions from 1620 are not big on the radar here. He said to check back in October--he'd have more information from the poultry farms then!
After passing two bakeries I decided that fresh bread would be next on the list and then headed down further to look into an Oriental market we passed the other night. I was not disappointed and picked up a few items for future Thai food consumption. By the time I crossed the street to stroll up the other side, it was clearly tea time and people were taking the advantage of the nice weather to have their tea outside in various little shops. I really wanted to get flowers from one of the many shops I passed, but know enough now to see that they were more expensive than I needed to pay. So, I got myself a lovely fat loaf of whole wheat bread and came home to make a cup of tea myself and have some toast with it.
All this to say that I was just feeling rather like a character in a book who did all the cliche' English things. Except that cliche' or not, they really do go to various little shops and get different items and toodle about before tea time and then hop a bus for home. Yes, they have supermarkets, but clearly the small shop is still very much alive in Bristol at least. :) On a final note my box of American baking goods arrived today and just in time too. It's just the sort of weather for gingersnaps! (Besides it will cover the smell of my first piece of toast which burned to cinders in a very powerful new toaster. ) Love to my fam!!