The new year begins, albeit quietly

1 January 

New Year’s Day in England is very quiet, with virtually nothing open except the occasional pub.  Even Mr. Patel’s convenience store was closed.  Most trains don’t run either.  We remembered that Ellie the pony was giving carriage rides again, so we decided that we’d have a ride this time, instead of just watching. When we got to the path where she was supposed to be, there was a sign saying that, due to an injury, there would be no rides. Poor Ellie! Well, we assume it’s Ellie who was injured, but it could be that her minder had one too many on New Year’s Eve. So instead of a carriage ride, we took a lovely walk through the Ashstead and Epsom Commons to - wait for it – a pub. It was quite a busy day on the paths. Lots of people were out walking with their dogs and families, riding bicycles, jogging. The first time we walked these paths there was a lot of mud.  Over the last few days there has been a lot of rain, so in many places the mud had turned to swamp. Our hosts had told us that we’d want to lace our boots us tightly, so the mud didn’t pull them off.  I regretted not having a pair of Wellies!

The lovely walk led to The Cricketers pub which is situated across from a cricket pitch and next to a lovely pond. It’s as much a restaurant as a pub and on this day it was filled with families, lots of screaming kids and dogs running around. The dogs were actually better behaved than most of the kids. We sat on the patio where we had a view of the pond and enjoyed the relative quiet.

There were lots of birds: seagulls, ducks and a blue heron. 

One of the ducks was enormous, easily twice the size of the others.  To quote Blackadder, he looked as though his mother had been rogered by an omnibus. (How rude!)

I was also amused by the colorful chandeliers hanging over some of the tables.  It must be a lively scene in good weather.

2 January

Storm Henk has battered much of England, causing massive flooding.  We’ve been watching the water creep closer to the path that leads to the train station with each passing day. After last night’s raging wind and rain, the path was completely flooded. 

This means that we take a roundabout route to get to the station. We were luckier than some, however, since several train lines were out of service due to flooding.  Flooding was an issue on the Eurostar over the New Year holiday as well, with thousands of people stranded when all the trains were cancelled. We did have train service, so I was able to pursue another of my obsessions, Sticky Toffee pudding.  A few years ago we found ourselves in Cartmel on the edge of the Lake District in Cumbria. The Cartmel Village Shop, we discovered, is the home of Sticky Toffee Pudding, which is a rather sweet, but delicious hot dessert, sort of a cross between a cake and a pudding.  They have become so popular that the Cartmel Village Shop will ship them all over England, though not to the States. I’ve tried to make it and was more than disappointed by the result.  I saw that Waitrose carries the original but, sadly, my trip to Epson was wasted because this Waitrose didn't stock it. The search continues.

3 January

Off to Dorking today to pick up my Biscoff cake.  My first stop was the pet store. Gandalf had ripped a giant hole in his catnip toy and I was afraid he would eat the fabric it so I took it away from him. This lead to lots of naughty behavior, especially his continually jumping on the kitchen counter. (I started calling him a counter terrorist.) I bought him a new catnip toy and a ping pong ball to chase. After that I wandered about town and, of course, browsed the antique stores again.  There’s something I love about these places.  They aren’t at all like antique stores in the US. There are so many items you would rarely find in the States: sterling silver matchbox cases, bone handled knives from Sheffield, elaborate serving pieces and silver sets, gorgeous English china, not to mention paintings and furniture.  I find myself imagining the lives of the people whose items have ended up in the shops.  I had a great chat with the proprietor of one of  the shops. He had been to America years ago and told me all about his trip.  That conversation then veered into a discussion of American politics, then British politics and we both agreed that England should probably reclaim the states, if only to improve the educational system. I picked up my beautiful, and extremely heavy, Biscoff cake and walked the mile or so back to the train station.  Alighting at Ashtead, my arm aching from the wieght of the cake, the skies opened. I had a cloth shopping bag to wrap around the cake box, so I was the only thing that was soggy by the time I reached the house.

The ping pong ball ended up stuck under the dishwasher in less than a minute. The catnip toy was a big hit.