Sunday, March 15, 2009
Three Questions about England
It had been quite a while since I went to a wedding. I checked online, and indeed my subscription to www.RentAWeddingGuest.com had expired. I renewed immediately....and last week hopped back to the UK for a lovely ceremony.
Why anyone would get married in February was beyond me, until I remembered they were a fellow Meteorologist. Of course! There's no such thing as bad weather...only 'interesting' weather. Actually the day was really beautiful, and mild. Relatively.
After a day at Notts Abbey, it was time for the usual dash around the UK, meeting people for brunch, lunch, dinner and drinks. I'm surprised the aeroplane home ever manages to take off.
To ensure I got a fix of the UK that would last me 6 months or so, I decided to check out some really English sights:
Stonehenge - That sky is beautiful. Oops, I'm showing my inner weather-geek. Quickly moving on... I wanted to go and see the Naked-Chalk-Man, but frankly he was too far away, so I had to make do with a horse instead:
I positioned that lamp post perfectly. Then a local favourite, Sway Tower:
And on the way out of the forest, I was greeted by a giant bacon sandwich:
Now I have some questions for you:
1) There's a vicious rumour going round that Stonehenge is near the sea. More than one person has claimed that this can't be the 'real' Stonehenge as they've seen a picture of it by a cliff. Has anyone else heard this rumour or knows where it comes from?
2) According to my Mother, Sway, a tiny village in the New Forest, boasts the tallest unsupported concrete tower in the world. I'm rather skeptical. Can anyone shed any light on this? Maybe it was the tallest when it was built? Or maybe my Mother made it up and I've been spreading the rumour ever since?
3) Pigs are let out into the forest to eat acorns, as acorns are poisonous to horses. However, this happens in Autumn, and I took my photo in March. What has happened? Are the Foresters just confused?
I had other questions when I was back in the UK too...like how many stamps come in a set? How much is a Zone 1-4 Travelcard? I'm beginning to feel like I don't belong!!
Why anyone would get married in February was beyond me, until I remembered they were a fellow Meteorologist. Of course! There's no such thing as bad weather...only 'interesting' weather. Actually the day was really beautiful, and mild. Relatively.
After a day at Notts Abbey, it was time for the usual dash around the UK, meeting people for brunch, lunch, dinner and drinks. I'm surprised the aeroplane home ever manages to take off.
To ensure I got a fix of the UK that would last me 6 months or so, I decided to check out some really English sights:
Stonehenge - That sky is beautiful. Oops, I'm showing my inner weather-geek. Quickly moving on... I wanted to go and see the Naked-Chalk-Man, but frankly he was too far away, so I had to make do with a horse instead:
I positioned that lamp post perfectly. Then a local favourite, Sway Tower:
And on the way out of the forest, I was greeted by a giant bacon sandwich:
Now I have some questions for you:
1) There's a vicious rumour going round that Stonehenge is near the sea. More than one person has claimed that this can't be the 'real' Stonehenge as they've seen a picture of it by a cliff. Has anyone else heard this rumour or knows where it comes from?
2) According to my Mother, Sway, a tiny village in the New Forest, boasts the tallest unsupported concrete tower in the world. I'm rather skeptical. Can anyone shed any light on this? Maybe it was the tallest when it was built? Or maybe my Mother made it up and I've been spreading the rumour ever since?
3) Pigs are let out into the forest to eat acorns, as acorns are poisonous to horses. However, this happens in Autumn, and I took my photo in March. What has happened? Are the Foresters just confused?
I had other questions when I was back in the UK too...like how many stamps come in a set? How much is a Zone 1-4 Travelcard? I'm beginning to feel like I don't belong!!
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Now you've had your eyes sand blasted and re-alined did you catch the bouquet at the wedding?
Brief answers to your questions:
(1) They could be getting Stonehenge confused with Seahenge, orig Seahenge was off the North Norfolk Coast at Holme-next-the-sea, in some pictures you can see cliffs in the background.
(2)The tower is called Sway Tower and also known as "Peterson's Folly", built around 1879 the tower is 66m (218ft) tall making it the tallest Folly in the world, he built a small prototype around 150m to the North of the main one.
(3) all I can say is mmmmm road kill :)
Travel card zone 1-4 Day (peak) £10 (off peak) £6.30p or 7 day £36.80p.
Hope that helped and sorry if there was too much info.
Ash
Brief answers to your questions:
(1) They could be getting Stonehenge confused with Seahenge, orig Seahenge was off the North Norfolk Coast at Holme-next-the-sea, in some pictures you can see cliffs in the background.
(2)The tower is called Sway Tower and also known as "Peterson's Folly", built around 1879 the tower is 66m (218ft) tall making it the tallest Folly in the world, he built a small prototype around 150m to the North of the main one.
(3) all I can say is mmmmm road kill :)
Travel card zone 1-4 Day (peak) £10 (off peak) £6.30p or 7 day £36.80p.
Hope that helped and sorry if there was too much info.
Ash
# posted by 
: 2:00 PM
: 2:00 PM
Hi Steff, RE: Pigs v Acorns.
An informed source (The Times) says pigs are the solution to the "pannage", the need to get shot of green acorns. They are poisonous to all bar our friendly swine and their intervention saves the world in areas such as the New Forest. So not a huge surprise to see them roaming free. However, if they are roaming freely for acorns in the spring, then maybe the greater concern is the spring appearance of acorns which would be totally out of character for them. More evidence of global warming ??
All the best, Rich from Wales x
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An informed source (The Times) says pigs are the solution to the "pannage", the need to get shot of green acorns. They are poisonous to all bar our friendly swine and their intervention saves the world in areas such as the New Forest. So not a huge surprise to see them roaming free. However, if they are roaming freely for acorns in the spring, then maybe the greater concern is the spring appearance of acorns which would be totally out of character for them. More evidence of global warming ??
All the best, Rich from Wales x
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