Day #18
We woke up to the best breakfast (9am) that I have had so far in England (it was still a Full English Breakfast - standard menu in B&Bs in this country). Then we set off to our next tourist stop - the Laundromat. During that time we visited the Post Office and a privately-run museum (it is a shame that in Hastings there looks like no official support for the heritage of the place - it is all supported by private effort, or so it appears). After we come back from the Laundromat we talk to the owner of the guest house. He used to be an IT manager in London, then decided it was more rewarding to run a B&B (any ideas anyone? ;). He told us he was amazed that Australians keep telling him good the rail service is, when the Brits all complain about it (Ed: no comment ;).
Finally we bid him farewell, and head to the train station where we get a train to our next stop - Rye.
Rye
We arrive at Rye after 20 min on the train. Wow! What a difference this place is. Rye is a beautiful town. Very picturesque with cobbled streets and lots of heritage buildings. The people are more up-market (a travel guide calls them "bohemian"(sp)). As we walk up the street towards our hotel we pass under a giant ancient gate called Land(?) Gate. Then we arrived at the hotel (The Rye Lodge). This was a 3-star hotel but I don’t know why, it looked more like a 4-star to me.
After we checked-in we started a walk around town. We passed a shop called Shamrock textiles (which sold some linen tea towels that Amy desperately wanted) but was closed. Amy was disappointed. When then went to Ypres Tower, it was closed too. Finally we came to St Mary's Church which was open. It had this tower with cool stairs that went up to the bell tower. At one point the corridor up was to narrow for me to walk straight-shouldered in, and I had to turn sideways to get up. The steps were very steep but after 3 levels we got to the top. The view was magnificent (apart from the vertigo I was feeling). You could see the whole town from up here. But it was bitterly cold (from the wind) so we stayed for about 5-10 minutes then went back down. We went to Simon the Pie man Shop and had a cup of tea then went back to the hotel.
Dinner
We had dinner in the hotel, in their banquet room. I naively ordered their fish (Amy had the chicken) but it was full of bones, and this annoyed me greatly. Amy (very nicely) swapped dinners with me, and then she braved through the bones. We then retired to the bedroom after this, Amy fell asleep and I played computer games until midnight (I am starting to miss World of Warcraft - I am playing Civilisation IV but it is not much of a substitute - I have some catching up to do when I get back to Australia - god, I am pathetic ;)
(Also I later read a tourist guide that described Hastings as "seedy and run-down")
England
Here are some general notes about England:
- Funny toilet flush - They don’t have a half-flush and a full-flush like they do here, Instead you flush once (for half flush) and then again (for full-flush). This is disconcerting.
- Weird language - When I went to get a coffee from a coffee shop the lady said to me "We are closed. If you want a coffee go across the road and get one yourself." What she meant was: "Sorry, we are closed. There is a self-serve coffee facility in the shop across the road". She wasn’t trying to be rude (I don’t think she was) but the language comes across that way, I have seen several instances of this in other conversations as well.
- Things being closed - A warning to anyone wanting to visit these sights: outside of tourist season, these attractions may be closed 50% or even 100% of the time. It pays to know before hand what their opening times are like.
- Smoking everywhere - In July 2007 England will adopt similar laws to Australia about smoking in restaurants, pubs, etc. I think that a lot higher proportion of Brits smoke than Australians … they are going to be in for a rude shock. Suffice to say my lungs have copped a bit of a beating over here.
- CCTVs (Closed Circuit Television) everywhere - London has CCTVs everywhere (a statistic quoted on the radio said that a londoner gets photographed on average 300 times a day). They are going to be adding speakers and voice overs to the CCTVs soon as well, and it will really feel like "Big Brother" after that (the book 1984 - not the TV show you philistines ;)
