World Tour

July 17 - Monday Chalfont St. Giles We got up and had a little bite to eat before walking to the village. We stopped at a public path sign and asked a gentlemen if the road we were on lead into the village (Jon wanted to make sure he remembered correctly). We were indeed on the right path. The man was with his two dogs who were both deaf apparently. He was surprised to learn we were Americans as he stated, "I didn't know Americans walked anywhere.". I think we (the collective we) certainly can give that impression but, whatever. Into the village we went where we eyed the bakery and walked down to the pond and over to the church. We walked up to Jon's elementary school just in time to watch the kids go to lunch which was in another building. We were hanging on the fence and the teacher asked if she could help us. When Jon explained why we were there they talked briefly about the structural changes that had been made to the building as the kids filed into the next building for lunch. After a bit we carried on around the school along the path where Jon remembered being in tears on his first day of school telling his mom how he wanted to go back to his old grade school back in the states. He said he was pretty much fine after that first day. We made a loop back into town looking for a snack. Of course we stopped by the bakery for a sausage roll for Jon and a sweet roll type of thing with raisins and candied fruit bits and we shared a tiny little minced meat pie which was quite good. We went to another school Jon attended when he was older on the way home. They were having recess in a very small area that was fenced off but still had enough room for football! When we returned Catherine took us to the local sporting goods store to see about a tent pole. While Jon looked into it I browsed around and got some heavy duty insect repellent for Thailand, Singapore and South Korea to add to our arsenal of drugs and chemicals to use during the moonsoon season. They were able to find the company and told us they would call later once they contacted their contact within the company about the tent pole. This seemed hopeful so we exchanged numbers and left for the Tesco grocery store across the street. Tesco's is like a Walmart, a little of everything but way nicer. We got Jon's Nutella but then realized that Catherine was putting in all the things we were eyeing and saying "oh look, they have (fill in the blankl)". As a fellow chocoholic, she could relate! Ah, a kindred spirit. After we returned the four of us basically lounged around in the heat and talked about world affairs through the eyes of the British versus the eyes of the Americans and had some ice cream. Before long it was well into the evening and our hosts whipped up a fabulous meal. Bacon wrapped chicken breast with sausages, mashed potatoes with carrots and something sweet - I forget, broccoli and strawberries and cream with the tastiest short bread cookies - we were happily stuffed. It was a late dinner and we all were ready to go to bed shortly after eating so we said our good nights. Jon and I planned to have a working day tomorrow. I stayed up looking at catalogs for a store I likened to Archie McPhee's back home.