Countryside adventures

Last night I had the opportunity to go to a write-in at an abandoned church in the English countryside, and... yeah, it was an adventure. It was a thirty-minute walk through a muddy cow field, and I was one of the few people to actually be wearing wellies (the British word for rain boots). Once we actually got to the church, Jed had brought candles, so we looked around, poked in all the nooks and crannies, recited some poetry, and finally noveled a little. I finished a chapter in the church in about 50 minutes, though my hands were freezing (I don't have my fingerless gloves here) and I could see my breath every time I breathed out. Really cool... wish I had been writing gothic fiction or fantasy, it would have made the atmosphere so much better.

So, after we all got a little writing done, we headed to the nearby pub, the Perch. It's so far away from town but I really recommend it. We went in the back entrance, which had a series of arches lit by Christmas lights, then went into a garden of gigantic weeping willow trees before we got to the pub itself. It was gorgeous; I thought I was on Middle-Earth or something. Inside the pub I got my first experience with mead, which is... honeyed wine, I think, I don't know really. But it was warm, and it was the perfect drink after spending so much time in the cold. Spent a lot of time talking about Men Who Stare At Goats, drowning babies and how babies cry in their native language, synaesthesia, and shooting guns. (It was a G36, by the way, check my blog entries from September.)

After some other excellent conversation we headed back to Jericho (the town next to Oxford), still chatting and looking at the stars (which surprisingly look the same as the US, but brighter since there was so little light pollution in that cow field). We were on the way back when we found a bar called Freud (I can't make this stuff up) and I ended up staying until 2 in the morning. Excellent rum in the rum and coke apparently. Ended up doing some dancing in the middle of the bar (try waltzing in rain boots, it's difficult, but I managed to do it), and got Tom to demonstrate the White Man Shuffle for the British people.

It's so much fun talking with Americans among British people. We'll start talking about things, then have to explain something like, why guns are so popular in the States. Apparently you're not allowed to own guns in Britain so gangsters own dogs and knives instead. What a strange concept for an American! I also got asked if I was engaged because of the promise ring Justin got me. Only one other American understood the phrase 'He went to Jared' but it came across. They were somewhat confused that a promise ring was different from an engagement ring; I explained that for us, engagement means he actually asked me to marry him and we've set a date and all that, but promised means that someday he will ask me to marry him and I'm very definitively taken. They all thought my ring was pretty, too, which was a huge ego boost for me because I love it and wear it every day. I'm so glad other people notice these things!

More later if I can remember. I have to do work but I keep getting distracted by RiffTrax...

- Jen -