Day 5 - A Working/Shopping Day

Bob went into the Marlow office today. While he was working, I was sitting on the deck of this lovely B & B, sipping tea, taking in the sun, listening to the birds, and watching the squirrels. Yeah, I'd say I had the better morning. It was very relaxing and we hated to leave this place. The people here have been extremely hospitable. But we had to check out and move on. After lunch, Bob went back to work in the office while I explored the shopping in the village. I found a few shops in which I could have done some major damage if I had any room in my suitcase. Bob was very glad I had no more room. My bag was already too heavy (and I'm not sure why!).

We found some things very interesting as we observed and asked on this trip. Because much shopping was being moved to larger "mall" areas, the store spaces in the villages were being left empty. To fill the spaces, "thrift" stores came in, each with their own charity. So you could have several thrift stores up and down the street, with the money going to different organizations. Apparently this is quite common in the UK. I know my children would love this! We also noticed several large vegetable garden areas in the villages as we traveled on the train. Since yards are so small for those living closer to the city, people can rent out garden space from the local government and tend their own gardens right along side another person's garden. It's not a co-op, just a large group of individual gardens.

I have drank more hot tea on this trip than I have all year. I am craving Chick-Fil-A sweet tea!!! At lunch yesterday, an Israeli gentleman that was with us asked the waitress for iced tea. She gave him this look like, "what, are you crazy?" and shook her head "Oh no. No iced." Apparently I'm not the only one wanting iced tea.

Talking with this man from Israel was very interesting. He gave us some insights on what life is like right now in Israel. Very safe. Not at all how the American media makes it sound. The youth are all required to go into the army right after high school. The men for three years, the women for two. If they continue after that, they are highly paid. The cost of living there is a lot less than Europe. For the last 10 years or so, there has been a huge influx of Russian Jews to Israel. And now the Russian Mafia has enormous influence. Our talk at dinner was very enlightening. This is a part about traveling to different areas that I enjoy. Getting to see how other people live. What I have decided (I really already knew this, but it gets confirmed often) is that Americans are very spoiled. We have so many comforts that we just expect. Taxes over here take a big bite out of people's income, well over 50%. In Israel it is worse, over 60%. And they aren't making the income that Americans do. And yes, they have socialized medicine, but there are drawbacks to that. You don't always get the best medical care. Also, here in England, a university undergraduate degree only takes 3 years, and a masters degree only takes one year. How that works, I'm not sure. So why does it take 4-5 years to complete a first degree in the U.S.?

Well, after work, we headed off to our next hotel near Gatwick Airport. Bob has a conference there on Tuesday and Wednesday. Not much going on for me. Just relaxing. Catching up with some reading. I'm okay with that as my legs are a little sore from all the walking! Can't walk in heels. Talk later...