So typical. It seemed like no matter where I went or what I did tea was being shoved at me left, right, and center. This picture is a mere sampling from a store that was *NOT* a supermarket. Yeah, the English like their tea. Really people, I'm human and my body can only ingest so much tea. Please. Relax with the tea.
Ahhhh, the other national English past-time. The one in which life revolves around: The Pub™. This particular pub, The Black Rabbit, was particularly fantastic (just outside of Arundel) and I have a rather lovely memory of playing cards with my friend. Cards. One of my favorite past-times... so I decided to share with my friend and teach him a few games. There we were, happily playing Egypitan war, me kicking his rotten ass left, right, and center, when nature decided to call. I gave him a strict verbal warning about not looking at my cards while I was gone and off I went. Yeaaaaaaaah. FIRST of all he's male. SECOND of all he's English. I should have known better. I come back from the loo to pick up my cards and start laying them down. The sneaky swine cheated his ASS of while I was gone and I was pounded flat as a pancake. Lesson learned - don't play cards with the English. They make up their own rules. And they cheat. Dishonest bastards.
I attended a formal dinner just before I left. Oops, so sorry. Make that a Black-Tie event. The English assure me that a Black-Tie formal and a formal dinner are two totally separate things. But they aren't. Same. Thing. Anyway, while all the boys were out leaving me to my own devices (they should've known better), I snapped off a few self-portrait shots... this being one of them. The dinner was fantastic eventhough I had to ask what everything was and how to eat it. Lesson learned: pork scratchings are for show. So when the fuckers ask you if you want some with your dinner, you're supposed to say yes and then not eat them. Yeah. Apparently I committed a huge faux-pas eating said food. WHO KNEW?!?! YOU CAN'T MAKE UP DINNER RULES AS YOU PLEASE! IT'S JUST NOT RIGHT!
Have loads of lovely picks of this lovely castle, Arundel Castle. There was a huge pheasant just inside the castle gates that went "SQUUUUAAAARRRRRKKKK!" just as I entered. He was about 10 feet from me, and after I finished soiling myself I snapped off a few nice shots of him. Will post him on Lumiere eventually.
The Tourist Guide™.
Big Ben, of course. I was surprised because after seeing countless photos of this guy online I was less than excited to see him in person. It turns out the tower is EXTREMELY ornate and beautiful and I took about 100 photos of the cheeky swine. It also turns out that Big Ben is the name of the bell inside the tower, not the actual tower itself. So, uh, now you know.