I lived in England briefly in the early 80s and loved the walking paths around Winchester. Asking directions has a hazard - when the locals hear an American accent they immediately smile and begin a conversation. Where are you from? Are you here on vacation? Oh, you married an Englishwoman? Where is she from, perhaps I know her.
Being a Southerner raised to be polite I always ended up being immersed in these conversations even though I knew that a bus would be here soon, or a train leaving in a few minutes. But the hazard was mitigated by folks who, knowing the bus or train has left, invited you to the local for a casual pint. I still have the sweatshirt from The Yew Tree given to me by the publican who noticed I was shivering.
I'm happy Ms Rosenfield's tale had a charming end - and a tale she can perhaps tell in future.
Tangential: If you like a hike and want to see what makes Britain quite different than the U.S. and if you ever go back and have a couple days, look up: National Ridgeway Trail
You may already know, but I'll add just in case - both Google Maps and Apple Maps support downloading a map area ahead of time, so that it will be usable, even for getting directions, in case you don't have a good cell connection. (realizing that if you had done this, the good story in this case would have to be something else...)
So many people do this...follow someone to nowhere. What is good about this story, it reminds one of the pleasantries of just going off somewhere with no specific plans.
I loved this story because it made me laugh.
OH MY GOD I have not laughed this hard in a long time. Thank you
I lived in England briefly in the early 80s and loved the walking paths around Winchester. Asking directions has a hazard - when the locals hear an American accent they immediately smile and begin a conversation. Where are you from? Are you here on vacation? Oh, you married an Englishwoman? Where is she from, perhaps I know her.
Being a Southerner raised to be polite I always ended up being immersed in these conversations even though I knew that a bus would be here soon, or a train leaving in a few minutes. But the hazard was mitigated by folks who, knowing the bus or train has left, invited you to the local for a casual pint. I still have the sweatshirt from The Yew Tree given to me by the publican who noticed I was shivering.
I'm happy Ms Rosenfield's tale had a charming end - and a tale she can perhaps tell in future.
Awesome. This ruled.
Tangential: If you like a hike and want to see what makes Britain quite different than the U.S. and if you ever go back and have a couple days, look up: National Ridgeway Trail
Oh my god 😂😂
Glorious!
Great story. And love the tree photo too.
“And then I broke into the house, dragged him back to Epping Forrest, and murdered him.”
This is brilliant!
ROFL! This is too good and a perfect "travel misunderstanding" story.
Classic Rosenfield.
You may already know, but I'll add just in case - both Google Maps and Apple Maps support downloading a map area ahead of time, so that it will be usable, even for getting directions, in case you don't have a good cell connection. (realizing that if you had done this, the good story in this case would have to be something else...)
So many people do this...follow someone to nowhere. What is good about this story, it reminds one of the pleasantries of just going off somewhere with no specific plans.