Weekend Outing (Part One: Friday)

I met these two on Friday morning (the 21st) at Victoria station for our trip to Brighton. It was quite the adventure....

We arrived in Brighton and took a taxi to Europcar, the car rental place. As the man behind the counter processed the information, a woman (bottom middle) started a conversation with us:

Lady: "How was Connecticut? When you left I mean." 

(We make small talk)

Several minutes later:

Lady:  "Yeah, I lived there for seven years." 

Grandma: "Oh, whereabouts?"

Lady: "Vernon."

(We exclaim in surprise. Man asks us questions about the car. There is a pause.)

Grandma: "So where in Vernon?"

Lady: "Oh, you know. Like the Rockville area."

What?? What are the chances of that?!

Meanwhile, Grandpa received a tutorial from the guy on how to drive a left-aligned car. I asked Gram if he knew what he was doing, and she said, "We've only driven on the left once. And it was on a moped." I had a feeling it was going to be an interesting drive. 

We still don't know what these zigzag lines on the road mean...

We really didn't have any way to find directions, the only exception being the sporadic moments when I was able to connect to the wifi. So we made a few a lot of wrong turns. Grandpa made several guesses as to which way including, "Lotta cars up here must be something up here," and when deciding what to eat, "You can't be picky when there's nothing here." But of all people to be thrown into poorly-labelled areas and a new way of driving, it's him. I felt (mostly!) safe :)

We settled on this "American" diner. It was just us, the owner/cook/waiter and one local customer (who seemed to practically live there). We were a little skeptical at first because he seemed really disorganized, but the burgers ended up being delicious. 

We didn't know exactly where the Bed and Breakfast, and drove around in circles looking for it. When we spotted a group of people congregating outside a local pub, we decided to ask for directions. Grandma and I went up to ask them:

Grandma: "Excuse me, are you from here?"

(the group nods)

Grandma: "Do you know where the Rosehill B&B is?"

Lady: Oh, that's me!

Grandma: "Are you Liz?"

Lady: "I sure am!"

The owner of the B&B just happened to stop by the local pub to drop off a book for her friend, and was just about to leave when we bumped into her. Needless to say, she knew how to direct us there!

"See," I said to Grandma, "That was God taking care of us." 

And isn't this the cutest little English cottage??

My bedroom [top left], their's [bottom right], our shared bathroom (with an electric shower!), and the back entrance. 

After settling in (and picking our breakfast out from the menu), we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the town.

And then we went back to the same pub for a traditional English supper. The owner, a good friend of Liz's, served us and told us to try his curry ("real curry. Chopped up. Not the spice you buy from a store.") and recommended his liver pie. It was dee-lish-ous:

And it wouldn't be a real meal with Grandpa if we didn't have dessert:

"Banoffee" (Banana and Toffee) Cake :)

Cheers!

Leah