York is charming

Last night Howard was getting ready to climb into bed when he exclaimed, “they didn't make the bed”. I explained, that the bed was indeed made, just the European way. They use a fitted bottom sheet, but then just a filled duvet for the covering. They don’t use a sheet in between the fitted sheet and the duvet. It just seems funny. When we talked about this with the innkeepers, who are from South Africa, they told us that in the stores the sheet sets are sold with a bottom sheet, duvet covering, and pillow cases. They also found it odd.

We decided to explore York city today. Our first stop was the National Railway Museum. This is their equivalent of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. We ended up spending about two and a half hours. It is a history of the British Rail system with all sorts of historical trains. Some of these are even royal trains and coaches from Queen Victoria right up through the current Queen Elizabeth II. The museum also houses a locomotive turntable. They had a couple of “Explainers” go through the process and demonstrate how they move the large locomotives around.

During the WWII the railway jobs which men usually did were taken over by women since the men went off to war. Much like the Rosie the Riveter women in our own country, these women were eventually replaced by the returning men. I imagine that in Britain, as in America, the women were feeling very much displaced. I firmly believe that this was the original start of the Women’s Movement. Women had found out that they could do jobs just as well as men. Many women were no longer satisfied with staying at home. They found out that they had brains and could do any job that they set their minds to.

After leaving the museum, we wandered the inner city - the Shambles and Snickelways of the streets. Round and round we went, sometimes passing the same shops a number of times as we tried to find our way through the darling cobbled streets. Eventually we stopped for a very late lunch and early dinner at a very famous tea room called Bettys.

I have wanted to have at least one High Tea in England. It seemed that today was to be that day. We stood in a short queue. We passed on being seated immediately downstairs. We were waiting for a table by the windows. It was too pretty a day not to enjoy our tea and people watch at the same time. Finally, we were seated at a table by the windows along the busy cobbled street. The waitresses were all dressed in long black skirts, black nylons, flats, long sleeved eyelet white blouses with high buttoned necks and long white aprons. Unlike many of the restaurants we have eaten at during the last two weeks, these waitresses were all English. The other waitresses seem to have come from Eastern European countries. We had asked the innkeepers about why there were so few English servers. It seems that the English are not willing to take the very low paying waitress type jobs. They can stay at home and get more money from the government and their version of welfare. The girls who come from Poland etc, are more than willing to work for the English wages as the conversion to their money is greater when they send their pay back home.

I digress, back to the tea we had at Bettys. First, came the silverware – two forks and three knives. A few minutes later, the waitress brought us a tray with two pots – a large one with the tea, and a smaller one with hot water. Howard had his black, I had mine with sugar and milk.

Next, came the food on two separate three tired servers The top plate held sandwiches, smoked salmon, egg mayonnaise, roast ham, and cucumber & cream cheese. Two of the sandwiches were on one server and the other two were on the other server. The second plate, on each server, held a Sultana scone, and pots of Yorkshire clotted cream and strawberry preserves. The third plate held the desserts. On the one server were a Raspberry Fruit Cheesecake and a piece of Fruitcake. On the other server were a Chocolate Mousse and a Yorkshire Curd Tart. All in all, a lot of food. We took our time and eventually finished it all - except for the fruit cake that is. Howard said we should take the fruitcake home with us for the Fruit Cake toss which Manitou Springs holds in January each year. Finally, stuffed to our gills, we left. Needless to say, we didn’t eat any dinner tonight.

We have just been taking it easy tonight, watching a bit of television. They had a program on about Elizabeth I. The same woman who starred in the movie Calendar Girls (the blond one who couldn’t bake worth a darn) played Elizabeth I. I understand she is going to play Elizabeth II in an upcoming movie. She was great in what we saw on the telly. I can’t wait to see how she plays this new role.

That’s it from what is tonight rainy York. T&T