Ashland Avatar: RETURN OF THE AVATAR

Well I can't make excuses as to why I haven't published any new Avatars other than laziness. Now their are even fewer excuses with the insanity that is going on around us. So here it is. I assume that the majority of you are on "house arrest", sounds better than "lock down" and wouldn't mind a little travel log to pass the time. That said . . . 2019 UK and Italy.

You may or may not be aware we booked a language intensive trip through Road Scholar for 6 weeks in Florence Italy last year. Much more about that later. Given that we still have family and friends in the UK that is where our journeys will begin. First disclaimer, I am tired of carrying a big camera and multiple lenses around with me. In the airports its a pain because they generally consider it my piece of personal carry-on and then out in the field you find yourself loaded down with gear and no time to really stop and set up the images you really want to capture. So instead of "images" you get snapshots. And while there is nothing wrong with snapshots, those are what memories are made of, it ain't exactly fine art. Long story short, I upgrade my phone to a Pixel with what purported to be a really good camera. So never fear, there will be pictures, but it let it be known using a phone is nothing like using an SLR and I never did become comfortable with it.

For those of you who remember my past post(s) about English crisps, potato chips; here is a new one to add to the collection of I can't believe anybody would choose to eat this. For those unfamiliar with the British breakfast delicacy, black pudding is a blood sausage and English mustard is sinus destroying mustard whose only redeeming feature is it is HOT. They weren't as ghastly as they sound but I would not search them out.

Since we are already on the topic of food, I need to share the overwhelming choice of fast food establishments that we found across the street from our hotel in Leicester. Admitedly, it is a University town and the student housing was nearby but this was pretty overwhelming.

Let's start here . . . Fireaway, Designer Pizza in 180 Seconds, that's not even enough time to think about what toppings you might want. Next door Peri-Peri, a spicy chicken place. This one is new to me, but it is just a variation on a theme that was develped by Nando's. As far as I know they were the originators of Peri-Peri Chicken and to quote from there website :

IT'S A PEPPER

PERi-PERi, also known as the African Bird’s Eye Chilli, is the key to our legendary, flame-grilled PERi-PERi chicken. It’s grown in the African soil, so the magic starts from the ground up. It tastes amazing, but the benefits don’t stop there:

IT'S A SAUCE

We mix PERi-PERi with salt, garlic, lemon, onion, oil, and vinegar to make our signature sauce. Then we marinate our chicken in it for 24 hours and serve it at our restaurants across the globe. PERi-PERi sauce combines unmistakable flavor with a kick of heat that gently builds on the tongue and culminates in a full-body experience. It’s magic in a bottle.

And so here in the next block we have Nando's, (love there claims of a full-body experience) Oodles, Chinese, presumably noodles and WingShack. Just to heap excess on top of excess I was standing in the doorway of a pub when I grabbed this shot. Carry on a little further and if my memory does not deceive, the other side of the street you get another typically British culinary delight Grand Kebabs. If you have never experienced a Doner Kebab, it is meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie, sliced thinly and served in pita. I'm guessing it is pretty much the same thing as gyro, just a different nationality.

And, of course there is Five Spice, which seems to be the name of every third Indian restaurant in this island nation.

We finish our two block excursion with Flames, chaiiwala and r/bar. My guess is that chaiiwala is a play on words, chai (blend of black tea and spices) and wallah (a person concerned or involved with a specified thing or business). Thus a person or business involved with chai. All these options in a place where not all that many years ago the only place to get food outside you own home was a hotel restaurant. We did not opt for any of these culinary enticements, instead we went for good old Indian. You know the drill chicken biriyani, sag aloo (my personal favorite) plenty of rice, a dish of raita and nan. So if those all sound foreign to you take a flyer on Indian cuisine, all of the above are pretty typical without being so exotic as to be inedible.

Ostensibly we are here to visit family so it is the traditional lunch (dinner for the English among you) at a local carvery. There was a lot of catching up and by the time we had finished we were the only folk left in the place. Sometimes the English place names are better than the places themselves. An Aunt lives in Broughton Astley, a cousin in Barwell, another in Sutton in the Elms (I think), the pub was in Peatling Parva, which is not far from Peatling Magna and on the way to Willoughby Waterleys.


Peatling Parva Church

Having fulfilled our immediate obligations to visit we joined a cousin a local fete where she was doing a demonstration of dog handling with her little pooch Scoobie. The fete or fun day was held in a enormous field on the edge of the village. The Brits are experts at creating an outdoor experience where there is really no other reason to be there than to be outside. There were quasi historical re-enactments of American historical events, a car show, a canal boat show, the normal forty thieves and rides we see at county fairs, and lawn mower racing. So for your entertainment and elucidation a selections of not so inspiring pictures of the shenanigans.