Rules for walking in the UK. There are none . . . until there are.

 

Brits love to be outside and walking. It is one of the things we enjoy most about living here and would never want to go back to car culture. We walk everywhere. Our favorite walking days are Saturdays, strolling to the grocery store, then to the butcher and the baker -- and all nearby where we live, making a four mile jaunt in all, and with much needed good exercise and community building. Later that evening, we take a walk to the local pub for a drink with friends. Some of our friends are even ramblers -- for more on them, click here.

 

Still, while there is a love of walking here, there is less a love of walking orderly. Give me a few minutes and you will understand what I mean.

 

I have given serious years of my life trying to sort out the rules for walking in the UK. I have always intuitively felt that somehow figuring out these rules would be a window into the social psychology of the UK. It might. Let’s see. But it’s probably also that I am a grumpy middle-aged guy who cannot enjoy a good walk without being annoyed. I am even happier if the cause of my misery can be blamed on others! 

 

First, let’s get the issue of queuing versus walking out of the way. Standing in a line is not the same as walking down the street. Simple enough. Brits queue perfectly. For a brilliant and fun BBC article on queuing, click here. 

 

The same perfection cannot be said for walking, be it down a crowded city street or along some rambling country path. How Brits walk is not dependent upon the number of people walking. I have watched two Brits on a country path, out in the middle of nowhere and with not a single other person in sight, walk straight into each other. No, these rules apply almost everywhere, be it in the South or up in the North.

 

And, sorry, but these have little to do with narrow sidewalks or living in small towns. These rules are entirely cultural! Sort of like road rage in the States. It's a state of mind! :) 

 

Here, then, is my summary of the rules for walking in the UK.

 

RULE 1: When it comes to walking in the UK, there is no rule, . . . until there is one.

 

Most people in the UK walk about unaware or unconcerned. There is no staying to the left, as one does while driving, nor is there any crowd behaviour such that people will mostly follow a direction of travel. People in the UK simply walk where and how they please. Case in point: in train stations, with stairs and hallways clearly marking a direction of travel, most people walk oblivious. 

 

Until, suddenly, there is a rule. When and how it emerges in entirely self-organizing and consistently contradictory. The only way one knows it is when, maddeningly, one finds oneself on the opposite end of the rule, with a polite grimace or snubbing quick to follow. For example, you might think walking on the left is correct as that is the side for driving and biking. But, it does not really work that way, unfortunately. One minute it’s the right then the next minute the left — fifty people in front of you all go the wrong way, you follow, but only to be suddenly corrected. Can’t you see there is clearly a rule for walking? 

 

Another example. My wife and I are attempting to cross the street. The light is red for cars. We start to cross, but as we do, one of the cars decides to move up slightly, making us have to go around the back of the car. My wife gestures her hand in that "what the heck?" motion, to which the driver, an aggressive male, rolls down his window and asks us if we have a problem. Yes, we do, you are in the walking lane. What rule says that a car is allowed in the pedestrian crossing? And how did it suddenly emerge?

 

Another example. I was riding my bike in the bike lane over a foot/bike bridge where I live with two clear lanes: a wide lane walking (see picture) and the narrow lane for bikes. A rather posh  person was in the biking lane with their two dogs. I started ringing my bike bell well in advance! Three bikers were behind me and one was coming the other way, and with all of us in the bike lane as the walking lane was filled. The person walking unawares suddenly turned around, angrily, and said, "This is a foot bridge!" and with that, chaos!!!!, the bicyclists behind me veered into the other pedestrians . . . crash! Again, where is the rule that a walking/biking bridge (with a clearly identified bike lane) means one is allowed to walk in the bike lane?

 

What is the take-away from Rule1? Walking in the UK is not a brilliant ballet of crowd behaviour, as one sees in Rome or Hong Kong, or some river-like flow of pedestrian traffic, as one sees in Amsterdam or Chennai. Quite the opposite. The result is more akin to a bumper car approach to walking, with everyone weaving and darting around each other and with collisions and pileups a continual occurrence and with the rules not followed . . . until suddenly so.

 

But that is not the end of the rules. The more I thought about it, there are two additional rules that help explain the paradox of RULE 1.

RULE 2: When walking, if one is the cause of a collision, one of three options are available: ignore it, say sorry, or blame it on someone else.

 

RULE 2 is a a bit tricky, as people engage in these three responses in several different combinations. I have identified three, but there might be more.The three I have identified are the Unawares, Accommodators, and Selfish. It is also important to note that these three types are not monoliths. People can and often flow in and out of them. Still, I have found that people seem to generally belong to one of these types more so than the others.

 

Based on my ethnographic research over the past five years, the most common are the Unawares, which constitute about 50% of the population. They are simply not paying attention, lost in their own public travelog. And if you alert them to that fact, they look at you with blank eyes, confusion, fear or sudden embarrassment, and will either continue on or adjust accordingly -- that is, ignoring the whole thing!!!! -- or they will give a quick “Sorry”. 

 

What is also odd about this style is that they are pleasantly surprised if you give way to them, and will say “Thanks” as if you did them a favour, when in reality, you simply decided it was not worth crashing into them. All of which leads me to think, "Are they really aware and just not caring?" And this truly is a UK thing. I have watched folks in many other countries, head-down in their iPhone, walking full-steam and apparently oblivious to everything around them, do a ballet of simply adjusting over and over again, and without ever picking up their heads and with nobody running into each other -- all of which has led me to conclude that the UK unawareness-while-walking thing is entirely cultural. 

 

The second most common enactment of RULE 2 are the Accommodators, and here we are talking about 40% of pedestrians. These are your reasonable caring people who walk with awareness everywhere they are, no matter the country. They are British politeness at its best. Being Accommodators, these folks generally try to follow the rules – walking on the left in the UK when possible or, if not, aligning themselves with the flow of pedestrian traffic. But here is the problem. Some Accommodators, as the name suggests, are too accommodating and too polite. All of which sets up the problem that comes about with the third type, the Selfish. 

 

The third and most obnoxious enactment of RULE 2 are the Selfish, at about 10%. These folks do as they please -- which is particularly obnoxious in a society such as the UK where everyone is hell-bent on avoiding conflict. 

 

I could be wrong, but as my previous examples hint at, there seems to be a social class component to this third type, with posh folks often thinking they have the right of way and with them not too worried about the conflict or collision it causes elsewhere. Social class is everything in the UK. There is also a gender component, often with lads and aggressive males not caring about getting in anyone else's way or thinking it’s funny -- as with the male driver in the crossing lane I mentioned above.

 

Case in point: you are walking with the flow of traffic on a typical British street that is far too narrow, requiring everyone to walk single file. Everything is going smoothly, with the majority of folks simply making way for each other. Suddenly, coming the opposite way is a posh couple walking hand-in-hand or a group of lads. Be they the posh couple or a group of toxic males, they will not move over, and will not switch to single file, all the while staring right at you. Everyone else – be they Unawares or Accommodators – are once again pouring into oncoming traffic or colliding into one another to give them way. The Selfish enactment of RULE 2 is clearly an example of taking advantage of British kindness. Which takes us to RULE 3.

 

RULE 3: Both Rules 1 and 2 can be explained by a potential super-ordinate rule: the goal of public life is to keep the peace; even in the face of those disturbing the peace. 

 

Outlining this rule is tricky, because it is, at once, what is great but also frustrating about the social psychology of public life in the UK. 

 

On the positive side, it is what makes living here, particularly in the countryside and small towns and cities, so homey, congenial and pleasant. It truly is a great thing about the UK. People are keen not to disturb the peace and Brits, as a society, enjoy being together, including participating in one of the great things of UK culture -- Pub and Café life. The only other comparison, for me, is bistro life in Southern France or cafe culture in Italy or Greece. As a counter-point, the UK desire to uphold the peace stands in direct contrast to the States, where disturbing the peace is promoted in public life. In fact, it's become, in the last several years, the name of the game.

 

As such, being seen in the UK as a disturber of the peace is not cool at all. But that takes us to the downside. For example, as we will see in a moment, certain groups of Brits, as in the case of the Posh Selfish or Toxic Male Selfish, are quite content to disturb the peace to get what they want, which, given the role of social class and gender in the UK, is tolerated by everyone else on a regular basis under the heading of the rest of us 'not disturbing the peace.' Giving one the sense that, while we are talking about social psychology here, there might be wider sociological insights.

 

To repeat a point: as with RULE 2, the third rule is enacted in three different ways, based on our three types: the Unawares, Accommodators, and Selfish. For Unawares, the peace need never be disturbed. They do not seem worried about what they or others are doing. They are just doing their own thing.  Given their approach to keeping the peace, Unawares are confused when they are challenged; and are discombobulated if they see you disturbing the peace by challenging them or anyone else for walking into each other. Doing either puts them in a tizzy. They truly respond with confusion and concern. They cannot figure out why you are  so upset. Why are you disturbing the peace? The conflict ensuing is to be avoided at all cost. This explains very well why, even if the rule of walking on the left is broken, you, the person saying something, is seen as ruder than those walking the wrong way! Simply put: you are disturbing the peace!

 

The same is true of Accommodators. They are trying to keep the peace by adjusting the rules to avoid conflict. They also do not like those making a fuss by calling out the error, as it violates Rule 3 of keeping the peace, even when the Unawares and Selfish are clearly wrong. 

 

Then, again, there are those that do challenge things, but only indirectly and only rarely outright. These are (sometimes) the slightly assertive Accommodators who have finally had enough and are willing to slightly disturb the peace. For example, in the case of the Selfish male pulling his car into the crossing lane, he cannot believe anyone would challenge him, as he is used to getting what he wants. In response, he yells at others to intimidate them. And this is not anecdotal. There are have been, for example, numerous reports on the verbal abuse and even assault that women and non-binary and gender non-conforming people experience bicycling in London. See, for example, this study by the London Cycling Campaign.  In short, the Selfish do not like being challenged, but more important, they do not like to be publicly corrected. If they are corrected in public, they often get indignant or rude.  Temper Tantrums can ensue. Or worse, serious aggressiveness.

 

All of which takes us to a sense of how this all goes together.

 

Is walking a window into UK society?

So, is there something to learn from this bit of sociology of everyday life in the UK?  Or am I just grumpy?  Well, in terms of being grumpy, YES! 😅 There is a part of my social psychology that is really about me not yet learning how to keep the peace and enjoy the day. But, there is still a bit of an insight here, I think. As I have been suggesting, walking in the UK is a microcosm of a general collision of social class, rule inconsistency and gender issues. It is also a collision of ideas. Unlike most of Continental Europe, there really is a British conflict over wanting to be individualist (like the States) and yet collectivist (like the rest of Europe). And with polite Brits (Accommodators) trying to use civility, good manners, and accommodation to hold it all together. But without really challenging things for fear of conflict, for worry on insulting others.  All of which can often lead (but obviously not always) to an unwillingness to engage in open and critical discourse around issues such as social class, diversity, gender, and the social determinants of inequality.

 

Putting this together at the social psychological level, what often explains Rule 1 and why, suddenly, a rule will emerge from nothing is that, in an effort to not disturb the peace, contradictory rules (or suddenly the actual rule that is correct) will emerge to avoid conflict. Everyone is walking the wrong way, be they the Unawares, Accommodators, or Selfish; you say something; everyone gets upset with you and are looking at you as if to ask, "Why are you doing this? What does it matter? You are disturbing the peace? Just go with the flow.”

 

Again, there is a positive and negative side to this social psychology -- or, at least that is how this one sociologist sees it. On the positive side, the social psychology of walking in public life helps to create a pastoral, homey public life.  The Selfish aside (who exist in every society in one form or another), the UK focus on keeping the peace means that, in general, there is no daily outrage, no real aggression and nobody yelling! In an otherwise often troubled world, this is worth pausing to appreciate. And to repeat a point, it is one of the things we absolutely love about living in the UK -- the gentleness of daily life. As a point of contrast, it is not like the States where people are at each other constantly, bipartisan and failing to get along, or worse. Living in the North of England, in particular, is homey and peaceful. People are kind and, even when all of the "bumper-car collisions" of walking is going on, people do not get too upset about it all. They just keep calm and carry on, as cliche as that sounds. They seem much more concerned with trying to enjoying the day (or at least keeping it somewhat peacefully moving) than ruining it because someone walked into them. It is so much easier to be kind and never mind. 

 

There is a lot to learn here.

But, on the downside, it also allows uncaring and selfish people to get away with public behaviour. Would it be so terrible if the Selfish took advantage of British kindness a little less often then they presently do? And, apologies, but perhaps we Accommodators could be a bit more assertive and ask others to take us into consideration as much as we do them? And maybe the Unawares could be a little more aware?

 

Maybe, but probably not, . . .

 

As I conclude this post I cannot help but hear in the background Pink Floyd's song, 'Time'.

Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way.

The time is gone, the song is over, thought I'd something more to say.

 

 

 

Taking the Ferry to Buy Bikes in the Netherlands

Reprising the role of travel agent!

Hello all,

Let's just say it has been a while since last I posted. During this time my family and I moved to the UK, where I took a job at Durham University -- which, if some of you recall, was the reason I started this blog, as I came to Durham in 2012 on Sabbatical. Well, I guess we liked the place. As of August 2022, I will have finished my fourth year here. I also recently passed the Life in the UK test and sucessfully applied for Settlement, or what is more technically called Indefinite Leave to Remain! So, I can basically live here. Next year (after twelve months of settling) I can apply for citizenship. For those of you who are in love with "all things UK", you should give a practice test a go. My British friends have enjoyed seeing how well they can do. I am great at the history but terrible on sport.

No sooner did we move to the UK when the pandemic hit and travel was postponed for a rather long time. The pandemic is still here, and we are still vigilant -- wearing our masks, staying out of crowded indoor restaurants and crowded spaces and places, regularly testing, and trying to do our small part to protect those who are vulnerable or putting themselves out there everyday to keep our world running! Much thanks to you all!!!! We support our local restaurants (or when traveling) by getting take-away and eating in outdoor spaces, even when it is 4 or 5 Celsius/40-45 Fahrenheit.  

Inevitably, however, our worlds have begun moving again, and travel is a part of that. So, with a rather significant degree of nervousness, we started traveling and found out that, yes indeed, you can travel rather safely if smart, and you can reduce risk, do the work you traveled to do, and still have a lot of fun.

Case in point, taking the ferry to buy bikes in the Netherlands.

How to buy Dutch bikes and get them to the UK -- Oh, and do so in 36 hours!

Maggie (my wife), Ruby (my daugther) and I do not own cars. We either walk or use public transportation, which is one of the top five reasons we moved to Europe. There are those days, however, when having a bike would be nice, particularly a nice City Bike, on the back of which we can put groceries and various other purchases. We have had our eyes on a Gazelle City Bike, the crème de la crème, the volvo of city bikes.

With such credentials comes a high price tag! In the UK we are talking about new bikes starting at £1.5k to £2k, and even used bikes being over £700, if you wanted something higher-end. There is a land, however, where bikes outnumber people, and where living on a bike is similar to growing up in car country. The Netherlands!

Rotterdam Central

I spend a lot of time in the Netherlands as a function of the work I do with colleagues at the Institute of Advanced Study, University of Amsterdam, and because of a book I am writing with one of my best friends and colleagues, Lasse Gerrits, who is at the Erasmus University, Rotterdam.

Do not get me wrong, Amsterdam is beautiful. It is one of my favourite cities. Its history is just as rich. The massive impact the Dutch have had on the world does not get the attention it deserves. I highly recommend Amsterdam by Russell Shorto. Absolutely brilliant! The IAS gave me a copy as a parting gift for one of my chats and I could not put it down.

Still, I love Rotterdam.

Rotterdam reminds me a lot of Cleveland, Ohio, in the States, where I lived for 30 years. Rotterdam is a working-class city that had to rebuild itself. Unlike Cleveland, it took post-industrialism, global warming, and the collapsing environment seriously, and transformed itself into a green place. When folks say to me, "Oh, well, sure, of course they do that in the Netherlands; but it is not possible here." I respond back, "That is not true, it is all about making hard decisions." For an overview, here is a BBC article.

Case in point: bikes!

The Deal

Two weeks ago I traveled to the IAS and then Rotterdam for work. I told Lasse that Maggie and I wanted to buy used bikes while there. 

"What?," he said. "Why would you do that?" 

"Because, this is the capital of bikes and used bikes here are like used cars in the States . . . they are everywhere. So you can get something high-end for cheap as it is not as precious."

"Makes sense. . .  but how are you going to get them home?"

This may sound slightly mad, but I thought: I can buy two used bikes in the Netherlands and transport them to the UK and still spend less money then if I bought them new or used in the UK. Prior to traveling to Rotterdam, Maggie and I found a number of really excellent websites that, for a rather small fee, would box and transport your bike from Rotterdam to York, where we live in the UK. The problem was that you needed one day of stting around at a hotel or flat for them to deliver the box. Another day doing the same for them to be picked up. Plus a day to actually see some shops and buy the bikes. I did not have that kind of time. Maggie and I decided to give up on the idea. Perhaps we could just go to Rotterdam and look at the bikes and get inspired. 

So, on our lunch break from work, Lasse took us bicycle sightseeing. He took us to this brilliant shop near the University, called 010 Bikes. It was a blast. 

Then we did what we said we absolutely would not do. We bought two used upscale Gazelle bikes -- one for Maggie and one for me -- for a grand total of £430. A dream of a lifetime! We test rode them, Lasse rode them as well and gave us a "thumbs up"; the shop gave the bikes a quick once-over; we paid for the bikes; and rode them back to campus.

"So," Lasse asked again, "How are you getting them home?"

A long painful pause of silence. . . .

"I've not figured that out yet."

Another rather long moment of pause. . . 

Maggie said, "You know Brian, if there is a will there is a way."

After storing our bikes at Lasse's place, we went to lunch with another colleague and friend, Sophia, to chat about all-thing qualitative complexity methods and social science. At lunch I brought up the bikes. We went round and round about how to get the bikes home. Trains? Post? Finally, Sophia said, "Have you considered taking the ferry? Lasse agreed.

"The ferry?" For real?

 

Taking the Ferry

A little known mode of travel to us newly arrived immigrants in the UK -- which our European friends knew about and have taken -- was the ferry. The best way to cross the channel, they say! I have never been on a ferry, let alone a sea-worthy boat. This was all new territory. On the last day of our trip to Rotterdam, at the airport, with five hours of waiting on our hands, Maggie and I started looking at ferries. 

The ecological imprint of flying is an aspect of my work I am burdended by. Trains are a great alternative, but the Eurostar presently does not allow you to transport bikes. I needed to do this trip the following week, and I needed to do it quick and cheap, and in less than 36 hours!

That is when we found P&O Ferries.

Given it was recently Father's Day and I was looking for something fun to do with Ruby, we decided she and I would go the following week. We put together our plan.

One of the main ferry crossings from the UK to the Netherlands is from Hull (an hour from where we live in York) to Rotterdam. The Ferry leaves Hull almost every day at 8:30PM. So, a week later, on a Monday evening we headed out. We took the train from York to Hull, picked up some groceries, and got to the port. You check-in a minimum of 90 minutes beforehand, you get a standard bunk (see below), they have cheap entertainment, coffee shops, duty free, restaurants, and a few places to walk about. You have dinner, drink a bottle of wine, and go to bed. You get up the next morning, reasonably rested, no jetlag, eat a full English breakfast in the dining hall, grab your stuff, go through passports, and then catch a shuttle to Rotterdam. 

Easy peasy, right? It was a total hoot! The Ferry was full of pensioners, truck drivers, and motor bike enthusiasts. Short of a few families, everyone was 50 years or older. The first leg of the trip was brilliant! 

Well almost! Sea sickness, it is a real thing. There were times when I thought my head was going one way and the ship the other. The key seems to be to forget about it and get on with it. Stay Calm and Carry On.

Arriving at Lasse's place, we went to lunch, chatted about work a bit, and then got the bikes. It was 1PM. We were 17 hours into the trip. We had the bikes and were ready to go. 

Here, however, was the first of several problems we had to solve. Public transportation does not go to the Rotterdam P&O Port and a taxi would run around €110 or more. But, being it is the Netherlands, there are bike paths all the way there, including going over massive motorway bridges!

Lasse printed out the map. It said 27 kilometers. I have not ridden a bike that far in decades. But we do regularly walk 5 miles a day and Ruby not only walks that much but also bikes to work. I figured, okay, it is a bit much but it is a flat ride, paths exist along the way, and I will be tired, but we will be okay. Plus Lasse said we could do it, giving us the confidence we needed. . . "That is," he said, "As long as you don't get a flat tire or something."

And so we set off. 

Fififteen minutes into the ride I got a flat tire! Urgggggggh! Time was ticking, we had a lot of miles to make up and we were stopped flat. What to do? Try to get air and keep riding? Nope. It immediately went flat again. We went to the first bike place. They could fix it but not until the next day. Sorry, that is not going to work.

We decided to go back to the shop where we bought the bikes. A two mile walk back. They would fix the bike on the spot! Awesome guys! A nail the size of a pin had punctured the tire. What luck! 

We waited for them to fix the bike, found an ATM machine to pay in cash (VISA does not work often in the Netherlands) and made our way back to the route to start all over again. 

We had lost an hour and a half. It was now 3PM. I also forgot to mention that it was about 23 Celsius/74 Fahrenheit and, despite Google Maps in hand, we really had no idea where we were going. Backpacks on our bike racks, we once again set out on our route.

After about two hours of traveling, we seemed to be getting nowhere. We were dehydrated and starting to become sun burnt. Ruby asked, "How far are we?" I looked at the map. How could we have only gone only three miles in two hours? We still had 18 miles to go. What was happening? 

That is when we realised I had read the map wrong. Fu*K!!!! The map said 41 kilometers, not 27 kilometers! That is 25 miles, not 17. How are we going to do this? Panic set in. "Time to dig deep and ride," Rudy said, "We need to pick up the pace." 

The second problem was that Google Map does not provide bike routes. Instead, it kept giving us ways to walk there, including taking a few stairwells -- a major statement on where we are regarding travel. So we had to stay fully alert and adjust for errors, which we made. All-in-all, it was 18 miles of mental and physical courage. But also pure joy! I know it sounds cliché, but it was one of those bucket-list experiences. Ruby and I had such a wonderful time!

Through the Dutch suburbs we rode -- which are absolutely gorgeous, by the way! -- then onward into the port district, with massive factories all around and nothing but motorways on either side of us. It was surreal. We even had to pause while this massive lift bridge on the major motorway lifted to let a ship pass. Believe it or not, but the bridge had a two-way bike lane! Two bridge guards stood watch, drinking a cup of coffee and busting our chops as they could see we were novices. But, they did laughingly acknowledge our focus. We were going to make it!

Four hours later, around 7PM, we could see light at the end of the tunnel. More correctly, we could see the Ferry! It was still three miles away, but there it was, in plain sight. Peddle, peddle, peddle, knees hurting, sweating everywhere, hungry, tired, and . . . if I am honest, . .  a bit of chaffing!

Finally, we arrived at P&O Ferry, amongst cars and truckers, gas fumes and all, with little time to spare. We checked in our bikes. Exhausted, we each ate an entire pizza in the pub, drank our wine, watched a movie, crashed, woke the next day, ate our full English, got on our bikes, rode them three miles to the Hull station in the rain, secured them on the train, rode to York, met Maggie, and then walked them to our flat. All in less than 36 hours.

Bikes (£430 total) + Ferry tickets (£430 total) + food etc (£40) + UK train (£30) = 860£k. What a trip!

 

Travling to Kosice Slovakia

My brother, Warren, and I are headed to Hungary, Slovakia and The Czech Republic this year to explore further our ancestry -- my mother's parents are from the area (Ocenas), as are my father-in-law's (Rusnak).  Our two cousins, Joyce and Lynn, have been through the area, including Poland, back in the late 1990s and helped us with lots of information about where we might travel -- mainly to learn more about the world in which our grandparents lived prior to immigrating to the States.

I've been to Budapest before and traveled, by train, through Slovakia to Prague, with my other brother, John, en route to a world health conference in Vienna.  We decided to go to Budapest because it is the home city of one of my friends, a fellow complexity science colleague.  We loved it there, happening to arrive on St. Stephen's Day.  For more on my trip with John, CLICK HERE.
  
This time, however, Warren and I plan to travel from Budapest to Prague via a different route.  One destination, which we may well take, is to Kosice -- the largest city in eastern Slovakia.  We are not sure, but my cousins remember the city in stories told by our grandparents.  It is unsettling how fast the past of our immigrant grandparents becomes lost (including the language), within only a generation or two -- a typical story-line for those in the States and elsewhere.  The joy, however, is found in the real experience of traveling back to these places, if only to catch the slightest glimpse of our larger family history, no longer active in memory, but perhaps as a lived dream, as we stand there, in such a town as Kosice, wondering....  

With that said, my brother, Warren, came across this excellent blog post of a similar journey to explore one's family past: 2 Days in Kosice, Slovakia.

EVERYTHING COMES WITH CHIPS! Another Fun Blog on the Joys of the UK

Knowing that I am always looking for first-person summaries of travel abroad, a friend of mine -- a Brit living in the States -- just sent me along the following post, which seems to have gone viral.  It is a set of one-liner observations made by an American, Scott Waters, who has made several trips to the UK.

Overall, it is not bad and, I must admit, many of his observations resonate with mine, and it made me glad that I leave for the UK again in a couple weeks, for my tenth trip to this wonderful country!

CLICK HERE TO READ HIS BLOG 

Motherhood Around the World

My wife recently came across this blog -- Motherhood Around the World, which is run by Joanna Goddard and her excellent Cup of Jo blog -- and sent it to me.  It is really interesting, as it explores, from a first-person perspective, the oft unique and also common challenges women face raising children around the world.  I find particularly interesting the posts where someone has moved to a different country and are raising kids in a place culturally foreign to their originally known way of life.

To go to the website, click here!