Pollinators of the UK

From all the articles I've read and correspondence I've had over the years with European Beekeepers, I figured there would be hives everywhere.  However, I never saw a hive nor a honey bee in Belgium.  I didn't see much in England.  There are flowers everywhere.  The English are very proud of their gardening skills.  We were there in May when I can see a bee nearly anywhere I look in Oregon.

We were probably into our seventh day be fore I saw my first honey bee outside of a restaurant  accross from Bodnant Garden.  They were actually plentiful, but after that more honey bee dearth through Northern England.  We saw no bees in Bath, Wells, Glastonbury, Kensit, Stow, the Lake District, Conwy, or London... I didn't even see a bee in the Kensington Palace Garden.  I saw a lot of begging American gray squirrels, but not one honey bee.

I had to wait until I got to York for my next encounter and I didn't actually see any bees there, but I did see two back-yard hives at a home from the York Wall near York Minster. 

The photo above is one that I use in the class that I teach that illustrates that beekeeping can be a good project for city dwellers. That is the Tower Bridge in London in the background.

The next time I go over, I am going to seek out the bee community.

Conversation With A Young Britt

Bodnant Gardens

We visited  Bodnant Gardens on our way out of Wales.  It is a magnificent part of the National Trust with miles of trails through formal gardens, fields, forest, ponds, streams and pools.  

Zan, with camera in hand was constantly on the lookout for the right angle on nearly every plant for her floral series.  She was laying on some rocks working on some water lilies when a father arrived with his two children.  The son wanted to get closer to the pond to look for polliwogs and Zan was in the flower zone and I had to break her trance to let the children pass by.  Upon hearing my accent the father saw an opportunity for his children to speak with some real Americans.  She he introduced himself and his children as we introduced ourselves.  

We told them were we were from, Oregon and its geographical location and all about where we lived.  The daughter was shy and reserved, but the boy had a lot of questions about the animals that are native to where we lived.  I can imagine him envisioning the wild west wilderness when we told him about black bears, cougars and Roosevelt elk.  We told him of the sea lions, beavers and otters.  The father seemed delighted of what we were offering by way of conversation.  We told them that we have horses and honey bees at our house.

After we ran through all the animal stories we could think of, the lads attention opened up to another type of question.  He asked, "Have you ever met Elvis Presley?"  Seeing us as older Americans, I had to tell him that Elvis was more popular with my older sisters' generation.  He was disappointed, but I did mention some of the famous Americans I've met which he hadn't heard of, but who his father was keen to hear about.  

It was a fine time spent.  This was a good father trying by every means to enrich the intellect of his children.  As time went on I wondered about his fascination with Elvis.  Where did it come from?  I doubt that there are a lot 10 year old Americans who know or even care about Elvis.if they've heard of him.  Most Americans I know think of Elvis as a parody of himself.

Later on in the trip I noticed that a lot of smaller eateries and coffee shops in the UK play American 50's music in their establishments.  It happened in several places in Bath, York and London.  I think they just love the stuff.  Personally I would have preferred to hear British music from the 50's.

Food in the UK

When traveling to the UK you might expect the food to be gray and tasteless, but this is not the case.  Though most foods look like they've been baked or deep fried, don't let that put you off.  What should put you off is the lack of anything green on your plate other than a small container of mashed peas as pictured above.

In an earlier post I mentioned how hard it is to get ice in the UK.  That's nothing compared to getting a salad. The best you can hope for are root vegetables.  Now don't get me wrong; they do wonderful things with root vegetables, especially potatoes.  The famines have taken their potato skills to a whole other level that can't even be whispered at in Idaho.

My first hint of the dearth of greenery came on out third night in Bath.  We were too tired to go out to eat so I opted to go to a neighborhood small-time burger joint to get some burgers and shakes to go.  A lad about 18 years of age whas running the whole show.  He asked if I wanted salad with the burgers, and I said, "Yes Please! in hopes that if Zan didn't like the food she would still have a salad that would agree with her.

When I got back to our room and opened the bag I realized that his offer of salad really meant "Would you like a piece of lettuce on your burger?"

I believe in all the places we dined while over there a real salad was offered on only two menus.
Though I must say we had some excellent food while traveling complimented by the finest root vegetables.

Two notable common foods were also excellent.  Fish and chips is a staple.  Chips being what we call steak fries where nothing special, however the fish has a very light and airy tempura thing going on.  It puffs away from the fish making the meal look much larger than it actually is.

The other is the pastie, which is pronounced "Past-Tea" and not like the like the nipple covering in strip clubs.  This food was created for miners.  It is a round pastry dough that is filled with meat and vegetables and then folded over into a half circle and crimped at the seams.  Miners who worked in the tin mines would put a warm pastie in their pocket and work until lunch.  They removed the pastie and ate all but the crimped crust which is the handle of the pastie.  Tin miners often had arsenic on their hands that is present in tin mines.  They would hold the pastie  by the crumpled edge and eat all they could except where they touched it.  That crumpled edge would be thrown away.

The pastie I had was on the bland side, however making them with a nice sauce inside like B-B-Q sauce or teriyaki and adding some onions and garlic could turn this pastry into a craze that could challenge the American Hamburger...Seriously.  It's a complete meal.

One Thing The USA Does Right

Traveling to Europe was an enlightening thing.  All of those people that say the USA is Number 1 really haven't a clue of how far behind we actually are on many fronts.  However, I do have one thing in mind that where the USA is out in front of all the places I visited and that is the Americans With Disabilities Act, also known here as the ADA, not to be confused with the American Dental Association.

If you have a major mobility issue a trip to Europe needs to be carefully planned.  There are cobblestone streets everywhere in the UK. It is rare to find a shop without at least one step to overcome before entering.  Some train stations in Belgium have a lot of steps between platforms and the trains have steps. You need to call ahead for special accommodations which means the station will often reroute the train to a different platform and employ personnel to haul ramps or other equipment to assist the disabled passengers.

London is somewhat better.  The Tube Stations all have lifts (elevators), yet still there is the constant reminder to "Mind the Gap".  There is also room on the trains for wheelchairs park, though most people store luggage there.

We only stayed in thee hotels that had elevators, two of which had stairs to the main entrance.  Two porters would come out to physically hoist the wheelchair up the stairs.  No entrance ramps in sight. Though the B&Bs we stayed in were large enough to accommodate 30 people or more, they all had steps to enter and narrow stairs to each floor. 

I'm sure many places have ways to accommodate persons of diminished abilities and other places just can't.  For many the airport will be the last place with abundant accessibility.

Traffic vs. Trains

We drove up North on Friday, and as usual there was a traffic jam from Olympia to Kirkland, and I wondered how The United States lost its way.  Thousands of cars with relatively few passengers.  In Europe few would ever consider driving their cars very far out of town.  Trains are the normal mode of travel.  Generally everywhere you need to go is on a rail line.

Any time we asked about which train to catch, it seemed that everyone had apps on their phones that could adderss any question we had.  The trains were fast and comfortable.  They are the main part of the European infrastructure.

When you mention trains to an American they discount the entire rail process.  But few people I know have ridden on any sort of train in ages.  Yes, we could have taken a train to Seattle, but once there there were few other options to get where we wanted to go.  Portland has a great light rail system, so if you were coming to Portland your transportations needs could be easily met.

Why doesn't the US value the rails as part of its infrastructure?  Where is our money going instead?  What I see is that the US is supporting oil companies and is in too deep with it defense budget to even attempt to think sensibly like Europeans to lessen the burdens of its citizens.