I bought walking boots and a raincoat and was ready to go. We walked three or four miles the first day, and I was whining about being tired and thirsty by the end of it. But the scenery was beautiful:
This being Britain, though, it rained a lot and we were soaked. I stopped at Mr Darcy's house to see if he was home and could give me a cup of tea (and maybe we could dive in a pond with our clothes on later like he did on TV) but he didn't appear to be at home.
10 comments:
These pictures make me homesick for England, and I've never been there! The rural scenery looks so much like Jefferson County.
YAA, you make me laugh. You need to get out here so you can see what you are homesick for!
Good grief. Everytime I turn around it's another "Bank Holiday" in England. What are these, and why do you get so many of them?
I know, Michigan Mom! It's always a Bank Holiday. One of my American friends was trying to get some work done at Pinewood Studios and would call over to talk to workers there and she said it seems like everytime she called, no one would be there, and they would say, But it's a Bank Holiday!
English people love their time off! I have become like them in that way these days....
The lack of time off was the thing that used to bother me most abou working in the US.
In England there are eight bank holidays a year:
New Year's Day
Good Friday
Easter Monday
May Day
Spring Bank Holiday (formerly Whitsun)
August Bank Holiday
Christmas Day
Boxing Day (day after Christmas)
This compares with, I believe, six in the US (unless you've a government worker, in which case you get about fifteen).
Of course the real difference is in vacation days. I remember I used to get ten days a year in the good ol' US of A - I now get 28 and I can buy another two days if I so choose. And I do.
Why would any sane person *not* love their time off?
It’s true that American have fewer paid vacations and paid holidays. But the top 80 to 90 percent of U.S. households have more disposable income than their counterparts in the vast majority of OECD economies. Paid vacation is best understood as a form of non-cash compensation. It’s not obvious that we should collectively choose more paid vacation over more pay, and the lack of mandatory paid-vacation gives employers and employees more flexibility to choose an arrangement that works for them.
Oh Mr Darcy!
Come cross the borders into America, birth a baby, and get all the time off and free health care your little *corazon* desires! Hey, we USA taxpayers are famous for our generosity and hospitality. No need to thank us...it's our pleasure. Really. No kidding.
I know that a friend of my cousin signed a contract with Goldman Sachs forfeiting the majority of his holiday and got paid a starting salary of 80,000 pounds ($125,000) for his trouble.
I'm glad to hear that 80-90% of Americans are similarly recompensed for their lack of holiday.
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