windsor

Sorry I'm late writing this but it got to be too late last night so today you will get 2 blogs to make up for it.
This is the week of the Queens Birthday and there is a lot going on in town. One of the BIG events of the week is THE ROYAL ASCOT. This is a horse racing event that starts today, Tuesday, and continues through the weekend. The Queen attends every day because she "loves her races". Ger and I did consider attending the Royal Ascot until we saw the cost of admission and the dress code. Ger did NOT bring his tails and top hat and I did not bring anything nearly fancy enough to attend such a fete. We are actually sitting here at the kitchen table watching a man and woman who are obviously going to the races. He is decked out in a waistcoat and tails and top hat and she has on her basic black dress with an EXTRAORDINARILY LARGE WHITE HAT ! It is probably more entertaining watching them than the races would be. To be honest there are places at the Royal Ascot that the common folk can go for a lesser admission fee but from what we hear the traffic and the crowds are overwhelming. So I think we will take a bye on this race and be satisfied with our own night at the races last night.
Kyle has a young man from his Atlanta office over here working for him for the week and Kyle wanted to take Jonathan to the Windsor races before Jonathan returned to the states. Ger and I were invited to join them last night and we had a great time. We chose to go with the common folk and pay 8 Pounds to stand up by the rail rather than sit in the stands for 17 pounds. (a pound is worth about $1.50) There was a building where we could buy sandwiches, (known as BAPS), sausage and chips, (french fries are chips), fish and chips, or, my personal favorite, Pastys. (Remember those little "stews" in a pastry shell?) The pasty is mostly potato with some gravy and a hint of meat but it is the actual pastry that I adore. I ordered a PAAAAASTY and the young server had no idea what I was saying. He finally said, "Oh, a Paw hsty". It's all in the pronunciation over here. WE are getting better at understanding the English English but it isn't easy.
Back to the races. Once we figured out how to bet and where the horses were actually starting from we tried our luck at the "bookies". There were about 8 different stations set up in the field, each one run by a different "betting company". Most gave the same odds but every so often one would give a different odd on a horse and people would rush over to bet with him. Races were every half hour and we had a great time. We watched about 5 races, bet on three and won on none! Jonathan won on the last race and made 11P from the 1P that he bet. It was great fun, COLD as anything standing out in the field but a fun time for all.
During the day Ger and I had walked into town for lunch at the "Windsor Trooper" and we had a great time just sitting in the pub watching the world go by. We are adventuring outside of our comfort zone in Windsor and getting to see the other parts of town beside the main shopping street. Took the bus home and relaxed for a while before our adventure at the races.
FYI Main streets in England are usually called HIGH STREET.
Another side note for all of you readers out there, I picked up a copy of THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH by Ken Follett when we were in Salisbury. I had read this book years ago and LOVED it and seeing it there in the town where the story takes place I just had to get it to read again. I started it yesterday afternoon and am so glad I bought it. It is a wonderful book that is a great read for summer vacation. It is long but never boring. Check it out if you want something great to pass the summer days.