Today was a pretty chill day with more lovely June weather. The team bussed back to Reading, manned their boats, and rowed home to Henley Rowing Club. Coaches Steele and Crowley followed along on the bikes, whilst Coach Pat stayed in Henley exploring the countryside, drinking fine latte and sampling delicious fare about town.
The women have noted a great many British idioms, food variations and cultural tidbits and reported back to me with a list:
- Why is lettuce on your sandwich called rocket?
- Ham is bacon, or rather english bacon is more like Canadian bacon?
- What the heck is up with British Fanta orange fizz? - all agree it is too disgusting to drink
- The chocolate is WAAAYYY better...
- The produce is fresh and strawberries taste like they should - wait, what does that say for our US produce?
- The fresh pastries are everywhere and are amazing! (I concur)
- The cheese! Wonderful British cheese!
- Everything is fresher and better tasting; "it's European!"
- They take recycling and composting seriously here - no styrofoam is used anywhere, no plastic ware, etc
- "I had two burgers here and they were better than any burger I've EVER had in America" (I disagree - two words - Five Guys. Another two and a half words - In N Out)
- Why are the granola bars called "flapjacks"?
- Pudding = All desserts (?)
- Digestives? A stomach settling cracker?
- Apparently, Jules does NOT like the one pound coins - OK then....Someone tell the Queen!
- You can't get a decent cup of filter/drip coffee anywhere in this town....
- Half and half - doesn't exist. The milk and heavy cream are awesome though!
- Did I mention cheese?!
And there is a great deal more for sure!
This evening we took the team out for dinner at a local Henley traditional establishment called the Catherine Wheel. It's pub fare and we ate outside on the terrace. The fish and chips was huge and there was considerable angst over how British brownies vs. fudge cake are made - I'm not making this stuff up; Are they cake-like? More gooey/chewey? A dilemma for sure, which was not solved by asking the barkeep, as his response was " well, the fudge cake is like cake, and the brownies are like brownies". They went out on a limb and ordered the brownies....and they were delicious, like everything else!
Tomorrow is a free day and it appears the women will travel into London to see some sights and learn to Mind The Gap on the tube. Another adventure!
We will practice on the HWR course Wednesday and Thursday, and racing begins Friday morning - Tally Ho!
Cheers!
Coach Pat
Fawley Court from above
Shiplake Lock
The tan brick house on the far right is where the 1V is staying.
Flowers about town everywhere!
Henley Bridge
Dinner at the "Wheel"
I am at a loss for words to caption this....But they go fast in a boat!
