Rabbit! Tractor! Sheep!

A few years ago we spent a week in Yorkshire with two dear friends who live in London.  Stephen is from Yorkshire, his parents still live there.  We stayed a "holiday home" a restored Victorian row house in Patley Bridge, a tiny hamlet in the Yorkshire countryside for a week.  Duncan and Stephen rented a car, and they drove for the week.  It was great fun.  We visited several English Manner Houses - and ruins of a couple of abbeys.  We rode a train, visited Stephen's parents.  The house had a nice kitchen, I was able to cook, I even did laundry the day the power went out for 6 hours.  

I was very glad that Duncan and Stephen were driving.  The English country roads are narrow, and winding, the terrain is rolling with hills and valleys.  In many places the roads were so narrow that if traffic was coming in the other direction, one or both drivers, needed to look for a wide spot, and pull over as far as possible to allow the two cars to pass without hitting.  Jay and I sat in the back seat, with the two of them driving and navigating.  

We would be driving along and the one navigating would shout out TRACTOR!  or Rabbit! or SHEEP! indicating one or more of these on the road ahead.  I am not sure why bunnies were included in the shouts to be careful, but they were.   After a day or two, I quit having a heart attack every time these warnings were announced.  We made it though unscathed, returning the rental car without a scratch.  

On that trip we also discovered a British dish called mushy peas.  This is green garden peas, cooked, and mashed.  Some recipes I have seen mix the peas with mashed potatoes.  I can't say as I was impressed enough to bother making mushy peas, but I wouldn't turn them down if they were offered. Jay sampling mushy peas led to one of the funniest comments of that trip.  He said, "the mushy peas are really are quite good, the peas retain their essential peaness.  Say that out loud and see what it sounds like - that one kept us laughing for through a couple TRACTORS! and RABBITS! 

Have you ever driven in another country? 
(I promise to write about my adventures driving in London.)