Thursday, July 25, 2013

UK Trip #25: Our Favorite British Sayings, Clifford's Tower, Train Karma

While traveling through Scotland and England we favored certain sayings that we heard. We thought you'd get a kick out of them:
1) "Git" - it means a grumpy old man. 
Of course, during the trip, we sometimes called each other a "git" depending on our behavior. :) 
2) "Punker" - Someone who is acting like a clown, clowning around or joking
3) "Do a bit of flower arranging" - this means to sort something out, or to try and put order to something
4) "You'll crack it" - This means that you'll get the hang of things, or figure it out. 
Clifford's Tower

CLIFFORD'S TOWER - This historic structure was actually right across the street from our hotel. It's located at Tower St  York, North Yorkshire YO1 9SA. 

CLIFFORD'S TOWER HORRIBLE HISTORY - According to ddickerson.igc.org Clifford's Tower, the keep of York's medieval castle, was the site of the most horrifying event in the history of English Jewry. On March 16, 1190, the feast of Shabbat ha-Gadol, the small Jewish community of York gathered inside the tower for protection. An angry, violet mob assembled around the structure, and instead of coming out and battling them, many jews inside committed suicide. Others died in the flames they had lit, and those who surrendered were massacred and murdered.  GHOSTLY LEGEND - The ghost story involving the tower says every now and then the tower turns blood red from the blood of all the people who died in the tower.



Tom at the York Train station
***WRAPPING UP YORK - We checked out of the hotel and took a taxi to the train station, We did enjoy some afternoon tea and scones inside the station while waiting.
TRAIN KARMA -  We were really getting into the habit of that! The first train ride from York to London's Kings Crossing took about 2 1/2 hours. We had to find the subway or "Underground" and after getting confused, I asked a customer service rep at a ticket window about getting to Paddington Station to change trains, and they told me the way and explained our railway ticket was good for one ride on the underground. That was great news. The subway at 5:15 p.m. local time, however, was PACKED and we had our luggage. That was a bit of a SQUEEZE.
Rob at the York train station
    The commuter train was also packed. After storing our luggage on elevated racks, Tom motioned for me to sit next to a bald, angry-looking man of Middle-eastern descent. The man heard Tom direct me to the seat and he scowled at me, grabbing his backpack off the empty seat and flinging it against the wall where he sat!  SO, I walked on and sat next to a nicer person. At the first stop, another passenger got on and MADE the nasty guy move his backpack so he could sit down. KARMA IN ACTION! 
  
NEXT:  ANOTHER GREAT BOOK READ ON VACATION!  






Who I am

I'm a simple guy who enjoys the simple things in life, especially our dogs. I volunteer for dog rescues, enjoy exercising, blogging, politics, helping friends and neighbors, participating in ghost investigations, coffee, weather, superheroes, comic books, mystery novels, traveling, 70s and 80s music, classic country music,writing books on ghosts and spirits, cooking simply and keeping in shape. You'll find tidbits of all of these things on this blog and more. EMAIL me at Rgutro@gmail.com - Rob

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