[england through the eyes of a canadian]

This morning, a grey and foggy 5:00am to be exact, we made our way from leafy Haslemere to Gatwick airport. To keep ourselves awake as we drove, we counted as many smart cars as we could spy, marvelling at the cute dinkyness. We marvelled at the lush greenery and the terrain which melted from flat grass to softly rolling hills and chalky outcrops. We picked up a good friend from Canada who was setting forth her feet on Eurpoean soil for the first time. As we drove back towards Haslemere, with an important stop for home-made burgers at Farnham's Lion and Lamb bistro, I noticed a major difference in how we described what we saw. I admired the quaint houses while I was reminded that I'll never find anything so "small" in Canada. The historic bistro was cute (here it is quite posh). The narrow Roman roads were tortuous and full of "round-about thingeys" (I second that road-about comment...they get in the way!). Smart cars (which I sooo love) are cute but how do you manage your Ikea or any other shopping? Our cottage is cute and compact. I just had to laugh. I think I'm become anglo-sized and very used to the smallness of everything. I'm even moaning about the environmentally unfriendliness of big cars; this for a girl who loved driving a mini-van! I'm going to be in for a shock when I eventually go to live in Canada...everything is going to be huge!