British bits and bobs

  "Bits and bobs" is a term here used frequently for miscellaneous stuff.  One of our hosts, showing us around her kitchen said of a drawer:, "just bits and bobs", in a vintage store, a pile labeled "bits and bobs", that sort of thing. You probably know this, but Great Britain, aka Britain is comprised of Scotland, England and Wales - that island and its contents.

They cut skeleton keys, too, here -- because they're fully in use.

This "heritage" breed of pig had sparse curly fur.  

This highland cow (very hairy, long horns) was sharing a field with us while we walked along a
coastal path in northern England.  Gentle beast.

We're in the land of men in skirts - nice.

Livestock here is quite varied, and the operations/farms are pretty small scale.  In a national park bookstore I came a cross a book that had the 80 typical breeds of sheep to spot in northern England (like a beginner bird identification book).  Of pigs, we've probably seen 20 species; of cows, likely 20 or so.  None of the big herds or feeding lots of the US.

This is an all-in-one hand washing machine, a "uni-wash".  Button on the left is soap,
center is water, right button is dryer, all in a package about 2 feet by 1 foot.

This photo is from Scarborough, and the little rainbow boxes along the water are rental  sheds to store one's beach stuff. These are about 5X10X8 feet, and sell for about 40K Pounds  (about $60K), although some are available for just summer  weekly rental. 

This beachfront skateboard park has no grafitti.  !!

On Father's Day (same here as there) we went to Rievaulx Abbey (they're mostly all ruined, thanks to Henry VIII), and there were folks re-enacting the music of 15th century traveling musicians.  Fascinating stuff, mostly because it included excellent history lessons and perspective.  Among the gleanings:  most of our musical instruments and their names, are of Arab origin, brought back from the Crusades, including violins, lutes, drums, pipes.  Trousers have reason to be called "pairs".  The term "canter" describing one of the gaits of horses, derives from the Canterbury pilgrimage trail.  My ignorance is vast.

These medieval drums are called knackers, and are of Arabic origin.  Hence the term "knackered".    

Musicians with 15th century instruments -- homemade bagpipes, drums and lots more.  

An overshoe that allowed one to keep one's boots/shoes dry while walking through the dewy meadow in the morn.  15th century design.  

A pair of trousers -- literally.  Each leg tied on individually, not joined in the middle, hence the pair terminology.  Things changed in the next century, but the terminology remains.

An abbey gravesite that fit perfectly.  

The Sage music venue in Newcastle-upon-Tyne (River Tyne in the foreground) had folks climbing down its side.  We never figured it out.  

Descending.  

The Brits do bird suet in balls.  

Angel of the North, a huge (20X54 meters) copper and steel sculpture in northern England.  

We went to the very odd Museum of Victorian Science in a tiny town outside of Newcastle.  It was a genius science guy, Tony, who sat the two of us in a tiny room chock full of Victorian-era science machinery, and demonstrated and explained to us the rudiments and finer points of radiation, X-rays, magnetism, telegraph development, and so much more, for two hours.  Truly fascinating stuff.  And a weird experience.

Tony, weird science guy generating electricity.

Tony's glowing globes -- reflecting different sorts of radiation mixed with minerals.  

Royalty scarecrows in a garden.  Queen on the right with lady-in-waiting helping her.  

Never seen such a huge crab, of Japanese origin, in a lovely little museum in Newcastle.  Steve just in back of it.
Stuff of nightmares.  

Double helix out of shopping carts.  Newcastle, outside a lovely pub.

Eggs for sale at a flea market in norhtern England.  Lots of people  have hens.

An overworked bubble machine taking part in an Aero (candy bar) promotion.

Quail eggs again - first we'd seen outside of Portugal.  Yum. And homemade haggis, below.  Umm.

We visited Edinburgh's Central Library - nice place, with a decent collection, and they're still hiring (unlike most libraries we've visited in Britain, which are experiencing closings and cutbacks).  They also acknowledged Andrew Carnegie with a marble bust and a plaque.  He was a Scot, and did as much for British libraries as he did for the US ones.