Brit food is great, or not

One of the great treats of Britain is the Sunday Pub Roast. Many pubs on Sunday afternoons put on a special meal with all the trimmings just like your mother used to (or maybe still does) make it. Roast beef is the most traditional but there can also be lamb, pork or turkey. One meal I had included beef, turkey and small sausage and bacon rolls. You'll get at least a couple of roast potatoes, a medley of delicious vegetables - think turnips, carrots, broccoli and/or mashed sweet potatoes - and giant Yorkshire pudding of which it seems pubs compete who can make the biggest. There's nothing quite like it anywhere else though I've noticed a few places in Toronto starting to offer. But let's leave the traditions to Britain or your mom/mum. Maybe I should take that statement back when it comes to fish and chips. It's blasphemous but I just can't find the quality fish and chips I can get back home. Yes, they may be fried fresh but usually what you get is one long flat slab not the meaty bulbous filets of Canada. And the storied chips? Big tick for cholesterol. I know fries (never call them French Fries here!) are starch-plus but their thickness makes you want to stop eating calorie overload. Then there's the trad English breakfast or "Full English." Okay, a couple of fried eggs and some flavourful back bacon and bangers. The half cut fried tomatoes fine. But I draw the line on the baked beans and mushrooms. In fact, when it comes to breakfasts - and this applies not only to the UK but Europe in general - if there's anything I miss about food back home, it's the typical North American breakfast, with bacon, eggs, hash browns, pancakes and various combinations thereof. Meanwhile for fast food in the UK there's always Greggs, the Tim Hortons equivalent of Canada. For an island nation of high prices Greggs is relatively cheap, their regular coffee excellent and besides doughnuts they have a UK favourite of mine, sausage rolls. One dismaying aspect of the decline of traditional British life is the lack of English beer. Basically everybody here drinks foreign. Even pub beer on tap is laden with logos for any country but the UK. "Estrella?" (Spanish) I was automatically asked yesterday as if it's the common serve. One time I asked for "something English" and the server looked at me puzzled. Indicative was a story last week in The Daily Telegraph. Old Speckled Hen (not named for an animal) has just been sold to that same Barcelona brewer. And its the latest of a long line: "Boddington’s, Bass and Camden Town have bought by AB Inbev, Belgian owner of Budweiser; London Pride by Japan’s Asahi. But there are thank goodness still traditional pubs. In which to cry into your suds. 

- Ron Stang, Windsor Ontario Canada, a frequent traveller

London's voluminous parks suffer symptoms of parks everywhere

There are many - should I say myriad and almost infinite - things to love about London. It's the city I visit most. But there are aspects of it, while great, that are a little perplexing, and in certain ways not that much different from cities anywhere. The most obvious is parks. This city is teeming with them, and they are voluminous and often sprinkled with delightful gardens (photo below left). I'm staying in West London and parks nearby include Gunnersbury (celebrating its 100th birthday this month and opened by Neville Chamberlain!), Ealing Green, Boston Manor, Syon, Walpole and Dukes Meadows. Some of them take on the character of heaths (there are also many official Heaths) with uncultivated foliage. Many were owned privately and include mansions turned

into museums. They are all quite lovely and impressive. But like parks in Canada and pretty much everywhere else they lack certain essentials - park benches and public toilets  - and feature oodles of wasted space. For all the efforts governments put into encouraging healthy living and "green" over concrete and asphalt they make natural settings rather unattractive to use. The photo above shows Ealing Green with a humongous open field bereft of people or activity when I traversed last week. And hardly a bench to sit on. Walking along the River Thames in the elongated Dukes Meadows Park (10 miles long; I walked two), the pathway juts in and out of foliage

sometimes obstructing river views. And it was partly gravel. An occasional bench had a 1970s chunky design not conducive to relaxing. Restrooms - "Toilets" or "WCs" - were non-existent.

I have been coming to London for years, even decades, and one thing that keeps disappearing is the Britain of old. Forget the bowler hats and Bobby helmets - they went out decades ago. But even the legendary English eccentrics are in decline. I saw one in a tube station on the weekend dressed in a colourful suit and straw hat. And I thought "yes, that's the look and attitude." Meanwhile the manner of street dress is the same as everywhere - elephant or mom pants on young women, hoodies galore and trainers (running shoes) omnipresent. There seems no sense of expressing a British attitude given the country's rich history and physical references (buildings, monuments) everywhere.

The best way to explore London is by simply wandering or hopping on a bus and see where it will lead. The bus routes are long and convoluted (that's a good thing) and take you through the most amazing neighbourhoods, overflowing with retail "high streets" and contrasting and often extremely old residential areas of varying social classes. 

There are also some Brit phrases that are twists on the North American. "Take Away" instead of "Take Out" of course. But "Eat All You Can" instead of "All You Can Eat." And some funny ones like the photo at left -  beware not of dogs but humans. 

- Ron Stang, Windsor Ontario Canada, a frequent traveller