Great Britain. Part I

July 23...30, 2015

At the the entrance to all the highways there are „no stopping“ traffic signs. Sometimes, it says how long the stretch of road which you can’t stop on is. Because highways are for driving. It’s a shame that this notion is entirely unheard of in Russia.

British money boxes all look the same. They’re easy to hold by the base in one hand, coins are inserted at the top. This design was born in the times of street beggars and has made it to modern times practically unchanged. These days, you seldom get asked for money in the street. However, there are scores of boxes by the till in practically all the shops and cafés colleting funds for all sorts of causes.

Southampton

Remnants of one-time opulence.

The city was destroyed during WWII, so the only interesting thing about this place is that this is where the Titanic departed from on its maiden and final voyage.

Typical rubbish bin.

Sotonian little old ladies.

Portland

The hay is already in rolls.

Masts with shrouds can be seen on the embankment.

The town’s utility poles look roughly the same, with electrical cables going to each house.

Brazen seagull setting off to inspect fresh rubbish.

Lyme

Pleasant, adorable little coastal town.

Microscopic, yet cheerful.

On the rocks along the coast there is a multitude of ancient cephalopod mollusc imprints. Even the lampposts are adorned with ammonoids in their honour.

Land’s End

Yet another edge of the world.

Literally.

St Just in Penwith

The county of Cornwall is best explored along the coast.

The ruins of copper and tin mine chimney stacks lie along the ocean shore. Austere industrial beauty pleases the eye, as far as that eye can see.

Bath

What’s great about England is the fact that all towns and cities are encircled by a green belt: fields, forests, pastures and other nature. Bath is no exception.

The city itself is fairly holistic and handsome.

With a wonderful river and weirs.

There are lots of buildings that form a tightly packed, uniform wall.

There’s even one known as „the Royal Crescent“ — it’s built in the shape of a giant semicircle.

Upon closer inspection, however, you can see that everyone lives higgledy- piggledy — some have replaced their windowpanes, others the window frames. Not very British of them.

Bathonian lamppost.

Dumpsters.

A delightful two-handled rubbish bin resembling a megaphone.

One of the city’s ills: the seagulls. These flying rats have become so brazen that tourists are begged in lots of languages not to feed them.

But the tourists feed them anyway.

Bathonian girls.

The city’s historical highlight is the Roman thermal baths. Although this is practically the top tourist site in the country, it looks frightfully dreary. You can go to see it just to tick one off your bucket list, but there’s plenty of other, much more interesting Roman ruins in this world.

Bristol

Every Russian city has a restaurant called „The Bristol“. Or a hotel of the same name. Or, at the very least, a „Bristol“ bar. This very pleasant- sounding name has something indescribably noble about it. In truth, the place is a total dump.

There’s nothing to see here.

One and a half old buildings.

The surrounding area basically looks like this.

Cardiff

Are you sure this is the capital of Wales?

It is. Positive.

There is nothing in particular to see here.

The way the urban landscape is arranged is not very homey.

A stadium towers over little two-storey houses, which only goes to heighten the sense of urban planning despair.

Bangor

Your typical one-street town.

On the road again.