Bill Bryson | Notes From A Small Island
Bill Bryson | Notes From A Small Island
Bryson wrote Notes from a Small Island when he decided to move back to his native United States, but wanted to take one final trip around Great Britain, which had been his home for over twenty years.
Bryson covers all corners of the island observing and talking to people from as far afield as Exeter in the West Country to John O'Groats at the north-eastern tip of Scotland's mainland. During this trip he insisted on using only public transport, but failed on two occasions: in Oxfordshire and on the journey to John O' Groats he had to rent a car.
On his way, Bryson provides historical information on the places he visits, and expresses amazement at the heritage in Britain, stating that there were 445,000 listed historical buildings, 12,000 medieval churches, 1,500,000 acres (600,000 ha) of common land, 120,000 miles (190,000 km) of footpaths and public rights-of-way, 600,000 known sites of archaeological interest and that in his Yorkshire village at that time, there were more 17th-century buildings than in the whole of North America.
Bryson also pays homage to the humble self-effacing fortitude of British people under trying times such as the World Wars and Great Depression, as well as the various peculiarities of Britain and British English (such as not understanding, on his first arrival, what a counterpane was, and assuming it was something to do with a window, or of first going into an English tobacconist's and hearing the man in front of him ask for "Twenty Number 6", and assuming that everything in Britain was ordered by number).
A popular brand at the time was Embassy Regal Number 1, and in British English it is usual to ask for twenty meaning a packet, not twenty of them.
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