In which I adore all things English

As you well know, I am a devoted Anglophile, and one bit of England that I am completely smitten with is my friend Sali. She lives in a village with a name so perfect and twee, you'd swear Winnie-the-Pooh must be a neighbor. She collects vintage velvet coats and her cell phone likes to ring me up from her pocket so I can eavesdrop on the goings-on in Sali's life. (My favorite call came from the Milan airport where I could hear Sali working her best Italian on a Customs agent.) Sali is the friend who started up the moor behind Haworth parsonage with me, then turned back after 100 yards or so and said, "I'll be in the village having a nice cup of tea."

One of the things I love best about Sali is that she is an unrepentant history geek. (Before we'd gotten to know one another, she sent me a pamphlet on some gruesome topic. When I thanked her via e-mail I told her it would be very helpful in my work. Then she asked, "What exactly do you DO?") Her idea of fun is mentioning quite casually that she spent a morning poking around some 14th century ruin just down the road, which I must confess makes me not like her quite so much. (If I were putting together a wishlist for my ideal place to live, I can promise you a 14th century ruin would be VERY close to the top of the list.) Anyway, she is also terribly generous with links she thinks I'll like, and yesterday she sent me one on London Curiosities. She's right, I adore it, and if you're planning a trip to London soon or just want to do a little armchair traveling, do have a look.