Tales of the Country
by Brian Viner
Overview
From the Publisher
When Brian and Jane Viner took their three children to live in deepest Herefordshire, after eight years in sophisticated Crouch End, north London, they wondered if they needed their heads examined. They had been happy in the city, with an abundance of like-minded friends and a choice of dozens of places to drink cappuccino; in Herefordshire they knew nobody and there were thirty-five barred gates between them and the nearest coffee outlet. Where would they find kindred spirits? What would life be like without mains sewerage? And would they ever stop being what some locals charmingly refer to as "buggers from off"?
My thoughts
I wasn't sure I was going to like this book when I first started with it. I've read so many of these 'move to the country' books and despite the author's great sense of humor, I thought it might be the same ol' same ol'. Early on in the book I even thought I might put it aside but I'm really glad I stuck with it. Once we got to the dice episode Brian Viner won me over! I am still laughing about that particular segment in the book, and it just got funnier as I kept reading.
An enjoyable, easy read with a lot of laugh-out-loud stuff!
Favorite Passage
The couple in Manor Cottage looked as if they, too, would hesitate before discussing Einstein's Theory of Relativity on a first date, going only as far, perhaps, as his thoughts on Brownian Motion. They were decidedly frumpy, anyway, which is why Jane was so delighted to find a pair of dice under the four-poster bed, one bearing the names of six parts of the body - hands, feet, bottom, thigh, breast, stomach - while the other was stamped with six physical actions - kiss, stroke, lick, rub, suck, and the rather intriguing 'wash'. It would be just my luck, I thought, to embark on a game of sexual frolics and end up getting my stomach washed, as if I was about to have my appendix taken out.
