Notesfromasmallisland

Notes from a Small Island Notes from a Small Island Copyright © 2010 by Bill Bryson All rights reserved. Published in Great Britain by Transworld Digital, a division of Random House, Inc., London/GB. Transworld Digital is a registered trademark and Transworld Digital and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc. Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress. eISBN: 978-1-409-09575-0 v3.0 Notes from a Small Island PROLOGUE MY FIRST SIGHT OF ENGLAND WAS ON A FOGGY MARCH NIGHT IN 1973 when I arrived on the midnight ferry from Calais. For twenty minutes, the terminal area was aswarm with activity as cars and lorries poured forth, customs people did their duties, and everyone made for the London road. Then abruptly all was silence and I wandered through sleeping, low-lit streets threaded with fog, just like in a Bulldog Drummond movie. It was rather wonderful having an English town all to myself. The only mildly dismaying thing was that all the hotels and guesthouses appeared to be shut up for the night. I walked as far as the rail station, thinking I'd catch a train to London, but the station, too, was da......