Aldeburgh notes

I long had imagined a perfect English seaside town and it turns out Aldeburgh is it.  Attending a German-Nigerian wedding here makes it all the more so (photos of town are here).

It is more like New Zealand than any other part of England I have visited.

Other than those here for the wedding, there seem to be few non-English people walking around town.  The working class people are fond of discussing the best fish and chips in the area, while one of the (apparently) visiting English women standing next to us in line started lecturing us about “Maggie the Milk Snatcher.”  Even the minister performing the wedding ceremony got in a dig at Thatcher (NB: this is not not not the Vicar of Aldeburgh, who sometimes comments on national affairs, but rather a visiting minister).

In 1908 the town elected the first female mayor in England.  The ships of Sir Francis Drake were built here.  The Benjamin Britten homage scallop-like sculpture structure has been vandalized thirteen times and there is a petition to have it removed.  A long time ago the “North Sea” was called the “German Sea.”

Once you get past London, Oxford, and the like, England is more exotic than most of the places I visit.

The local chocolate caramels go under the brand name of “Seagull Droppings,” with comparable packaging.  (No need to leave this link in the comments.)  You can find them in the Royal Navy store next to the water and the fishmongers.