Lindsay Varner - Aspects of Life in Durham

Lindsay is in Durham working towards a Doctorate on the social aspects of 17th century Quakers and Catholics(!) and she told us something of the contrasts between her native rural Pennsylvania and the north east of England.  She painted an idyllic picture of growing up in the depths of the country, but then qualified the impression by describing the risks presented by snakes, bears and even vicious turkeys.

An interesting detail that she highlighted is that the nearest public transport to her Pennsylvania home is many miles away, but the No. 21 bus passes her Durham home every 20 minutes - something she finds very strange!  Although she could describe many similarities between the UK and the "colonial" Pennsylvania, the biggest difference is space.  I think that those of us who have been to North America know exactly what she means - it's a big country.

Surprisingly, Lindsay prefers the weather here in the UK to that back home - describing the extremes between winter (typically over two feet of snow and very low temperatures) and summer (very high temperatures and very high humidity).

Thanks, Lindsay, for an interesting view of life in Durham, UK.