Barrowby, Becka and 'Spending Your Penny'

We’re in the small village of Barrowby in Lincolnshire right now, caring for a sweet black labrador called ‘Becca’ while her owner is away hiking in the Lake District.  The exchange is that we get to stay in the owner’s beautiful 250-year-old house.  It’s been wonderful to be able to spread ourselves out a bit instead of being confined to a small space.  We have cupboards full of spices, and a beautiful kitchen to cook in. 

Home in Barrowby for the next week.  The Counting House, 250 years old.
With Becca the dog and Glen.

Command central - tourism brochures, computer, iPad, notepads  - planning
the next month!  The doors in this house are all too short for Glen - he's
ducking a lot!

 

Wheat and poppies seen on our drive to Barrowby.  So pretty.

The last couple of days we’ve laid low a bit and taken a breather from the constant sightseeing and driving around.  There is a canal in the area, so for old-times sake, we went for a long walk along that one day.  It’s one that hasn’t been restored yet, although there were a number of volunteers out that day doing some work on it.  We walked for about 6 miles and enjoyed the birdsong and the exercise.  

No bridge on this lock - you'd have to walk across those 8" of paddle
Yikes!

Papa, Mama and their babies.  They're getting bigger now.  Papa bird
got a little huffy with us - hissed a bit and puffed out his wings.  

What you see when you round a corner on your hikes in England.
This one is called Belvoir Castle.  They pronounce it Beaver Castle.
I'm not kidding.

We can’t really stray too far as Becka requires a bit of attention, and is too crippled to be able to walk very much so we can’t take her for long walks.  She’s a funny dog - most dogs like you to throw the ball for them, and they run to retrieve it.  It’s a little different here.  She lays on the ground, and you bounce the ball so it will land near her mouth.  If she can’t catch it while she’s laying down, then I am expected to retrieve it and try again!  Hilarious!  

Becka rolling over to get the ball.  Stand up?  Are you kidding?

Getting ready to bounce the ball into Becka's mouth
while she waits patiently lying on the ground.  Her
green stuffy is next to her.  We play tug-o-war with that.

Becka catching the ball.  If she doesn't catch it, then I
have to pick it up and re-throw.

I’ve learned a new British expression with Becka as well.  When we send her out to ‘do her business’, we need to tell her to ‘go spend your penny’.  We couldn’t figure out why on earth that was, so I looked it up on Google and apparently it’s a polite way to say you need to use a public lavatory. 

Here’s what I found on the phrase finder about the meaning and origin of spend a penny: 

"This refers to the (former) use of coin operated locks on public toilets. It was used mostly in the UK and mostly by women (men's urinals were free of charge).

Such locks were first introduced, at a public toilet outside the Royal Exchange, London, in the 1850s. The term itself is later though. The first recorded citation of it is in H. Lewis's Strange Story, 1945:

"'Us girls,' she said, 'are going to spend a penny!'"

'Spend a penny' has now gone out of use, partly because charges have changed and partly because it was always a coy euphemism, which now seems rather dated. The writing was on the wall for this phrase, so to speak, from 1977, when the Daily Telegraph printed an article headed "2p to spend a penny”.

Suffice it to say that Becka’s owner was likely born before 1977.