Bill Bryson uses imagery to set the scene of his experience. “low-lit streets threaded with fog”. The reader gets a sense of the gloominess of the streets he is walking on. “rather wonderful” He is exited about being in a new country an unknown territory. “mildly” Bill Bryson is trying to see the good things and look beyond the bad. He was please to have arrived from Calais “just like in a Bulldog Drummond movie.” He is describing his current feelings by comparing it to a movie that was an action movie.
Fantasy compared to reality can sometimes be quite different. Bill Bryson lets us into his fantasy, he begins to have a conversation with an imaginary hotel person in his mind “oh, but I couldn’t possible ask you to feed me at this hour. No, honestly-well, if you’re quite sure it’s no trouble, then perhaps just a roast beef sandwich and a large dill pickle with perhaps some potato salad and a bottle or beer.” This was his fantasy version of what truly was about to happen. “We’re shut” the woman of the hotel answered him in a completely different way that he had imagined her to answer.
After being turned down and unable to afford a place to sleep Bill Bryson spends the night on a nearby bench. England is a cold country especially when you are near the sea, so Bill Bryson took off his backpack and started to dress himself with as many layers of clothes as he could find. He was awoken from his sleep by a loud sounding Foghorn “which nearly knocked me from my narrow perch”. His first night in England was a cold, uncomfortable one.
In America the language is slightly different, in England you use words like Jam where as Americans would use the word Jelly. Bill Bryson soon realizes that even though the Language they both use is English it’s slightly altered. “Best transport caff in Kent” “transport calf!”. Bill Bryson misunderstands the English man’s accent. “You might want to take them pants off your head before you go in”. Bill Bryson allows the reader to laugh at his misfortune and forgetfulness, he had left his flannel boxer shorts on his head and had not realized. “Might turn out nice” the English man’s first comment to Bill Bryson was about the weather. “as it began to spit with rain” the English man had been wrong.