London, Summer 2003 - First Visit

Jeanette’s version

Today is the day Kathy arrives. Emily and I caught the nine-forty-nine am train from Weston-super-Mare to Redding where we transferred to a bus to Heathrow. We couldn't use our Brit Rail passes on the bus even though it was a rail link bus. Every one is out to make the extra buck, or pound as the case may be. We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare so we had time to grab a sandwich before Kathy's plane landed. It also gave us time to find the shuttle service that would take us directly to the Hotel and arrange a ride.

It seemed like forever before we saw her coming out of the swinging door from the arrivals area but we recognized each other instantly. Who would have thought that when I finally met Kathy it would be in London!! By the time we arrived at the hotel and dumped our luggage it was almost time for dinner. We checked with the Concierge and he directed us to a pub just a couple of blocks away. On the way there we noticed that the Gloucester Underground Station was just one block from the hotel, which turned out to be very handy the next day. The Concierge had done very well by us. The Pub was very picturesque and the food was excellent. We all pulled out our cameras and started taking pictures of the food. Is that tacky, or what? Because we were a little earlier than the normal dinner crowd we had the dinning room pretty much to ourselves so at least we didn't make too much of a spectacle of ourselves. After dinner we walked back to the hotel and fell into bed. Kathy was jet lagged and Emily and I were simply stuffed from dinner. I did manage to call Annie before I passed out and we arranged to meet the next day at the Covent Garden Underground Station.

Lucky for us Covent Garden was on the same line as the Gloucester stop so our first venture out on the London Underground was an easy and straightforward trip. There are four or five different lines and you could spend a lot of time changing from one line to another on a trip across London, trudging up and down steps, and jammed in crowed lifts with hordes of pushy, fragrant young persons all shouting and jabbering in some incomprehensible language. I have filed the London Underground experiences under "Adventures" in the part of my mind labeled unforgettable experiences.

Annie looks great! She must be one of those persons who thrive on adversity because she has had one heck of a year. For those of you who do not know Annie, while she was on Holiday in Spain in January of this year Britain experienced a severe cold spell and the water pipes in her attic froze and burst, flooding her house and causing major, major damage. She has spent the last six months fighting with her insurance carrier and trying to get her house repaired and her ruined belongs replaced. She is still living in a hotel. We had a really fun day. We drifted down towards Covent Garden Market, strolled around for while, made a few purchases and then went in search of one of those double decker tour buses.

The tour bus we ended up on was operated by "Big Bus Tours" The price for a 24 hours, on and off ticket was seventeen pounds which Annie and I both considered exorbitant but turned out to be a great value in the end. Kathy and Emily wanted to see the Tower of London so the plan was that they would get off at the Tower and Annie and I would ride around the circuit and then get off and wait for them at the stop where they got off. Two hours later Kathy and Emily were finished with the tour and the tour bus has still not made a complete circle. But in this day and time where everybody has a cell phone we were able to communicate so no one had to worry about getting separated. I had Jenny's, Kathy had rented one, and Annie had her own of course.

When I put my travel journal up on the web I have great fun looking for midi's that fits each individual entry. I kept thinking the song about the guy who was on the Boston subway and couldn't find his stop and ended riding the train forever. Annie and I were starting to feel a little bit like that. But we finally all found each other again and set off in search of food. Annie led us down into an area close to the Tower called St..Catherine's Docks where we found  a restaurant that had lots of ambiance and passable food. Then we all piled back onto another tour bus and set off again and ended up back at Covent Garden where we all got back on the underground. We reluctantly parted ways with Annie at one of the stops and dragged ourselves back to the hotel.

Monday we walked down to the Big Bus stop near the hotel and got on the Blue Line. (We had ridden the Red Line the day before.) Our plan was to ride it all the way around and get off at Harrows. Like most of our plans it didn't quite work out that way but eventually we made it. By the time we got there we were starving so we headed for the restaurant. We took pictures of all the food we ate. People look at us funny when we do this but we don't care. After lunch I returned to the hotel while Kathy and Emily prepared to "shop till they dropped." Since Emily and I had a late night planned I took the opportunity to take a little nap.

Mama Mia was fabulous. The Prince Edward theater is one of those old, plush theaters all decorated in deep reds and gold leaf. It was a pricy evening out but well worth it. We had great seats. We sat in the stalls and were about 6 rows back just right of center. Couldn't have been more perfect.. Emily is now an Abba fan.

Tuesday we left London (and many of our belongings) behind and made our way to Waterloo Station and went to Salisbury, but that is another journal.

Kathy’s Side of the Story

OK, it's Saturday night and I have just arrived in London, England. I had a great flight, nobody at all sat with me and the food was great.

This is a warm country for a cool country. Nobody else is complaining about the lack of a/c (oh if I only knew what awaited me for the next 16 days!) while waiting in line to be welcomed into England, so I keep my mouth shut. I have tossed and turned on the plane over what to list my occupation as on my entry card and I finally decide on, "undecided." I expect rolls of laughter when I present this to the official at the little podium, but I don't hear any laughter....maybe it's just that dry wit thing and they don't want me to get all big headed from being too funny. I remember that Julie told me that they're going to ask me some question about whence I come from (or something) and I am trying to remember the correct answer, not the stupid one (which was obvious to both Jules and me, groan) and the official greeter not only doesn't laugh, she doesn't ask me anything that I can respond to. Harumph. She stamps my passport with a wobbly wrist (wrecking my bragging rights, to be sure!) and sends me on my merry way with nary a "have a nice day" or anything. Hmmmm.... Wiping the sweat from my brows, throwing a tic tac in my parched mouth, and putting a big smile on my face, I go forward to meet my new traveling companions, Jeanette and Emily, hoping the whole while that I am A) recognizable, and B) met with some amount of enthusiasm.

I am! I recognize Jeanette instantly. Whew. She looks just like she does in her picture of her riding her lawn mower in her Little Rock back yard. (Well, minus the riding lawn mower and the lawn.) She is waving and smiling although I don't see Emily with her. Oh no! Has she already lost her, or did Emily, in a teenage tantrum, snort off to go explore London by herself? Naaaa, there she is, with their luggage. Jeanette hugs me right away and Emily says an unenthusiastic, "Hey." Ut-oh, she hates me! (Naaa, you didn't believe that for a sec, did ya?) She is as cute as I pictured her and little did I know how much we three would laugh, snort, and laugh again on this trip.

Jeanette tells me that she's already figured out how we're getting to the hotel. A wonderful van is going to swish in and swoop us up and take us straight to our hotel. All on the wrong side of the street! Yippee! My first Londonism! We just have one small problem...she and Emily don't remember exactly where we're going to be swooped. We go back to where Jeanette's made very best friends with the ticket seller and she instructs us to go to another desk. That desk informs Jeanette to stand against a wall and we'll be picked up shortly. Emily waits about five minutes and then says, "We are in a BASEMENT! How is a van going to come in here and pick us up?" (Remember, she has a charming yet very southern accent that is just too great to hear!) She stomps over to the counter and the woman tells her that it is indeed possible and she should just get over there right this minute because they will be there any second.

Fifteen minutes later, and no van, I ask if it would be OK if I just go and "top up" my phone card so it will work. (Anything to introduce my new lingo into a sentence!) I just knew that if I didn't do what Dan and the Orange (the phone people) company told me to do that the whole cell phone deal would all fall apart. Plus, I wanted to talk to somebody English. (Sneak in a pip pip or Cheerio.) I did, got back, still no van, but we've collected about 10 Japanese people. Ahhh...there's always safety in numbers.

Van comes, we get all our stuff in and whiz off to the hotel. In no time we're there. Funny, though, in those 15 minutes or so in the van, plus the 30 minutes or so waiting for the van, Jeanette, Emily, and I, have all exchanged pictures, life stories, and blood samples (for our best friend vials, of course!).

We get inside the hotel and viola (!) our reservations are mixed up. Or maybe just the fella (bloke...mate?) checking us in is just a little mixed up. We fill out reams of papers, show the passports, and are finally given the keys.

The room is fairly small, but I was warned of that from everyone. It's got a nice window that OPENS (!) and it's double glazed. Now, I have no idea what that means, but it's a huge deal to the British. My fold out bed has no sheets and two surly foreign women come and change it. They are so pretty, but their angry chit chat to each other makes them kinda ugly. At least to me. Anyway, when my bed is out, and Emily's exploded suitcase is well, exploded, right next to it, nobody can get by to the bathroom. Does that stop anybody? Naaaa, you know us...Emily and Jeanette just crawled up, over, and down when they had to use the "toilet." (Tacky word, but when in Rome,etc..)

Holiday Inn, Kennsington

Sometime since we arrived at the hotel, Jeanette has made friends with the concierge and found a great place to eat dinner. It's at a real authentic English pub. I can't wait to get there and we walk the three blocks to it. We're in Kensington and it's full of lively looking restaurants and pubs and stores. Dang if they aren't all closed...well, the stores, I mean. We pass a couple of places that advertise chili and one "Authentic Texas Lone Star Food!" Hmmm...what could this mean? Not to worry, we've cut through the smoking "bar" section of the pub to find the nonsmoking portion of the place and surprise, surprise, we've got it all to ourselves!

The menu is to die for and I decide to go hog wild and order the roasted root vegetables in rarebit tucked into a pocket phyllo pastry. It's divine! (A good sign of things to come!) I have wild berry cobbler for dessert with ice cream. OMG, I am gonna love this trip!

We waddle back to the hotel and I fall into my fold out bed and it feels like the most comfortable thing I ever slept on. But then again, I was dead to the world within two minutes. Window open, wind blowing, me dreaming of my rarebit with roasted veggies! I hope my family did OK w/o me for this first day.

End of Saturday, July 10, 2003, my first day in London.

Street Person outside Covent Garden

Emily’s Side of the Story

Went to the train station...got to the airport...waited for forever for Kathy. Met her...she's a bundle of fun :) really she is...Went to London...got into the hotel room..let me tell you..rooms over here in London are as big as your closet. It is crazy talk. We were all stepping over stuff...plus my suitcase has built-in springs and when you open it, stuff just shoots out in all directions. Hope you all know that is a big fat lie..I am just messy. Something for my future husband to look forward to *winks* That night we went out to eat at this nice pub that the man at the Holiday Inn, 97 Cromwell, South Kensington, England, suggested to us. Went back to the miniscule hotel room, and crashed for the night..slept like 11 hours...wowzers.

Sunday

Tower of London

Got up..met Annie, one of the book club members, in Covent Gardens. Before that though, we were in the elevator and these people got on..and they were from Arkansas..but the son had on this shirt that said "ARKANSAS....WE KILL LIVE DEER." Okay, c'mon now...that makes us look really barbaric, and like that's really something you want your kid to be wearing in a foreign country..some people just stick it all out there. Weirdos :) Anyway, Covent Gardens is AWESOME...I totally loved it. There were people all around that were wearing body paint and there were some men dressed like cats and a lady that was wearing some kind of outfit that looked like it could be from the Wizard of Oz, and there was a man that was dressed like an Angel..it was great. Anyway, we paid our 17 pounds to get onto the tour bus...Kathy and I got off at the Tower of London and the plan was for Grams and Annie to ride the tour bus and then get off at the Tower of London when it came back around and meet up with us. Kathy and I continued on to the Tower and well...its...how can I put this...empty. It sucked. Every single place we went was..empty and we just looked out of the windows. HAHAH..blah. Anyway..saw the crown jewels..and then we met this "Beefeater" named Mick..I just wanted to take my picture with him..and he gave me his card and his email address, home address, and phone number so I could email him a copy of it..but it got deleted. I accidentally deleted all my pictures..I was soo P'Od. I started crying..I had gotten some really good shots too.

Covent Garden

But the next day made up for it. Anyway...then Kathy found a fold up tiara but she didn't buy it, considering she already has 3..lol..rich kid. Left the Tower, made the trek back to the bus stop, called Grams and she said "Well we haven’t even gone all the way around yet, we are still on the bus." It was like the song about the man who was on the subway and never could find his stop to get off..so he stayed on for like ever. It was something out of a bad movie haha. So 6 hours later, they were still on the same tour bus...*smiles* Kathy and I finally got on the bus...went back to Covent Gardens and I got a caricature drawn. It was good. There were this two old guys..well like mid to late 20's...not old..but too old for me, anyway, they were all watching me get my caricature done...and..they were all hitting on Kathy and I..it was creepy. They asked Kathy where we were going later that night and she goes "We are going to meet her Grandma." Haha..it was hilarious, then as we were about to leave the guy like fondled Kathy's boob, and then came up and fondled my bum..ugh! We went BACK to the hotel and conked out.

Touring London

We got up...Got on the tour bus, we still had our tickets. Had to get off and get on another one. 3 hours later we ended up in the same place where we started..so that we could get off for Harrods. So needless to say, we really didn't need to get on the other bus because if we would have just stayed off when they told us to transfer to the other one we would have saved a whole lot of time. All Grams kept saying though was "Well I have seen more of London than I ever have before..these tickets sure were worth it." Anyway though, all the pictures that I had lost off my digital camera from the day before, I got back again and most of them were even better, cause of our bus ride, we went to all the same exact places again :) I didn't get my picture of Mick though :( I will have to email him the bad news..haha.

Warwick - Summer 2003

Jeanette’s Version

After reading over Emily's journal I really couldn't possibly improve on it. I think she pretty much covered the day so I am going to leave the telling in her capable hands.

Emily’s Side of the Story

Okay the let’s try this one more time...my computer shut off, and I didn’t get a chance to save the first, almost complete copy of this entry. I am handling it pretty well, lol considering, it was pretty good, if I may say so myself.

Alright, well Grams and I got up around 615 AM, thinking it was 715 AM. Went to Weston-Super-Mare, and caught a train to Reading- say it as Redding- then we got off there and caught a train to Warwick-say it as Warrick. It was peeing rain when we left the house, and by the time we got to Warwick it was pissing rain-some saying that they use over here. Grams and I tried all day to figure out which is which and finally decided. Anyway, we got to the train station and I went inside to a room where people were "resting" and I asked the attendant where the rest room was. He says "This is the rest room." I looked at him strangely and he replied back, "If you are looking for the toilet, go outside and it is around the corner." Stupid me...lol I should have known...all the Brit HUMOUR that they have over here. I wish he would have said, "This is the rest room, but if you are looking for the loo, it is outside and around the corner." So then I could have played along like I WAS a dumb American and said, "I am not looking for the LOO, I am looking for the toilet." See the loo over here is the toilet, you cant ask for the bathroom either or they will point you in the direction of a room with a bath in it, plain and simple, just as the names of the rooms imply, thats what you get.

Anyway...so Grams and I went to this nice little place and had some lunch. I had lasagna, cream potatoes and salad-which I did not eat. Grams had ham, cream potatoes, and carrots- which she did eat. Then we called a taxi, so they could take us to Warwick Castle, and the next taxi was not running until 30 minutes later. We decided that we would walk up and down a street with some shops on it. Not that interesting but it passed the time. We then walked to the castle, and by the time we both got there, 4 rests later, we were sopping wet.

Got to the castle and went in to "Royal Weekend Party-1898" It was awesome. Let me tell you, there are wax figures that don’t even look fake. I was standing there, and the first one I saw was the butler. The only thing that was going through my head was, "Move you little booger, I know you have been trained to stand still and all but I am going to stand here until you move, you silly man." I didn’t realize that he was not a real man until Grams said "Nice work huh?" I was flabbergasted, I have total and complete respect for the artist's who created these amazing masterpieces. Onto the other rooms, there were tons of other wax figures, who didn’t look fake. Total realism. There was even a couple of rooms where the wax figures had running water at their fingertips to make it seem even more real.

This castle was so much better than the Royal Pavilion that we went to in Brighton. I loved it so much. If you ever get the chance to come to England, you have to go to Warwick and check the Warwick Castle out, it was fantastic. Anyway...one area we got to, there was this wax figure holding the curtain up and "looking" out the window. There was another figure standing at the window with her hands clasped behind her back, and by this time I know all of these figures are fake, right? Well as real as I was standing there looking..amazed by the realness..this figure moved and turned around and looked at me. I almost peed my pants right on the spot. For she was REAL. She started laughing and said, "Yes, I am real...I was just standing here looking out the window." Man, it was crazy talk. I was so...freaked out..embarrassed and stupid feeling all at that precise moment in time. Anyway...moved on to The Great Hall, and I was walking in and there was this wax figure of Princess Diana..people were standing around and you could see the questions on their faces, as if saying, "Is she still alive?" I mean these figures looked REAL. I got some pictures with her. They had her eyes tilted so it looked like she was looking at you..it was crazy. Man...still amazed, as if you couldn’t notice. I guess maybe you just had to be there. I don’t know, anyway.

We left the castle and called a cab...it got stuck in traffic...showed up about 30 minutes later. We had a crazy cab driver, he was a speed demon if I must say so myself. Seat belts WERE in use. No need to remind Grams of the 500 pound fine for not wearing a seatbelt, you better believe I buckled her right in :) Can’t lose precious cargo. On with the day...Got back to the train station...hopped on a train...to Reading, got off there..went to Bristol Temple Meads and then went to Worle. Jenny picked us up from Worle and we went and got Chinese food. Brought it back to the house, and ate. I then got on my computer, Bob is so nice, he installed a slideshow screen saver on my laptop. It is too cool, all my pictures from Brighton, Weston-Super-Mare, Stonehenge, Warwick Castle, and Jeremy and I are on here, all showing in 3 sec. intervals, I may just sit and watch all 40 billion of them when I get done with this entry. Anyway Bob and I messed around on my computer, trying to delete all of the stuff Grams had on here that I am NEVER going to use. Then I started to write my journal entry and I was almost done and it shut down on me. I was very calm and collected about it. Bob goes, "Well you sure are handling it well...you are being very calm." I replied, "Well there is nothing I can do about it now..It’s just that I was almost done...oh well." Secretly, shh, don’t tell anyone but I was thinking to myself, "You little piece of poop computer, I am so mad at you. You said you had 3 hours of battery left and it’s been like 30 minutes...ohhhh buddy...you poor little soul." But oh well, all is done now, and it is probably a better journal entry now than before...so all is forgiven.

Tomorrow we leave to go to London-Heathrow to pick up Kathy...hope she likes me..I don’t know though..Anyway..all is well..hope all is well there...I love you Old Flame..talk to you soon, that is if I haven’t already talked to you by the time you read this. HAHA Oh by the way, I wrote Mom an email this morning and I specifically said in the email, "it is like midnight there so I know you are in bed but I just wanted to write you an email." So then I look down at the clock on Bobs computer which says 6:30 AM..so what do I do, not thinking I just picked up the phone and dialed moms number, it wasn’t until she answered that I was like "Dang dude I just said I know you are asleep and here I am calling her..." I just said "Hey Mommy, I just wanted to tell you to have a good day..sorry its like midnight..I didn’t realize."  Dude I am such dingbat hehe *thumps herself* Sometimes I just need a swift kick in the bum.  G'nite All~

Stonehenge - Summer 2003

Jeanette’s Version

Matthew wanted to see Stonehenge so even though Emily and I are planning to go there next week with Kathy we indulged him because we like him. It was a nice day out but we got a late start and as a result we didn't have time to do anything except Stonehenge and a late lunch. Matthew and I had been to Stonehenge on our epic journey of 1995. I was not keeping a journal at that time so parts of it are lost in the mists of my memories, but I remember clearly the day we visited Stonehenge. But it was fun getting to spend the day with both of them in England at the same time. They are both fun to travel with so for me, the journey was more fun than the visit to the stones. Just for the record, I have been to Stonehenge three times now. Once in June, once in July and once in October. All three times it has rained.

For part of the way the train traveled the same route that Emily and I had traveled on our way to Warrick - nice pictures except for the big white horse on the hillside near Warminster. Emily and I had both tried to get a picture of it coming back from Brighton and again today on the way to Salisbury. We decided to assign the job to Matt and then we could blame him if we didn't get one. It's just too far away from the tracks and the train is traveling too fast at that point to get a picture from the train. This picture is scanned from a book that I found. According to the book, this particular white horse is the oldest of the Wiltshire horses. There has been a white horse on the site for at least three hundred years or so. Later it had eroded to the point where you could barely tell what it was anymore so in 1873 it was restored according to the directions of a committee appointed for the purpose, and edging stones were added to help hold the chalk in place. The shape of the present horse dates from this restoration. When I read this I thought of the old joke that a camel is a horse that was designed by a committee so I guess the people of Wiltshire are lucky that this one turned out so well.

We found a double decker bus waiting at the train station that offered transport out to Stonehenge. I think they run every thirty or so. Although it was intermittently spitting rain it held off doing any serious raining so we climbed up to the top level and enjoyed the ride. We passed through two or three picturesque small villages or hamlets and enjoyed the scenery. Everyone’s  gardens are just lovely. Just as we arrived the rain decided it was finally going to get serious after all so I stayed in the gift shop and under the awnings while Matt and Emily made a quick dash through the tunnel that runs under the road to the stones.

We stopped for lunch in a small pub called The Cat Tavern that looked a lot better than its food turned out to be. To be fair it wasn't as it turned out a traditional pub. It was one of those places that young people come to listen to live music performed by local and up and coming groups. Food was not a priority for this place. Perhaps not even the drinks were. Certainly it was not the place to come to play darts and sip ones lager around a roaring fireplace.

We arrived back about seven and Jenny had prepared a lovely dinner as it was Matt’s last evening in Europe. Bob took him to the train at 11 pm so he could be on time for his early morning flight.

Emily’s Side of the Story

Even though I have been here for 4 days now..my mind cannot seem to fathom that it is later over here than it is in Arkansas. Take for example, right now it is 7:30 PM here...and 1:30  PM in Arkansas. I feel like it is mid-day. I am not even sleepy...I could not go to sleep last night...I suppose I finally nodded off around 3ish...Grams snores had a little to do with that though. First I thought, maybe I can put a pillow over my head...can we say "no"?

Then I moved onto the idea of going downstairs and sleeping in the living room with Matt. I was afraid I would set off the alarm though- so that ruled that out...I have heard the alarm 2 times on the first night we were here...Jenny dismantled her alarm clock because SHE couldn’t even figure out what it was, and its HER house. Not a kind sounding thing. Then I go out of bed very cautiously trying not to wake Grams up...even though if I had woken her up she probably would have stopped snoring. Smart me...okay on with the night. I got on the floor, and well that didn’t help either...was going to move to the hall but realized that I was not able to shut the bedroom door to keep the snores in the room, for all the crud blocking the doorway. So I decided that I would move to the computer room, and that when they awoke they would be able to find me there- for I stuck post-it notes above the bedroom door handle and the computer rook door handle.

So there I was....found in the computer room this morning by Grams...thank the Lord, I got sleep :) HAHA Got to love her..and her snores lol. I laid in bed for a while...then finally got up and got in the shower...only to notice it was only 10 am, I was like "By george, I should still be asleep!" Called a taxi and hopped in...nice taxi driver...very talkative...got to Weston-super-mare...caught a train to Bath...got off there...caught a train to Salisbury, as soon as we got off the train, we hopped right on to a city bus...went to Stonehenge, Grams has been 3 times already so she sent Matt and I in...took lots of great pictures. Had an adventure with Matt's camera..didn’t want to take good pictures for me, but we got a good laugh out of it...haha, this may not be funny to you...but he wanted a picture of him and Stonehenge, right? Like any good American would. I took the camera and got a little bit of Stonehenge...Matt, and TONS OF THE PAVEMENT AND OTHER PEOPLE. He was like GREEEEAAT pic Em. hehe it was wonderful.

Good times, Got out of Stonehenge...got off the bus..went to this nice pub called "Cats Tavern." Grams wanted some pictures of it, since it was nice and colorful, so like any good grandchild, I took our cameras, crossed the street, and went to take the pictures. All was going good until this man in an orange truck thing, drove by and gave me the finger. YES that's right he flipped me the bird, American style. Oh and he was smiling about it! I don’t know what I did to him..but wowzers, must have made quite an impression:) Matt and I are still trying to figure out if he was trying to "pick" me up, if you know what I mean. Not that I would be flattered...lol But I would at least know it wasn’t meant as "up yours" or "f you" haha

Anyway..had a small downpour when we got to Weston-super-Mare train station. Got in the car, trekked back to the house. Found out that Matt's flight home tomorrow leaves at 10:45 AM instead of 3:50 PM...so that is a big difference. Considering he is flying out of London-Heathrow...he can either go by train to London tonight-mind you he is poor by now- and try to stay with a friend he has met there or he can cash in his train ticket for tomorrow that he bought today and catch a bus tomorrow morning at a quarter to 5 AM. I don’t want him to have to leave tonight, but you have to do what you have to do. I am glad I have gotten a chance to see him...dinner is cooking downstairs...I don’t think I can eat! We ate 3 hours ago! GRR I am going to explode..will someone air mail me some REAL mashed potatoes? I don’t mind exploding from them...ahhh that would be heaven...not exploding but the taters. Just got finished eating..spaghetti,. I always for some reason get a little nervous around dinner time because I never know if it will be some exotic food...I am a nerd, cause it always ends up being just plain normal.

The end...lol. Matt is leaving tonight..Thanks for reading. Kathy gets to sleep with Grams..hehe I get the air mattress:) she can snore in HER ear...give mine a rest.

Weston-Super-Mare - Summer 2003

July 2003

Jeanette’s Version

We slept in this morning.  I think it must be delayed jet lag.  Jenny came home at noon and threw us out of bed and we had an al fresco lunch out on the patio.  Pate, toast and fruit.  Yummy  I love their new house.  The last time I was over they were living in military housing in Bristol.  It was very nice, but still not their own.  Then the government decided to close down the RAF Locking base which is about an hour’s journey from Bristol.  According to Jenny there was a great deal of  interest in them and the day they put them on the market it was on a first come, first serve basis.  Bob and Jenny rented a caravan and were in line for a week before the sale opened.  Their determination paid off as they got one of the larger units and it is really nice.  Bob has done a lot of remodeling himself with occasional help from son- in- law Darin.  I never dreamed that he was such a talented remodeler.  All the work looks like it was done by a professional.

After lunch Jenny took us on a tour of Weston-super-Mare. The name Weston is made up of two Old English or Saxon words meaning the west tun or settlement. Because there are several places called Weston in Somerset descriptions were added to tell them apart.

What is unusual about Weston-super-Mare is that the descriptive part of its name has remained in medieval Latin. Super (with small s) means on or above, and mare is Latin for sea Previously I had only known two things about this pretty little west coast town.  One, that John Cleese came from here and two, what I had read in Bill Byson's Notes From a Small Island in which he was not very complementary.  To be fair it seemed that he had visited here very briefly and it poured with rain the entire time.  That can put a damper on any place.  But I found it charming. The shorefront is lined with large beautiful limestone houses, many of which appear to have been turned into B&B's and the beach is lovely.

Weston-Super-Mare strikes me as a Brighton-on-a-budget kind of place.  There were mostly old people and young Mothers with small children in evidence along the seafront.  But Jenny informs me that the town has a split personality and that after the sun goes down it turns into Party Central where the young people come to let their hair down and do all the wild and naughty things that young party animals do.

  At the far end of the quay was a small ferry named The Bristol Queen. This little ferry was built in 1938 and was originally named The Levin and she has quite a history.  When WWII broke out she was requisitioned by the Royal Navy and when the Navy captured a German submarine, after torpedoing a ship carrying evacuees to Canada the Leven was sent out to bring the German U-boat crew in.  These were the first German prisoners of the war.  She also made several trips to Dunkirk in 1940 when the British Expeditionary Force was rescued by the Navy aided by hundreds of small boats and ferries.

Jenny and Emily went on a shopping tour and I parked myself in one of the many pretty little parks while they were exploring.  Afterwards we stopped and had a Cream Tea, a first for Emily.  We headed home about five as Jenny and Emily were driving up to Bristol to pick up Emily's brother Matthew.  Matthew was on the tail end of his European Odyssey, having spent two months backpacking with a friend through Southern Europe.  His friend went home last week and Matthew has been in Scotland visiting with Nicky. We will have one one day to visit with him before he has to leave to go home.  We plan to go somewhere tomorrow but haven't decided just where yet. 

Emily’s Side of the Story 

Today I slept until noon....lazy lizard I know...got up...went downtown to Weston Super Mare. Walked along the pier...and the beach...and the boat area...took some nice shots. Went to the post office..bought a International phone card. Went into the shopping area...looked for the shoes I have been wanting...didn’t find. Came back...Went to Pete and Nina's...hung out...talked about the U.S and different phrases the UK and the US share. "Two nations divided by a common language." Such as, "Keep your pecker up" which in the US would mean..well you know :) but over here it means, Keep your chin up. I should have known that one to use on the stuffy lady. "Fag" which in the US is a derogatory meaning towards gays...over here it means cigarette. "Lay the table" aka set the table. "Knock me up in the morning" which obviously we all THINK we know what that means, but really it means, "Come by in the morning." "Ring me" aka call me. "Rubber" <----hahaha aka eraser. "Pants or Knickers" aka undies. "Trousers" aka pants<---our meaning for pants. "Telly" aka phone.,

We went to pick up Matthew from the airport...It was so thrilling to see him. I love him so much. I almost cried, BUT I didn’t. Then we ate dinner...new potatoes weren't cooked...haha...nuked them and still hard...haha it was great you could barely bite into them...Matt, of course, ate like every one of them. Bob lost his off his plate, "I was trying to be like a lazy American and cut it with my fork." It was awesome. Grams was talking about Gpa and she said "Sometimes I wake up grumpy...but most of the time I let him sleep." It was great...haha. Bob is having trouble with the puter...it started when we got here..but it must run in the family, because Matt broke Nicky's VCR...no power, no lights, no one is home.

Brighton, Summer 2003

July 22, 2003

Jeanette’s version

Against Jenny's good advice to stay home and rest up from the journey, Emily and I were anxious to get out and about so we decided to have a day out in Brighton. This was a four hour train journey each way but we thought it was worth it. Brighton has been a seaside resort for several hundred years. Emily thought that Brighton Pier was tacky but I think that sometimes tacky can be pretty wonderful - in a tacky kind of way of course. We especially liked the ornate kiosk advertising Orgasmatronic Massages.  

You should not even bother to go to Brighton unless you plan to tour the Brighton Pavilion. In 1783 George, then Prince of Wales began converting a simple farmhouse into a neo-classical villa known then as the Marine Pavilion. In 1811 when he became Prince Regent he hired John Nash to enlarge the building. Between 1815 and 1822 it was transformed into the present Pavilion. It is opulence personified and pretty much a testimony to how anyone can have really bad taste, even a king.  The Pavilion was sold to the town of Brighton by Victoria in 1850 but not before she stripped it of its furnishings.  The chandelier in the Banquet room was originally hung with precious and semi-precious stones and Victoria had them replaced with ordinary crystal. 

The first time I visited Brighton was in 1980 when we lived in Scotland and took a trip "down south" with Bob, Jenny and the girls. A short time before that visit an arsonist had set fire to the music room causing a great deal of damage to that room and smoke damage to many of the other rooms on the main floor. Tours were being given but you could not get the total effect of just how grand everything was because repairs were still being done. In 1995 we went back and for some reason lost in the mists of time Matthew took the tour, I did not. So this was my first time to see the Pavilion in all its total glory. It was definitely worth the 7.60 (pounds) that it cost for the two of us. We are both at convenient ages since I qualify for senior discounts and Emily for Student discounts. 

After leaving the Pavilion we wandered around in the area known as The Lanes which are narrow alleyways lined with all sorts of interesting shops and restaurants. Brighton is another one of those places you could spend a week in and never see everything you wanted to. Just strolling along the seafront promenade and sitting on a bench staring out to sea is a wonderful way to spend your time. But, we had a four hour journey home so we reluctantly made our way back to the train station.

The journey back was interesting. A couple of disgusting young men got on at Brighton and proceeded to get roaring drunk. I almost had a heart attack when one lit up a cigarette and Emily reached over, tapped him on the shoulder and told him to put it out. He put it out though and even apologized to her. I guess he was too surprised to do anything else. The train was late getting into Bath and we missed our connection but we improvised and made it back only about an hour past our expected time. 

Emily’s Side of the Story

We hopped on a train at Weston-Super-Mare at 6:57 in the morning...arrived in Bath at 7:41, then took a train to Brighton, the ride lasted until 11:15...it was a nice ride..Grams and I took naps, and then chatted a little about  about our lives. She told me that Grandpa used to say, "There are 3 kinds of people in this world, the people who make things happen, people who watch things happen, and then the ones who wonder what happened." I thought that it was quite fitting for what we were talking about, for we were talking about people who let others think for them. I absolutely love that saying...maybe just because it is so him..and I only knew him when he was very ill... don’t really know.. but I do know that I will begin to use that quote. Anyway on with today... 

We arrived in Brighton and the first thing we did was get on one of those sightseeing buses that you can ride over and over again...but we sat on the top where it was open...awesome it was. Gives you a whole new perspective on the town. 

We rode that for a while...then we got to The Royal Pavilion...it was HUGE...the city of Brighton bought it for 53,000 pounds...which in our money is like 170,000 dollars. That was way back when though...it was absolutely gorgeous. 

After that, we went to wait for the bus to the pier...as we were sitting there though...this kind of chubby woman went by on her bicycle...and well, we saw her thong...it was absolutely hilarious, and we were later informed that that is the style over here? Why on earth would you want anyone to see your knickers? Thats so grodie my-odie. Later when we got onto the Brighton Pier...we were walking through, and they have turned it into a sort of amusement park....you can ride rides, play the slots, and all other sorts of things..like a semi-state fair...to me it was displeasing...I think of a pier as a nice quite place where the only noise are the seagulls bothering you...not the sound of games...oh well...build it up for the tourism I suppose. Grams and I decided that we were going to take a rest on one of the nice benches...and across the way we see a little stand called "Massage Orgasmatron"...well now let’s see...how does that work again? he he...I got pictures...you will see them sooner or later if you care to...well NO not pictures of us getting one...pictures of the STAND :) Then we sat down for lunch...fish and chips, chips being french fries...actual CHIPS are called crisps. It was...different..I don’t eat fish but apparently it is very popular over here...so there you go. 

 After that, we looked for a places called Lanes..it is some rows of closely quartered shops...one that I went into was called FCUK...riiight I am sure that REALLY stands for French connection in the U.K. Uh huh and I am just some stupid broad...riiiight. Needless to say I didn’t buy anything there..I did however buy a rose pin thing...hard to explain but cute none the less. Grams and I also went to a bookstore and bought a book to read on the train back...so we didn’t get so bored.

Got lost on our way to the train station- more so to the bus stops...things are so confusing over here. I have also noticed that every guy has the Hugh Grant swagger down pat. It is quite amusing, they are either slouched shouldered or shoulders up to their stinking chin...great it is. Also, people don’t move when you say excuse me, and they don’t say excuse me...they just push you out of the way. Lovely people..:) he h

We finally arrived at Brighton Station...got on the train for a verrrryyy long ride back. Absolutely NO table seats...So I sat beside some stuffy woman who acted like if our arms touched she would get leprosy or something...ugh us Americans... I went to sleep on a tray about 6 inches wide and 8 inches long- quite comfy. The lady got off at a stop..and I spread out on my two seats..might have been impolite..but at least I wasn’t some "bloody american'" who was giving someone leprosy :) All in good fun do I write all of this. I awoke to some man arguing with his friend about that they will take your credit card away and leave you with all these fees...he was very loud...and obnoxious. I finally went back to sleep...then awoke to him talking loudly again..very annoying...then he got on the phone and was incessantly talking...started talking about sex..and every other word was F- this and F-that...very nasty. They(he and his friend) began calling some of their female friends and asking them to come out with them. and get laid..and if his mistress called, tell her that he was going down to somewhere and that’s all they knew. He also said for them to tell one of the male friends that he could have sex with his mistress just as long as he shut her up. It was very vulgar for about 2 hours.

Then the guy was so drunk he went into the train bathroom and threw up all over it...ugh..then they began smoking on a non smoking train..I nudged the not so obnoxious one and said "I don’t know if you even care but this is a non smoking train...that means, you< can’t> smoke on here." He smiled and said.."yes, I just realized that." Whatever.

We finally got off the horrible train..after we had missed our connecting one by about 25 min. We got off a Bristol Temple...waited for the train...went downstairs to the ladies room...another thing is that all of the woman’s bathrooms are downstairs..why is it that, I wonder? Anyway, we arrived back about 30 minutes ago...such a long but fun day...something I will never forget...chance of a life time.. but it still doesn’t feel like we are in a different country. Oh by the way, they sell gas over here by the litre..liter..whatever...so its like 4.40 a gallon! That’s crazy talk! Plus cartons of cigarettes are like 60 U.S. dollars...wowzers.. Drinking age is 18 and smoking age is 16.

Traveling - Summer 2003

July 20, 2003

On July 20, 2003 my seventeen year old granddaughter Emily and I embarked on a great adventure.  Five weeks spent in each other's company, day and night, through thick and thin, from literally one end of Britain to the other, with a short detour across the English Channel and North Sea to get a glimpse of Norway. Fortunately we also spent a great deal of time with our British family so that when we got the urge to kill each other there were too many people around to pull it off.

On July 24 we were joined by my dear friend Kathy, whom neither Emily nor I had ever met before.  Kathy lives in Irvine, California and we both belong to an on-line reading group.  So this is the story of how a sixty-eight-year -old woman and her seventeen- year-old granddaughter from Arkansas and a lovely lady from Southern California happily traveled through as much of the U.K. as we possibly could, seeing the sights, having a wonderful time, and sampling just about every form of transportation that is  available, most of the time dragging way too much luggage along with us. It was a magic trip and we had a wonderful time

Emily and I left Little Rock at 3:30 p.m. on July 20 aboard an American Airlines EMBRAER RJ140 JET.  I put that in here because I wanted to state that it has to be the most miserably uncomfortable aircraft flying today.  Fortunately it's only an hour long flight from Little Rock to Dallas/Fort Worth, where we connected to a spacious and comfortable American Airlines Boeing 777 for the nine hour flight to Gatwick.   International airline traveling has obviously been drastically effected by the events of the past couple of years as both going over and coming back the plane was less than half full.  This worked out in our favor because there were enough empty seats that we were able to stretch out and sleep for four or five hours.  As a result I was in much better spirits when we arrived than I usually am after flying all night. 

One of my suitcases failed to arrive. This is the third time this has happened to me. Finally I am getting smart enough to pack a change of clothes in my carry- on case, I firmly believe that one can weather any crisis as long as you have a tooth brush and clean underwear. After doing all the necessary paperwork to get the suitcase delivered, we linked up with the Bob and Jenny and walked outside into the cool, fresh, breezy air. I cannot tell you how wonderful it felt after leaving Arkansas where the temperature was over 100 degrees.

Before we left my travel agent suggested to me that since we planned to do a lot of traveling the most economical way to do it was to buy a British Rail Flexipass. I am so glad that I listened to her because it gave us an unbelievable amount of flexibility and most of the time we traveled in the comfort of First Class carriages.

The down side to traveling First Class on British Rail is that the carriages tend to be at either the front or back of the train and when trains pull into the station they always stop so that the center of the train is just about at mid point of the platform.  If the train is very long, or if you are dragging a lot of luggage along behind you this can be a little inconvenient.   Or at least it is to an old woman with bad knees.  Also, not all trains have first class carriages. The lines that service the smaller towns and villages are usually just one or two railway carriages long and none too well maintained either. In Scotland it was definitely hit and miss, even between the larger towns.  But this is more of an observation rather than a complaint.  Taking the trips as they came was a great deal of the whole adventure. 

While in London we learned how to get around on the Underground system and by the time we made our third visit there we had started to feel completely comfortable on it.  Well, as comfortable as you can be on a crowded railway carriage that is hurtling through the dark. We soon learned to stay to the right on the escalators so that the folks who were in a hurry could dash past.  There is an unseen, very bossy person who gives loud warnings to "Mind the Gap" when you are boarding the train and informs you "Step Back!" in the lifts when the door is closing or fixing to open.

Since our budgets were limited, so were our experiences with the London Taxis.  We only rode them to and from the railway station on our first visit because we were dragging that mountain of luggage that I spoke about earlier, and when Emily and I went out one evening to see Mama Mia. The double decker tour bus turned out to be great value and I saw more of London this time than I ever have in the past.  We felt like seventeen pounds was rather pricey, but we all felt like we had gotten our money’s worth as the tickets were good  for unlimited travel in a 24 hour period. Several inter-city buses, a tour boat down Loch Ness, and a large ferry to Norway completed our sampling of the various forms of transportation we utilized to complete our odyssey. 

Emily's also kept a journal on this trip and I have included her version of our adventures.  I enjoy her perspective and she has graciously given me permission to include her entries along with mine.

Emily’s Side of the Story

On the plane they have TVs on the back of EVERY seat. I am watching "How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days," I have now watched this movie 3 times in the last day. Matthew McConahey is the MAN. I absolutely love this movie. It is soo funny. Grams is asleep...I can smell food being cooked, or heated up in the least. I have taken Dramamine and I suspect that I will be out as soon as I eat my food. Man, I just ate...wowzers...I had chicken and pasta, salad, a roll, ginger ale, and coconut pie...it was awesome. I am like..still wowed.. Anyway.... The plane is awesome..I don’t know if any of you readers have ever been on an international flight...but..wow..Grams and I have 5 seats to ourselves, I am on one end and she on the other...3 in between. Grams is sacking out again.

Bathroom is huge...well, if you could call it that...but anyway..it has a camper bathroom smell though. I miss "old flame"...I don’t know if he has tried to call...I know that I called him a few times and left him messages, but you can’t use your cellphone on the plane. Plus, even if you could...there isn't any service. I miss him....a lot.

Ha-ha the dog on this movie, is awesome. A Chinese Crested. The whole movie is worth it when you see the dog- plus when he pees on the pool table. We are right around the Chicago area...I can watch our progression on a screen..never mind now we are right outside of Detroit. Our estimated arrival time in London is 9:50 AM... we are 37000 feet in the air..-52 degrees fahrenheit outside. Pretty cold...it is 1016 here..316 there. 5 hours ahead there..6 hours ahead from Arkansas.3333

Cheddar Gorge - Atumn 2001

Cheddar Gorge

On Friday afternoon Bob and Jenny drove over after they got off from work and we all drove to Cheddar Gorge.  The drive from Shepton Mallet to Cheddar ran along the edge of the beautiful Mendip Hills.  The Mendips as they are called locally are so....so ENGLISH.  One of these days I want to visit Wookey Hole simply because I like the sound of the name.  With luck I think I will be able to manage that since it is not too far away from Bob and Jenny's home.  Along the way we also passed large lorries’ that looked just like dump trucks to me filled with apples.  This is cider making country along with cheese making.

While researching on the internet for facts about Cheddar gorge I read somewhere that "it is the Grand Canyon of Britain." That is one of the silliest statements I have ever read and shows beyond doubt that the writer had never even seen a picture of the Grand Canyon, much less visited there.  Cheddar Gorge is a unique and wonderful place and doesn't need to be compared with any other place in order to promote its self. I would say that it's an ancient place, but heck, everyplace on this planet is ancient, some are just more recently inhabited than others.  The area in and around Cheddar show signs of being inhabited for a long, long time.  Recent archaeological finds show that the area  has been occupied by man for 100,000 years.  The high cliffs that make up the gorge are dotted with caves in which evidence has been discovered that prehistoric and bronze age peoples once occupied them. A large building (possibly a villa) stood somewhere near the site of Cheddar church in Roman times, while many other Roman farms have been found in other parts of the parish, revealed by the spreads of pottery left after the ploughing of their long-abandoned sites. Other Roman finds in the village imply that Cheddar may have been a small settlement even this long ago, and Alfred The Great had a royal manor here. 


Alfred is, in my opinion the greatest king that Britain ever had, and the only English king ever to have "The Great" tacked onto the end of his name.  It amazes me that he is so little known and appreciated by present day Britains.  If asked about him, most people here will get a puzzled look on their faces and say "Oh, right, he's the fellow that burned the cakes, isn't he?"  That "fellow" single handedly yanked Britain out of the dark ages, defeated the Danes against all odds and by doing so created a national identity that survived in spite of the best efforts of William in 1066, and all he is remembered for is burning some stupid cake.  That's sad.  But my appreciation of the gorge was greatly enhanced by using my imagination to picture him and his band of Thanes riding through the area.

On the way into the village of Cheddar we stopped at several places where space had been made for just that purpose.  I want to say overlooks, but since that is obviously not the case I wonder if you could call them up looks?  At any rate Ann pointed out a small mini gorge in the side of one cliff with a large cleft rock.  She said that the story goes that the person who wrote Rock of Ages was hiking through this area and took among these rocks from a sudden rain storm and was inspired to by that stone to write the hymn.

The village of Cheddar is nestled down in the bottom of the gorge and from what I saw had no side streets.  There may have been some further down from where we stopped.  This is strip shopping if I ever saw it.  We started at the beginning of the village and started down the street to be bottom of a gradual incline where there was a junction of three roads with a large and ancient market cross in the middle. There were lots of gift shops, tat shops and shops that sold a wide variety of, what else, cheese.  They also had lots of locally made chutney and jams.  If I lived anywhere within striking distance of this place, I would spend a lot of money here.  Somehow we managed to misplace Ann and after about 20 minutes she caught up with us.  It seems she had spied a jewelry shop and on impulse went in and checked out the silver chains.  They had just what I had been looking for. Since we had gotten a late start it was beginning to get dark on us so Bob walked back up the hill to the car and then picked us up down at the bottom. <

The next morning we drove to Heathrow Airport where I discovered that my flights had been changed without my knowing it.  I was not going to be able to make my connection in Chicago. After much haggling the airline paid for me to stay overnight in a hotel and gave me my choice of whether I wanted to stay in London or Chicago.  I opted for Chicago which in retrospect was a bad choice.  Just hours before our plane landed is when they had someone get through security with some knives in his possession and security was absolutely wigging out.  But after a somewhat restless night I boarded a plane the next morning for St. Louis where I changed for one to Little Rock.  I was sad to leave but also glad to be home.