General Blog

They say writing is therapeutic – I certainly hope so. It’s either that or pop a Valium. I’m writing this entry in the moment (but in the interests of home security, it will not post up until we’re back). But shades of the Italy trip (flashback HERE). This time, it’s London for Christmas (well, in the interests of kiddy soccer, we’re flying back Christmas day). We’ll be meeting my sister and brother (with his wife and kids) for our London adventure. And already I’m having doubts. As with Italy, everything rolled up at once. My boss of twelve years is […]

After all the worries, the concerns, all that, the trip was flawless. He went through our checkpoints and gates like we were timetabled. Mike (my brother) and I had agreed on a meet point in Gatwick and both parties showed up on time at the spot. Shared a seat on the train with Brittany (my niece) on the ride into town and watched the realization sink into her that this was London. I’d felt the same way when I’d come here in the 80’s. After getting settled in the hotel (off Gloucester Tube stop), went for a tube ride/familiarization run […]

With Mike and his girls off to see some things, and my sister off to see other things, JB and I headed off to see our things. We started at the National Gallery, something we’d wanted to do last trip (but had gotten sidetracked by the Transport Museum (little pun there)). Anyway, got to see all the great Turners (including the one of Dido building Carthage, which I’d had for my desktop for the year in which I wrote Fire and Bronze). Lots of gawking, lots of neat paintings… It was drizzling outside, but we squelched over to Cecil Court […]

Tuesday broke crisp and clear and a touch cool. We decided that it would be the day to take in the big river boys (Ben, Abbey and Parliament). The Occupy folks were in the square across from Parliament, God love ’em. Looked like the French camped on the approach to Moscow. Brrr. I guess it’s too cold for pepper spray, or maybe the English show greater restraint towards civic protest. Anyway, we checked out Westminster Abbey first, drifting through its towering vaults and still spaces, as beautiful as I remembered it from 30 years before. The nieces seemed as awed […]

Wednesday – all the grownup ladies ran off to do things together (I never did find out what it was – when I’d ask, they’d giggle like Wilma Flintstone and Betty Rubble). Mike and his daughters and I tubed up to Collingdale where there is a cluster of air museums. How can you go wrong? It was Mecca for me – can you name a plane type that wasn’t there? At first I wasn’t sure – it was sorta a generic museum with a couple of planes (Sopwith Camel, Fokker DVII, ME109, ME262, some other things (how aerially urbane of […]

So it was just the Italy Trio, JB, Pat and I. Funny thing but we duplicated a day from an earlier trip. First off, since the day was cold and clear, the London Eye. I must be getting older – I used to dangle 2000 feet in the air in an ultralight. Now the trip up the eye gave me a bit of vertigo. Nothing bad – focused on pictures and forced my mind to be logical (the damn thing is not going to pop off the hub and roll along the embankment!). Got some nice shots, too. There were […]

Yes, let’s get this one started right! Look at the sinners sliding into the abyss! Look at the mountains falling on top of them! Check out that city that has flipped over and is screaming down to pulp a million people beneath it, even as it breaks apart. Unlike the movie 2012 with LA at a 20 degree tilt, this is 130 degrees! Wow! First things first – Mike & Co were still up north. Pat had all sorts of things she wanted to see (fare thee well). JB and I wanted to do the Tate Britain and see what […]