Archive for the ‘England’ Category
October 22, 2019
Wendy, Sue and I set out for Cornwall early afternoon and I got a feel for the pattern of the days. Everything is a reason to stop for a cup of tea and probably a slice of cake. (The English have a real gift of the cake.) I think our first stop was to celebrate Read the Rest…
October 17, 2019
Tags: Butleigh Somerset
Castle Cary is a market town in southern Somerset but I only know it as the train stop for Butleigh where my cousins live in a stone house with five cats and a rabbit hutch used now for pegging up the washing. Sue met me at Castle Cary; David, her neighbor had driven her. I Read the Rest…
July 13, 2016
Tags: Astral Cream, Brexit, London, oyster card, St Paul's Cathedral, Trafalgar Square
(This is the final entry in a series that begins with A Night in Steerage.) The third week of June was a strange time to be in London. Brexit was approaching its vote. A beloved MP, Jo Cox, a strong advocate of immigration, had been assassinated outside her constituency office in Yorkshire. The country was Read the Rest…
July 9, 2016
Tags: St Pancras, The Canterbury Tales
(This is the twelfth in a series that begins with A Night in Steerage.) I’ve wanted to see Canterbury Cathedral for as long as I can remember. Never more so than after I read The Canterbury Tales a few summers’ ago. It was on the itinerary for Wednesday but I almost didn’t go. There were Read the Rest…
July 7, 2016
Tags: Camberwell Green, Imperial War Museum, S.O.E., Southwark, Special Operations Executive, The Delaunay, The Globe Theatre
(This the eleventh in a series that begins with A Night in Steerage.) London is my favorite city in the whole world but I ached on the way to the train station. I had loved not feeling (completely) like a tourist. Wendy, Sue and I had gotten on well together and I felt a lot Read the Rest…
July 5, 2016
Tags: Broadchurch, Golden Cap, John Betjeman, Lime Tree Bower My Prison, Lyme Regis, National Trust, Nether Stowey, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The French Lieutenant's Woman, West Bay
(This the tenth in a series that begins with A Night in Steerage.) The day after my birthday, Sue and Wendy had appointments in Wells but I opted to stay home. I was intent on finding a footpath, if I was lucky, to Street. Or barring that, just a footpath to walk. They are everywhere Read the Rest…
July 3, 2016
Tags: A Cloud of Witnesses, Autumn Sequel, lemon posset, Louis MacNeice, Marks and Spencer Luxury Gold, Saunder's Garden Center, shepherd's pie, St Andrews Burnham-on-Sea, The Guardian
(This is 9th in a series that begin with A Night in Steerage.) After my experience in Wells, I wasn’t eager to try new bus adventures. I wanted to go to Nether Stowey to see the Coleridge Cottage. Sue looked into it for me and said that the bus would only get me to within Read the Rest…
July 2, 2016
Tags: Bakers Dolphin, Bishop's Palace Wells Cathedral, Burns the Bread, Frasier, Louie the Wells Cathedral Cat, Maisie the Bishop's Palaces cat, Niles Crane, Webber bus, Wells Cathedral, Wookey Hole
(This is 8th in a series that begin with A Night in Steerage.) On my way to the Old Pier to catch the bus to Wells I chatted with a man who ascertained for what felt like the hundredth time which side of the street I wanted. It’s funny: there aren’t that many buses in Read the Rest…
July 1, 2016
Tags: Astral, Burman-on-Sea, Queen Elizabeth's 90th birthday, St Andrew's Church Burnam-on-Sea, Talisker
(This is 7th in a series that begins with A Night in Steerage) Burnham-on-Sea is a small resort town on Bridgewater Bay, which is itself a dip in the Bristol Channel. I was here in 2009 when Mervyn was alive and Pam was herself. I stayed with them in their semi-detached house on Love Lane. Read the Rest…
June 30, 2016
Tags: Beaulieu, SOE, Special Operations Executive
(The is the sixth in a series that begins with A Night in Steerage.) First of all, Beaulieu is pronounced “Bew-ly.” Again I had been saying it as though I was in French class. Sue said “Bew-ly” from the start. “How did you know that?” I asked. “That’s just the way we’d say it.” “You Read the Rest…
« Newer Posts Older Posts »