Hi, Patrick,
York is approx a 2 hour drive from us - Wetherby a bit further. There
are two possible ways: one via the M62 across to Manchester then up to
us, or via Skipton, the more scenic route. Will you actually be staying in York? And when are you expected in Cornwall? Dana
Hi again, Goils!
Continuing on from last message/diary entry, we found our way to our aisle seats and stowed our luggage overhead. Cora lee was in the middle section while I was on the right side of the aircraft. I pulled out my novel and lunch before stowing the Gallowy's bag and settled in for take-off. A few minuted later, another passenger arrived and I stood up to allow her to take window seat, saying I had been waiting for her. As it turned out we ended up not having anyone sitting in between us so that was and added bonus.
After a few minutes we introduced ourselves and we chatted until take-off. Alice is from England but has been working as a house keeper at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler there for last year. She was on her way home to attend the wedding of a close friend and was actually in charge of organizing the Hen Party this coming Saturday, in Lewes, near Brighton, I believe. She is a very interesting young woman and worked for about seven years, after graduating from Southhampton and Redding, in the field of psychotherapy, as she described it. Didn't have a chance to quiz her on this aspect of her life but will do when we next we meet, quite possibly at Araxi, where she has just started to waitress. Some après–ski activity with The Millionaires when next I hit the slopes!
Would dearly have loved to chat more but by the time we took of I was so sleepy that I literally could barely keep my eyes open and I drifted off for a blissful hour or so. Soon got into the rhythm of the flight and after the dinner was served I watched Shadow Dancer. Film "is a 2012 British-Irish drama film directed by James Marsh and based on the novel of the same name by Tom Bradby who also wrote the film's script. The film premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and was screened out of competition at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in February 2012."
In 1993 Belfast, Collette lives with her mother and brothers, all member of the IRA. After a failed attack in London, Collette is arrested and offered a choice: either she spends 25 years in jail, and thus loses everything she loves including her young son, or she becomes an informant for MI5, spying on her own family. With Clive Owen, as Mac, her handler, and Andrea Riseborough as Colette McVeigh, this is a very tough, gritty, emotionally charged film. Not an easy story but a compelling, compelling drama. Unfortunately, I was so tired that I simply didn't feel up to watching any other films, (One Cora Lee saw and recommended, most highly, The Other Son, was about two men, one Palestinian, one Israeli, who discover they were accidentally switched at birth.), in spite of the fact that I really wanted to do so. Spent the rest of the flight, pretty comfortably, I must say, snoozing and following Jack Reacher outfox the bad guys!
Over all, time went by pretty quickly and at 9:45 am, local time, we landed at Gatwick. Said goodbye to Alice when she headed through UK/EU Passport Control and we went towards All Other Passports. Not much f a wait and then a short walk to buy tickets for the train to Mill Hill Broadway. Then to Platform 4 and we were of to London to see the Queen.
Not sure if the connections have changed since we were last here but we only had to change trains twice but were able to do so from same platform each time. First in East Croydon and then in Blackfriars. Great view of the Tower Bridge, down the Embankment from the Tate Modern, while we waited for First Capital Connect which took us right to MHB. Few sets of steps to negotiate out of this station but once on road level a short stroll only to #37 Hale Grove Gardens. Penny had left the house keys in an envelope in the small recycling bin beside her door and we were inside by about 12:30 pm. Not bad, in terms of time, from landing to doorstep.
Cora Lee immediately ensconced herself in a deck chair on garden patio to read in the sun while I unpacked. Made myself a cup of java, instanto, Kenco Millicano, while I sorted out items I wouldn't need until we left for Yorkshire and stowed them away to make it easier to reach clothing I would need. Brought her Royal Highness a cup of tea and then phoned our absentee hostess, at work, to check in. After chatting with Penelope, I readied myself for a stroll down to The Broadway and its shops, leaving Cora Lee curled up on the bed in our downstairs suite, unable to keep her eyes from closing.
Fun to be back on The Broadway, seeing some of the changes which have occurred since 2010. Old shops closed, new ones opened, former restaurants replaced by another ethnic menu and a fair bit of impressive construction where empty lots or small fields once sat, abandoned but all by weeds and litter. After visiting Santander to take out some £'s, I went into what looked like a hardware store to see if I could find an inexpensive brush to use, from time to time, to scrub my Crocs with. Pla turned out only to sell shoe brushes but what caught my attention was a wonderful African Grey, Louie, nine years old.
Giving me his piercing look from his bright eyes in his large cage, he reminded me of Picasso, the stunning Grey owned by close friends, Brenda and Wally, in Kamloops. Next stop was at Mill Hill Wines where I have gotten to know the proprietor, casually, over the years I have visited. We had a pleasant chat and I picked up a Malbec I'd not seen before along with a Duc de Morrny 2012 Picpoul de Pinet, a varietal from Languedoc that I discovered a month or so ago, thinking I should be trying to become a little more familiar with locals wines of the region. Also very pleased to find a Blair Athol, Highland Malt, 12 years old, 43%.
Immediately recognized the tell-tale otter on the label. Had first tasted the whisky when we visited the distillery itself, in 2004, and then again in Berne, in 2007, when I spied a bottle in the store where Heinz, our host, usually purchased his hootch. For Christmas, that year, Chloë gave me another bottle. I was absolutely dumbfounded to receive it as it wasn't available in Vancouver, at the time, if ever, to my knowledge. I was touched and delighted that she remembered this product and was able to find it at the Duty Free in Heathrow on her way home from Europe.
Back home to find Anna, Penny's eldest daughter, and Max, her son, there. Anna was preparing dinner for everyone. After I had a java Mad Max and I repaired to the back garden and Massimo proceeded to show me his considerable soccer skills. We used some empty plastic flower pots as goal posts and tried to score on one another. At one point MM missed the goal altogether and he blamed the wide kick on the clover flowers growing in the middle of the lawn. From that point on, before many subsequent kicks he would offer a placatory prayer to said flowers: "Please, please flowers. I really, really need to score a goal against Patrick. Please, please, please!" He even adopted a tiny, squeaky voice to mimic what he imagined the flowers were saying in response to his request! Simply lovely to see such unbridled imagination at work.
Later on, he made a save by thrusting his body in front of a ball that I had lifted a bit off the lawn. It struck him in his groin and he shrieked with delight: "You hit my Willy!" A few minuted later he did the same to me and he giggled, almost uncontrollably: "I hit your Willy because you hit my Willy!" So charmingly innocent and unabashed he really is a "silly sausage" as his Mom says. After Mad Max beat me 21/18 we shook hands and he had his supper, followed by a bath. Early to bed for soccer whiz kid as he had been up for quite a few late nights over last few days. He kissed us goodnight and Anna took him upstairs to read a book before it was lights out. (Anna and Leon, her husband, have been staying with Penny, for the last few days, while their own bathroom is being renovated.)
Shortly after 7:00 pm Penny and Lisa, her youngest, arrived. (They had been to see the Amy Winehouse Exhibition, curated by her brother, at the Jewish Museum in Camden. Although it was not an extremely large showing, they both said it offered a very personal view of her and her relatively short life.), just in time to sit down at the patio table for the fabulous meal Anna had put together:
boneless lamb steaks and lamb koftas, ( lamb meatballs on a stick), spicy sausages. Mediterranean roasted vegetables, potatoe salad and a green saladin with avocados. Gallons of wine, both red and white, gin and tonic/beer, for the latecomers, Leon, Anna's husband, and Mike, Penny's relatively new man, (They have been going out for last six months but have known each other since the '70's.
Mike's sister, Joan, lived beside Penny and Bob, (her ex-husband, now deceased), when both couples first lived in a neighbourhood of Mill Hill called Sunnyvale. Mike's wife of over 50 years died about a year ago and Joan acted as a matchmaker once Mike was over his grief.), playing catch-up with the rest of us! Fabulous food under the marquis on the patio in the gorgeous summer evening air. This all followed by mini pavlovas topped with fresh strawberries and crème fraîche for dessert. We chatted and laughed and told lies and laughed even more and some of us even howled, (Particularly Leon once he started poundin' the Blair Athol, but certainly not me, Dear Reader!), until those who had to work next day called it quits.
Cora Lee and I had caught our second wind once evening had begun but there was only so much our sleep deprived bodies could take so we said our goodnights and made for our ever so inviting bed. While Coriandre was brushing her teeth I went back into the kitchen to prepare some fuzzy water for my bedside and took the opportunity to moon the last few stragglers on the patio. Mike's fault really, as he had told a story during dinner about the time he had revealed much the same parts of his anatomy so I felt I couldn't be outdone or undone, as the case may be! Returned to our bedroom to find Cora Lee cranking up the wind tunnel machine so I brushed and flossed and then thought I'd read a chapter or two as Reacher was getting closer to finding out
why he was such a wanted man. No such luck as pages blurred before my eyes as soon as I opened the book so I tossed it aside, fumbled my miner's headlamp off, (We have taken to carrying them on our travels as we like to read in bed and often find that there are no bedside lamps in many rooms.), and managed to remove it from my head before following Coriandre straight to Dreamland without passing Go! To be continued...
Pics: Ollivetti and Bobolino clowning; Cora Lee sunning; wine shop in the High Street; Louie, the African Grey; Mad Max, soccer superstar; Massimo's gorgeous lashes, the envy of Cora Lee!
Hi, Patrick, York is approx a 2 hour drive from us - Wetherby a bit further. There
are two possible ways: one via the M62 across to Manchester then up to
us, or via Skipton, the more scenic route. Will you actually be staying in York? And when are you expected in Cornwall? Dana
Hi again, Goils!Continuing on from last message/diary entry, we found our way to our aisle seats and stowed our luggage overhead. Cora lee was in the middle section while I was on the right side of the aircraft. I pulled out my novel and lunch before stowing the Gallowy's bag and settled in for take-off. A few minuted later, another passenger arrived and I stood up to allow her to take window seat, saying I had been waiting for her. As it turned out we ended up not having anyone sitting in between us so that was and added bonus.
Would dearly have loved to chat more but by the time we took of I was so sleepy that I literally could barely keep my eyes open and I drifted off for a blissful hour or so. Soon got into the rhythm of the flight and after the dinner was served I watched Shadow Dancer. Film "is a 2012 British-Irish drama film directed by James Marsh and based on the novel of the same name by Tom Bradby who also wrote the film's script. The film premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and was screened out of competition at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in February 2012."
Over all, time went by pretty quickly and at 9:45 am, local time, we landed at Gatwick. Said goodbye to Alice when she headed through UK/EU Passport Control and we went towards All Other Passports. Not much f a wait and then a short walk to buy tickets for the train to Mill Hill Broadway. Then to Platform 4 and we were of to London to see the Queen.
Back home to find Anna, Penny's eldest daughter, and Max, her son, there. Anna was preparing dinner for everyone. After I had a java Mad Max and I repaired to the back garden and Massimo proceeded to show me his considerable soccer skills. We used some empty plastic flower pots as goal posts and tried to score on one another. At one point MM missed the goal altogether and he blamed the wide kick on the clover flowers growing in the middle of the lawn. From that point on, before many subsequent kicks he would offer a placatory prayer to said flowers: "Please, please flowers. I really, really need to score a goal against Patrick. Please, please, please!" He even adopted a tiny, squeaky voice to mimic what he imagined the flowers were saying in response to his request! Simply lovely to see such unbridled imagination at work.
Shortly after 7:00 pm Penny and Lisa, her youngest, arrived. (They had been to see the Amy Winehouse Exhibition, curated by her brother, at the Jewish Museum in Camden. Although it was not an extremely large showing, they both said it offered a very personal view of her and her relatively short life.), just in time to sit down at the patio table for the fabulous meal Anna had put together:
Mike's sister, Joan, lived beside Penny and Bob, (her ex-husband, now deceased), when both couples first lived in a neighbourhood of Mill Hill called Sunnyvale. Mike's wife of over 50 years died about a year ago and Joan acted as a matchmaker once Mike was over his grief.), playing catch-up with the rest of us! Fabulous food under the marquis on the patio in the gorgeous summer evening air. This all followed by mini pavlovas topped with fresh strawberries and crème fraîche for dessert. We chatted and laughed and told lies and laughed even more and some of us even howled, (Particularly Leon once he started poundin' the Blair Athol, but certainly not me, Dear Reader!), until those who had to work next day called it quits.
Pics: Ollivetti and Bobolino clowning; Cora Lee sunning; wine shop in the High Street; Louie, the African Grey; Mad Max, soccer superstar; Massimo's gorgeous lashes, the envy of Cora Lee!
Aunt Leah's Place TRIVIA EXTRAVAGANZA!
Hi Pat We returned from our holiday on Thurman
Island to greet our relatives arriving from the UK only to find that
their daughter has chicken-pox and was not allowed to fly! But, they re-scheduled with the airline
and are now planning to visit in September, which puts paid to our
holiday with you in France.
I do hope that your holiday goes well and we will be thinking of you cycling, dining and wining in beautiful France. We leave for Montreal and Philadelphia in two weeks for three weeks holiday which should be fun. Keep in touch Mick PS knee is progressing well and recently cycled for three hours on Lopez Island, so next week will venture out with Ray.
Patrick, When are you going to Cornwall? I am looking forward to receiving your detailed missives of the trip. Please give my regards to Corinne. Best wishes, Mike
Patrick, When are you going to Cornwall? I am looking forward to receiving your detailed missives of the trip. Please give my regards to Corinne. Best wishes, Mike
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