Come with me on my nostalgic journey
The weather is still nice here—like autumn at home and, just like at home, it is a bit unpredictable; Monday is quite windy and chilly. Tuesday is so warm I had to open the window in my room to cool things down. My schedule feels a bit overwhelming just now. Between finishing my presentation, packing …
Continue reading “November 8-10, 1999 – Is That Your Final Answer?”
Caroline is surprised to see me this morning. They didn’t hear me come in late last night. Joanie, a guest who is in town for a Chekov theater workshop, joins me at breakfast. I sit with my second cup of coffee and write out postcards. I have a senior moment and can’t remember if Aunt …
Continue reading “November 7, 1999 – From Samuel Johnson to Bill Bryson”
I am up early for the bus to Liverpool. Months ago, Chris invited me on the bus tour that he organizes every year for the university’s foreign students. Chris is a music enthusiast and Beatles fan, so I think the trip is as much for him as it is for the students. I walk briskly …
Continue reading “November 6, 1999 – A Magical Mystery Tour in Liverpool”
Today is the first hard soaking rain we’ve had in Birmingham since I’ve been here (not counting the sideways rain in Ireland and the downpour in Cornwall). I can hear it pelting against my bedroom window and am thankful I don’t have to walk in it. Dean will drive us to our seminar. We are, …
Continue reading “November 5, 1999 – A Rainy Guy Fawkes Day”
The BC has arranged a tour of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (BFCO) for us in London and a chance to listen to some parliamentary debate in the House of Lords. We are also invited to a reception at the BFCO sponsored by the Baroness Scotland. I board the 10:15 train to Euston and …
I spend a quiet few days in the office. In a small-world coincidence, Jane Lutz gives me some materials on performance contracting from a presentation she went to here at INLOGOV. The presenter was Bruce Clary of the University of Southern Maine, whom I know. I email him and he replies sending me the web …
My guidebook says there is good local bus service to Avebury from Marlborough or Devizes. I ask at the Bristol train station, but there are no trains to either of these towns. “The closest you could get,” the ticket agent says, “is Chippenham.” “Well,” I think, “there must be buses there.” Only there aren’t. In …
Continue reading “October 31, 1999 – Two Must Do’s in England: Avebury and Bath”
The early morning sky is still dark as I walk up the hill to the train station to begin my four-and-a-half hour journey to Tintagel. It is not easy getting to Tintagel via public transportation. I must take the train from Bristol as far as Bodmin Parkway. From Bodmin, I catch a bus to Tintagel. …
Continue reading “October 30, 1999 – Tintagel Castle and King Arthur: Man or Myth?”
From Stacy and Matthew’s breakfast table a large window looks out over the city of London. It’s foggy today but they tell me on a clear day you can see the London Wheel, the millennial Ferris wheel. Matthew has been out running and he brings back croissants; large, flaky, almond-crusted ones that are sweet bliss. …
Continue reading “October 29, 1999 – The Mists of Avalon: Glastonbury Abbey”
The trip to Euston is uneventful. I have an hour to kill so I get a baguette at Euston and read. I realize I left my London A-Z at home, so I have to find Nuffield Foundation at 28 Bedford Square where the Fellows are meeting on my own. Instead, I take a taxi that …
Continue reading “October 28, 2019 – In Which I Spy on Sir Derek Jacobi”
Jody’s UK Memories