Come with me on my nostalgic journey
On our second day in London, Lisa and I are woken at 8:00 AM by the intercom in our room when a man announces that breakfast is being served. There is no phone in the room, only a speaker on the wall relaying messages and wake-up calls. It’s a strange system. The hotel apparently thinks …
Continue reading “December 15, 1999 – Tower of London, Harrods, and Aldwych Theater”
Today, I am to meet Lisa at Victoria station where she will come in from Gatwick. I slept fitfully; waking at 6:00 AM, then again at 6:30. I finally get up at 7:20 and go down to breakfast. I am uncertain what time Lisa will arrive. Her flight lands at 7:50, but by the time …
Continue reading “December 14, 1999 – Lisa Arrives in London and We See Prince Andrew”
It snowed in Birmingham today. While waiting for my bus to London, I see it start to gently fall in soft, wet flakes. Later, on the bus traveling south, the wet snow sticks to everything. It looks like the snow in my Christmas postcard. The taxi dispatcher isn’t quite sure what I am talking about …
Continue reading “December 13, 1999 – The British Library and London’s Magical Christmas Lights”
Thursday, December 9, 1999 The head of the British Council, Paul Faircloth, emails me and asks me to write a two-page summary for the Foreign Office about my paper’s application in the U.S. It is easy enough to write, but I wish I had known about it sooner. Hopefully, I can get it done tomorrow …
Continue reading “December 9-12, 1999 – I Finish My Fellowship Paper”
Sunday, December 5, 1999 Caroline joins me for breakfast. Tony has a cold so she prepares my grapefruit and toast and coffee this morning. I accompany her on Lutchford’s walk and while we meander around Selly Park she tells me all the gossip of the people in the neighborhood. I attend a Christmas craft show …
Continue reading “December 5-8, 1999 – The Public Art of Birmingham”
A woman on the train to Cardiff is wearing a Maine/New England jacket. I tell her I am from Maine and we marvel at the coincidence. Her mother asks me what I am doing here and assures me Cardiff Castle will not disappoint. I learn that their brother/son lives in Salt Lake City, but I …
Continue reading “December 4, 1999 – Wales: Cardiff, Chepstow, and Tintern”
We have a new guest—Elsie from Belfast—who is here visiting her grandson at the university. I tell her Elsie is my grandmother’s name. She says it’s a very old-fashioned name that you only see now in the memorials, by which I take it she means the obituaries. She is an interesting lady. She studied in …
I leave for York before breakfast, but Tony kindly makes me some toast anyway. I meet their new Swedish guest as I am going out the door. He is an officer in the Royal Swedish Army here for a war studies course, which he says is very interesting. The trip to York is about 2-1/2 …
Continue reading “November 27, 1999 – Shambling through York”
It seems strange to think that today is Thanksgiving. In the UK, they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving. In fact, most people here don’t know what Thanksgiving is. My first day in Birmingham, Chris, my fellowship coordinator, asked me, “What is that holiday in November that Americans celebrate by eating turkey? And just what does it commemorate?” …
London is a wonderful city to move around in if you are a tourist with a relatively flexible schedule, but if you need to be in a specific place by a set time, forget it. This morning on the tube, it takes me 1-1/2 hours to travel from Bayswater to Euston to drop off my …
Continue reading “November 22-24, 1999 – Train Travel: The Only Way to Go”
Jody’s UK Memories