We left for Martha's Vineyard in the rain. The biggest problem with getting here is getting here. There's no decent way of doing it from Philadelphia without chartering a private plane. Here are the choices:
Fly to Boston and then change planes and fly here. That can be done all on JetBlue (which we're doing next week) or on American and something called Cape Air, which flies 9-seat twin engine prop planes back and forth all day and charges a bloody fortune ($200-300 for a 25 minute flight).
Drive to Washington or New York and take a direct flight. There used to be one out of Newark, which was how we always came, but they stopped that 10 years ago, so we'd have to go to JFK, a 2 1/2 hour drive.
Go to North Jersey and take a boat. This takes about 5 hours and is a good way to do it if you want to be completely hammered by the time you arrive. Great party in good weather and pukefest in bad.
Finally, you can go to Quonset, Rhode Island and take a 90 minute ferry ride. You can drive there, which we did last year, take Amtrak to Providence, or fly to Providence. This time we flew. Driving is the cheapest way, flying is next best.
It's an ordeal of sorts no matter what, but pretty much the moment we arrived here the weather turned beautiful and so far has remained so. My older daughter and her boyfriend had arrived the previous day and were just chillin. I say that from time to time but it looks weird when I type it.
We hung out at the house for a while and I swam in the pool for a few laps. Then we went into Edgartown, one of the 3 big towns on the island, and the one with the most nice stores and restaurants. We made an obligatory stop at the Black Dog shop, and I actually bought something, a bike jersey that is guaranteed to make me the envy of everyone I pass. And nobody will pass me because they will be transfixed by its coolness. I don't know. I don't have an overabundance of bike jerseys and this was a nice one.
We strolled around and eventually were lured into a skin care shop by a smooth-talking, handsome gay Israeli guy, who softened our hands and made all us smell really good. He showed us his (gorgeous) boyfriend and offered to be Facebook friends. We bought some scrub to reward his excellent salesmanship.
Eventually we had dinner at a good, if overpriced, restaurant and toddled home. It was almost midnight by the time we got back, in part because I took a wrong turn. It was a very nice afternoon and evening.
Saturday, July 30, 2016
Friday, July 29, 2016
So this weekend, we're...
So off we go again because of course. This helps ensure that there are no weekend days
between July 10 and August 27 that we find ourselves home for more than a few
hours.
This weekend we’re off to Martha’s Vineyard. Then again next
weekend. There are a myriad reasons why we don’t just stay the entire time, but it certainly
would have involved less back and forth. We’re going to hang out with my older
daughter and her boyfriend. Next weekend we’re hanging out with our younger
daughter and her boyfriend. In
between the younger daughter is coming home from Boston, meeting us on our
return from this trip, and then going back to Boston in order to meet up with
us the next weekend. Got it? It’s amazing how much simpler things are once the
kids leave the nest.
I’ve been going to Martha’s Vineyard most summers since the
early 80’s, when my parents fell in love with the place, first renting and
ultimately building a house there. Ronnie's been coming here almost as long. The house is full of mixed memories for me,
as family vacation houses tend to be. My parents used to hold huge parties
there, weekend-long bashes for 150 or more people. The house was designed to
accommodate such things. It’s huge and open and sleeps about 20 all told.
Those party days are long gone. The parties stopped when my mom
was diagnosed with ALS. And my father retired, shedding many people whose
friendship was based on mixing business with pleasure. It’s still a nice place,
with a big, beautiful swimming pool and access to a pond for paddling and a
private beach. It’s just more than we need at the moment and it can feel empty.
I’d say it’s time to drop the melancholy, but it’s hard. The
memories are everywhere and it just feels strange to be there sometimes. It
will be better once we’re actually there and not just sitting on a boat
thinking about it. Before the boat, more time on a plane after returning from
England on Monday. We flew to Providence and now are on the Rhode Island Fast
Ferry (how fast is it? About 35 miles an hour, which isn’t bad).
We’ll be docking in about 10 minutes. Will check in again
soon.
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Political rant that's not really about politics
I have to go on a little bit of a rant here, because there are things about what's usually referred to as the mainstream media that are driving me crazy. Actually, they're not driving me crazy; that's a euphemism. They're making me mad.
The usual complaint about the big political conventions is that nothing really happens, they're just a show. It's all choreographed, there's no action (all the stuff going on in smoke-filled rooms) and so forth. I am in no way an expert on politics or political conventions, but it occurs to me that the purpose of the political convention is (1) nominate a candidate, and (2) introduce and promote that candidate to the viewers, listeners, readers, whatever. Makes sense, right?
And the networks and the newspapers complain about how it's not news. The New York Times has three fairly highly regarded Washington correspondents at the convention, and they're having a live chat while it's going on. On the first night, which in general was pretty dramatic because of behavior of a small group of Sanders supporters, they could not have been more blasé. Someone gives a speech saying something the Republicans aren't going to like that they'll jump on that. But in general, there's nothing about what any of the speakers saying, nothing about the political content or any attempts to explain why what they're saying might be interesting or relevant to anyone who might be reading this chat. Instead, the conversation is completely meta. How's the convention "going" in their opinions. They sound bored. Completely jaded. Don't care. Does that seem right? Elizabeth Warren spent a half hour clearly and systematically pointing out the differences between Clinton and Trump. Is that not worthwhile to note?
So on the second night, they put their focus was how many actors or otherwise famous people were speaking. Did they listen to anything they said? Does any of it have any interest or import or is it something that might resonate with somebody out in the rest of the country? No discussion of it at all. Just, yawn, another celebrity, this is really just turning into a bunch of stars, blah blah blah. I think one of them even referred to it as a snooze fest.
This is part of why newspapers, even sometimes great ones like the New York Times, are dying. Any correspondent behaving like these three are should be fired. They are not doing their job. If they can't find something interesting in it, they shouldn't be there covering it. They probably shouldn't even be a reporter anymore because they're burnt out and useless. I spent the first hour during the convention listening to a webinar on how to use the calculator to explain a particular calculus concept. It was an hour long, it probably contained five minutes that were specifically relevant to the purported topic at hand. The rest of it was all talk around the concept itself and how the teachers running it presented the topic, which was absolutely not the point of it. And the calculator part of it seemed more like a promotional vehicle Texas Instruments' more advanced calculators than an explanation of how to use the calculator that 90% of people use.
But you know, I sat through it, even though I didn't particularly feel like it and you can ask my wife, were my complaints anything beyond what I just wrote here, which are specifically about the content? No they weren't, and I learned a couple of things that'll be useful what they teach the topic in calculus. Plus, the demonstration technology they were using was something I've never seen before and am now downloading a trial version to try using myself. I think it's going to be extremely helpful in teaching all of my classes.
If someone is bored, in any circumstance, it says more about the boree than the borer. The only way to be bored is to have nothing interesting going on in your brain, and the only reason that that should be happening is that you're not trying. And that's precisely these people were doing; they were not trying. Maybe they took the "chat" part of live chat too literally, and thought they should chat just like if they were sitting at a bar watching it after a couple beers after a long exhausting day at work. That's fine for what it is, but that's not what they were supposed to be doing.
There are huge fundamental issues in this campaign, regardless of how you feel about the two candidates. Is there really nothing happening in four hours at a political convention that has any bearing on that whatsoever? Does that sound ridiculous to you? It does to me. It's only possible if you're not paying attention and you're not listening and you're not thinking. And people who are doing that don't belong covering news events for anybody else.
The usual complaint about the big political conventions is that nothing really happens, they're just a show. It's all choreographed, there's no action (all the stuff going on in smoke-filled rooms) and so forth. I am in no way an expert on politics or political conventions, but it occurs to me that the purpose of the political convention is (1) nominate a candidate, and (2) introduce and promote that candidate to the viewers, listeners, readers, whatever. Makes sense, right?
And the networks and the newspapers complain about how it's not news. The New York Times has three fairly highly regarded Washington correspondents at the convention, and they're having a live chat while it's going on. On the first night, which in general was pretty dramatic because of behavior of a small group of Sanders supporters, they could not have been more blasé. Someone gives a speech saying something the Republicans aren't going to like that they'll jump on that. But in general, there's nothing about what any of the speakers saying, nothing about the political content or any attempts to explain why what they're saying might be interesting or relevant to anyone who might be reading this chat. Instead, the conversation is completely meta. How's the convention "going" in their opinions. They sound bored. Completely jaded. Don't care. Does that seem right? Elizabeth Warren spent a half hour clearly and systematically pointing out the differences between Clinton and Trump. Is that not worthwhile to note?
So on the second night, they put their focus was how many actors or otherwise famous people were speaking. Did they listen to anything they said? Does any of it have any interest or import or is it something that might resonate with somebody out in the rest of the country? No discussion of it at all. Just, yawn, another celebrity, this is really just turning into a bunch of stars, blah blah blah. I think one of them even referred to it as a snooze fest.
This is part of why newspapers, even sometimes great ones like the New York Times, are dying. Any correspondent behaving like these three are should be fired. They are not doing their job. If they can't find something interesting in it, they shouldn't be there covering it. They probably shouldn't even be a reporter anymore because they're burnt out and useless. I spent the first hour during the convention listening to a webinar on how to use the calculator to explain a particular calculus concept. It was an hour long, it probably contained five minutes that were specifically relevant to the purported topic at hand. The rest of it was all talk around the concept itself and how the teachers running it presented the topic, which was absolutely not the point of it. And the calculator part of it seemed more like a promotional vehicle Texas Instruments' more advanced calculators than an explanation of how to use the calculator that 90% of people use.
But you know, I sat through it, even though I didn't particularly feel like it and you can ask my wife, were my complaints anything beyond what I just wrote here, which are specifically about the content? No they weren't, and I learned a couple of things that'll be useful what they teach the topic in calculus. Plus, the demonstration technology they were using was something I've never seen before and am now downloading a trial version to try using myself. I think it's going to be extremely helpful in teaching all of my classes.
If someone is bored, in any circumstance, it says more about the boree than the borer. The only way to be bored is to have nothing interesting going on in your brain, and the only reason that that should be happening is that you're not trying. And that's precisely these people were doing; they were not trying. Maybe they took the "chat" part of live chat too literally, and thought they should chat just like if they were sitting at a bar watching it after a couple beers after a long exhausting day at work. That's fine for what it is, but that's not what they were supposed to be doing.
There are huge fundamental issues in this campaign, regardless of how you feel about the two candidates. Is there really nothing happening in four hours at a political convention that has any bearing on that whatsoever? Does that sound ridiculous to you? It does to me. It's only possible if you're not paying attention and you're not listening and you're not thinking. And people who are doing that don't belong covering news events for anybody else.
Sunday, July 24, 2016
Winding it down
We're now in Glasgow, or in a hotel outside town. It's a castle, or more correctly a castle style large home, built in a leafy suburb by a rich bourgeois man in the style of the day for these types. I think it's quite lovely, though I can't be sure until I get outside, which according to Accuweather has been rolling at 20 minutes from now for the last 20 minutes. There is no fitness center or anything, so I'm starting to get a little stir crazy, but I'll get out eventually, weather be damned.
It's still a lot of effort being away from home and figuring our how to do everything. I do love traveling though.
Yes, it's that dark out. It's been raining pretty hard the whole time we've been here. Go figure. We had remarkably good weather the entire trip. Who would have thought that heat would be out biggest problem? And now, on a day when we have pretty much nothing planned except transit, it's been raining since the transit began.
The train station in Glasgow, at least Queen Street, the last stop for ScotRail in Glasgow and where we got off, is a piece of crap. There are tons of platforms but so sign of an actual station. Although the platform was marginally indoors, in spite of the leaky roof, you had to walk without shelter around the side of the station for get a taxi. I never did see the front of it, if there is one.
We took a taxi out here, in a suburban neighborhood not far from the airport. I don't think there's any sort of commercial activity within a mile of here. I walked around for a while, after the rolling 20 minutes of rain finished, and didn't see a store or anything of the sort. There was a traffic light in the distance. But it's a lovely neighborhood, full of greenery and beautiful big houses with Benz's and BMW's and Range Rovers in the driveways.
I'm tired. As much as I've enjoyed the trip, it's been a lot of work at the same time. It's not bad work, in fact it's a blast. I mean, look at this place now that it's not raining.
Last morning in Edinburgh
About to set out for our last few hours in Edinburgh before we head over to Glasgow for our flight out in the morning. It's a rainy kind of day, which means alternating sprinkles and just clouds. I went for a walk, mostly in the rain. First I walked up to the hill next to our hotel, Craydon Park I think it's called. There's a bunch of monuments here. A tall tower dedicated the Admiral Nelson, who must have been very well endowed to deserve all these pillars.
There's also a little unmarked house and a strange-looking thing called the National Monument. This picture captures a lot of what we've seen here. They have this grand, Greek-looking thing, but in the foreground there's a fine supply of litter, and the monument itself is grey and dingy.
All the big, impressive things in Edinburg are sooty. The National Monument looks the way it does because they lacked the money to make the complete Greek Temple. So there you have it. Great views though; the vistas in this place are unreal in general. The setting and the topology couldn't be much more striking.
From there I thought I'd try to walk down to the Leith, which looks like a stream of some sort, but it seemed too far for this kind of day. So I turned and walked through New Town, which was mostly deserted (not really meaningful, because it was 8:30 on a rainy Sunday morning). There are all kinds of architectural styles jumbled together. And there are a lot of developments with these weird dormers that look like converted water towers. They also seem to have been very careful to make sure everyone has their own chimney.
Eventually I ended up back in the center of things and and ended up at the west end of a lovely little park right beneath the castle. It had some great views too and a floral clock at one end that seemed to be keeping very accurate time.
All the big, impressive things in Edinburg are sooty. The National Monument looks the way it does because they lacked the money to make the complete Greek Temple. So there you have it. Great views though; the vistas in this place are unreal in general. The setting and the topology couldn't be much more striking.
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| Just a scooch to the left and I think I can take out the clock in that tower over there. |
From there I thought I'd try to walk down to the Leith, which looks like a stream of some sort, but it seemed too far for this kind of day. So I turned and walked through New Town, which was mostly deserted (not really meaningful, because it was 8:30 on a rainy Sunday morning). There are all kinds of architectural styles jumbled together. And there are a lot of developments with these weird dormers that look like converted water towers. They also seem to have been very careful to make sure everyone has their own chimney.
Eventually I ended up back in the center of things and and ended up at the west end of a lovely little park right beneath the castle. It had some great views too and a floral clock at one end that seemed to be keeping very accurate time.
A quick post-trip note before the end of the trip.
As we were sitting in the hotel bar after concert, I said to Ronnie that it had been a good trip. She noted that of course it was easy to say that after a great evening like we'd had, but yes, it had been good.
I'm not even sure a summer would really give you a chance to properly explore the UK. And the UK is small, though dense in history and culture. As much as everyone talks about global this and that and how the world has gotten so much smaller because of instantaneous communications, but that's only true un the most shallow sense. Yeah, it's harder to find unique things to buy, for instance, because you can order anything online. But there are artists everywhere, all of whom you can buy from online. But how would you know and how well would you know it without being there and meeting them or at least seeing their creations in tangible form.
Even leaving London out of things, because London would take a lot of time explore in itself, we just hit a few chosen highlights, most of which worked out as we would hope. And in fact the things Ronnie bought that she likes the most were bought at a one-off store in Durham, a city that we knew little about and that in ways was a mistake in the itinerary because it wasn't close enough to the main attraction we were coming to see.
I can't say we completely get Edinburgh, but that's okay. We've been her for 48+ hours in peak tourist season at the end of a 2-week trip. I remember getting to Venice at the end of a similar bounding about trip and just not being able to handle to crowds and the business. This hasn't been as bad because Edinburgh is more manageable and it's less taxing being in an English-speaking country. And it's small, there is much less water, and the maps make at least a modicum of sense.
Don't know if we'll ever be back to the UK. I'm okay with that, but I certainly wouldn't mind returning.
I'm not even sure a summer would really give you a chance to properly explore the UK. And the UK is small, though dense in history and culture. As much as everyone talks about global this and that and how the world has gotten so much smaller because of instantaneous communications, but that's only true un the most shallow sense. Yeah, it's harder to find unique things to buy, for instance, because you can order anything online. But there are artists everywhere, all of whom you can buy from online. But how would you know and how well would you know it without being there and meeting them or at least seeing their creations in tangible form.
Even leaving London out of things, because London would take a lot of time explore in itself, we just hit a few chosen highlights, most of which worked out as we would hope. And in fact the things Ronnie bought that she likes the most were bought at a one-off store in Durham, a city that we knew little about and that in ways was a mistake in the itinerary because it wasn't close enough to the main attraction we were coming to see.
I can't say we completely get Edinburgh, but that's okay. We've been her for 48+ hours in peak tourist season at the end of a 2-week trip. I remember getting to Venice at the end of a similar bounding about trip and just not being able to handle to crowds and the business. This hasn't been as bad because Edinburgh is more manageable and it's less taxing being in an English-speaking country. And it's small, there is much less water, and the maps make at least a modicum of sense.
Don't know if we'll ever be back to the UK. I'm okay with that, but I certainly wouldn't mind returning.
Saturday, July 23, 2016
Oh my god, Jools Holland!
So back when we were planning this trip, I was looking at what was going on in Edinburgh when we were here, and though we were missing the very famous Fringe Festival, there was an R&B festival going on. Looking at the lineup, I saw that Jools Holland and his R&B Band were playing on the Saturday we were here, so I bought tickets.
Honestly, the only things I really knew about Jools Holland were that he was in Squeeze for while and then quit and that he was a British TV personality and "character." What I did not know what that his music style was boogie-woogie and that he had a big band with numerous guest singers in his show.
As soon as he sat down and started playing that boogie-woogie style I was hooked. If I could be gifted a talent overnight I would wish for the ability to play boogie-woogie piano. It's so cool and free and fun-looking. He was clearly enjoying himself, and even though he's the "name" he's a totally generous performer. Eventually he was joined on stage by an organist, bass, guitarist, drummer, 3 trombones, 3 trumpets and 5(!) saxophones. And couple of background singers of course. Everyone got their moments.
They played a bunch of boogie songs and then he got up and announced it was time for some ska. I always loved ska- the Specials, Madness, all those bands. If you don't know ska, it's kind of like very fast reggae. So two new singers, a man and a woman, came out and they were great, to the point of getting an enthusiastic but obviously reluctant-to-stand crowd to its feet. Things kept getting better, because he then brought out someone named Ruby Turner, who turned things up to 11. Big woman, huge voice, great stage presence and terrific rapport with the band. I'd never heard boogie gospel before, but it's pretty great.
Unfortunately, he's not coming to the States this year, at least as far as we can see, but it was one of the best shows I've seen in a long time. But if you ever get the chance to see him, jump at it.
Honestly, the only things I really knew about Jools Holland were that he was in Squeeze for while and then quit and that he was a British TV personality and "character." What I did not know what that his music style was boogie-woogie and that he had a big band with numerous guest singers in his show.
As soon as he sat down and started playing that boogie-woogie style I was hooked. If I could be gifted a talent overnight I would wish for the ability to play boogie-woogie piano. It's so cool and free and fun-looking. He was clearly enjoying himself, and even though he's the "name" he's a totally generous performer. Eventually he was joined on stage by an organist, bass, guitarist, drummer, 3 trombones, 3 trumpets and 5(!) saxophones. And couple of background singers of course. Everyone got their moments.
They played a bunch of boogie songs and then he got up and announced it was time for some ska. I always loved ska- the Specials, Madness, all those bands. If you don't know ska, it's kind of like very fast reggae. So two new singers, a man and a woman, came out and they were great, to the point of getting an enthusiastic but obviously reluctant-to-stand crowd to its feet. Things kept getting better, because he then brought out someone named Ruby Turner, who turned things up to 11. Big woman, huge voice, great stage presence and terrific rapport with the band. I'd never heard boogie gospel before, but it's pretty great.
Unfortunately, he's not coming to the States this year, at least as far as we can see, but it was one of the best shows I've seen in a long time. But if you ever get the chance to see him, jump at it.
The City of Incompetent Pedestrians (if I'm being generous about it)
After our brief visit to New Town, we headed back to the main drag. Actually, that's a particularly good way of describing that street (Princes Street). It's a complete drag to get anywhere. The sidewalks are packed, mostly with tourists in groups of 4 to 20, and it's nearly impossible to make progress at a decent rate. There's no way around it that doesn't involve excessive hill climbing.
And maybe it's too many people who don't know where they are, but the pedestrians here are either rude or incompetent. I know, incompetent pedestrians, right? But I can walk up 7th Avenue in New York from Penn Station at 5:30, when half the Midtown population is headed in the opposite direction, and make quicker progress without ever making contact with anyone. Here you can't go 10 feet without someone jostling you or walking straight at you without showing any signs of moving out of the way.
We had a nice dinner down a steep alley (or close, as they call it here) and then came back to the hotel. We've not watched much TV, which has been very nice. I don't usually watch much TV in hotels anyway, because I don't like to watch in bed, and that's mostly what hotel rooms are made of and the TV is usually at the foot of the bed.
We went to bed reasonably early and I was up early on Saturday as well. That gave me a lot of time to walk around, and walk I did. Up and down hills, up Royal Mile without the crowds, through Old Town all up and down. Little visual treats everywhere
Made it back in time for breakfast, after which we set out to see an art show at the Queens Gallery. There are probably lots of Queens galleries. This one is next to the Palace at Holyroodhouse. Or some sort of redundant name like that- I know the Holyrood part is right. It was a small exhibit, but beautifully curated and had one exquisite Vermeer painting that was the reason we went, but there were other great paintings by Dutch masters, especially Steen. I'm not super knowledgeable about art, but I know enough to like those Dutch painters. Maybe it's because when you're going through museums in chronological order, they're the first things you see without Jesus in them. Or maybe it's because they're great.
From there, we walked around Old Town and had lunch in a nice outdoor market called Grassmarket. And strolled back toward the center of town, and again endured the unruly hoards on Princes Street. I think that may have been enough for us today. We're still going out to see Jools Holland and his R&B Band later.
And maybe it's too many people who don't know where they are, but the pedestrians here are either rude or incompetent. I know, incompetent pedestrians, right? But I can walk up 7th Avenue in New York from Penn Station at 5:30, when half the Midtown population is headed in the opposite direction, and make quicker progress without ever making contact with anyone. Here you can't go 10 feet without someone jostling you or walking straight at you without showing any signs of moving out of the way.
We had a nice dinner down a steep alley (or close, as they call it here) and then came back to the hotel. We've not watched much TV, which has been very nice. I don't usually watch much TV in hotels anyway, because I don't like to watch in bed, and that's mostly what hotel rooms are made of and the TV is usually at the foot of the bed.
We went to bed reasonably early and I was up early on Saturday as well. That gave me a lot of time to walk around, and walk I did. Up and down hills, up Royal Mile without the crowds, through Old Town all up and down. Little visual treats everywhere
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| Particularly like the little symbols. |
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| Up at the Castle from Old Town |
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| Across the train station to our hotel (middle right- not the turret) |
From there, we walked around Old Town and had lunch in a nice outdoor market called Grassmarket. And strolled back toward the center of town, and again endured the unruly hoards on Princes Street. I think that may have been enough for us today. We're still going out to see Jools Holland and his R&B Band later.
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| Grassmarket |
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| Pub humor |
So we're in Edinburgh
Now we're in Edinburgh. I don't know exactly how that came about. I mean, I know I drove the car up here, but this is a long way from where we started.
Before I go any further, I need to mention that the UK in general is kind of obsessed with women's periods. Every single bathroom has instructions of what to do with so-called sanitary things. Many of them have special receptacles for sanitaries only All the hotel rooms have special little bags to put your business in and all of the bathroom trash cans have lids on them to lock the little nasties away. It's weird.
One other thing that occurred to me, and I'm sure that I could easily look this kind of thing up, but I've noticed over the years that there are never hair dryers in the bathrooms in Europe. And here, I realized that none of the bathrooms had electrical outlets, aside from the low amperage shaving outlets that some places have. I'm assuming because, while we have ground fault breakers in the US on our bathroom outlets, that we have 110 volt electricity and Europe has 220 volts. That's twice the charge for twice the fun and twice the danger. The high voltage is great for boiling water, but probably just not safe to have around a sink.
So Edinburgh. At this point of the trip, things are starting to blur a bit. I don't know if this happens to everyone, but I always try to squeeze every minute out of these kinds of trips, so I get up early, tired or not, and walk around for at least an hour and sometimes two. Ronnie and I do stuff together all day, and then we either have evening plans or not, but if we don't I'm usually writing.
There's a certain amount of pressure associated with Edinburgh because everyone is always talking about what a cool place it is and how much fun it is. Why do I have to have fun? Can't I be grumpy and not want to do anything or complain about what I do? It's not fair.
In any event, the city is very compact. Everything is within a square mile or so and it's completely walkable, aside from the fact that it's hilly and steep in many places.
We went to the Castle of Edinburgh, one of the must-sees of the city. It is remarkable, sitting built into a rock on top of a hill. And you can see how it would be a formidable fortress. And it's also remarkable for how any tourists can be there at any given moment. Very few things (just the crown jewels really) were very crowded to the point of discomfort, but just people everywhere.
I've tried to read and understand the whole Mary Queen of Scots thing and how she had to abdicate but her son became king of England and all the push and pull between Scotland and England, and it makes no more sense to me than before I read it. And I know Oliver Cromwell was important. I must look up who he is- I've certainly heard his name before. Hopefully I will look it up before I lose interest.
The castle sits at the end of a boulevard called the Royal Mile. By all accounts, which I believe because they make perfect sense, the royals hated being there. It was cold and damp and windy, and they only went there when their lives were in danger. The royal chambers were smaller than the first floor of my house. The Royal Mile is packed with tour groups and families, speaking all kinds of languages- I've heard a particular lot of German and Italian, and there are of course plenty of Japanese taking pictures of everything, as there are anywhere tourists may gather.
After leaving the castle we walked a bit of what is called New Town, which is relative. It's newer than Old Town, dating as it does from the 19th century. Old Town is more 16th century. Not hard to tell from a map. One is a grid and one is not.
It rained a bit here and there, but we had an umbrella and were fine throughout. The hotel here is nice, and has a decent exercise room where I used the rowing machine for a few minutes before dinner.
We're about to go out so here are a few pictures. I'll post more later.
Before I go any further, I need to mention that the UK in general is kind of obsessed with women's periods. Every single bathroom has instructions of what to do with so-called sanitary things. Many of them have special receptacles for sanitaries only All the hotel rooms have special little bags to put your business in and all of the bathroom trash cans have lids on them to lock the little nasties away. It's weird.
One other thing that occurred to me, and I'm sure that I could easily look this kind of thing up, but I've noticed over the years that there are never hair dryers in the bathrooms in Europe. And here, I realized that none of the bathrooms had electrical outlets, aside from the low amperage shaving outlets that some places have. I'm assuming because, while we have ground fault breakers in the US on our bathroom outlets, that we have 110 volt electricity and Europe has 220 volts. That's twice the charge for twice the fun and twice the danger. The high voltage is great for boiling water, but probably just not safe to have around a sink.
So Edinburgh. At this point of the trip, things are starting to blur a bit. I don't know if this happens to everyone, but I always try to squeeze every minute out of these kinds of trips, so I get up early, tired or not, and walk around for at least an hour and sometimes two. Ronnie and I do stuff together all day, and then we either have evening plans or not, but if we don't I'm usually writing.
There's a certain amount of pressure associated with Edinburgh because everyone is always talking about what a cool place it is and how much fun it is. Why do I have to have fun? Can't I be grumpy and not want to do anything or complain about what I do? It's not fair.
In any event, the city is very compact. Everything is within a square mile or so and it's completely walkable, aside from the fact that it's hilly and steep in many places.
We went to the Castle of Edinburgh, one of the must-sees of the city. It is remarkable, sitting built into a rock on top of a hill. And you can see how it would be a formidable fortress. And it's also remarkable for how any tourists can be there at any given moment. Very few things (just the crown jewels really) were very crowded to the point of discomfort, but just people everywhere.
I've tried to read and understand the whole Mary Queen of Scots thing and how she had to abdicate but her son became king of England and all the push and pull between Scotland and England, and it makes no more sense to me than before I read it. And I know Oliver Cromwell was important. I must look up who he is- I've certainly heard his name before. Hopefully I will look it up before I lose interest.
The castle sits at the end of a boulevard called the Royal Mile. By all accounts, which I believe because they make perfect sense, the royals hated being there. It was cold and damp and windy, and they only went there when their lives were in danger. The royal chambers were smaller than the first floor of my house. The Royal Mile is packed with tour groups and families, speaking all kinds of languages- I've heard a particular lot of German and Italian, and there are of course plenty of Japanese taking pictures of everything, as there are anywhere tourists may gather.
After leaving the castle we walked a bit of what is called New Town, which is relative. It's newer than Old Town, dating as it does from the 19th century. Old Town is more 16th century. Not hard to tell from a map. One is a grid and one is not.
It rained a bit here and there, but we had an umbrella and were fine throughout. The hotel here is nice, and has a decent exercise room where I used the rowing machine for a few minutes before dinner.
We're about to go out so here are a few pictures. I'll post more later.
Friday, July 22, 2016
Walking around Durham
Woke up today with my head still stuffed with facts from yesterday. I walked around Durham some more. It's an attractive city in a lot of ways, but not in every way.
It doesn't matter where you go, any place looks different when you're down by the river or whatever body of water is available. It's a little bit like train tracks. Everyplace looks different from train tracks, because nobody makes the house look good for the train. They may have the nicest garden in the world with the most lovely footpath or the landscaped driveway or whatever in front of the house, but in the back of the house typically if they have kids there is a playground equipment or toys or some place for the dogs to run around or whatever. But it's not dressed up in the same way.
Durham has a river running right through the middle of it. I guess at some point they had mills, but like most places that relied on waterwheels, that doesn't happen anymore. From what I can tell, I had a bad flood in the 18th century and they built some sort of baffles, they had a different name for it, but they were just to slow the water down. I will note that they were successful in slowing it substantially. It barely moves except when it's going over the little baffle things.
Anyway, down by the river, you generally get to look up things. That always gives a different perspective. This is a cathedral town and of course supposed be looking at the cathedral. But from here you look up at everything and you can see redevelopment and past failed redevelopment as you walk along. Some things that looked wonderful on the drawing board and the artist rendering, but ended up being failures, just like many of these things seem to be failing. Many of them have a look of something that's been 92% thought through, and that last 8% this killing them.
It could be a design flaw or it could be something as simple as a good idea in a place that simply lacks the population and or money to support it. There are lots of things like that. Yeah, just build this and people come here they will sit out on the patio and enjoy cocktails and small plates and spend money. But actually, it never happens. It's too remote and people don't think to go there. Or people don't have disposable income, or there just aren't enough people in the city, or the venue itself isn't up to snuff.
What Durham looks like to me is the city that's neither thriving or failing. Most of the stores are open in the main part of town, but there are some that are not. But as you go into the new development areas it gets a lot more spotty. Very spotty. We did find one nice shop where Ronnie got some beautiful jewelry.
One strange thing about this place is the lack of certainty as to its history. I saw a number of signs like this one
where they say a building was "probably" something, or that some event "probably" happened. And we're not talking ancient history either. This wasn't that long ago, in the context of the town's' history. I think they need to keep better track of things going forward so they don't make the same mistakes again.
I ended my walk very pleasantly up steep (like every road here) Neville Lane, home of the famous Barber of Neville. Came back, packed up, checked out of the B&B and headed north to Edinburgh.
Thursday, July 21, 2016
It felt almost like a fortnight
We learned a lot today. It was a long day. We drove an hour plus west to meet up with a guide for a visit to Hadrian's wall and some other sites relating to the Roman occupation of Britain.
Our guide's name was Gary. He was a very talkative and knowledgeable former (British) Marine who's been doing these kinds of tours for a while. We saw so many things and places that it's a little hard to keep track at this point. We started by driving even further west and then working our way back toward our meeting point, at an active archaeological site called Vindolanda.
We've traveled here and there in Europe and are always interested to find Roman ruins. We've seen some big ones, like, well, Rome. And Pompeii. This one is unusual though, because the Emperor Hadrian decided that the best was to protect the northern frontier of the Empire was to build a wall across the entire country, sea to sea, 80 miles total. And like most things Roman it was impeccably engineered and planned, and it worked efficiently and effectively for nearly 400 years.
It would take too long to describe the whole thing. The wall was about 20 feet high with a 10-foot deep pit in front of it, making it almost impossible to breach. There were sentries patrolling the top and gates called mile forts every, wait for it, mile. Roman mile anyway, which was 1000 (mille) paces, approximately 400 feet shorter than an English mile. Spaced evenly between each mile forts were two turrets, where the sentries worked and slept.
The placement of the wall was strategic. It was not only a short distance from sea to sea, but it had superb sight lines to the north (outside the Empire). Much of the wall has been exposed over the past 50 years or so, and you can walk the entire length on a national trail.
Enough on the facts and figures though. The Romans brought order where there had been chaos before and would be chaos again after they left. If you're interested, there's plenty to learn about it, more than I can tell you. I'll just tell you what made an impression on me.
First of all, the thing is an incredible feat of engineering. It took only 5 years to construct (in the first century) and from an design standpoint it's perfect. Completely straight where they wanted it to be, curving evenly over landscape as necessary, always hold the best possible vista and defensive position. These people really knew their shit. And they took this whole thing very seriously, which was good for everyone involved. Out guide went into some detail about whether getting sent to this place was a good gig or not. It certainly wasn't very dangerous, as army outposts go, but it was probably really boring. So the sentries on the wall were only stationed in the turrets for 2 weeks at a time, aka a fortnight.
We learned a lot about the difference between legions and auxiliary troops, and how the Romans used the best resources from the Empire to staff up. There was a lot about Syrian archers, the best in the world at the time. We saw a cow skull they used as target practice. It was pretty much destroyed right between the eyes.
And the whole wall would probably still be standing now if people hadn't decided to recycle the stones after the Romans left. Why cut your own stones to build your house (or Abbey) when you have miles of these perfectly cut Roman stones. So that's where most of it has gone, but the bottom few feet remain for a lot of it and a lot of it is exposed. You can see the foundations of the mile forts and the turrets. You can also see ruins of a couple of forts, one, called Birdoswald, which is adjacent to the wall, and another called Vindolanda, which was built prior to the wall's completion and was an important part of their supply chain.
Along the way, we saw various bits of the wall and forts and roads. We stopped at the Roman Army museum, which give you an overview of what life was like on the frontier. The final stop was at Vindolanda, where they are still in the process of excavating the fort and the adjacent vicus, or village. The vicus had a symbiotic relationship with the fort. It provided a bit of regular life for the soldiers when they had time off. The Roman soldiers had money and time, so everyone made out well.
We saw some of the archaeological goings on while we were there. They were digging through what seems to have been a kind of dump. As it happens, the fort changed sizes and shapes over the years, depending on who was stationed there. Each time the would knock things down, lay down a layer of clay, and rebuild on top. The clay preserved all kinds of organic type things that usually decay pretty quickly. Recently, they've been finding lots of shoes, everything from boots to sandals to women's and kids' shoes. Normally, leather doesn't last, but those buried in this clay did. Once of the archaeologists showed us a shoe and talked about why it was there and such. They have all kinds of artifacts in the adjacent museum.
It was fun to watch those people work. People dig, others go through the earth that's been dug up and separate out anything that might be interesting, then they log and bag it, other people clean it and then it's analyzed. Pretty damned cool.
Our guide's name was Gary. He was a very talkative and knowledgeable former (British) Marine who's been doing these kinds of tours for a while. We saw so many things and places that it's a little hard to keep track at this point. We started by driving even further west and then working our way back toward our meeting point, at an active archaeological site called Vindolanda.
We've traveled here and there in Europe and are always interested to find Roman ruins. We've seen some big ones, like, well, Rome. And Pompeii. This one is unusual though, because the Emperor Hadrian decided that the best was to protect the northern frontier of the Empire was to build a wall across the entire country, sea to sea, 80 miles total. And like most things Roman it was impeccably engineered and planned, and it worked efficiently and effectively for nearly 400 years.
It would take too long to describe the whole thing. The wall was about 20 feet high with a 10-foot deep pit in front of it, making it almost impossible to breach. There were sentries patrolling the top and gates called mile forts every, wait for it, mile. Roman mile anyway, which was 1000 (mille) paces, approximately 400 feet shorter than an English mile. Spaced evenly between each mile forts were two turrets, where the sentries worked and slept.
The placement of the wall was strategic. It was not only a short distance from sea to sea, but it had superb sight lines to the north (outside the Empire). Much of the wall has been exposed over the past 50 years or so, and you can walk the entire length on a national trail.
And the whole wall would probably still be standing now if people hadn't decided to recycle the stones after the Romans left. Why cut your own stones to build your house (or Abbey) when you have miles of these perfectly cut Roman stones. So that's where most of it has gone, but the bottom few feet remain for a lot of it and a lot of it is exposed. You can see the foundations of the mile forts and the turrets. You can also see ruins of a couple of forts, one, called Birdoswald, which is adjacent to the wall, and another called Vindolanda, which was built prior to the wall's completion and was an important part of their supply chain.
Along the way, we saw various bits of the wall and forts and roads. We stopped at the Roman Army museum, which give you an overview of what life was like on the frontier. The final stop was at Vindolanda, where they are still in the process of excavating the fort and the adjacent vicus, or village. The vicus had a symbiotic relationship with the fort. It provided a bit of regular life for the soldiers when they had time off. The Roman soldiers had money and time, so everyone made out well.
After all that, back to Durham for some proper fish and chips (that's what the window said, and it was good). And soon to bed. Off to Edinburgh tomorrow.
This one will have to be in 2 parts
Today I only had to back down the one-way street once, for which I am thankful.
So I guess I left off when we got to Durham. Once we got into the B&B, I of course went for a walk. In this town, that means straight down a steep hill, but you only have to go a couple of hundred feet before you're there. The main part of town is across a bridge, but there's a shopping street right at the bottom of the hill.
I crossed the bridge toward the famous (around here anyway) Durham Cathedral and was immediately hemmed in with a fence. Ahead I could hear some sort of commotion and people were running this way and that. When I got to the middle of town, I realized that there was a large run about to start. There were easily a couple of thousand people in a very compact town square. It was hard to move around, but I made my way up to the cathedral, which is impressive from the outside. I'd have to wait until the morning to go in.
I went up and down the streets in the town. It's actually a small city with about 50,000 residents. All mobbed with runners and with the narrow sidewalks fenced. Again, I guessed I would have to wait until tomorrow to really have a look around.
So I checked out all the coffee shops to see which ones would meet my morning requirements, that being (1) be open, (2) have decent coffee, and (3) have a bathroom, or toilet I suppose here. It is more literal than bathroom. The Pret a Manger was open earliest, so that would be my choice.
We had dinner at a mediocre French café by the river and then went back to the room and videochatted with one of the daughters. It was finally starting to cool off by the time I went to bed. I had time to check on some of the craziness happening at the Republican convention, which honestly I would have been best off ignoring.
I had to set an alarm for the morning to make sure I had time for a walk, because we needed to leave early for the day's activities, plus the B&B's &B was only from 8-9. But that was okay. The air was fresh and cool and it was neither deserted nor busy. I walked up and down a few streets, used the Pret for my intended purposes, and then walked some more. I don't have a complete handle on the geography yet- I need to look at a map and compare it to what I've seen. Saw some pretty places and some less pretty ones.
The cathedral is very beautiful on the inside. It has a lovely rose window over the alter and I think it had naves and transepts and all all those cathedral things. There was an organ playing, but otherwise it was very peaceful- only a couple of other people in there, lighting a candle, plus two women cleaning the window. It had the hushed feeling you want in a place of worship, versus the madness at a place like St. Paul's or the Sistine Chapel.
Tried a few more streets until I passed the bus station, and that seemed to be enough. Time for a day of ancient stuff!
So I guess I left off when we got to Durham. Once we got into the B&B, I of course went for a walk. In this town, that means straight down a steep hill, but you only have to go a couple of hundred feet before you're there. The main part of town is across a bridge, but there's a shopping street right at the bottom of the hill.
I crossed the bridge toward the famous (around here anyway) Durham Cathedral and was immediately hemmed in with a fence. Ahead I could hear some sort of commotion and people were running this way and that. When I got to the middle of town, I realized that there was a large run about to start. There were easily a couple of thousand people in a very compact town square. It was hard to move around, but I made my way up to the cathedral, which is impressive from the outside. I'd have to wait until the morning to go in.
I went up and down the streets in the town. It's actually a small city with about 50,000 residents. All mobbed with runners and with the narrow sidewalks fenced. Again, I guessed I would have to wait until tomorrow to really have a look around.
So I checked out all the coffee shops to see which ones would meet my morning requirements, that being (1) be open, (2) have decent coffee, and (3) have a bathroom, or toilet I suppose here. It is more literal than bathroom. The Pret a Manger was open earliest, so that would be my choice.
We had dinner at a mediocre French café by the river and then went back to the room and videochatted with one of the daughters. It was finally starting to cool off by the time I went to bed. I had time to check on some of the craziness happening at the Republican convention, which honestly I would have been best off ignoring.
I had to set an alarm for the morning to make sure I had time for a walk, because we needed to leave early for the day's activities, plus the B&B's &B was only from 8-9. But that was okay. The air was fresh and cool and it was neither deserted nor busy. I walked up and down a few streets, used the Pret for my intended purposes, and then walked some more. I don't have a complete handle on the geography yet- I need to look at a map and compare it to what I've seen. Saw some pretty places and some less pretty ones.
The cathedral is very beautiful on the inside. It has a lovely rose window over the alter and I think it had naves and transepts and all all those cathedral things. There was an organ playing, but otherwise it was very peaceful- only a couple of other people in there, lighting a candle, plus two women cleaning the window. It had the hushed feeling you want in a place of worship, versus the madness at a place like St. Paul's or the Sistine Chapel.
Tried a few more streets until I passed the bus station, and that seemed to be enough. Time for a day of ancient stuff!
Down to business
I've made the decision to stop bitching about writing and just write.
This morning I got up and walked around Buxton. It's an interesting town, a small city really. It definitely has the look of a place that was once thriving, then fell on hard times, but now is on the upswing. It has some beautiful features- a gorgeous opera house, a striking university center, and a beautiful city park called Pavilion Garden that I had the opportunity to walk around this morning.
It's a large park, not like a town square kind of thing. It goes on for quite a ways-I think I saw somewhere it's 4 acres or so. It's beautifully landscaped, a bit like the Boston Public Garden, without swans but with on a hill. so it had multiple levels, a mini railroad, and nice playgrounds. Everything about it was pleasing.
We had our breakfast and then headed out for a day of scenic beauty. We headed east through the Peaks National Park. There's nothing there that I'd call an actual peak- it's more like rolling hills. But it's very pretty and it was enjoyable to drive through it. Lots of sheep.
We then headed north to North York Moors National Park. We stopped in a very cute little town called Helmsley for lunch and a walk around. Helmsley had a bunch of cute shops, many of which sold food and ice cream and coffee. We also saw our first fish and chips place promising gluten-free batter.
Then north into the moors. We went in not really knowing what a moor was, and having driven through the middle of it, I'd be hard pressed to tell you it was different from the rest of the beautiful landscapes we'd seen earlier in the day. Not that there's anything wrong with that, really. It was definitely very pretty, and we saw an impressive ruined abbey along the way, so it certainly wasn't time wasted.
One thing I should not is that I don't understand why there are so many places selling plants. It would seem like the last thing you'd need to buy; all kinds of plants seem to grow everywhere around here. They're everywhere, so are you not allowed to dig up the pretty flowers on the roadside so you have to buy them instead? I don't know maybe you can't. One must have their own privately bought and raised plants.
Eventually we got to Durham, our resting place for a couple of nights. We had some difficulty on the way here because our navigations systems, and we have 3 of them, all failed to find the place we were going. After stumbling around for a bit, including driving the wrong way down a one way street, we pulled over so I could walk around and look for it. In fact, it is literally impossible to drive to in a normal fashion. It's on a little spur off that one way street I successfully navigated against traffic, and the only way to get onto it is to back in, about 150 yards. So I did, so we could drop the bags by the hotel. Then I backed down the one-way street some more to got a parking space.
Whew! That's all for now. Will write more about Durham tomorrow.
This morning I got up and walked around Buxton. It's an interesting town, a small city really. It definitely has the look of a place that was once thriving, then fell on hard times, but now is on the upswing. It has some beautiful features- a gorgeous opera house, a striking university center, and a beautiful city park called Pavilion Garden that I had the opportunity to walk around this morning.
We had our breakfast and then headed out for a day of scenic beauty. We headed east through the Peaks National Park. There's nothing there that I'd call an actual peak- it's more like rolling hills. But it's very pretty and it was enjoyable to drive through it. Lots of sheep.
We then headed north to North York Moors National Park. We stopped in a very cute little town called Helmsley for lunch and a walk around. Helmsley had a bunch of cute shops, many of which sold food and ice cream and coffee. We also saw our first fish and chips place promising gluten-free batter.
Then north into the moors. We went in not really knowing what a moor was, and having driven through the middle of it, I'd be hard pressed to tell you it was different from the rest of the beautiful landscapes we'd seen earlier in the day. Not that there's anything wrong with that, really. It was definitely very pretty, and we saw an impressive ruined abbey along the way, so it certainly wasn't time wasted.
One thing I should not is that I don't understand why there are so many places selling plants. It would seem like the last thing you'd need to buy; all kinds of plants seem to grow everywhere around here. They're everywhere, so are you not allowed to dig up the pretty flowers on the roadside so you have to buy them instead? I don't know maybe you can't. One must have their own privately bought and raised plants.
Eventually we got to Durham, our resting place for a couple of nights. We had some difficulty on the way here because our navigations systems, and we have 3 of them, all failed to find the place we were going. After stumbling around for a bit, including driving the wrong way down a one way street, we pulled over so I could walk around and look for it. In fact, it is literally impossible to drive to in a normal fashion. It's on a little spur off that one way street I successfully navigated against traffic, and the only way to get onto it is to back in, about 150 yards. So I did, so we could drop the bags by the hotel. Then I backed down the one-way street some more to got a parking space.
Whew! That's all for now. Will write more about Durham tomorrow.
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Still too much to keep track of
I closed the last post saying I was tired and might post more in the morning, but apparently I was too tired to hit the "Publish" button. Oh well.
Chipping Campden was just as chipping as you might imagine. Very cute, nice shops, almost all on one main street. I went for a walk in the morning and got myself as lost as one can in a tiny town. Almost every house in the place really old. The roof lines are all uneven and varying. It's very cool to look at.
We had a nice breakfast in a strangely bare dining room. The hotel is very nice but a little disjointed. It is in the midst of a renovation, I guess. The hallway to our room smelled strongly of paint though the room itself didn't. The reception area is completely closed; you check in next to the bar. It really wasn't any sort of inconvenience, it was just odd.
I should note that the room was big and beautiful, but the bathroom was off a kind of ante room, and the door from the ante room to the bedroom was about 5 feet high. It's exacerbated by having to step up to the doorway. I don't care how many "Mind your head" signs you have, that's simply too low. Maybe it's not the same for tall people who are used to ducking, but I'm not tall and never have to duck. Here I did, and I was not 100% successful in remembering. I never really hit my head hard, but I bumped it at least a half a dozen times. The bathroom also had a design quirk. Can you spot it?
After breakfast, we had a visit to some pretty cottages on the outskirts of town for Ronnie to photograph.
Then we went to Hidcote, one of England's great country gardens. It was truly beautiful. It was very hot out today, but there was enough shade to make it reasonable. The English really like to garden, I think. And I'm guessing that the ones who don't feel guilty about it.
Chipping Campden was just as chipping as you might imagine. Very cute, nice shops, almost all on one main street. I went for a walk in the morning and got myself as lost as one can in a tiny town. Almost every house in the place really old. The roof lines are all uneven and varying. It's very cool to look at.
We had a nice breakfast in a strangely bare dining room. The hotel is very nice but a little disjointed. It is in the midst of a renovation, I guess. The hallway to our room smelled strongly of paint though the room itself didn't. The reception area is completely closed; you check in next to the bar. It really wasn't any sort of inconvenience, it was just odd.
I should note that the room was big and beautiful, but the bathroom was off a kind of ante room, and the door from the ante room to the bedroom was about 5 feet high. It's exacerbated by having to step up to the doorway. I don't care how many "Mind your head" signs you have, that's simply too low. Maybe it's not the same for tall people who are used to ducking, but I'm not tall and never have to duck. Here I did, and I was not 100% successful in remembering. I never really hit my head hard, but I bumped it at least a half a dozen times. The bathroom also had a design quirk. Can you spot it?
 |
| View from eye level |
Then we went to Hidcote, one of England's great country gardens. It was truly beautiful. It was very hot out today, but there was enough shade to make it reasonable. The English really like to garden, I think. And I'm guessing that the ones who don't feel guilty about it.
This kind of country garden is strange to those of us who know little about gardening. They're designed to look like a mess, but they're in fact totally organized, except for the plants, of course, plants are famously muddled about things. That's the fun of it, I guess, trying to make these living things do what you tell them to do. Fortunately, plants are often quite flexible about the way you arrange them, and if they don't like what you've done, most of them will die in short order, requiring you to try something else.
Personally, I find these places very beautiful, and I'm not too worried about how many of the varieties I know. I like seeing things I've never seen before and I like interesting blends of color and texture. It all feels very rich and substantial and light and airy at once if it's done well. I also have to appreciate a place that's so well ordered that they mark everything.
I've been in wilderness before and they usually don't have signs. I didn't see The Revenant, but I'm guessing that wilderness didn't have a sign designating it.
My favorite overheard conversation that I've overheard happened in the tea room at the first place we visited. There was a young woman and a middle-aged woman working, and they were talking to each other constantly about how busy they were. Considering that there were maybe 50 people in the entire garden and a dozen or so in the tea room, I wonder if they know what that word means.
I guess they were talking about how many hours they were working and the young woman said that the owner had brought her in to do some ironing. She said she only ended up doing a little because it got busy in the tea room so they sent her down there. The older woman said, "It's too hot to iron anyway. I'm just glad my husband's a bricklayer so I never have to worry about that kind of thing."
You don't hear appreciation for the smaller pleasures in life often enough. Like this:
Ours is an age that makes the perfect the enemy of the good. It's bad for you. If you appreciate what you can see you won't be upset at what you can't see. As long as I'm being philosophical, I should put in another plug for my standard advice to "Look up!" I've seen so many beautiful things on this trip just by going up above eye level.
We had another unintentionally eventful drive today. We were almost to Buxton, when the traffic just stopped. We saw people going by in the other direction and many of them were making a "turn around" motion as they went by. So we did, and after a little kerfuffle with the navigation system, we took an alternate route, which was very heavily trafficked, since the main road was apparently impassible, but we made it nonetheless.
People are very friendly up this way, and they are not overly find of London as a whole. It's just a whole nother world, I guess. Buxton is one of those old industrial towns that have seen better days and have also seen worse. It's a mix of busy and deserted, upscale and abandoned. There's a park across the street from my hotel that has lawn bowling and cricket fields. I believe I saw some Little League Cricket.
I'm looking forward to my morning walk to get a better handle on the place, though we're leaving in the morning anyway. I got lost on my walk this afternoon, so I'll try to be more careful tomorrow. By all accounts, they have a big and lovely town park. I'll let you know once I've been in it.
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