December Update

This time of year continually finds me on the western plains as I make four trips back to Colorado.  The State Volleyball Tournament was as exciting as usual, thanks to good times and great fun with the CHSAA crew.  Thanksgiving continues to be my favorite holiday as I was able to spend time with my parents and so many wonderful friends.  A quick trip up the Manitou Incline was rewarded with a small Mainliner at Fargo's and a mini reunion at the Tapateria.  And of course, no visit to Pueblo is complete without a Slopper at Coors' Tavern and a Half-Special at Pass Key.

Later this week I'll get an aerial view on my way to the State Spirit Championships, followed by an extended Christmas visit that will take me into the New Year.  It's amazing how busy I am with these activities, as well as the ones back in Kansas.  Bowling tryouts are complete and we look forward to successful seasons from both the boys' and girls' teams; musical concerts and student film productions are ongoing and I keep myself involved as much as possible; and last but not least, I now have a welcomed roommate who has transformed my house into a home.

Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season and continued adventures into the New Year!

My Local Deli

This is my favorite place to eat out in Tunbridge Wells.  Many, many visits ago, my friend Paul and I first entered this deli by chance and had a pleasant, broken-English conversation with Max, the owner.  Since then, I have made a point to eat here every visit and I've even come to know Max and his wife.  It's actually cheaper for takeaway than it is to eat in, so what I like to do is get a Panini, stop in the newsagent's shop next door for a packet of Walker's Roast Turkey Crisps and an Old Jamaican Ginger Root Beer, then walk down the road to Calverly Grounds and sit on the same bench the family has been using for generations.

L'Italia a Tavola, my favorite deli

Max socializes while his wife makes my panini

Calverly Grounds, from my bench seat

The Butcher family always gathered at this bench

Romney Marsh

This afternoon's adventure took my cousin John and I to Dungeness and Rye for some fantastic fish & chips at The Pilot Inn and a search through the marsh for the Sound Mirrors that were constructed in the 1920's, prior to the invention and development of radar.  A brief stop in Rye on the way home provided a nice walk up through the village to the castle overlooking Romney Marsh.  This area was prominent in many of the stories I read as a child and the home of my favorite 18th century smuggler, Dr. Syn.

Another of the WWII Mulberry Harbours

The White Cliffs of Dover across the bay

Original water tower

Romney Marsh, near the Sound Mirrors

Rye Castle keeping the city safe since 1249

Libations Log

At each opportunity, I have tried to sample a new and different beer.  The following list might seem a bit long, but keep in mind that my rule of thumb has been to drink only one of each and let's face it, I've had a lot of opportunities.

 

Not necessarily British, but sampled in England

Greene King IPA

Caffrey's Irish Ale

Whitbread Pale Ale

Guinness

Stella Artois

Carlsberg

Harvey's Sussex Best Bitter

Kronenbourg 1664

Chimay Péres Trappistes

Stinger Ale

Fuller's London Pride

Woodforde's Wherry Bitter

Sambrookes Wandle Ale

Stonehenge Ales - Pigswill
Humdinger Honey Ale
Spook Ale, Ghost Brew
Spitfire Kentish Ale
Bishop's Finger Kentish Ale
Ruddles County - Proper Country Ale
Adnams Broadside

ditto for Sweden
Grölsch
Åbro - Original Starkül
Falcon
Staropramen
Hoegaarden Weissbier
Nils Oscar God Lager

and again for Latvia       
Aldaris Luksus
Zelta Premium
Lux Piebalga
Tervetes Alus






And the best of the bunch . . . 

South of England

This week, I've been staying with my aunt in Storrington, West Sussex.  She has all of my grandparents' photo albums & documents and so I have been getting a nice family history lesson.  The weather has remained pretty much perfect.  Who said it always rains in England?  I've been here nearly six weeks and haven't seen a drop.  Today, we went for a walk along the South Downs and then into Littlehampton for a walk along the sea front.  It's kind of like California, where you can ski and surf on the same day.

The South Downs, with the English Channel in the distance

Footpaths get much use

The Slindon Pumpkin Patch

Littlehampton beach front flying its colours

Seagulls at low tide

"The Dude Abides"

As many of you know, my parents are extrememly talented in the field of music.  Unfortunately, that talent seems to have genetically avoided me.  My parents were also fairly athletic in their youth (at Southampton, dad played rugby and mom played both tennis & field hockey) but I've often wondered from whom I inherited my passion for sports.  My maternal grandfather was an avid sportsman, but unfortunately, I never knew him.  I knew even less about my paternal great-grandfather until I read the following account of his death in the local newspaper.

Snodland Mourns Fine Sportsman

Representatives of nearly every organization in Snodland were present at the funeral at Christ Church, Lower Birling, on Saturday of Mr. Frederick Charles Butcher, of the Groves, Snodland, who died the previous Monday, aged 62.  At the time of his death, Mr. Butcher was the captain of the Snodland Bowls Club, of which he had been a member for many years.  He was also a member and vice-president of the Snodland Cricket Club.  Mr. Butcher was first and foremost a sportsman, and his death has robbed many organizations in Snodland of a great supporter.
     At the memorial service a hushed congregation saw the Vicar battle with his emotions as a paid a pulpit tribute to his great friend.  After declaring "Joe was my friend," the Vicar hung his sorrow-lined face a few moments in a vain effort to regain his composure.  'Joe' Butcher, said the Vicar, had made a name for himself that was highly honoured.  He had contributed to the happiness and well-being of the time in which he lived.  As a sportsman he was known to many of them.  No one had ever seen him play and lose his temper.  He was always a good loser and always ready to congratulate the man who beat him.
     A full choir was present and Mr. Cecil Butcher, eldest son, was at the organ.  An unforgettable service ended with the hymn, "Abide with Me."

And now, over 70 years later, on an entirely different continent, his great-grandson is a high school bowling coach and can proudly say, "The dude abides!" 

All My Pictures

A day or two of rest and relaxation and I'm ready to seek out the next adventure.  I'm heading south toward the coast of England to visit my aunt in Sussex for a few days.  My uncle was a wireless operator/air gunner in the Coastal Command and in his later years, wrote and had published several non-fiction books on various WWII aircraft.  To kick start my writing aspirations, I hope to be able to soak up some of that atmosphere this week.  In the meantime, I have uploaded ALL of my pictures to Picasa and if you are interested, you should be able to look at them all by clicking on the following link.  Enjoy!

ALL MY PICTURES

One of my uncle's published books

Sid Kipper

For an evening of good, old-fashioned entertainment, my cousin John and I headed down to the Elephant & Castle Pub in Lewes for the folk singing and story telling of Sid Kipper.  This Norfolk humorist is part Woodie Guthrie and part Monty Python.  The event was held as part of the Lewes Folk Festival and was held in the upstairs room of a local pub and even featured two warmup acts:  a folk trio and youth fiddle champion.  It was quite an entertaining evening and if you can understand him, you might enjoy a listen.

http://www.myspace.com/sidkipper 

Sid Kipper

http://www.myspace.com/sidkipper

Places & Faces

Here is a quick collection of the unusual faces and places I've captured along the way . . .

Food stall at Camden Market; tasty free samples

Guarding the Sherlock Holmes Museum 

Officiating at a dedication in Bury

Statue on the Kanal Walk in Riga

An afternoon lunch with my aunt & cousins

Lighthouse on Portland Isle

Latvian homeless man . . . eating a pigeon?

Just a short walk from the Stockholm Skavsta airport

No clue . . . but he was very friendly

Manchester

A weekend visit to Manchester, the world's first industrial city, to see "my football team" play.  No, it's not Manchester United or Manchester City, but FC United of Manchester, a club started from scratch a few years ago by the disgruntled fans of Manchester United.  Everything about FC United screams anti-establishment, right up to the anti-fascist punk bands they had playing in the member's only lounge before the match.  Yes, my friend Heath and I are voting members of this low-level, semi-professional football club.  We led 2-1 at halftime, but ended up having a man sent off and losing 3-2 in the final minute when a non-call of a push in the box allowed Chester FC to score the match winner.

 






Manchester itself is an interesting city.  It is home to over 100,000 students at four universities and boasts over 20 Nobel Prize winners.  It also houses the largest collection of drinking establishments I have ever seen.  Drinks are actually advertised not by brand or price, but by their alcoholic content.  There must be a lot of unhappy people around here because never have I seen a place where the main goal of an evening is to solely to get drunk.  I'm somewhat glad that I was still a bit under the weather and spent most of my night talking to Australians in my hostel and catching up on my sleep.

Manchester Cathedral, the Wheel of Manchester, and downtown skyscrapers

Outdoor viewing of the Rugby World Championships

Riding the Rails

Quick update from the road, or train as the case may be.  My return from Latvia was pretty much the most miserable 12 hours ever!  I'll spare you the gory details, other than to say I picked up some kind of nasty bug.  The highlight was when a beautiful Russian model (really, she looked like Paula Porizkova) sat next to me on the plane.  The lowlight was when I vomited about 10 minutes into the flight.  And it all went downhill from there.

After a sleepless night in the airport, a zig-zagging, stop-and-go drive into London, a pre-dawn walk to the train station, and a 45 minute ride home, I managed to sleep for the second half of the day and thanks to my family of nurses, feel better today . . . when I am up at 6 a.m. to catch a train to Manchester to see "my team" FC United of Manchester play a league match against Chester.  Poor planning on my part, but feeling up to it.  You have to, right?

Latvia

The interesting thing about Latvia is that it's only been its own independent country from 1918-1939 and again since 1991.  Riga itself, has been an important trading post since medieval times, but for most of its history, it was ruled loosely by Russian and Germanic empires.  Soviet Russia ruled with an iron hand until Hitler and the Nazis invaded and actually made things worse by persecuting the Jews and conscripting all the young men into the German army.  After the war, England and America allowed the Soviet Union to take over and that lasted until Gorbachev's perestroika.   That means pretty much everyone I met over the age of 22 was born in the USSR.

Freedom Statue

Bridge of Love Locks - Each lock features the names of sweethearts

Statue along the Daugavar River

Still has a huge following over here

Many buildings are made entirely of wood

Celebrations

A quick opportunity to send out some congratulations and good wishes to some of my friends who have been quite busy since last we spoke . . .

Happy Birthday to Paul Sims, my oldest and dearest friend.  He is a professor at Oklahoma and his Sooners made quite a strong statement on Saturday.

Congratulations to Carla Geanetta & Laurie Striewski!  Carla just got married on the West Coast and Laurie just got engaged on the East Coast.  My best wishes to you both.  And to Randi Haselwood, who's in the middle of the country, it sounds promising as well.  ;-)

Congrats also to Stacy Palos & Heather Crowley for running in the Rock 'n Roll Denver Marathon this weekend.  Heather ran her half marathon in 1:51:26 and Stacy finished her full marathon in 4:01:19, both of which are way better than I could ever hope to do.  Great job girls!

Reluctant congratulations go out to Terry Bryant and John McDonald, whose Fantasy Football teams both kicked my butt last week in my absence.  I'll be home for the rematches!

Support goes out to my friends who have children competing in activities and athletics:  Ashley Eckman-Weber's daughter is playing volleyball for a rising power and Sam Hume's daughter is becoming a chess master.  

And last but not least, a shout out to Libby Whittle whose 3rd graders performed their program outstandingly and to Anna-Lynn Morris who videotaped it for posterity.

I wish everyone else who is reading this blog the very best and I hope your Octobers are full of fun.  As for me, I am off to Riga, Latvia today.  Random choice?  Yes, but not without reason.  My friend Libby's maternal grandmother emigrated from Latvia and the Soviet regime.  She's been described to me as such a wonderful person that I thought I'd make a little vicarious pilgrimage for Libby and her family.  And the tickets are really, really cheap; in fact, it will cost me more to get from my cousin's house in Tunbridge Wells to the airport in London than it will to get from London to Riga.

Riga is only 250 miles from Stockholm, but I expect the differences in everything but geography will be amazing.  If I can't post any pictures from Latvia, I'll be sure to get you all updated upon my return. 

Millennium Tour

This post is for those who have read and/or watched The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and its two sequels.  The Stieg Larsson trilogy is set in and around Stockholm and so I thought it would be interesting to visit some of the significant buildings.  As a visitor to a new city, it also provided a nice context to my wandering exploration.  Following a “Millennium Walk” provided on the Internet, I was able to guide myself around Södermalm in the footsteps of Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist and find the following sights:

Lisbeth’s luxurious 21-room, top-floor apartment

  The former sight of the Java Café

  

The restaurant where Mikael & Eric Berger were attacked

 

The 7-11 around the corner from Lisbeth’s 

apartment, where I bought and later snacked

on one of Lisbeth’s favorite foods; quite tasty

The bar where the lesbian, satanic band Evil Fingers played every Tuesday night, except the night I was there and they just had a deejay