It's Friday about 7 pm and we are back in California.
Virgin delivered us over fed and an hour early! Take that United.
Seats were still narrow, but no one was beside me and I had the infinite leg room seat. I listened to two audio book on the way back, which I find I like a lot. Blue tooth ear buds lasted the full 11 hours.
I didn't sleep a lot, but the time seemed to go pretty well.
I drank a lot of pints over the vacation. I was looking forward to it as I was expecting bitters and porters and such. Sadly, all of the beet was lite and weak in re alcohol. Guinness was the darkest beer. It was kind of disappointing. But the company to share with was good.
Mike and Robin were some of David's golf pals and we had a couple of occasions to enjoy a pint or two and a bowl of "chips."
Cindy picked us up in middle of rush hour traffic. A drive she made for years as she used to work in Foster City. It's a long, stop and go run with crazy drivers to every side. She had a new dash camera and it looked like a nice investment as we dodged and dashed and breaked and zoomed.
I think that's the end of this blog. There will be pictures up on flickr as mentioned before. The address is: flickr.com/photos/rich_hume
There are no England pics there now, but give me a couple of days.
Until the next trip! I hope this blog has been entertaining. I've enjoyed jotting down some details of the grand adventure.
Once again, thanks to Sue and David and Cindy and Mike and Robin and Virgin and the friendly folks in England, who made it such and enjoyable trip.
Rich
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
A Trip to te City and Finishing up
Yesterday we went into London via the train and tube to see some sites.
We started with Victoria Tube Station, see Sherlock Holmes stories, and there you will find Big Ben, silent for the nonce, and Westminster Abby.
Ben is impressive, large, with some gold bits here and there. We walked out of the station to see about 20 tourists with their phones snapping away. Across the street we have the houses of the local lords and commons. An impressive bit of building.
Across the street we find a statue of Winston Churchill and WM Abbey. There is a queue for the abbey so we walk around the building and find a tower that was used to store documents for a couple hundred years. Free gift shop!
I go for the ice cream case and find a Magnum bar. Now, we have these in the States these days, but there as a time when that was not true. There were trips to the north of Scotland that took me through airports where the Magnum lay waiting. In those days, a mere pound per bar. It was about $1.70 at the time and I was on an expense account. Not much hesitation.
But now they are two pounds, making the cost about $2.30. That's high and my expense account has gone away. 100% inflation in 10 years! Hmm! Probably the EU's fault. I hear they have 3200 pages on how to sell cucumbers.
It did taste good however. We wandered the gift shop then having rested a bit, off we go. There are a number of grave and monuments in the area and we are snapping pics of them, plus the building bits hanging overhead.
The Abbey has no queue, which was not true a few minutes ago, and we plunge for the self guided tour. David tells me the tour used to be free, but now it's 17 pounds each.
It's a stroll through the kings and queens of England. They were not always nice to each other! Jailings and the odd execution. There is an audio device as part of the entry fee. Narrated by Jeremy Irons, it's useful and educational.
Google comes to the rescue as it's two o'clock and time for us to get some food. The tend to eat lunch about one here and we've been doing that. But it's beyond that and we are hungry Google suggests the restaurant MIO, which is "where the locals eat." Pizza mostly, run by Italians. Food was good, not cheap, but less than the Abbey!
We eat, fill our water bottles and we are off to Buckingham Palace. It's about a 10 minute walk. I'd been there in the mid 70s and was almost run over by the Queen's laundry truck, my one flirtation with royalty. There are barriers up and armed guards and I remember nothing of this.
But it's an impressive building and there are hoards of tourists, taking selfies by the front gate. We decide to head to the British Museum, which is also on the list.
We walk through Green Park to get to a tube station. Our train/tube tickets are still working and we get to a near by station. Out we pop and a ten minute walk and we are there.
It closes about 5:30 and it's not 4:45 or so. I spot a coin shop and in we go. While my penny collection is complete, my Queen Victoria penny is pretty worn and I'd like a better copy. The clerk was helpful and I've got a better copy of Victoria. It did cost a bit more than 50 pence, but as the only souvenir, it's still not too expensive.
We would have liked to spend more time at the museum. But we managed to get in the big two, the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles.
Both impressive. The stone is 8 inches thick - I was under the impression that it would be an inch or so.
As for the Marbles, I thought this was one panel of relief carving. Ha! The Brits dismantled the outer advertising on the Parthenon! They did have permission to do it, but that was given by the Turkish government, who was in charge at the time. The Greeks would like them back. (This is from memory, correct me if I'm wrong.)
There are a lot of big things in the museum and we wished we had had more time. Ah, a reason to go back.
We stagger out of the museum. Barb wants to look at a souvenir shop and I inquire about restaurants in the area. The gal says there is Greek on the next block. We wander over. Three courses for 15 pounds. We go for it and dine in the back patio. Nice! The wait staff was good, the water boy was not a native speaker, but he wanted to go to California and he was friendly and fun.
Our bellies full, we decide to head for Cambridge. It's about a mile to King's Cross station and off we walk. We'd been using phones for navigation and for the most part they have worked well. But my phone is out of juice and we turn to Barb's.
It liked to freeze up as soon as you started to walk and that made making the proper turns an issue.
We asked a couple of times and got Google maps back up and got there ok.
We found an app through the Rick Steve's forum called City Mapper. It was great for the tube with connections. Worth a look. Not all cities are available.
We made our express train with 3 minutes to spare. Crowded, but we got seats near each other. 50 minutes later we were in Cambridge and since the bus was no longer running, caught a cab.
We spent today back in Cambridge. Finished the Fitzwilliam museum, which was worth the return visit. A final lunch with Sue and David, Chinese food this time at Charlie Chan's.
We've got snacks for the plane and in the morning we get a limo to the airport and then a long day to get more.
Cindy, our photo friend among other out standing qualities will pick us up and thus end our grand UK adventure.
Be sure, dear reader, to keep an eye on flickr as I'll be putting up some pics soon.
Many thanks to Sue and David for sharing their lives and home and family with us. Thanks to Mike and Robin for golf adventures and clubs. And many to Cindy for duties well beyond her pay scale!
Rich & Barb
We started with Victoria Tube Station, see Sherlock Holmes stories, and there you will find Big Ben, silent for the nonce, and Westminster Abby.
Ben is impressive, large, with some gold bits here and there. We walked out of the station to see about 20 tourists with their phones snapping away. Across the street we have the houses of the local lords and commons. An impressive bit of building.
Across the street we find a statue of Winston Churchill and WM Abbey. There is a queue for the abbey so we walk around the building and find a tower that was used to store documents for a couple hundred years. Free gift shop!
I go for the ice cream case and find a Magnum bar. Now, we have these in the States these days, but there as a time when that was not true. There were trips to the north of Scotland that took me through airports where the Magnum lay waiting. In those days, a mere pound per bar. It was about $1.70 at the time and I was on an expense account. Not much hesitation.
But now they are two pounds, making the cost about $2.30. That's high and my expense account has gone away. 100% inflation in 10 years! Hmm! Probably the EU's fault. I hear they have 3200 pages on how to sell cucumbers.
It did taste good however. We wandered the gift shop then having rested a bit, off we go. There are a number of grave and monuments in the area and we are snapping pics of them, plus the building bits hanging overhead.
The Abbey has no queue, which was not true a few minutes ago, and we plunge for the self guided tour. David tells me the tour used to be free, but now it's 17 pounds each.
It's a stroll through the kings and queens of England. They were not always nice to each other! Jailings and the odd execution. There is an audio device as part of the entry fee. Narrated by Jeremy Irons, it's useful and educational.
Google comes to the rescue as it's two o'clock and time for us to get some food. The tend to eat lunch about one here and we've been doing that. But it's beyond that and we are hungry Google suggests the restaurant MIO, which is "where the locals eat." Pizza mostly, run by Italians. Food was good, not cheap, but less than the Abbey!
We eat, fill our water bottles and we are off to Buckingham Palace. It's about a 10 minute walk. I'd been there in the mid 70s and was almost run over by the Queen's laundry truck, my one flirtation with royalty. There are barriers up and armed guards and I remember nothing of this.
But it's an impressive building and there are hoards of tourists, taking selfies by the front gate. We decide to head to the British Museum, which is also on the list.
We walk through Green Park to get to a tube station. Our train/tube tickets are still working and we get to a near by station. Out we pop and a ten minute walk and we are there.
It closes about 5:30 and it's not 4:45 or so. I spot a coin shop and in we go. While my penny collection is complete, my Queen Victoria penny is pretty worn and I'd like a better copy. The clerk was helpful and I've got a better copy of Victoria. It did cost a bit more than 50 pence, but as the only souvenir, it's still not too expensive.
We would have liked to spend more time at the museum. But we managed to get in the big two, the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles.
Both impressive. The stone is 8 inches thick - I was under the impression that it would be an inch or so.
As for the Marbles, I thought this was one panel of relief carving. Ha! The Brits dismantled the outer advertising on the Parthenon! They did have permission to do it, but that was given by the Turkish government, who was in charge at the time. The Greeks would like them back. (This is from memory, correct me if I'm wrong.)
There are a lot of big things in the museum and we wished we had had more time. Ah, a reason to go back.
We stagger out of the museum. Barb wants to look at a souvenir shop and I inquire about restaurants in the area. The gal says there is Greek on the next block. We wander over. Three courses for 15 pounds. We go for it and dine in the back patio. Nice! The wait staff was good, the water boy was not a native speaker, but he wanted to go to California and he was friendly and fun.
Our bellies full, we decide to head for Cambridge. It's about a mile to King's Cross station and off we walk. We'd been using phones for navigation and for the most part they have worked well. But my phone is out of juice and we turn to Barb's.
It liked to freeze up as soon as you started to walk and that made making the proper turns an issue.
We asked a couple of times and got Google maps back up and got there ok.
We found an app through the Rick Steve's forum called City Mapper. It was great for the tube with connections. Worth a look. Not all cities are available.
We made our express train with 3 minutes to spare. Crowded, but we got seats near each other. 50 minutes later we were in Cambridge and since the bus was no longer running, caught a cab.
We spent today back in Cambridge. Finished the Fitzwilliam museum, which was worth the return visit. A final lunch with Sue and David, Chinese food this time at Charlie Chan's.
We've got snacks for the plane and in the morning we get a limo to the airport and then a long day to get more.
Cindy, our photo friend among other out standing qualities will pick us up and thus end our grand UK adventure.
Be sure, dear reader, to keep an eye on flickr as I'll be putting up some pics soon.
Many thanks to Sue and David for sharing their lives and home and family with us. Thanks to Mike and Robin for golf adventures and clubs. And many to Cindy for duties well beyond her pay scale!
Rich & Barb
Monday, September 25, 2017
Wimpole House
I may not have the name right, so don't sue!
This is an estate with manionesque house, stables and a working farm. It has turned over a number of times and stuff was redone and torn out, etc. But there were paintings and a lot of rooms.
I talked to the gal in the dining room about the ornate plaster work in and around the ceiling. She siad that when the National Trust took over the house there was a false ceiling in the room. It began to fall down and when they looked up, the plaster work and gilt master pieces were there. Why were they covered? Fashion!
The grounds were an active encampment of play soldiers. It's the anniversary of the Battle of Britain and all the old soldiers with their gear and jeeps and costumes and guns were out to play. They had tents up and chatted with the visitors. They took turns shooting off their guns with blanks, this is Britain after all.
It was also 40s weekend and there were a lot of folks in period wear. Hair dos and make up and suits and dresses and shoes, all wandering around.
I talked to an older gal and she was from Australia, used to live in England, hubby was American. They were dressed in 40s US Navy uniforms. She said she had a couple of them and had wished she'd warn the cooler of the two.
It was a sunny day and I might have gotten some sun.
We wandered around the grounds, did the house and as we came out of the house, the local air show was going on, and a Spitfire and a Lancaster Bomber made a couple of passes over the house. I've got some pics, but you'll have to wait for a bigger computer to see those on flickr.com/pictures/rich_hume
We walked to the working farm, which was a bit of a hike from the house, probably to keep smells down. They had some different cattle, some of which are scarce. There is a English Long Horn cow!
David picked us up about 3:30 and we went over to the American Cemetery on the north end of Cambridge. White crosses covering the hillside with names and dates and home states. A lot of Americans are buried outside of the US. There are two such cemeteries in the UK.
Quite moving. They played a short bit of Taps as the flag was lowered for the day.
There is a chapel and visitors' center. The center has a number of exhibits with the stories of the guys and gals that were caught up the second world war.
---
Monday: We were thinking of trying to dash into London for the day, but the old legs are still complaining about the cathedral hike, so that's on the docket for tomorrow.
We went into the village to once more take on the local bridge club. We managed 54% and picked up 16 master points, getting us to 54 for the trip. There might be a rank associated with that boundary, so we may have to join the EBU to get some official recognition.
We ate big at the pub post bridge and now it's blog and nap time. Then Barb and I will plan a trip to the big city and decide what we are up for.
This is an estate with manionesque house, stables and a working farm. It has turned over a number of times and stuff was redone and torn out, etc. But there were paintings and a lot of rooms.
I talked to the gal in the dining room about the ornate plaster work in and around the ceiling. She siad that when the National Trust took over the house there was a false ceiling in the room. It began to fall down and when they looked up, the plaster work and gilt master pieces were there. Why were they covered? Fashion!
The grounds were an active encampment of play soldiers. It's the anniversary of the Battle of Britain and all the old soldiers with their gear and jeeps and costumes and guns were out to play. They had tents up and chatted with the visitors. They took turns shooting off their guns with blanks, this is Britain after all.
It was also 40s weekend and there were a lot of folks in period wear. Hair dos and make up and suits and dresses and shoes, all wandering around.
I talked to an older gal and she was from Australia, used to live in England, hubby was American. They were dressed in 40s US Navy uniforms. She said she had a couple of them and had wished she'd warn the cooler of the two.
It was a sunny day and I might have gotten some sun.
We wandered around the grounds, did the house and as we came out of the house, the local air show was going on, and a Spitfire and a Lancaster Bomber made a couple of passes over the house. I've got some pics, but you'll have to wait for a bigger computer to see those on flickr.com/pictures/rich_hume
We walked to the working farm, which was a bit of a hike from the house, probably to keep smells down. They had some different cattle, some of which are scarce. There is a English Long Horn cow!
David picked us up about 3:30 and we went over to the American Cemetery on the north end of Cambridge. White crosses covering the hillside with names and dates and home states. A lot of Americans are buried outside of the US. There are two such cemeteries in the UK.
Quite moving. They played a short bit of Taps as the flag was lowered for the day.
There is a chapel and visitors' center. The center has a number of exhibits with the stories of the guys and gals that were caught up the second world war.
---
Monday: We were thinking of trying to dash into London for the day, but the old legs are still complaining about the cathedral hike, so that's on the docket for tomorrow.
We went into the village to once more take on the local bridge club. We managed 54% and picked up 16 master points, getting us to 54 for the trip. There might be a rank associated with that boundary, so we may have to join the EBU to get some official recognition.
We ate big at the pub post bridge and now it's blog and nap time. Then Barb and I will plan a trip to the big city and decide what we are up for.
Ely Cathedral
It's now Monday and we are back from bridge and a pub lunch. Stomachs are distended. Thankfully the beer is weak and there is not need for an immediate nap, but one might be on the horizon.
The entire crew went off to Ely, which is about 15 miles for Trumpington by motorcar. The town is quite old and that means something in this country.
The site of cathedral was a monastery starting in the 6th century. It's been done in a couple of times by bad actors like the Vikings and the Protestants, then the Catholics and then the reformation and on and on. (I may not have that all correct, but suffice it to say that what you see today, ain't what it once was.)
The cathedral looks like a number of the chapels in the colleges. One huge room with lots of stained glass, huge organ, lots of carving in the choir areas.
There is an opportunity to climb to the top of one of the towers, and like gullible tourists, Barb and I signed up. They had recently hired a lawyer for the church and there were documents to read and release of liability sheets to sign. We locked up our belongings and off we went.
The big room does not look like there are hidden areas around, but we slide through a small door in an antechamber and soon we are up a level. Then another door and we are three stories up. We stop and rest a touch, because the next climb is no more stopping. "A bit over 200 steps," states our guy. He short haired, long tattooed from knuckles to arms, though his face is untouched. Today he would make 5 climbs up and down and on occasion 6.
"How many steps?" someone asks.
"280," cries our guide. He evidently is not good at rounding as 280 ought to be rounded up and not down. He is a machinist during the week. I hope he is better with drawings.
So up we go. This is a pretty narrow circular stone staircase with stairs that are triangles. At the hub they are 0 inches wide and at the outer curve perhaps a normal width. I'm used to shallow steps with my feet, but it's not easy going. There is a handrail all the way and it's a nice touch. Maybe they lost a few choir boys along the way and put in some safety thingies.
We pop out of the top onto a roof that is octagonal in shape and about 30 feet across. The flooring is made up of lead sheets over wood and is pyramidic in shape. The center is the point of the pyramid and there is something there, with a path to get to it. Antenna or flag pole? Not sure now.
It's blowing quite a bit and we have a hand rail to hang on to and stone cutouts to view around. The cutouts are about 7 feet tall and you can lean out as far as you like. We are 200 feet up and look down on most of the cathedral.
Nice views of the surrounding area. The areas around Ely are fens. Which are low laying areas that flood. Modern technology has drained a lot of it and made more farm land, but when the winter and spring rains come to visit, they can flood again. In the old days Ely was known as an island.
If you have a feat of heights, this might not be the place for you. We spend 10 or 45 minutes up there, not real sure, but it felt like it might have been a long time. Then we head back down.
If you've ever done any rock climbing you know that going up is always easier than going down. No exception here. Barb goes slowly and follow here. Guide goes last to "close the doors behind us." But I think he does it so that if someone falls, he'll still be able to lead the next group once they clean the stairwell.
We make it down and stop at the lower level to regroup. A couple of minutes to rest, a few ore tidbits of history and now we find our legs don't work so well anymore. We're all a bit wobbly, but manage.
Ely has been a focal point for a long time and it being Sunday, there is a small market going on. Barb and I wander through. There are tables with all sorts of stuff/crap on them and I spot some coins. One is a 1796 penny with George III, the mad king on it. "How much?" "Did you get that from here?" the proprietor asks while motioning to a vague area on the table. "Ok then, 1 pound." I don't bargain and trade a new coin for a very old one.
The coin needs a cleaning, but the details on the coin are sharp and seem complete and the grunge looks like it just might be dirt and come off easily. So I've completed my modest collect of English pennies.
Next day we are off to Wimpole House.
The entire crew went off to Ely, which is about 15 miles for Trumpington by motorcar. The town is quite old and that means something in this country.
The site of cathedral was a monastery starting in the 6th century. It's been done in a couple of times by bad actors like the Vikings and the Protestants, then the Catholics and then the reformation and on and on. (I may not have that all correct, but suffice it to say that what you see today, ain't what it once was.)
The cathedral looks like a number of the chapels in the colleges. One huge room with lots of stained glass, huge organ, lots of carving in the choir areas.
There is an opportunity to climb to the top of one of the towers, and like gullible tourists, Barb and I signed up. They had recently hired a lawyer for the church and there were documents to read and release of liability sheets to sign. We locked up our belongings and off we went.
The big room does not look like there are hidden areas around, but we slide through a small door in an antechamber and soon we are up a level. Then another door and we are three stories up. We stop and rest a touch, because the next climb is no more stopping. "A bit over 200 steps," states our guy. He short haired, long tattooed from knuckles to arms, though his face is untouched. Today he would make 5 climbs up and down and on occasion 6.
"How many steps?" someone asks.
"280," cries our guide. He evidently is not good at rounding as 280 ought to be rounded up and not down. He is a machinist during the week. I hope he is better with drawings.
So up we go. This is a pretty narrow circular stone staircase with stairs that are triangles. At the hub they are 0 inches wide and at the outer curve perhaps a normal width. I'm used to shallow steps with my feet, but it's not easy going. There is a handrail all the way and it's a nice touch. Maybe they lost a few choir boys along the way and put in some safety thingies.
We pop out of the top onto a roof that is octagonal in shape and about 30 feet across. The flooring is made up of lead sheets over wood and is pyramidic in shape. The center is the point of the pyramid and there is something there, with a path to get to it. Antenna or flag pole? Not sure now.
It's blowing quite a bit and we have a hand rail to hang on to and stone cutouts to view around. The cutouts are about 7 feet tall and you can lean out as far as you like. We are 200 feet up and look down on most of the cathedral.
Nice views of the surrounding area. The areas around Ely are fens. Which are low laying areas that flood. Modern technology has drained a lot of it and made more farm land, but when the winter and spring rains come to visit, they can flood again. In the old days Ely was known as an island.
If you have a feat of heights, this might not be the place for you. We spend 10 or 45 minutes up there, not real sure, but it felt like it might have been a long time. Then we head back down.
If you've ever done any rock climbing you know that going up is always easier than going down. No exception here. Barb goes slowly and follow here. Guide goes last to "close the doors behind us." But I think he does it so that if someone falls, he'll still be able to lead the next group once they clean the stairwell.
We make it down and stop at the lower level to regroup. A couple of minutes to rest, a few ore tidbits of history and now we find our legs don't work so well anymore. We're all a bit wobbly, but manage.
Ely has been a focal point for a long time and it being Sunday, there is a small market going on. Barb and I wander through. There are tables with all sorts of stuff/crap on them and I spot some coins. One is a 1796 penny with George III, the mad king on it. "How much?" "Did you get that from here?" the proprietor asks while motioning to a vague area on the table. "Ok then, 1 pound." I don't bargain and trade a new coin for a very old one.
The coin needs a cleaning, but the details on the coin are sharp and seem complete and the grunge looks like it just might be dirt and come off easily. So I've completed my modest collect of English pennies.
Next day we are off to Wimpole House.
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Snooker
For some reason a few years ago, I started to watch snooker on YouTube. This is a game developed by the British in India and transported back home.
David, my gracious host, played snooker as a young man and his father was a pretty good player. We've had a conversation about the sport a couple of times. Take a look at it and look for Ronnie O'Sullivan. Perhaps the greatest natural player who ever took to the felt.
David arranged with Carl, son in law, to have a game at the NCI, North Chesterton Institute, a working man's club.
David and I sped off to the north of Cambridge to pick up Carl and some golf clubs - more on that another time.
The NCI is actually in Chesterton, but I couldn't see that it wasn't in the north of Cambridge.
We parked on a road by the river Cam and then walked a couple of blocks up a hill to find the club.
The club was founded in 1895, in a working man's neighborhood.
Time marches along as we of some aged span will note and the time from 1895 to the present is considerable. There are not a lot of the working men around and the neighborhood is a bit upscale. I wonder what it looked like 1895? These are tall homes, set close to the side walk, of brick.
We went in and signed up.
Have you ever seen The Color of Money, a film with Paul Newman and who ever it was, his name will return in a minute? But there are scenes in the movie where Paul, who reprises his role of Fast Eddy Felson, see The Hustler, takes the kids around to his old haunts and, well, some of them have turned into furniture dumps, some are still at play. The ones in play are timeless and have the patina of great age, with the promise that they will never change.
The NCI is like that. It's old and a bit tired. But it promises to be there.
Alas, as mentioned, the working men are a bit scarce and there were not a lot of folks there. We borrowed cues (not cue sticks!) from the pool room to take up stairs to the snooker room.
The room is not too high ceilinged, but there are 4 snooker tables awaiting. The two closest to the door are covered with cloths and the two at the end of the room are busy with the NCI snooker team, rumored to be practicing for a match. They were serious as no banter was heard the entire time we were up there.
The beer is cheap at the club, but we had to pay a small fee to play at all. It was sad to find that to light the table for ten minutes cost 50 P! Yipes. this is about 75 cents for us from the states. Hold this thought as I get to the game...
The tables are 6 feet wide by... 12 feet long! They contain the usual 6 pockets, in the usual places, but, as one wag suggested, why do they make the pockets smaller than the balls? Ok, so now we must imagine people with little skill and bad eyes and stiff backs and necks trying to line up balls across a 10 foot span and then trying to hit it "a quarter ball on the inside!" This soon became a game of hit and hope. In fact on a couple of occasions the cue ball didn't get much of a hit either. The balls are smaller than pool balls in the US.
The Carl suggested billiards. This is not the billiards we have in the states, but played with one red ball and two cue balls. The idea is to carom across them and potting the balls is not to one's advantage - usually! It seems there are about 15 ways to score. Carl rattled them off a couple of times, but they slipped through the memory filter. This game predates snooker. It was quite interesting and a lot less challenging than the snooker. Oh, we didn't score much better, but we could get closer.
With our skill level we were putting more 50 pence coins in the light meter than balls in the pockets. Sad, but true.
I mentioned that time marches on and the club building and a couple of other houses the club owns are worth in the area of $8 million, per Carl. The club can continue with a mortgage or two as long as they want, but at some time, the club is doomed with its lack of players.
It was getting late and we only had the one beer. We racked the cues and covered the table and said farewell to an ancient institution.
I'm finishing this up on Sunday morning. We spent Saturday in Ely, which has a large church, called a cathedral, with enclosed buttresses and stained glass and the scars of fallen towers. I'll fill that visit in on the next post.
Our trip is nearing its end. A few more days to go. But there should be a couple more posts of points of interest.
David, my gracious host, played snooker as a young man and his father was a pretty good player. We've had a conversation about the sport a couple of times. Take a look at it and look for Ronnie O'Sullivan. Perhaps the greatest natural player who ever took to the felt.
David arranged with Carl, son in law, to have a game at the NCI, North Chesterton Institute, a working man's club.
David and I sped off to the north of Cambridge to pick up Carl and some golf clubs - more on that another time.
The NCI is actually in Chesterton, but I couldn't see that it wasn't in the north of Cambridge.
We parked on a road by the river Cam and then walked a couple of blocks up a hill to find the club.
The club was founded in 1895, in a working man's neighborhood.
Time marches along as we of some aged span will note and the time from 1895 to the present is considerable. There are not a lot of the working men around and the neighborhood is a bit upscale. I wonder what it looked like 1895? These are tall homes, set close to the side walk, of brick.
We went in and signed up.
Have you ever seen The Color of Money, a film with Paul Newman and who ever it was, his name will return in a minute? But there are scenes in the movie where Paul, who reprises his role of Fast Eddy Felson, see The Hustler, takes the kids around to his old haunts and, well, some of them have turned into furniture dumps, some are still at play. The ones in play are timeless and have the patina of great age, with the promise that they will never change.
The NCI is like that. It's old and a bit tired. But it promises to be there.
Alas, as mentioned, the working men are a bit scarce and there were not a lot of folks there. We borrowed cues (not cue sticks!) from the pool room to take up stairs to the snooker room.
The room is not too high ceilinged, but there are 4 snooker tables awaiting. The two closest to the door are covered with cloths and the two at the end of the room are busy with the NCI snooker team, rumored to be practicing for a match. They were serious as no banter was heard the entire time we were up there.
The beer is cheap at the club, but we had to pay a small fee to play at all. It was sad to find that to light the table for ten minutes cost 50 P! Yipes. this is about 75 cents for us from the states. Hold this thought as I get to the game...
The tables are 6 feet wide by... 12 feet long! They contain the usual 6 pockets, in the usual places, but, as one wag suggested, why do they make the pockets smaller than the balls? Ok, so now we must imagine people with little skill and bad eyes and stiff backs and necks trying to line up balls across a 10 foot span and then trying to hit it "a quarter ball on the inside!" This soon became a game of hit and hope. In fact on a couple of occasions the cue ball didn't get much of a hit either. The balls are smaller than pool balls in the US.
The Carl suggested billiards. This is not the billiards we have in the states, but played with one red ball and two cue balls. The idea is to carom across them and potting the balls is not to one's advantage - usually! It seems there are about 15 ways to score. Carl rattled them off a couple of times, but they slipped through the memory filter. This game predates snooker. It was quite interesting and a lot less challenging than the snooker. Oh, we didn't score much better, but we could get closer.
With our skill level we were putting more 50 pence coins in the light meter than balls in the pockets. Sad, but true.
I mentioned that time marches on and the club building and a couple of other houses the club owns are worth in the area of $8 million, per Carl. The club can continue with a mortgage or two as long as they want, but at some time, the club is doomed with its lack of players.
It was getting late and we only had the one beer. We racked the cues and covered the table and said farewell to an ancient institution.
I'm finishing this up on Sunday morning. We spent Saturday in Ely, which has a large church, called a cathedral, with enclosed buttresses and stained glass and the scars of fallen towers. I'll fill that visit in on the next post.
Our trip is nearing its end. A few more days to go. But there should be a couple more posts of points of interest.
Friday, September 22, 2017
Friday the 21st
I should start with yesterday, but I'll do today as the memories are fresher.
It was a rare sunny day and Barb and I gave David and Sue some time away from us and headed into town. We wanted to punt on the river in the sun.
The river Cam of course, as we are in Cambridge.
The town is filled with young guys talking to all the tourists about an adventure on the river. The prices are a bit negotiable, so don't be afraid to ask for a discount.
This is a 4 minute trip down a few bridges, a sweeping U turn and back again. You get to glide past a couple of the colleges, who own the river banks. The view is ok, though you want some weather to add to the mood of it all. We were in a punt with a nice English couple, who we chatted with awaiting the boat. There were some Koreans in the front of the boat and the English couple, Barb, and I and a Chinese couple with us.
The Koreans talked among themselves the entire time and the Chinese guy sat up on his seat blocking both voice of the guide and view. This was annoying. But the photographic opportunities were not all that great, so I'm not complaining too much.
You can rent your own punt and learn to do it. It's a simple stretch of the river and there is no current and the boats are smaller. If I were to do it again, I would seriously try that.
We went to the "coin" store before we got on the boat. I've been intrigued with the British Penny coin and wanted to pick a few up. The coin store is a desk in the back of an upscale bike shop. The coin guy used to do coins in the entire store, but passed the business on to his son, who was into bikes, not coins, but kept a desk in the back.
"Have you got pennies?"
"I do. How many do you want?"
"Depends on what they cost," I replied.
"I want 50 pence each."
"Well, that's alright, let's seem them."
He dips into a can and comes up with a bunch. I ended up with 5, which covers the leaders of England from 1896 to 1967. Georges, Vicky, Liz and Edward were all represented. I missed out on George III, who lost the colonies, but those are a couple of pounds and I'm not talking 2 or 3.
So souvenir cost is a modest 2.50 pounds at this point.
After the punting, we found some street food in the market area. I had a German sausage and managed to burn my mouth. Barb opted for an Italian's version of stir fried chicken with pesto on a roll. Ate in the street and watched the crowd go by. Good fun.
We then went over to King's college. They have a chapel that's pretty interesting if you are into construction details and there is also the usual stained glass and intricate carvings and details that beg to have their picture taken.
We've been in two chapels when the organist decided he/she wanted to get in some practice. What fun and luck. The acoustics and volume was interesting. I counted 5 reverberations on some of the notes.
I noticed some red "paint' on the wall of the chapel and asked the guide what that was all about.
"Graffiti!" she exclaimed.
"Who did it?"
"Oliver Cromwell!"
"What a bad chap!"
"And he used to keep his horses in the building! Harumph!"
We were getting tired and stopped in Fitzbillie's for a coffee. I noticed that they had ice cream. "I'll have the stem ginger," I said.
"Brilliant! Cone or glass."
"Glass is fine.... Wait, you can put two scoops in that glass?"
"Oh, yes."
"Don't be shy, reach deep and come up with generous scoops," I suggested. She scoops and hands it to me. "Excuse me, but is this really two scoops?" "Oh, yes." Hmm, that's not even one, the way I like to scoop it.
But it tasted real good, but I also had to share with Barb, so I'm still wondering if it was a good purchase. The coffee shops make it real easy to spend 10 pounds for a couple of coffees and snack. Pounds are about $1.30 right now.
We wandered around a bit more and made our way back to the bus stop. We had to wait 30 to 40 minutes for the bus, which are supposed to be every 10 minutes. The traffic is very queue like and the distances are short. We wanted to go all of 5 miles and it takes 20 minutes.
But today, the bus timing was perfect and we were on our way back to David's in minutes.
David and Sue has some dinner going, usually not the main meal on the day. Some carrots from a farmers shop, potatoes, and steak and ale pastie. Very tasty, these pasties! And some ice cream for sweets. I scooped, so there was none of this "two" scoops in a small cup stuff.
Yesterday, David and I went golfing with two of his friends, Robin and Mike. Mike and I took them on and walked away with 5 pounds 25 pence for out efforts. Won the oozlum and it could have been a couple more if I'd had my SeeMore putter on hand.
Mike is from Wales and has a wonderful accent. Not a long hitter, but a devil around the greens. Then into the club house for some chips and pints. Wonderful guys, wouldn't let me buy! But I've promised them Barb's spare room and a Costco hot dog if they ever show up in California.
We went out for a curry dinner afterwords. This is Indian food for those without a dictionary at hand. Very much like our, but they use a lot more sugar in the recipes and the naan is a lot thicker and softer.
It went down well with me. Leftovers are an issue as the refrigerators are tiny here, but it was managed.
Wednesday, David and I played in the bridge game on the north end of town. This is the game with the better players. We didn't finish last! Some adventures were there that didn't always work. I went for an end play and looked the fool when it didn't work.
I don't think I've talked about our adventure at the snooker club, but maybe. I'll check and if not, write that up soon. David's family is coming over tomorrow, so no blogging.
It's late and bed time!
It was a rare sunny day and Barb and I gave David and Sue some time away from us and headed into town. We wanted to punt on the river in the sun.
The river Cam of course, as we are in Cambridge.
The town is filled with young guys talking to all the tourists about an adventure on the river. The prices are a bit negotiable, so don't be afraid to ask for a discount.
This is a 4 minute trip down a few bridges, a sweeping U turn and back again. You get to glide past a couple of the colleges, who own the river banks. The view is ok, though you want some weather to add to the mood of it all. We were in a punt with a nice English couple, who we chatted with awaiting the boat. There were some Koreans in the front of the boat and the English couple, Barb, and I and a Chinese couple with us.
The Koreans talked among themselves the entire time and the Chinese guy sat up on his seat blocking both voice of the guide and view. This was annoying. But the photographic opportunities were not all that great, so I'm not complaining too much.
You can rent your own punt and learn to do it. It's a simple stretch of the river and there is no current and the boats are smaller. If I were to do it again, I would seriously try that.
We went to the "coin" store before we got on the boat. I've been intrigued with the British Penny coin and wanted to pick a few up. The coin store is a desk in the back of an upscale bike shop. The coin guy used to do coins in the entire store, but passed the business on to his son, who was into bikes, not coins, but kept a desk in the back.
"Have you got pennies?"
"I do. How many do you want?"
"Depends on what they cost," I replied.
"I want 50 pence each."
"Well, that's alright, let's seem them."
He dips into a can and comes up with a bunch. I ended up with 5, which covers the leaders of England from 1896 to 1967. Georges, Vicky, Liz and Edward were all represented. I missed out on George III, who lost the colonies, but those are a couple of pounds and I'm not talking 2 or 3.
So souvenir cost is a modest 2.50 pounds at this point.
After the punting, we found some street food in the market area. I had a German sausage and managed to burn my mouth. Barb opted for an Italian's version of stir fried chicken with pesto on a roll. Ate in the street and watched the crowd go by. Good fun.
We then went over to King's college. They have a chapel that's pretty interesting if you are into construction details and there is also the usual stained glass and intricate carvings and details that beg to have their picture taken.
We've been in two chapels when the organist decided he/she wanted to get in some practice. What fun and luck. The acoustics and volume was interesting. I counted 5 reverberations on some of the notes.
I noticed some red "paint' on the wall of the chapel and asked the guide what that was all about.
"Graffiti!" she exclaimed.
"Who did it?"
"Oliver Cromwell!"
"What a bad chap!"
"And he used to keep his horses in the building! Harumph!"
We were getting tired and stopped in Fitzbillie's for a coffee. I noticed that they had ice cream. "I'll have the stem ginger," I said.
"Brilliant! Cone or glass."
"Glass is fine.... Wait, you can put two scoops in that glass?"
"Oh, yes."
"Don't be shy, reach deep and come up with generous scoops," I suggested. She scoops and hands it to me. "Excuse me, but is this really two scoops?" "Oh, yes." Hmm, that's not even one, the way I like to scoop it.
But it tasted real good, but I also had to share with Barb, so I'm still wondering if it was a good purchase. The coffee shops make it real easy to spend 10 pounds for a couple of coffees and snack. Pounds are about $1.30 right now.
We wandered around a bit more and made our way back to the bus stop. We had to wait 30 to 40 minutes for the bus, which are supposed to be every 10 minutes. The traffic is very queue like and the distances are short. We wanted to go all of 5 miles and it takes 20 minutes.
But today, the bus timing was perfect and we were on our way back to David's in minutes.
David and Sue has some dinner going, usually not the main meal on the day. Some carrots from a farmers shop, potatoes, and steak and ale pastie. Very tasty, these pasties! And some ice cream for sweets. I scooped, so there was none of this "two" scoops in a small cup stuff.
Yesterday, David and I went golfing with two of his friends, Robin and Mike. Mike and I took them on and walked away with 5 pounds 25 pence for out efforts. Won the oozlum and it could have been a couple more if I'd had my SeeMore putter on hand.
Mike is from Wales and has a wonderful accent. Not a long hitter, but a devil around the greens. Then into the club house for some chips and pints. Wonderful guys, wouldn't let me buy! But I've promised them Barb's spare room and a Costco hot dog if they ever show up in California.
We went out for a curry dinner afterwords. This is Indian food for those without a dictionary at hand. Very much like our, but they use a lot more sugar in the recipes and the naan is a lot thicker and softer.
It went down well with me. Leftovers are an issue as the refrigerators are tiny here, but it was managed.
Wednesday, David and I played in the bridge game on the north end of town. This is the game with the better players. We didn't finish last! Some adventures were there that didn't always work. I went for an end play and looked the fool when it didn't work.
I don't think I've talked about our adventure at the snooker club, but maybe. I'll check and if not, write that up soon. David's family is coming over tomorrow, so no blogging.
It's late and bed time!
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
War!
With the current global funsies going on, a visit to the imperial war museum seemed to be in order.
This is at Duxford, the site of an old ww2 airbase. Planes dated from ww1 to current day. They had some commercial planes too. We got on a Concorde, saw a U2 and SR71.
Lots of stuff from the cold War. Audio from the real people. We were there for about 4 hours, but could have spent 4 more.
There was a Spitfire giving flights for £2750, which is about $3600. It's a 30 minute ride.
We are off to an abby and mill today.
I've put a couple of pics up on Instagram, more to come on Flickr when I get home.
Did some laundry last night, multi purpose washer drier, loads are small and take a mere 3 hours. But we are saving the earth.
Do not let government get involved in anything! We are now getting out a drying rack, as the clothes are not quite dry.
I suspect that California will make these mandatory as soon as they find out how "well" they work.
Today the abby, punting on Friday as we are expecting a bit of sun.
David and I are going to play bridge with the tough game tonight. I felt rusty on Monday. But I managed to find an 8 when I needed to, my rho was impressed!
Ok, that's it for now.
Rich
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