Two weeks from today I leave for England. I’ll be one of four chaperones accompanying 24 students; I’ll have six angelic female AP students to supervise. I have already informed them that it is their responsibility to keep me out of trouble.
In the early nineties, my family exchanged homes with a London family. We lived for six weeks in Camberwell Green, a re-gentrified village south of the Thames not far from the Kennington Oval, where the Jamaicans thrashed the home team in cricket during our stay. I haven’t been back to London since.
It’s going to be a busy week. We’ll be attending three theatre performances in four nights: Blood Brothers, Phantom, and The Producers. We’ll be wending our way from Southwarke to Caunterbury, the holy blissful martyr for to seeke. Our hotel is the Strand Palace, so we’ll be able to walk to many of London’s most well-known attractions. Of course, there will a visit to Stratford-Upon-Avon to the birthplace of the immortal Bard.
We’ll be heading north at mid-week, spending a night in Liverpool where I shall ferry across the Mersey. The next day, we’ll continue on to Scotland, having dinner in Carlisle and spending the night at the Melvin House Hotel in Edinburgh. On the second night in Edinburgh, I’ll have a chance to sample haggis and attempt the Highland Fling.
On the return trip south, we’ll spend a night in the Lake Country, so I’m brushing up on my Wordsworth and Constable. Our return flight leaves from Manchester. I wonder if UB40 is playing anywhere that day…
I will miss the lady friend while I’m gone. It’s nice to have someone to miss.
"The cure for anything is salt water...sweat, tears, or the sea."--Isak Dinesen
About Me
- Paul
- After a period of turmoil, the last few years of my life have remarkably angst-free. I do believe that I may have found happiness. It only took five-and-a-half-decades.
from "The Cool Web"
There’s a cool web of language winds us in,
Retreat from too much joy or too much fear:
We grow sea-green at last and coldly die
In brininess and volubility.
--Robert Graves
Retreat from too much joy or too much fear:
We grow sea-green at last and coldly die
In brininess and volubility.
--Robert Graves
Various and Sundry
- Boating (18)
- Cape Cod (16)
- Cool Places (18)
- Family (39)
- Fishing (18)
- Humor (31)
- Log of Kilty's Wake (12)
- Music (24)
- Personal (34)
- Politics (1)
- Teaching (22)
- The Grammy (11)
- Travel (62)
16 comments:
thrashed. cricket. constable. wending.
blast it all to hell, i've fallen in love again.
yeah, yeah,
damn.
you're good lookin' too.
I am so jealous! I know you will bring back lots of pictures and even more adventure stories!
I wish I was going! I'd hit the used books stores! Theres a book out (and out of print) I'd love to have ..the few here in america they want a fortune for and are used library books..but since it's a book about Maggie Smith it would probably be there cheap! sigh..
To bad Maggie Smith isn't in any of those shows you will be going to.. that's an autograph I'd dearly love to have!
I'll wager your lady friend will be missing you too!! But enjoy your time in England and Scotland!
I'm officially jealous. I expect detailed reporting afterwards.
The Pacemakers reference brought back memories, and, of course "Oh, to be in England, now that April's there" popped up immediately. Hope it's not dreadfully rainy, but myself & it seems all the other Anglophiles else would still give anything to be in your shoes. Absence makes the heart grow even fonder, right?
*debbi*
Oh, lucky you! Color me green as well. I adored England and the English; every last one of 'em. Must be the accent. And I left my heart in an ancient, atmospheric pub in Stratford-Upon-Avon ~ try setting that one to music. Or poetry.
It's so lovely now that you have someone to miss! She and I are glad you'll have chaperones. ;)
You can keep haggis, but the rest of the plan sounds delightful. The nineties home exchange is exactly my dream trip. Have to start looking into the cost of such a thing...
damn.
you sure get a lot of comments from chicks.
Haggis is truly disgusting. But the rest sounds great.
Good traveling me droog. Viddy good all! Go off then and find you a pretty polly at the Milkbar. I'll miss you horrorshow-like.
Be a dear and say "HI" to my daughter in Barnes.
Sounds eerily like my week in London last summer. Strand Palace, standing in the yard for two afternoon plays at the Globe, strolling down the Thames...bliss. I even spent a night in Carlisle and a day in Edinburgh (never did find the writers' museum there, though). Can't wait to hear all about it.
Odie
Whoever said, "parting is such sweet sorrow?" Frankly it sucks, and I'm sure the lady friend will miss you sorely, too. BTW, I'm betting that the name of this blog will change before the end of the year:)
I'm glad I never had to chaperone anyone. Even if I had to chaperone Mother Theresa I'd be in big trouble. For that matter, so would she...
It sounds like a TERRIFIC trip, and to have someone to miss, too...you're in clover these days, Paul, and I'm happy for you, but I admit I'm also envious.
:)
Judi
Oh....how I wish I had a trip like that to look forward to. Have an incredible time...and bring back pictures!
Post a Comment