Hello faithful reader(s)!
Scott and I had another long day, and so once again, YOU are getting cheated. If you haven’t been checking out our photos, go here and take a look! There’s a challenge hidden in one of the photos! You have until we leave England next week to enter it!
Tomorrow, bright and early, Scott and I leave for Cornwall! Sometime in the next 72 hours, we PROMISE we’ll find time to post a proper blog, and get all the photos labelled!
Gracious we’ve been busy!
I have a lot to write about… but not tonight… it’s 11:30 pm, and we’re zonked.
But I do have to share this. Scott and I made it to St. Paul’s Cathedral today. Scott climbed to the top… I chickened out. So, I’m sitting in the main portion of the Cathedral, and turn around….
And THERE was my brother Bob and his wife, Marcy! All three of us raised quite the ruckus, got shushed by the docent, and stared dumbly at each other for a time. Well, I stared dumbly!
Later we met them again (this time planned, of course) for a nice dinner at a little pub near their hotel.
I’ll write more in the day or two ahead!
OK. That’s shared, it’s time for bed!
Hi all!
We’ve been having the time of our lives! And we’ve done tons of walking! I may not walk for at least an hour after getting home from England. (Actually longer… I’ve got a nice blister on my toe, and the chaffing I referred to earlier has gotten really bad.)
Tuesday, we went back downtown. We’re in Mill Hill, a northern suburb of London. It’s about 40 minutes by train and “tube” (subway) to downtown London. And it’s a 10 minute walk to the train station.
By the time we got to downtown, the area around St. Paul’s it was 12:00 noon. We had hoped to tour the cathedral then climb it’s dome. We climbed the steps at 12:02, and they had taken the last tour for the day because there was an event scheduled.
So we wandered over to the Imperial War Museum and spent the afternoon there. I was fascinated, as I knew I would be, by all the implements of war. Then, we went through their Holocaust exhibit. We left afterwards. That was too intense, but an experience everyone should have at some time in their lives. We know it was bad. We know it was beyond any words to describe how horrible it was. And then one visits a Holocaust Exhibit, and one realizes that it’s even worse than we thought.
After, we wandered up to the Thames, and rode on the London Eye. That is incredible! Even for an acrophobic like myself!
Today… not sure. We’ll figure it out as we go.
Hi all,
I’ve not written quite as much as I’d hoped to. But then I hadn’t taken into account how the days would unfold.
We’ve been up until nearly midnight every night, and we are sleeping later than usual. Right now it’s only 9:30 am here London time… all my Omaha friends are still sound asleep!
So, let me summarize the past few days.
Friday, May 11.
Roger, my manager, drove Scott and I to the airport. Catching our flight went without hitch, and we then spent 3 hours killing time in Minneapolis. Our flight to London boarded without incident of any kind, at 9:40 pm. Scott and I couldn’t sit together as the plane was full. I watched Captain America, ate the absolute WORST meal possible, and fell asleep at about 12:30 am.
Saturday, May 12.
I got about 3 hours of sleep, scrunched between two very sound sleepers! Landing at Heathrow was smooth, and we just about whisked through Customs, and stepped foot legally on English soil.
Martin Brune, my cousin Molly’s husband, met us as we came out of the Customs zone, and drove us the 40 minutes to their home in Mill Hill region of London. After settling in, we (Martin, Scott & I) headed, by train and tube, down to the area around London University, for Bryan’s Stag Party. We enjoyed a beer and a Jagermeister (to the extent one can enjoy Jagermeister) shot, then left Bryan and his buddies to the remainder of their evening. We returned home.
Molly was home, and we sat and chatted into the night, heading off to bed about 11:30.
Sunday, May 13.
Scott and I slept until 10, then got dressed and made our first solo foray into London. You can view our pictures, here.
Returning around 8ish, we chatted again with Molly & Martin, and downloaded pictures. I got a bit tipsy, as my back had been killing and wine was the only muscle relaxant I have… having left my prescription at home!
Monday, May 14.
Again, Scott and I slept until nearly 10:30, and didn’t get into town until 1:20 pm. We spent the entire day in the British Museum viewing especially those areas of interest to Scott in his archaeological pursuits. I was thrilled to tag along and watch his enjoyment!
After dinner at a downtown pub, where I FINALLY got to enjoy a delicious meal of “Fish & Chips”, we joined Molly for a pint at another pub, then met up with Bryan and Elizabeth for an evening of Theatre… a thoroughly enjoyable “Sweeney Todd”. We had hoped to have another pint with them, however poor Bryan was still reeling from his Stag!
We got back home at 11:30 and went straight to bed.
Tuesday, May 15.
And now we begin a new day. No clue what we’ll do. Scott and I spent the morning labelling all of Sunday’s photos, and rearranging them in to their correct order, so go visit them again!
Good evening, my friends!
It’s nearing Midnight in London, and I’m about done in for the day. Scott and I estimate we walked about 7 miles today. I’ve developed a bit of a problem with chaffing, and my back gave me fits today. Enough so that we eventually found a pub, The King’s Arms, and had a pint to see if a bit of alcohol would help my back relax. When we got home, I had a few more experimental glasses of wine. So, to quote the English, I’m a bit pissed.
Why not wander over to www.scottneric.com/photoalbums and check out our pictures of today. Find the challenge and answer it correctly!
G’night, y’all!
Hey everyone!
Scott and I had a great time flying over from the US, and we are safely here. On the flight I got 2 and a half hours of very fitful sleep, then after landing we were non-stop running until 10.
We’re preparing to head off to London, now. So, I’ll try to post more tonight, a real live blog entry!
This is just to let you, our faithful readers, know that we arrived safe and sound.
Well, the day is nearly upon us! But before I clarify that statement, I first want to apologize to all my readers who may have received notifications about blog posts that were basically TEST postings. I’ve not been overly satisfied with Google Feedburner’s email notifications. Those are limited to those who subscribe and go through all the rigamarole of acknowledgements. But I know in the past numerous people read my blog because they received notification via Twitter or Facebook that there was a new post.
Then, about a year ago, I was digging around under the hood of my WordPress sportster and apparently cut the wrong cable or something, because those posts stopped going out to Twitter and Facebook.
No big deal, I thought. But, as I indicate it IS a big deal because people who used to enjoy reading my blogs no longer can. That has made me a bit unhappy! When I went to reconnect those wires (you do understand there are no wires, I’m speaking rhetorically, right?) I can’t find where that setting was.
I’ve had to download and install two plugins, “Simple Facebook Connect” and “Simple Twitter Connect”. Except those are anything BUT simple! They basically have lines like “Just download and activate!” Except they don’t tell you that between downloading, activating, and getting it to work is another HUGE list of steps one must go through!
So, that explains all the tests. You may have gotten none of them, and if so great! Or you may have just seen one or two. If so, I AM sorry. About 20 went out; if anyone received all 20, oops. MY BAD and I am really, really, REALLY sorry!
But, I think I’m done, now!
Okay, now on to the really big news! We are only 2 days away from our takeoff to England! I didn’t want to post the dates until I had a few more arrangements made, but as of this evening, our dear friends David & Tony are now ensconced in our guest room! They’ll be house sitting for us in our absence! Yay! And Nikki and Ixchel will be taken to the home of our friends Cindy & Juline tomorrow night where they shall frolic with 4 other puppies for the next two weeks!
As usual, it is my hope to post here on a near daily basis, a sort of travelogue describing our trip. Scott and I plan on taking about a million photos, and those will be posted as close to daily as we can at:
www.scottneric.com/photoalbums/england-2012
So check both our blog and our photo album out daily!
To quote my hero, “Sayonara, babyyyyy!”
Today has been a good day! It’s been a long day, too. And it’s been a tiring day.
Today started before the usual time for me, at 2:45 give or take a few blurs. That’s when I awake to Ixchel crawling all over me. She doesn’t move from the center of the bed around the top of my head or past my feet. No, Ixchel believes in the direct approach. Over my face, or my chest. As I wake, I am aware of an eerie presence. I sense movement. I drift back to sleep.
Thirty minutes pass and, once again, I wake to that sense that I am not alone in the room. It whines, then, a low soft sound expressing a sorrow that seems to come from the depth of the ages. I crawl out of bed, pick up Ixchel and stumble to the door. Nikki follows close behind. She, it would seem, is the source of the whining. I shuffle down the stairs, slipping, nearly falling. Out the back door we flee; Ixchel and Nikki promptly take care of their pressing needs, then sniff the flowers and the dirt clods. “Really?” I moan, “It’s 3 friggin’ 30 in the morning! Can’t you sniff at a more reasonable hour?” They both look up at me and bound for the door. I turn to go inside. I step on a rock.
Turning out the lights, we make our way back up stairs, and Nikki heads directly for the shelter of her “under the bed” safe room. Picking up Ixchel, I toss her unceremoniously on the bed, then crawl beneath the sheets. I hold the sheet up for her, and she deftly burrows to her spot by Scott’s back. Rolling over I face the windows, and look out to the street beyond them, the gray foreboding hulk of the houses across the street just visible in the darkness. I take one last look at the clock, 3:35 am. I shut my eyes.
And hear IT. Thunk. Click. Thunk. Snik. This is followed by a “zooothssssh” like sound and another THUNK! I open my eyes, and look around. Nothing. But that sense that we are not alone, my canines, Scott and I. Silence. A whine. Thunk. Snik. Zooothssssh. Silence.
Ixchel pops her head above the sheets.
YAP!
YAPYAPYAPYAPYAPYAP!
Thunk, Snik, Zooothssssh. Yap
Whine.
And I see it! The Bat of Doom! I flick on the light, jump to my feet and run for the bedroom door, hoping, praying… can I escape it? Will it get me? Will THIS be the night!
Scott turns and looks at me. ”Bat?”
“Yes, THE Bat, it’s come!”
“Oh.” Soft snores emanate from his corner of the bed. Sigh. No help there.
I turn off the ceiling fan (they interfere with a bat’s navigatory skills). Moments later the bat flies out the door. I slam the door!
Safe at last I crawl back in to bed. Once more, I hold the sheet high for Ixchel to return to her nest, then turn to face the window. Again I look at the clock. 3:45 am. I close my eyes. I roll on to my back, opening my eyes and stare at the ceiling. I roll on to my stomach. Now I turn to face the center of the bed, then immediately back to the window. Sometime around 4:40 I fall asleep.
At 5:01 the alarm goes off. Time to face another day. We snooze, Scott, the girls and I, until 5:30 most mornings. But at 5:02, shortly after Scott hits the snooze button, I hear it.
Thunk. Snik. Zooothssssh.
Groaning I return to the door, turn off the ceiling fan, pull the door open and hit the light. The bat has returned to the room. Scott reluctantly crawls from the bed, we snatch Ixchel from the sheets, and turn for the door. The bat flies ahead of us, out the door and into the bathroom. By 5:20, it has been consigned to the bathroom. I shut the bathroom door.
The day has begun.
I’m a bit groggy. But, we’re no worse the wear from our bat-encounter. I mean, I do seem to be feeling a bit photophobic today.
And the scent of blood is powerfully strong. Smells oddly…. delicious…
And that Damn bat escaped.
Remember the Reason for the Season!
I’ve heard that one a lot, haven’t you? It comes around twice each year. Every fall, folks fall all over themselves to remind us to remember the reason for the season… And that’s good. I don’t mean to sound as though we SHOULDN’T be reminded to remember the reason. It’s so easy to fall into the traps of thinking that Christmas is about the snow and sleigh rides (never been on one), or the christmas lights and decorations, and most problematic, the gifts. Both the ones we give, and the ones we receive. Perhaps for some of us, it’s more about the ones we receive. We DO need to remember the reason for the season. It’s about Jesus. It’s about Jesus’ coming among us. It’s about the GIFT God gave us, the GIFT of God’s own Son, the GIFT of Jesus, Himself. As an aside, do you get giddy at Christmas thinking about that special gift you got that someone special in your life??? Giggle, perhaps, while wrapping it? Feel like you’re bursting at the seams waiting for Special Someone to open it? Do you wonder if that’s how God felt in those days leading up to the birth of Jesus? I’ll bet it was.
So, too, at Easter, as we dye our eggs, and prepare our easter baskets, and then eat our chocolate bunnies or Peeps (may I just say here, “eeww”?). For us in this overly hyped and marketed era it’s so easy to forget what the real reason for the season is! It’s the bunnies! Of course! Well, of course, it ISN’T! Once again, it’s about Jesus. The real reason for the season is Jesus: the work wrought on our behalf, the suffering, the death, and most importantly, the resurrection. I can never forget that THIS is the reason for the season. That Jesus, God’s free and overly abundant Gift of Love to Humankind, didn’t just come to dwell amongst us and teach us, but to suffer, die and resurrect on our behalf. Think though, for one minute about this little truth: in a way, the Reason for the Season of Easter… is us. Humanity.
We have come now, in our Journey through Lent to a dark place. We have, some of us, given up something that was, at least in theory, special to us. Or we have taken on some new task, some new discipline. Whether giving up or taking on, we did so to help us to remember, to relive, to recall the One who Took Up for us, and Laid Down for us. We attempted to join in a special way, as special as we are capable of, the suffering and the task of Him Who Saves.
And now, we are come to Good Friday. In some way, today we should consider that we recollect today that we, as apostles and disciples of Jesus, are plunged in to darkness. The Light that came into the world on Christmas Day has been extinguished, the Morning Star has set. Do we as Christians look forward to “the third day”, knowing the Sun will Rise, more glorious than before?
Well, yes, of course we do. But, I think if we allow ourselves to do so too much, we lose touch with what TODAY is. TODAY it is dark. TODAY is dark. Can the brilliance of the “third day” mean anything to us, truly, if first we do not embrace what today is? What today means? I’m not sure. I don’t have that answer.
But I think that for a time at least, I shall consider that, and try to put myself in the shoes of those FIRST apostles and disciples. My everything is gone.
And it is dark. A dark no words can describe.
