Wychnor Park Timeshare: July 12th-18th

On Saturday morning we left Coventry to drive to Wychnor Park, an old stately home and estate that has been converted into a timeshare property. We were meeting Dianne & Peter for lunch at "The Boat Inn" pub in Alrewas, just a couple of miles from Wychnor because we could not move into our accommodation until 4:00 PM. Unfortunately, "The Boat Inn" was "out", because when we got there, P&D were there, but the pub had closed down! Fortunately, we had made good time on our journey from Coventry and had taken a quick detour to "Fradley Junction" which is where two canals meet (the Coventry Canal and the Trent & Mersey Canal). From looking at the map Bob thought he recognized this as a place where his dad had taken him fishing as a child. It was a very pretty spot, with lots of canal "narrow boats" (used as houseboats) moored and others meandering along the canals and negotiating the locks. Also, as luck would have it (a coincidence indeed), there was a lovely old pub called "The Swan" at the junction of the canals which was well and truly open. Consequently, we informed P&D of our find and quickly relocated ourselves to the canalside pub and had a lovely lunch, after which we enjoyed a lengthy stroll along the canal before returning and making our way to Wychnor Park where we booked into our log cabin named "Kestrel" (not part of the original 1,000 year old estate!) and unpacked and settled in before having dinner. Afterwards, we walked up to the main house and enjoyed a drink in the "members lounge" and met Michael, the "Activities Director". This was the only time during the whole week that we spent in this lounge or partook in any "group" activities. We retired to bed early.

The next morning we had breakfast in the cabin (which we would do for the next seven days), before jumping into the car to take us to the start of our first walk of our week's stay at Wychnor. We drove to Barton-Under-Needwood, only a few miles from Wychnor, parked in the village hall parking lot and commenced our walk to Dunstall via a public footpath. We walked across fields of sheep, who were utterly unconcerned about our presence and hardly looked up from chewing the grass. We also came upon another stately home that is still in use as a private residence, "Dunstall Hall" described as follows: "Dunstall Hall is an outstanding stone Grade II Listed country house near Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire. The property is of considerable stature and is set in a secluded yet prominent position with extensive views across mature parkland. Still essentially a private residence. Records show that in 1145 the Dunstall Estate was owned by the Earl of Derby". We returned to Barton at lunchtime and after having a pint at "The Middle Bell", decided it was too much like a restaurant and not enough like a pub, so we moved to "The Shoulder of Mutton", which was highly satisfactory to everyone in all categories! We all slept well on Sunday night.

On P&D's "must do" list was a visit to Lichfield Cathedral, and Monday was the day chosen to do it. An unfortunate things about Wychnor Park was that the internet connectivity was archaic with just one computer available for guests to connect to the Web, and no USB ports for memory sticks, so it wasn’t possible to post photographs or have access to Word documents that you might have written on a laptop. This meant there was no way to connect a personal laptop to the Web. Going to Litchfield was on Bob's list so that he could find somewhere that had Wi-Fi available! Lichfield is another town in the UK that is pedestrian friendly in that no cars are allowed into the very center of town where historically, the streets are so narrow. Everyone parks on the edge of the center and walks into the center of the city (only a few blocks). It is very effective and provides a very pleasant atmosphere. The center of Lichfield, where a weekly market has been held since permission to hold a market was granted to Bishop Walter Durdent, Lord of the Manor of Lichfield by King Stephen in 1153, is very historic. There is a very old church there, St Mary’s, which still has a Sunday service at its East end, but also now houses a day centre for the elderly, a tourist shop, a café; and upstairs there is the Heritage Centre. On the wall of the church are plaques commemorating martyrs burnt at the stake or "disembowled alive" in Lichfield Market Square. After Alison's lengthy description of Holy Trinity Church in Coventry, we won't bore you with more historical facts about Lichfield Cathedral, only to say that it is the only medieval cathedral in Britain with three spires and the building of this Gothic Cathedral commenced in 1195 when it replaced a Norman Cathedral built in 1085 which had replaced a Saxon church built in 700! We had a lovely walk in Lichfield before returning to "The Acorn", a pub we had spotted on our walk that had a sign that said "Free Wi-Fi" in the window! We were able to pick up and send email! You can get more information about Lichfield Cathedral at: http://lichfield-cathedral.org/history.html

On Tuesday, as long planned, our friends Peter & Wendy Crozet visited us at Wychnor. Peter and Bob worked together at Bowmaker Plant (UK Caterpillar tractor franchisee) around 1967/68 so they are also friends of more than forty years. Peter was born and lived in South Africa until he met Wendy who was on an extended working holiday in SA. When Peter learnt Bob was leaving Bowmaker to join Ford in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, he told us to look up an old university friend of his, "Saint" Sudano. This we did, and we became friends with Saint & Marian and Marian is Clare's godmother. Saint & Marian now live in Perth, Australia and they are on our "bucket list" to visit in the near future (see a future blog "Australia & New Zealand"!). P&W have already vistited S&M, so they have given us some good tips on "must sees". After a cup of coffee we started our planned walk across public footpaths across the fields to the canal at Alrewas and then along the canal to Fradley Junction and "The Swan" -- quickly written but probably a three mile walk. After lunch we walked back via a different route and got back to our log cabin five hours after we had left. We estimate that altogether we walked 7-8 miles. After more conversation we all drove to "The Shoulder of Mutton" at Barton-under-Needwood again, where we had a lovely meal and a very convivial evening before saying our farewells to Peter & Wendy, who drove home directly from the pub.

Another thing on the "must do" list was done on Wednesday, when we went to the National Arboretum. [Quote]: "The Arboretum is the home of the Armed Forces Memorial which was opened in October 2007. It is a striking and emotive memorial and is quickly assuming national significance. It gives recognition and thanks for those who have died whilst on duty or as a result of terrorist action since the Second World War and acknowledges the enduring sacrifice of those who mourn their loss". It has a similarity with the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC in that the names of the armed forces personnel who have died are listed by name in the year in which they died, with each branch of the services (Army, Navy, Air Force) being listed separately within each year. 50,000 trees have been planted to create a future woodland as a continuing memorial. There were many buses/coaches visiting the memorial and many old timers in their regimental blazers adorned with service medals visiting to show their respects to their fallen comrades. It was very moving and is moving to me as I write of it. From there we drove to Burton-Upon-Trent where we hoped to visit "The Museum of Brewing" and hoped to also vist a "brew pub" that Peter had identified from a website. We followed the "attraction" signs to the Museum, although our efforts where somewhat handicapped as it seemed as if half the roads in Burton were under repair and progress was exceedingly slow. When we did get to the visitors center, we were informed that the Museum had been closed down for two weeks. This may be somewhat related to the fact that Coors has purchased the Brewery that housed the museum - those damn Yanks! The visitors center gave us directions to the brew pub, but we were to be disappointed again as they closed at 2:30PM and we were too late. After quickly referring to the Burton tourist information map in our possession, Alison spotted "The Unicorn" at Newton Solney, a village just outside Burton, that served lunch until 3:00 PM and had free Wi-Fi. Great excitement all round! We were there by 2:45, only to be told that they only served lunch until 2:30 and the chef had already gone home. We pointed out to the bartender that besides being on the tourist map, the lunch sign outside the front of the pub said they served lunch until 3:00 - all to no avail. We ate crisps/chips for lunch, depending on whether you’re in UK/USA. We meandered through country lanes and villages on our way back to Wychnor, as we had no desire to tackle the roadworks of Burton-on-Trent again. We ate a very hearty dinner at the cabin.

Another "must do" at the beginning of the week was a trip to Alton Towers, a UK theme park with rides named "Nemesis", "Oblivion" and the like! Unfortunately, Thursday was designated to be yet another inclement weather day and in addition, when Peter had phoned to purchase tickets in advance, we were warned of large crowds of school outings to the park and the last thing we needed was for us "senior citizens" to be queueing up with a bunch of screaming children. Consequently, we decided to give the park a miss. By this time, I was already having nervous breakdown symptoms relating to not having posted to the blog for so long and desperately was looking to catch up. However, we didn't want to have Peter & Dianne sitting in a cafe or pub for three hours while we posted the blog (yes, it can take that long) so we decided to split up for the day. D&P went off to Tutbury Castle (11th Century), where Mary, Queen of Scots was imprisoned by Elizabeth I (her cousin) at least twice. Of course, while she was in prison, she continued to plot to overthrow Elizabeth, who finally had had enough and signed the warrant for Mary to be beheaded, which she subsequently was at Fotheringham Castle in 1587 - Isn't England's history nice and gruesome! (Watch "The Tudors" on Showtime). Meanwhile, we headed back to "The Acorn" at Lichfield with free Wi-Fi where we spent three-and-a-half hours working on the blog so that we could bore you all to tears. In that time, we had one beer, lunch and a cup of coffee and no one bothered us at all. At about 3:30, we got a call on our cell phone from my cousin Colin who said he was going to drive out to Wychnor to see us. He had a little bit further to drive than we did, so we beat him back to the timeshare by 5 minutes. Colin is a little bit younger than I, and reminded everyone that it was all my fault when he got into trouble as a youngster, because I was the one that decided all the naughty things we were going to do and he just followed my lead -- the memories of youth. Colin drove home (we'll see him again later) and the four of us decided that tonight was going to be our last night out, so we set off to the "George & Dragon" pub in Alrewas where we had a nice meal and a few pints. Dianne drove us back to Wychnor. I should also mention that today was the start of the British Open Golf Tournament and it started on television at 9:00 AM, so the television was on pretty much all day when we were in the cabin. If any of you watched the first few hours of play, you will understand the farcical description of the present season here as "summer!".

Friday we had the golf on during breakfast and then left to take a walk at Branston Water Park, which is not a water rides amusement park as those from the USA would expect, but a wildlife reserve, created mostly naturally from old gravel pits filling with water and then being taken over by the local government. From there we made our way once more to Barton-under-Needwood and the "Shoulder of Mutton" where we had a lunch appointment with Jonathan Slim and his wife Ann. This is where I have to relate another "power of Google" story. Most of you readers are aware of our three month trip to South Africa last year. A few weeks after we returned, we received an email from son-in-law David with another email attached. David's email said "If you actually know this person, it is really amazing". The attached email was from a Jonathan Slim who had written to David via M&D's blog "Journey to our Daughter" and said (paraphrasing) "Hi, my name is JS, I was browsing the web looking to see if there is a reunion of Marist high school in Port Elizabeth next year and I came across this blog on South Africa. I think the person who wrote the blog is Bobby Brookes who I used to work for in P.E. in the early 80s. His blog didn't have an email address but there is a link to your blog on his site and you have an email address so I am writing to you. If he is who I think he is, could you forward this email, as I would like to get in touch with him". Well of course I was who he thought I was and he did work for me at Shatterprufe in the early 80s. I had assumed that no one would be able to get to my blog unless they knew the link: bobbyandalison.blogspot.com but now realize that Google is indexing key words (such as place names - Port Elizabeth) in every blog that is posted and that, if you type the right words into a Google search, you will find "private" blogs – mind boggling even to those of us who are "computer professionals". I wrote to Jonathan and we corresponded and then when we told him we were coming to UK, discovered that he lived a few miles from the timeshare at Wychnor and regularly drove through Barton-under-Needwood on his way to the office. Jonathan now runs his own software company, specializing in baggage handling systems (had nothing to do with Heathrow Terminal 5!) and is obviously quite successful. Another nice reunion. We returned to the timeshare and the golf and were routing for Greg Norman to continue on his winning way - which he did on Friday. In the evening, I explained the object of Sudoku to Peter and we did a number of puzzles in the newspaper. According to a subsequent conversation that Dianne had with Angela, Peter has been going through all the old papers he can find around the house, and has spent his days working on Sudoku since they returned home - it is definitely a sickness! We had our final dinner at the cabin with all the leftovers of the week, after which we took our last walk from the Wychnor Church down to the canal (Trent & Mersey) and along the canal to where it merges with the Trent River for 300-400 yards before they split again. On this walk we saw Mr & Mrs Swan with six of the biggest cygnets we have ever seen. It was a fitting end to a lovely week.

Thursday July 10 to Saturday morning July 12 – Coventry

Thursday was a "catching up" day, and for Bob it also included a good workout in the gym at the fitness club Angela belongs to. She walked with us to the club in the afternoon and while Bob did his thing in the gym, Angela read, and I wrote some postcards, downloaded photos to our laptop, and then prepared some for posting on the blog. We had a quiet evening at home with Angela and Ivor, chatting and watching some television.
On Friday we went with Angela on the bus into the city centre of Coventry. The buses run very frequently and it’s a much easier way to go into the city than driving and having to find a parking place. We walked to the old part of the city and had a stop by the famous statue of Lady Godiva riding naked on her horse. We’ve seen this monument many times in the past, but took another photo to put here on this blog. From there we went into the really old Holy Trinity Church, where Angela particularly wanted us to see "The Doom Painting". This has been described as "one of the most important discoveries ever made in the field of medieval art". It is believed the painting was created between the years 1430 and 1440. The Doom was so named because of the saying "Prepare to meet thy doom", and in the center, Christ is depicted raising his hands in judgment. To the left the stairs to Heaven can be seen, and other things pertaining to Heaven, while to the right the mouth of Hell is depicted, along with gruesome images associated with descent into Hell. The Doom became blackened over the years and was first restored during the 1830s, but it blackened and deteriorated again and in the 1980s it was feared the majority of it was lost. However, experts agreed on a plan of action in 1995, and renovation began, which was ongoing until 2004 when the finally finished work was publicly unveiled. Any history lovers reading this (Larry Slater, I’m thinking of you in particular!) can learn more about Holy Trinity at: http://www.holytrinitycoventry.org.uk
During the blitz of Coventry in World War II, Holy Trinity was saved from destruction, but the 13th century cathedral was lost, save for its spire and outer walls. The ruins remain beside the "new" cathedral, and have been preserved as a place where one can only reflect on the horrors of war, but where the theme of forgiveness and reconciliation prevails in the plaque at the altar in the ruined sanctuary, and the reconciliation statue built near the center of the ruins.
After lunch in the city we rode the bus back to Angela & Ivor’s home, by which time it was raining (again!). Angela then drove Bob over to her club so he could once more use the gym, and I did a bit more blog preparation work. Ivor cooked us a nice evening meal, and we had a fairly early night as we all had to be up early on Saturday: Bob and I to pack up and continue our travels, and A&I to go to a wedding near Leicester.

Saturday July 5 to Wednesday July 9

OUR APOLGIES TO THOSE OF YOU WHO'VE BEEN WAITING FOR ANOTHER POSTING FROM US. WE'VE HAD PROBLEMS WITH CONNECTIVITY AT THE OLD STATELY HOME TIMESHARE RESORT WE'RE CURRENTLY AT, AND HAVE HAD TO WAIT TO POST AT A PUB IN LICHFIELD WHERE THEY HAVE WI-FI!

Saturday July 5th: Dover to Maidstone.

On Saturday we left Dover and traveled a short distance to Maidstone. Here we visited Roger & Penny Pocock whom we met in South Africa and have known for over 40 years. About three weeks after we had arrived in SA in June of 1968, having travelled out by cruise ship (funded by the SA government), Alison was at the Automobile Association for some reason long forgotten and Penny came up to her and said “Excuse me, but weren’t you on the SA Vaal?”. Of course we were, and from there they discovered that they were living in the same part of town as us (the inexpensive end!). The two ladies planned that we should all meet and thus began an association that has lasted for 40 years. Roger is an electrician by trade but also a house builder and entrepreneur. He basically wired my whole house that I “owner built” in South Africa from 1973-5 (see South African blog). Roger & Penny returned from SA to the UK in the mid/late 70s and Roger took over his father’s electrical company. They have lived in the same lovely big old house on a large lot/plot for 25+ years, with Roger adding on, knocking down walls, putting them back, knocking them down again (all at Penny’s instruction!). However, a developer wants to buy the house, knock it down and build nine detached houses on the lot and has already drawn up plans and made Roger an offer. Negotiations continue. Roger is himself now retired but, not surprisingly, he has a couple of projects that are keeping him occupied. We walked to one of these projects, which is a major renovation of a terraced house in central Maidstone (walking distance from the town center). I was shocked to hear the price that Roger paid for this house in the original condition that he bought it – I would say “derelict”, and have to say that the price of property in the UK for what you get seems ridiculous when compared with the USA. Roger’s modernization of the terraced house is impressive as always and will make someone happy when it is eventually finished (especially Penny!).
On our walk back, we stopped for a pint at one of their local pubs and then returned home and a nice braai and caught up on our respective lives since they had last visited us in Myrtle Beach. There is never enough time.

Sunday 07/06 - Maidstone to West Wickham

We left Maidstone and R&P after a hearty breakfast and fond farewells and headed for West Wickham, south of London, the home of Jerry (Jay) and Lyn Hodgins. Jerry was in South Africa in the early 1970s and I met him through squash and we played every weekend. Jerry was in SA looking for oil on the land (or underground!). Oil was never found in SA except off the coast, and Jerry subsequently returned to UK and went on to many exotic places looking for oil. However, while in SA, he had met Lyn, a Port Elizabeth lady, and Jerry returned often for visits. They were ultimately married and our friendship has continued through the years. Jerry joined me on my Appalachian Trail hike in 2006 (we have also planned to walk for two days on the River Thames later in the holiday). We had already “primed” J&L that we would be expecting to join them for the Wimbledon final and other major sporting events of the day (Formula 1 UK Grand Prix at Silverstone). Unfortunately, when we arrived, Lyn, who is ladies captain of the local golf club, had duties as a caddie for a club ladies team that was playing that afternoon, but Jerry, Alison and I settled down in front of the TV and began what became a terrific afternoon/evening of sport. The Formula 1 started at 1:00 PM in the rain, which made it extremely exciting and the race was ultimately won by Hamilton who drove impeccably. The major event of the day started at 2:00 PM – Federer v Nadal in the Wimbledon final, but of course, at that time, we didn’t know how exciting it was going be. During change of ends and later during rain stoppages, Jerry was flicking either to golf or to cricket (West Indies v Australia) which was also an exciting match. Jerry had booked a local restaurant for 8:00 PM, but at 7:30, with Federer v Natal at 2 sets all and about to start the final set, he called and delayed it until 8:30. Lynn arrived home and then, sometime after 8:00, there was yet another rain delay of the tennis, which looked pretty major and that seemed like end of play for the day. We decided to head for the restaurant but not before Jerry had got out his instruction book and set the DVR to record for the next couple of hours “just in case”. We had a very nice meal and returned home and started skipping through the recording, fully expecting to see an announcement about play being resumed on Monday, when all of sudden, we could see play had resumed. We then watched the conclusion of that fantastic match and were so pleased that we had recorded it and also that we hadn’t found out the result before we watched it! It had been a great day.

We must add a few words about the birds coming throughout the day to the feeders in Jerry & Lyn’s back garden. Besides the usual variety, there were parakeets—an amazing sight, we thought, in England’s climate; but it appears there are many, many of them in the area south of London, and in fact they’ve become somewhat of a nuisance. Some caged ones must have escaped a few years back, and they’ve managed to survive and reproduce. So the English weather can’t be as bad as we think!

Monday 07/07 - West Wickham to Launton

We were “on the road again” following a lovely breakfast provided by Lyn and Jerry and bidding our farewells to them and West Wickham. Today we drove to the M25 orbital road around London and traveled west and north on that motorway past Heathrow airport to the M40 towards Oxford. Before Oxford we left the M40 and drove to our next “stopover” at the home of Bob’s sister Rosemarie and husband Ian in the village of Launton, near the old market town of Bicester. Nobody was home when we arrived—R&I were still driving home from a weekend with Rosemarie’s daughter and family (our niece Vera, her husband Garry, and our great-nieces Hollie and Leah)—so we drove into Bicester and shopped for some maps we wanted, and when we got back to R&I’s they were just arriving home. We spent a lovely late afternoon and evening “catching up” with them and telling them all we’d been up to since we left Myrtle Beach back on June 13th, but we were all tired, and didn’t stay up late, knowing we’d be back to spend a whole week with R&I later in the month.

Tuesday 07/08 - Launton to Minchinhampton

We repacked a bit and left some things with R&I that we won’t need again until we return home. Then we were off again after breakfast. We were heading westwards to the home of our niece Catherine (daughter of Alison’s sister Dianne and husband Peter) and her family (husband Ben, and our great niece Lois and great nephew Harry), but instead of taking the most direct route, we used country lanes and stopped at various points along the River Thames Path, looking for suitable meeting points, etc. when Bob and Jerry Hodgins walk the Thames Path for a day (and maybe two) later this month when we are staying with Rosemarie and Ian. We found some places, that looked possible on the map, to be very remote, or just on overgrown bridle paths; then another place we’d originally thought not so good, had a great riverside pub there, with a car park; so it was good we did this exercise! We then drove on through some ancient towns/villages until we reached Minchinhampton, near Stroud in Gloucestershire, where Catherine and family live. This little place is perhaps older than all the others we saw, dating back to the time of William the Conquerer! We couldn’t believe that two-way streets were narrower than most one-way streets in other English towns, and the houses open right onto the street in the central part. It was quite an accomplishment for Bob to negotiate these streets in our mid-size rented car! Fortunately Catherine & Ben live on the edge of town, facing Minchinhampton Common, and have a driveway up to their house. However, this too poses problems because cows roam on the Common, and the homes have cattle grids at the driveway entrances, or electrified gates, to stop the cows coming into their gardens! We joked that this is the only place in England where it’s just like rural South Africa! Ben has made huge alterations/renovations/additions to their home over the 6 years they’ve lived there, and we were amazed at what’s been made of an original box shaped bungalow. Well done, Ben (and well done, Cath, for tolerating all the noise, mess, etc. that comes with home alterations!) It was lovely getting to know little Lois and Harry now that they are older (8 and almost 6), and Great Aunt Alison really enjoyed having Lois show her at bedtime her precious photo albums of when she was a baby and toddler. We’re very happy we made this visit in this lovely part of old England, and many thanks Cath and Ben for your kind hospitality.

Wednesday July 9 : Minchinhampton to Coventry

It started raining during the night and was very wet when we loaded our bags into the trunk of the car to continue our travels. Ben had already left for work, but we had to get a photo of Cath and the children before she took them to school, so they had to stand in the front doorway for the picture so as not to get soaked. We said our “Goodbyes” and were on the road right after Cath left with Lois and Harry. Through the rain we took a photo of Minchinhampton Common from the car window, and then we drove on towards Coventry, our next destination, to spend 3 nights with Alison’s sister Angela and husband Ivor. Had the weather been good, we’d have made a couple of stops to visit well-known little towns en route, but the rain continued, and we arrived in Coventry well before our estimated time. Fortunately Angela had guessed we might be early, and already had lunch prepared for us, which was very welcome after the miserable drive. We then went with Angela to the fireplace showroom that her son, our nephew, Bernard manages. He showed us around and answered our questions about the various types of fireplace on display. They still have a weekday “early closing day” in many cities and towns in England, and today was early closing for Bernard. The plan had been to go out into the countryside with him for a walk and then dinner at a nice country pub, but instead, due to the rain, we just went back to A&I’s home for the afternoon and went to their local pub “The Open Arms” for dinner. Despite the rain (3 inches today—as much as the average for the whole of July!), we had a good time, and it was a very convivial evening.

Thursday 07/03 Friday 07/04

Thursday 07/03 – Friday 07/04
Today was the day of the special dinner for "Old Boys" of the Duke of York’s Royal Military School (DYRMS) who attended the school between 1950 and 1960. The DYRMS was founded in 1801 as a school for the orphans of servicemen who were killed in wars. At that time it was for both boys and girls. Later the school was designated as exclusively for the sons of soldiers.

http://www.achart.ca/york/index.html

http://www.dyrms.net/sonsofthebrave.php

The school is boarding only and has accommodation for more than 480 pupils. It is a government funded school and, at the time I attended, there were no fees paid by parents. I was able to attend the school because my father served in the British Army for 22 years+ (and because I passed the entrance exam and interview!). There is no doubt in my mind that by attending the school I received an education and opportunity that my parents could never have afforded, and a foundation that has helped throughout my subsequent years in life and business. I know that the majority of those of us who attended the school have great pride in the fact that we did so, and have an affiliation for the school that lasts a lifetime. The dinner coincided with the school’s annual "Grand Day" and the "Trooping the Colour" parade, which takes place at the end of the school year. It was during an Old Boys reunion at the time of the 1964 Grand Day that I met Alison for the first time since I had left in 1960 (remember, she was a housemaster’s daughter). We all know the consequences of that event! In the mid 1990s, the school opened its doors again to the female species (rightly so), although no doubt it created its own challenges in having both sexes in a boarding school! Anyway, the dinner was a great event and we were fortunate that my house (Wolfe) was well represented and that I remembered the majority of the attendees. Alison was greeted by many boys who recognized her (particularly from "Clive" house where her dad was the housemaster) and she knew as many of the Old Boys as I did. The accompanying photographs to these paragraphs will not mean much to the viewers, but they certainly mean a lot to Alison & me. We had a great reunion dinner in a marquee at the Ramada and after dinner, and a rousing rendition by all of the school song "Play Up Dukies", we all headed to the bar for more stories of "old times" and it was 1:30 AM before we retired to bed. Thanks to Peter Godwin for all his hard work in making this great reunion come together.

On Friday after breakfast we drove to St. Margaret’s Bay, which is close to the School and was a favorite haunt of Alison and her parents when she was a child. It is a small bay which huge white cliffs at each end and a pebble beach. Noel Coward, the playwright and actor from the 1930s had a house here (that still stands below the cliffs) and it is also quite often the landing place of cross channel swimmers from France. There used to be gun emplacements in the cliffs that we were able to walk to, but the entrances to these have long been walled up. On our way back to the Ramada, we stopped by "The Chance Inn", in Guston, which was Pauline Ford’s (nee Ridden?) childhood home (as well as the shop next door) – see Victoria post of the Alaskan cruise. This reminds me that when I told various Clive Old Boys we had seen Mark Ford just a few days before, they all said "you mean Drof", with great amusement (I had forgotten that was his nickname). (Don’t forget to comment on this Mark (Drof!).
The "Old Boys" were asked to be at the school and in position for the Trooping the Colour by 2:00 PM and of course, being products of a military school, we were all there, spick and span and on time! The reviewing officer arrived in his helicopter – Commander-in-Chief Air Command, Air Chief Marshal Sir Clive Loader, KCB OBE ADC FRAeS RAF (impressive you’ll agree), and the ceremony began. I took video of a good portion of the parade and it was as impressive as always. We learnt that the pupils do not drill as often as "in our day", when half of the staff members were serving officers and the school was headed by a "Commandant" who had a rank of Colonel or higher. Now there are no serving military people in the school at all, they are all civilians, although the RSM, Bandmaster and a few others are retired military. The school is now run by a civilian Headmaster. In the early days more than 80% of the school leavers went into the military, but now it is a much, much lower percentage. What this may mean for the future is anyone’s guess, but was certainly a topic of discussion amongst the Old Boys, both military and non-military. We want the tradition to continue. After the parade was over, we walked over to Clive and Wolfe houses – they are next to each other (each of the eight houses are named after famous British military people) and we happened to arrive when this year’s recipient of the "Sword of Honour" was having her picture taken outside of her house (Wolfe of course) and we also learnt that next year she will be "Chief School Prefect" – an honour indeed. At this time, the boys and girls were packing up and leaving for their summer holidays and there were many cars and parents outside all the houses cramming suitcases and assorted bags into cars which already seemed too full to actually transport any people. Of course "in our day" we were bussed down to Dover station on Monday morning and sent on various trains with strict instructions as to where to get off and meet our parents. Trains to London had teachers aboard to help the boys get on the correct subsequent train for the ongoing journey. To be fair, if parents had a car in the 1950s, it was unlikely that it would be reliable enough for a long journey and of course there were no motorways. After the parade, we drove to "The Swingate", the nearest pub to the school and very popular with the staff (and far too risky for any school boys to go to, but popular with old boys). We met up with Monty Siddons and his wife Helen, had afternoon tea (scones, strawberries & clotted cream, and hot tea) and after saying our farewells, we made our way back to the Ramada, where, by good fortune, they had a curry buffet as their evening specialty. We did make a quick diversion to Lydden on our way back to the Ramada, so that Alison could take a photograph of her parents' home that they moved to in 1959 when Freddy Page ended his housemastership of Clive (a ten year time limit on serving as housemaster, though Freddy was granted a one year extension). He continued to teach at the school until his death in 1972. After the curry dinner, we met Bill Spreadbury and his wife Monica in the bar and reminisced a little more before retiring at a reasonable hour. It had been a wonderful couple of days and we both agreed it had completely met our expectations.

Tuesday 07/01 - Wednesday 07/02

Tuesday 07/01 Falls Church: "Gotcha Day" anniversary and UK here we come.

Indigo’s nanny was not available on Tuesday, so Granny & Granddad volunteered for duty. This meant that one of us had to watch her all the time except for when she had her nap in the afternoon. Today was also the one year anniversary of "Gotcha Day", the day when Indigo was first handed over to M&D in China, consequently, M&D wanted us to join them in a celebration dinner at the Peking Gourmet Inn Chinese restaurant in Falls Church (George Bush’s favorite Chinese restaurant – they even installed a bullet proof window for him) (Web URL). Of course this is the same evening that we were flying to England so we were a bit nervous about fitting it in. Granddad took Indigo to the beach at the lake in the morning and we made sandcastles and Indigo paddled in the lake – great fun. Alison started to pack. Indigo had her lunch and went down for a nap and we carried on packing. When Indigo woke from her nap, Alison dressed her in her smart outfit for the restaurant and I packed the car and we left to meet M&D at the Peking. It was quite early evening (5:30) so they were not too busy and the waiters were all taken with Indigo, especially when they saw her eating with chopsticks! We had a very nice meal including "Peking Duck", for which the restaurant is renowned. In the morning, M&D had taken our car to work and left us their car with the car seat in it for Indigo so when we left the restaurant we took M&D’s car already loaded with our luggage in the back and drove straight to Dulles airport. Even M&D were surprised at how easy it was for us to get on the DC beltway and out to Dulles in no time at all. They dropped us off and we were in plenty of time. When M&D got home (after stopping off at other friends on the way), they had parked at their house when they remembered that our car was still parked at the "Peking" and had to go and fetch it! Meanwhile, a little bit late at 10:30 PM, we took off from Dulles to Heathrow.

Wednesday 07/02 – UK arrival and on to Dover
We arrived at Heathrow six hours later at 9:30 AM with a 5 hour time change and a short sleep. After purchasing a mobile phone at Heathrow, we picked up our rental car and started our journey to Dover. It was raining! We stopped off in Canterbury to find a bank and get some pounds and have lunch and then on to the Ramada Inn at Whitfield just outside Dover where we "crashed" for a couple of hours in the afternoon! In the evening we had a sandwich in the hotel bar and met up with some Dukie old boys who had arrived early for the Thursday dinner. More on "Dukies" in tomorrow’s blog.

Friday 06/27 - Monday 06/30: Ketchikan, Victoria and back to Falls Church

Friday 06/27 Ketchikan

We had not booked any excursions at Ketchikan because of our anticipated adventure in Skagway so we just ended up walking around the town. It was a cold, miserable looking day and later it absolutely poured and we got soaked. We were glad to get back on the boat! That evening, at sea again, we ate at “The Bistro” with Bernard & Arline and the food was exquisite, easily worth the additional $15 per head cover charge. After dinner the 4 of us went to the ship’s theater and saw the dancing girls put on a show. Following the dancing girls Alison and I went up to the Spinnaker Lounge, this time to watch/participate in a “liar” quiz show put on by the cruise director, the comedian, and a couple of jugglers from the entertainment crew.

Saturday 06/28 – Victoria, BC

Finally, we woke up to a blue sky and sunny day! We were at sea all day on Saturday (having left Ketchikan at 1:30 PM the previous day) and we sailed into Victoria harbor at 6:00 PM where we were met by Mark Ford and his wife Pauline who live in Victoria. Mark and I started at the same school in 1952 when he was 11 and I was almost 11 (he was a year ahead of me). Alison knew Mark even better than I did as he was in Clive House, where her father was the housemaster. They took us on a drive around Victoria, visiting the viewing points of which there are many. We also went to the village where they live, Oak Bay, and went to one of their local pubs, The Penny Farthing. We then went to the Empress Hotel, a grand structure built in the colonial style of the early 1900s with ornate ceilings, etc., where we visited the Bombay Room and had a wonderful curry buffet dinner. After a quick dash to the entrance gate of China Town, M&P got us back to the boat before 11.30 PM and we said our farewells and re-boarded the ship. It was a lovely reunion with old friends.

Sunday 06/29 – Seattle to Washington, DC.

Six of our party of eight were sharing a shuttle to the airport so we all had breakfast together (for the first time!), and made sure we left the ship together so that we would pass through immigration & customs and be together to catch the shuttle. All went according to plan and by 11:00 AM we had our bags checked in and waiting for our 1:40 flight to Philadelphia. At about 1:10 they announced a flight delay due to bad weather in the mid section of the country and we eventually left Seattle an hour late. As we originally had an hour in Philly between arriving and flying on to National Airport, Washington, DC, this did not bode well for us catching our flight. Fortunately, the pilot made up some time, and our flight from Philly to DC was delayed by 20 minutes, so we made our flight and arrived back in Falls Church by taxi around 1:00 AM on Monday. This is not the whole story of what happened between the two flights, but it's too long a story to publish on the web!

Monday 06/30 – Falls Church

Monday was supposed to be a quiet relaxing day, but due to circumstances, it turned out to be quite hectic. M&D’s sink disposal had stopped working and Bob volunteered to replace it, which meant a trip to Sears. One of the wheels on Alison’s suitcase had been broken and her suitcase needed to be replaced. After numerous phone calls to Philadelphia airport lost & found, the Philadelphia airport TSA and the South Carolina DMV, we also had to go to the Post Office and send forms by express mail to the SC DMV to get Bob’s lost driving license replaced! (See last paragraph for Sunday!). There was also plenty of laundry to get done before our flight to UK on Tuesday. It turned out to be a very busy day. The good news was that Bob finally got the sink waste disposal replaced after another trip to a store to purchase a small tub of plumber’s putty!