London

Photo albums here

Danny and I just returned from spending 4 nights in London.  My favourite city.  We were able to find a good train fare with our Senior Railcards so travelled first class.  We booked Virgin Trains and were offered complimentary food and drink on a frequent basis.

On Thursday night we attended a sold-out appearance by Zen Buddhism Master, Thich Nhat Hanh, at Southbank Centre.  It was a long evening but we both enjoyed listening to this very wise man.  I especially enjoyed the chanting which took place later in the evening.  TNH who is known as Thay (teacher) is a lovely, vibrant man and it's difficult to believe he is 86.  About Thich Nhat Hanh   Although he is soft-spoken he has a magnificent energy and presence which filled the auditorium.  I've been tossing around the idea of attending a retreat at Thay's community in France and feel I'm long overdue and am planning on booking one for next spring or summer.  Plum Village

Friday morning we went on a walk not far from our hotel to the Smithfield area to find the plaque which commemorates the execution of Sir William Wallace (Braveheart), Scotland's national hero.  Smithfield Meat Market was built in the 1850's and has beautiful ironwork.

Smithfield Market

Smithfield Market

Later we visited Danny's old school - Ayland's in Enfield.  We stayed all afternoon and into the evening and very much enjoyed our visit with dear friends.

Lovely daughter of our friends Roni and Bill - Lucy and her hyperactive puppy, Bingo:

Saturday we wandered around different areas of London taking photos and in the afternoon I attended a group meditation and talk held by Thich Nhat Hanh in Trafalgar Square.  Even though it was very cold and cloudy I truly enjoyed being there.

Sunday we returned to Southbank Centre for Bach St Matthew Passion concert which took about 3 hours in total.   The performances were spectacular and emotional.  We had a two hour lunch break and many of those attending brought picnic lunches.  This concert is one which Danny attended almost every Palm Sunday while he lived in London.

Typical tourist photos.....

Our hotel

We stayed in a new hotel - Tune - which is a 5 or 10 minute walk from Liverpool Street Station which is located in The City.  I found good reviews from previous customers and with such a good price and location we decided to chance it.

Tune Hotel - London Liverpool Street

• Double room
• Comfortable bed although the mattress was a bit too firm for me
• Good shower
• Clean
• Very small but we spent little time in the room
• No closets, cupboards or dresser, however there was sufficient room for clothing and bits and bobs and there was a rod with 5 or 6 hangers for clothing.  The bathroom had a long shelf with plenty of room for toiletries.
• Our room was in the basement with no windows which is a much cheaper rate.

Price:  the price fluctuates with the time of year and March is off-peak.  We paid 43 GBP per night but also paid 7 GBP per night for a package which included towels and toiletries, wifi, satellite tv and a hairdryer.  There are no tea/coffee making facilities in the room.

So for a total of just over 200 GBP we spent 4 nights in an ideal location in the centre of London.  The neighbourhood was quite nice with refurbished flats on the narrow, cobbled road our hotel was on.  This was an off-peak rate and summer rates will be much higher, but still lower than other hotels.

Trip to Uganda

Our Ugandan daughter, Doreen, will finish university this May/June.  We are very proud of her.  Her graduation ceremony will be held 16 Jan 2013.  We are keeping an eye on the price of Emirates tickets in the hope they decrease a bit.  Our plans are to spend 3+ weeks in Uganda visiting friends, taking Doreen to the national parks, etc.  

Our dear friend Mushabe has offered to drive us around or let us use his car.  

We are very much looking forward to seeing everyone again and visiting our second home!  

Our girl in London 2010

A trip to Morocco

For my 60th birthday Danny and I and friends took a 10 day trip to Morocco.  We enjoyed ourselves immensely and are already thinking about a return trip.  I have written a blog detailing the trip

Morocco travelogue

Photo albums of Morocco

A lovely visit.....

We spent two days this week visiting our dear friends Linda & Ron who live about 2.5 hours away in beautiful Perthshire.  Great company, great food, great drinks!  On the way home I got a few photos at Killiecrankie.

On a visit to the used bookshop at the Pitlochry train station:

I've applied for and received my bus pass which entitles me to ride free on all buses in Scotland. Anyone 60 and over is entitled to one.  Due to our location I am also entitled to a ferry pass which I can use on our local ferries, one of which is free and the other will charge 60 pence with the pass.  

On Friday we are heading to the airport hotel and will catch our flight to Morocco on Saturday morning.  This is our first trip there so it should prove interesting.

London trip!

Yesterday we discovered that a concert Danny wants to see and a monk I want to see are in London at the same time.   Can't be a coincidence, so we've booked a trip! Hotel, tickets, train are all booked.

I'm very happy to be taking the train instead of flying, especially in first class!

On the 29th of March Thich Nhat Hahn will be speaking at Southbank Centre.  The talk is titled True Peace and Happiness in the Here and Now.

The 31st of March will feature TNH leading a Sitting Meditation in Trafalgar Square.  Better remember a cushion to sit on!

More on this incredible Zen monk, Thich Nhat Hanh

At Southbank Centre on the 1st of April we'll attend St Matthew Passion by the Bach Choir.

Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre

Sunrise

Popped out on the front porch the other morning to capture the sunrise and the crow that sits in our tree every morning.  I'm ready to start a photo project but don't have any plans to try the photo a day project again.

Flowers in January

A few daffodils bloomed a couple of weeks ago which is early.  Snowdrops and Crocuses are on time.

New Year

We've settled back into our routine.  I'm ready to start taking photos again.  We had mild temps for a while so a couple of our daffodils bloomed.  Got cold again though (just above freezing at night) so the daffodils look very sad now.

Anxious to go to Morocco next month for many reasons - birthday celebration, experience a country we've never visited, enjoy being with friends, and new photo ops!

This morning was foggy and I spotted a Royal Navy ship going past so grabbed the camera which is always ready.

This one was me playing around during our 4+ hour layover in Amsterdam after a long flight from Detroit.  Nothing to do but eat, read, browse the duty free shops, and about an hour and a half of free internet.  So I took some pics.

Back home from the US

Danny and I spent 3 weeks in Michigan for the holidays.  Weather was milder than normal and very little snow.  Except for an epidemic in my family of a stomach virus, the visit was wonderful.

We flew Delta/KLM this time.  We were unimpressed with the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit due to a bad tempered flight attendant and others who seemed to be in bad moods.  On the way home the flight was much better as the flight attendants were friendly, and we had booked an exit row so had lots of legroom.  I loved having my new Kindle and actually read the entire 7 hour flight without getting tired or strained eyes.  The screen is easy on the eyes.

Our opinion of Delta overall is that they suck!  They keep changing our flight times for our May trip.  They changed our outgoing flight a few weeks ago whereas we'd arrive in Amsterdam several hours after our connecting flight had left.  A note in red at the bottom of the email telling us this was:  you may miss your connecting flight.  Duh?!  Ya think so?!  They changed it back after a long time on the phone.  Yesterday they tried to make changes in our return flight.  They want us to hang around Amsterdam airport for about 10 hours before our connecting flight.  Might be okay if we wanted to be tourists in Amsterdam for the day, but after flying all night we'll be too tired.  So, after a long time on the phone it's back to the original flights.  Why do I get the feeling this isn't the last change?!  Idiots!

Which culture?

It's been brought to my attention that I refer to myself in terms of British or more specifically, Scottish people.  I often refer to Americans as 'you' not 'us/we' and the British as 'us/we' not 'them'.

Due to my residing in the UK for nearly 12 years I feel well-adapted to the culture of this nation, and the country from which I originate seems almost foreign to me.  This is not a judgement on one culture being superior to the other.  Where I currently live feels like 'home' and I feel like a visitor in the US.  This has nothing to do with patriotism as I am American, but I'm also a citizen of the UK and this is where I've made my permanent home. Yes, I was born and raised in the US and lived there for 48 years, but I haven't lived there in what seems like a very long time.  I drove there for 30 years before moving abroad but I'm used to driving in the UK and driving on the left side in a right hand drive car feels natural to me, not the other way around.  I am so accustomed to different spellings that I often find that a spelling such as 'color' looks incorrect to me.

I regret not doing a  blog or journal when I first arrived here.  A summary at the end of each year would be interesting to look back on.

It amazes me that a few expats (and others) think they are being traitors or betraying their American identity by using non-American terms or identifying with a culture other than the American one.  Some expats enjoy the attention they get by using American terms even when they are confusing.  Seems to me this is done by only relatively new expats as this just gets tiresome after living in a new country for a few years.  It's been implied, and sometimes outright accusatory, that I must be a traitor or unpatriotic by becoming totally acclimated to the culture in which I live.  This is my home for the rest of my life so my question is - why wouldn't I?  Is there some point that needs to be proven by clinging to a culture that is no longer part of my everyday life?

As for adapting to the language my question is if you move to France are you going to learn to speak French, or are you going to make your life very difficult, if not impossible, by clinging to your own language and culture?  How is this different from moving to an English-speaking country?

My blog on vocabulary changes I have made

Comments and questions are welcome.