Day 109 - Fulham FC - "GO You Whites"

Saturday afternoons in the Autumn, Winter and Spring. What does that mean? Well English Football of course! And as we were heading into London for the weekend with Alex for some sightseeing, I thought it would be nice if he and I could re-live some of those Saturday afternoons we spent when we lived in Farnham back in 2003. The story goes something like this...Alex returned home from school the first week and advised me that he had to have his own football team to support as all of the boys did at his school. I asked him what teams they supported and he mentioned Chelsea and Manchester United and Liverpool and Arsenal.

"Which team do you want to support?" I asked. 

His response: "Most kids like Chelsea or Man U, and I do not know where Liverpool is, but I like the name of Arsenal."

"Why's that?" I responded. 

"Because they are called the Gunners and they have a cool logo," he replied.

As good a reason as any.

So, at the time, I went online to see if I could get tickets to see Arsenal and found that, like the Toronto Maple Leafs, tickets were near impossible to get and if you were available, they would cost an arm and a leg. 

A wet start

I thought about what team I could support and quickly searched for a team in London and in the Premiership that had any Canadian internationals playing on them.  I found one team, Fulham FC, that had Tomasz Radzinski on it. He was a forward who played for Canada (he was from Toronto) and quite a good player.

Fulham plays out of Craven Cottage (named after a cottage that sat where the centre circle of the field is now), a stadium in west London that sits on the north bank of the Thames River. The grounds at that time held about 20,000 fans and the team was offering ticket packages or partial season tickets that allowed you to select the games you wanted with a limit of 3 games with the top 5 teams in the league, one of which was Arsenal.  For the same price of getting two tickets to a home Arsenal game I was able to get this Fulham home package for myself and Alex (who as an under 14 was only 5 pounds per game) which included a game with Arsenal as visitors. And so began my affiliation and love for Fulham FC.

Craven Cottage, the home of Fulham FC

The team was founded in 1879 as the Fulham St Andrew's Church Sunday School F.C and has been playing at Craven Cottage since 1896 havig been involved in professional football since 1898. Shortly after, they adopted white and black as their colours with a hint of red coming on later (see team logo) above. When the crowd cheers on the team, they yell either "Come on Fulham" or "Go you whites" as the home uniform is always white. 

Some interesting pieces of trivia about the team include being the first football club in England to sell hot dogs at their games (1926) and in 1951 the team was one of the first clubs to play an exhibition game in North America, in Montreal no less, against Glasgow Celtic before 29,000 fans. One of Fulham's players was Graham Leggat, who came to Canada to become the coach of the Toronto Metros that were re-named Toronto Blizzard (in the now defunct North American Soccer League) and became one of our most respected TV sports broadcasters.

View from our seats after a Fulham goal

We fast forward 15 years from when I was first introduced to Fulham FC, and the team has since been relegated to the Championship League, which is one below the Premiership (Arsenal and Man U and Chelsea and Liverpool are still in that league). 

But today we are going to watch Fulham play against Burton Albion, a team from the town of Burton-Upon-Trent in the Midlands. Burton is also in last place, so hopes are high for a Fulham home win.

We are staying in the Swiss Cottage area of  northwest London and so a tube ride to Putney Bridge and a walk along the river to Craven Cottage was in order. Just like times before, Alex and I had burgers and soft drinks for lunch, but now we also had beers when we got into the place.  As Alex said, "What is football without beer?" The day was misty and damp, but the grounds were packed. In the end, Fulham won 6-0. As they say here: "a satisfying result!"


Ale of the Day: ESB, Fuller's Brewery, Chiswick, West London.

Day 108 - Tolkien: A love story

I discovered something new about J.R.R. Tolkien today: he was deeply in love with his wife, Edith. Their love is evident right to the end. The couple share a grave and a tombstone in Wolvercote Cemetery which sits on the outskirts of Oxford. On the grave are their names -- Edith Mary Tolkien and John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. Edith passed away in 1971 and Tolkien two years later. The years of their lives are listed below their names. But if you visit their relatively simple grave, as we did today, you will notice two further names listed below their full names: Luthien and Baren.

Tolkien met Edith in Birmingham when he was 16 and she 19. They shared a mischievous nature, and are reputed to have frequented tea shops from which they would throw lumps of sugar at people walking past. They were soon in love. The problem: By the time he was 18, Tolkien's school work was suffering, and his guardian (his parents were both deceased) blamed Roman Catholic Tolkien's relationship with the Protestant older woman.

Tolkien's guardian threatened to stop him from going to university if he refused to stop seeing Edith until he was 21. Tolkien agreed, and did not see Edith for almost three years. However, on the eve of his 21st birthday, he wrote to her saying he still loved her. Thinking Tolkien no longer cared for her, Edith had agreed to an engagement, but upon hearing that Tolkien still loved her, she broke it off. One week later, they were engaged.

Tolkien finished university then when to France to fight in the First World War. From the lice that were rife in the trenches, he caught trench fever, and eventually was sent back to England due to his recurring illness. While stationed at Kingston upon Hull, he went for a walk in the nearby woods with Edith. She began to dance for him among some flowering hemlock, and it was this dance that would later inspire his love story between the mortal man Beren met the immortal Elf-maiden Luthien.

Tolkien tells the tale in several works. In the story, Beren dies and as a mortal leaves the world. Luthien dies in grief, and as an elf goes to the halls of Mandos. Here she sings of her lost love and the fact that she will never see Beren again. Her song moves Mandos to pity her and he agrees to restore them both to life, but tells Luthien that she too will now be mortal.

After her death, Tolkien said of Edith: "In those days [when she had danced in the hemlock], her hair was raven, her skin clear, her eyes brighter than you have seen them, and she could sing—and dance. But the story has gone crooked, and I am left, and I cannot plead before the inexorable Mandos."

You can't help but hope that J.R.R. and Edith have once again found each other.

Day 107 - Right on target

Ange here. My great-grandmother's surname (paternal line) was Bowman. She was Scottish, although I've traced the line back to the Scottish side of the English/Scottish borders area, so the family could have been on both sides at one time or another. As you could probably guess, the name comes from the word for an archer, although the term was also used for someone who untangled wool using the vibrating string of a bow. Given my ancestral research, the latter is probably more likely in my case!

Alex sets his sites on the prize...a chance to beat his Dad.
He won.

However, one can dream, and with the chance to discover that I have a genetic predisposition to be naturally good at some form of sport, I signed Alex, Phil and I up for a 2-hour archery lesson at Cotswold Archery. It is located at Batsford Arboretum within walking distance of our flat in Moreton in Marsh.

Ange takes aim ... but was although she found the bullseye a
few times, she was unable to find her inner archer.

After a night of near gale force winds, we awoke to brilliant sunny skies, and made the 45-minute walk to the site of our archery lesson. We were met at the gate by our instructor and host for the day, the very agreeable and knowledgeable Neil Holt. Neil made us all feel quite relaxed about trying out this sport, and the two hours went by quickly.

Neil does a steady business, but as it was January and most tourists are waiting for warmer weather, we lucked into having a private family lesson. He had set up three targets for us and was ready with starter bows and arrows. A quick safety talk, and we were soon having fun attempting to hit targets and come up with unique excuses as to why we weren't hitting more bulls-eyes (e.g., the wind kicked up, the smoke from a nearby fire was in my eyes, the arrow was crooked, the target isn't in the right spot...you get the idea).

Look at that form. Robin Hood, eat your heart out!

For the second hour, we had the chance to try five other types of bows including the type of bow used in the movie The Hunger Games and something called a Mongolian Bow. Each one gets a bit more difficult to draw back, and the excuses come faster and are increasingly ridiculous!

We had a fabulous morning out. The rest of the day was more restful...we all knew the sore arm muscles were only going to appear in a matter of time!

Day 106 - Alex and the Nuclear Bunker

Broadway Tower. Photo by Alex Walsh.

A glorious day in the forecast, sunny with temperatures around 4 degrees C although the potential for blustery conditions.  Time for a long distance walk with Alex.  However, with the previous rains we had to choose wisely as most walks would be muddy and a bit of a slog.  So we thought of the Chipping Camden to Broadway hike that takes a route that is relatively elevated with stony paths. We were joined on the bus from Moreton by half a dozen elderly women who were chatting away about their day to come which sounded like it would involve a long lunch, some drinks and plenty of chit-chat.

Of course the best laid plans.....as soon as we got off the bus in Chipping the sky began to cloud over and the wind picked up.  However, the walk was, for the most part, relatively dry with only two small sections of muddy terrain and eventually the sun did come out and the temperature did get warmer.

We have chatted about this section of the Cotswold Way in a previous blog, but for Alex the interesting section was near the Broadway Tower where we stopped to look into the Nuclear Bunker site. Built in the 1950s as the Cold War progressed, it is one of many bunkers built across the United Kingdom and manned by members of the Royal Observer Corps.

The purpose of this site was to monitor radioactive fallout from global nuclear testing that might have made its way to this country. Given that the Broadway Tower sits along one of the highest points of the Cotswold escarpment, it isn't surprising that they located this facility here. Each bunker was designed to house members of the Corps for three weeks at a depth of 15 feet below the surface. This bunker was eventually closed by the government in 1991, but it remains open to visitors as part of a volunteer operation. They only open the bunker in the summer but the entrance and various ventilation ducts can be seen at the surface.


Today we were even treated to the view of a lone glider, taking advantage of the warmer thermals rising up against the escarpment. Ironically, where we stood was a marker that commemorated the deaths of airmen who crashed in a WWII bomber during a training run. On June 2nd, 1943 they were completing a training mission when they encountered poor weather conditions on their approach to a nearby RAF airbase. Two of the crew were young Canadians, the pilot and the bombardier.

Below us beckoned Broadway and a couple of stores that specialize in outdoor clothing for hikers and hunters and purchasing some was one of Alex's trip goals. He picked out a nice tweed jacket but they did not have it in his size, so with a promise that they will eventually get one in stock (we will be able to bring it back to Canada) we left to catch the bus back. 

Don't let them get on the bus

Upon boarding we realized that the same group of women who joined us in the morning were now also on their way back to Moreton except that now they were all sloshed! The trip back was loud and boisterous with suggestions being made for the next day out. It reminded me of the Monty Python skit (MP fans should know what I am referring to but I will provide a picture to remind everyone).

Ale of the Day: Battledown Amber, Battledown Brewery, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire 

Day 105 - Blenheim Palace: Built with royal funds, saved by US dollars

Blenheim Palace and park. Source: https://www.blenheimpalace.com/

With the current travel theme being military history (as we have Alex visiting), today we opted to take a trip to nearby Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire. It is famous in more-recent history as being the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill, and we were keen to see the current exhibit at the palace of his life.

We took the local train three stops to Hanborough, then enjoyed the 2.5-mile walk to the palace. Along the way, we stopped at the small village of Bladon. It is here, at the small St. Martin's Church, that you find the graves of the Spencer-Churchill family, including Sir Winston Churchill.

Following a visit to the church, we enjoyed a really lovely lunch at the The White House pub, which has been a public house since the 16th Century.

The palace and its vast grounds have UNESCO World Heritage status having met two specific criteria. The first is that the palace and park are examples of the start of the English Romantic movement "which was characterised by the eclecticism of its inspiration, its return to national sources and its love of nature." It's design went on to influence design throughout England and the world. The second UNESCO criteria it met has to do with its historical significance. It was built in the 18th century as a gift to the 1st Duke of Marlborough, John Churchill. The Duke was a hero to the nation for his involvement in the victory over the French in the War of the Spanish Succession. As military commander, he led the Allied forces in the Battle of Blenheim on August 13, 1704. (The war was about who had the right to succeed Charles II as king.

Photo by Alex Walsh.

Queen Anne gave the Duke the Royal Manor of Woodstock, which was in ruin, along with £240,000 to use to build a house on the property (one man's "house" is another man's "palace," I suppose). An interesting note: Blenheim "Palace" is the only non-royal house in England to be called a palace.

One of the beautiful tapestries depicting the battle of Blenheim.
Photo by Alex Walsh.

It is every inch a palace. The rooms are designed to impress on the grandest of scales. Silk covered walls. Gold leaf everywhere. Tapestries that take 2 years to clean at a cost of 250,000 GBP each.

The palace sits amid more than 2,000 acres of land -- a path around the entire perimeter of the park  is 5 miles in length and takes about 90 minutes to 2 hours to walk (not a bad size for a back garden). Famous landscape architect Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown constructed the completely man-made 40-acre Great Lake on the property (it took two years to fill) and planted thousands of trees many designed to look "naturally" planted. He was at Blenheim for 10 years, working for the 4th Duke of Marlborough.

Consuelo with the 9th Duke and their two sons.
This painting is by John Singer Sargent, who
is said to have placed the Duke on a lower
(non-existent) step in the portrait room in
order to hide the difference in his height
(5' 7") from Consuelo's (6' 2"). Also, isn't it
horrible how the second son (the "spare to
the title) is positioned off to the side...even
the dog is closer!

As anyone who has watched Downton Abbey will know, there came a point in British history where death duties were taking their toll on the finances of large estates. The answer: marry a wealthy American heiress. In the case of Blenheim, the 9th Duke of Marlborough was near bankruptcy, but found his pile of gold by marrying into the railroad-rich Vanderbilt family. His bride was 18-year-old Consuelo Vanderbilt, a 6' 2" slim beauty, with a domineering mother who wanted a title for her daughter. When Consuelo refused to marry the Duke, her mother locked her in her room and feign deathly illness until she changed her mind. It is said Consuelo stayed in her room crying right up to the wedding ceremony.

It was a loveless marriage, that would end in divorce. But Consuelo brought US$2.5 million (approximately US$67.7 million in 2015 dollars) in railroad stock to the marriage. Funds from this "dowry" still help fund the palace's upkeep today.

Photo by Alex Walsh

Now, let's get to Winston Churchill and how he is related to Blenheim. Churchill's grandfather was the 7th Duke of Marlborough and his father was the Duke's fourth son, Lord Randolph Churchill (who was a well-regarded politician in his own right, but in the end became infamous for being Sir Winston's father).

The small room at Blenheim at which Sir Winston made his
entrance into the world.

Sir Winston loved that he could claim to have been born at Blenheim Palace (a place he loved dearly), but it was a bit of a fluke. It is said that his mother was visiting the palace when she was 7 months pregnant and went into labour after an evening of dancing at a ball. As a result, he came into the world rather quickly when his mother was led into a room being used to house the coats and boas of the ladies at the ball.

Churchill spend much of his youth at Blenheim until he went off to boarding school, but he returned here for summer holidays. He even chose to propose to the love of his life, Clementine, at Blenheim, and was helped along in this endeavour by his first cousin, the 9th Duke of Marlborough (the one above married to Consuelo).

The Duke and Churchill were close friends throughout their lives, so Churchill was able to come and go as he pleased. As a result, his association with Blenheim continued throughout his life.

The palace has created a small, but wonderful exhibit on Churchill that takes you into rooms you may not otherwise see on your tour of the State Apartments. It's well worth a visit.

It takes a lot of work to keep a
palace of this size "in good nick."

We converted our entry tickets to annual passes (at no extra charge) so we can go back and explore the grounds. But for now, it was time to head back to the rail station before the rain came in. I'll leave you with some further photos of the State Apartments (most were taken by Alex).

The magnificent organ. At one time during the war,
a boys' school was moved here temporarily. The
boys played cricket in the Library wing, in which this
organ sits at one end. One of the boys climbed
into the organ and stole the five smallest pipes.
A couple of years ago, his widow found them
amongst his things and returned them to the palace.

Queen Anne (although she was slimmed up
for this sculpture). Photo by Alex Walsh.

The entrance hall. The lights and chandeliers
were undergoing cleaning. Photo by Alex Walsh

The library wing...Churchill's favourite room.
Photo by Alex Walsh.

Day 104 - Reading about Reading

After our eventful weekend in the Portsmouth area, it was time for us to take Alex back to Moreton-in-Marsh. We didn't plan on doing anything except take the train and relax when we got back. So today I thought I'd write a little about Reading -- not the reading of the 3 Rs, but the city that has been our main junction for our train travels since we arrived in England last September (and pronounced "red - ing"|).

As a major rail station, Reading receives train lines from the northwest (Manchester), the north (Edinburgh and Newcastle), our line which has its origins at Hereford, Wales (Cardiff), and the west country (Bristol). It's the ninth busiest railway station in the UK and the second busiest interchange outside of London.

Reportedly, Reading began as an Anglo-Saxon settlement in the 8th century and is named after "Readingas," which means "Reada's people" in Old English.  The earliest records indicate the Danes battled the English tribes led by King Ethelred and Alfred the Great in and aroun, 870 A.D. They were able to stay in this area for some time but when William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066 he eventually made it to the Reading area where he established control. Eventually his fourth son became King Henry I who founded the Reading Abbey in 1121 and his remains are buried on the grounds of the Abbey, although the Abbey was destroyed by Henry VIII in 1538 and its Abbot was drawn and quartered in front of the Abbey church (ugh).


The Thames River runs through Reading as does the River Kennet, and this confluence made the city a river transport hub for the industrial revolution in the 1800s, with a canal that allowed products to be shipped to Bristol and to London. Manufacturing became a significant industry for the area given the transportation links then and through to today. The city now hosts the UK operations of many global companies, such as Microsoft, Cisco, and Oracle, to name a few.

With its history we should really stop to check it out, but Reading still remains to us a gateway to more interesting areas.

Ale of the Day: Hoppit Classic Bitter, Loddon Brewery, Dunsden, Oxfordshire

Day 103 - Of Tigers and Men

Today was Alex's day.  He has a keen interest in military history and so during his time here in England he wanted to visit the largest collection of tanks in one place in the entire world. It's known as the Bovington Tank Museum by those outside of the U.K. and for the locals it is just "The Tank Museum," somewhat like "The Open" (golfers will understand, so apologies for non-golfers).

Getting here without a car is not the easiest thing to do, but it is accessible by train from Portsmouth, so that was the plan.  However, this being Sunday (and those who have been following our blog will know this already), it is the day of either cancellations, replacement bus services due to railworks ... or both. 

The weather was going to be quite nice with overcast but bright conditions, no wind and no rain, temperature highs of 8 to 9 degrees C.  Our trip there would require a train from Cosham to Eastleigh, a bus connection to Bournmouth and a train to the village of Wool in the County of Dorset.  Upon arrival at Wool we had a one-mile walk slightly uphill to the museum. But what are we if not determined!

Quite the size

The Tank Museum is comprised of several buildings and outdoor viewing areas. There is the main museum -- an extremely large building where surplus tanks and armoured vehicles are stored -- and a variety of outbuildings.

For Alex, the main attraction was their collection of world war II tanks including German Tiger tanks and Russian T-series tanks.

While I thought I had some understanding of tank types and history, Alex has a phenomenal understanding. He does admit that it has something to do with his involvement with a multi-player video game known as World of Tanks.

Alex and his Tiger

The museum has the only working German Panzer Tiger tank in the entire world. It also has a working U.S. Sherman tank from the same era that was used in the film "Fury" starring Brad Pitt that came out in 2014. That same Sherman tank retains the exact look it had in the film as part of their Fury exhibit.

The number and variety of tanks and armoured vehicles is staggering.  As this was the winter period, the museum was not too busy, although still reasonably well attended, and so we could enjoy each of the exhibits including the main one which takes you through a timeline of tank history from their invention through to today.  Of course the most interesting elements were related to the two world wars. Rommel, Montgomery, Patton and other great tank commanders are highlighted.  There are even Canadian-made tanks (the RAM) to be seen.


For me, a very interesting display addressed T.E. Lawrence, better known as "Lawrence of Arabia" who retired to a village next to Bovington and who was killed at the age of 47 in a motorcycle accident on a nearby road (he is now buried in the village of Moreton -- not to be confused with our Moreton in Marsh -- which is about 2 miles from the museum (a trip and a blog post for another day when we can travel here again).

Outside of the museum is a tank training exhibit all decked out to allow for viewing of these historic tanks in action. However, as this was their low season, they don't provide outside demonstrations (they're reserved for the May to September season).  Certainly pictures of these activities would suggest that things are very busy during those moths, although I must admit the ability to ride a tracked-vehicle for about a dozen people around the test track, with its bumps and trenches, for an additional fee would be quite fun.

Alex and I with captured Chinese-made, Russian designed tank
used by Iraq in Gulf War.

We spent 4 hours at the museum including lunch, and they were hours well spent. By the time we were done, including some time to go to the shop as Alex had his eyes on some of the scale models, it was getting dark.  A downhill walk through the Dorset countryside back to the rail station was refreshing and the weather was holding up with some patches of late day sun.  The trip back to Portsmouth was longer though as the connections between trains and buses were much longer.  All in all though it was a delightful day.

Ale of the Day: Tetley's Bitter, Leeds, West Yorkshire   

Day 102 - Off to Port Solent

A travel day for us: we are heading south for the weekend to stay near Portsmouth for a couple of days for both work and pleasure. We have Alex in tow of course and his desire is to spend a day at the Bovington Tank Museum (see tomorrow's blog post). Angela meanwhile has a meeting to attend to in the Portsmouth area on Monday morning. So we chose to stay at the Marriott Port Solent which lies just to the north of Portsmouth on the edge of the harbour. We have stayed at this hotel before and have always found it to provide great service and a wonderful breakfast.

Getting here by train from Moreton in Marsh is a bit convoluted, and our desire to get the best possible fare resulted in a changing trains 4 times - although I think the best case would have been 3 changes in any case. We left mid-morning, which allowed some opportunity to sleep in (we are now at the tail end of our jet lag) and headed first to Reading where we changed for the train to Basingstoke where we changed for the train to Eastleigh where we changed for the train to Cosham (just outside of Portsmouth and the closest station to our hotel). We got to the hotel for a late lunch and decided to head over to the Port Solent Marina for some shopping, a movie and then dinner.

The Port Solent Marina is an interesting case of re-development of industrial land and marshes.  The area was developed in the 1980s from an existing landfill adjacent to marshes that bordered the northeast part of Portsmouth Harbour. It's part of what was originally known as Horsea Island. The northern waters that separated the island from the mainland have since been filled in, so it's really more of an isthmus now.

Horsea was actually two islands once: Great and Little Horsea. It was used as a military facility where they joined the two to become one and in doing so created a lake in the late 1800s where they could do torpedo testing.  Eventually this lake became too small for new torpedo technology and it became obselete prior to the First World War. However, the island and the lake remained in the ownership of the Ministry of Defence and throughout the 1900s it was used for various testing of naval technologies. The landfill portion was developed in the 1970s and eventually closed in 2006 (although natural gas continues to be recovered).

The Port Solent development today has a marina, retail and restaurants and a cinema, surrounded by multi-residential and townhouse developments.  You can walk around it and enjoy the boardwalks that meander through the marina and along the waterfront. Other parts of the island surrounding the development remain as areas of significant scientific interest and are protected due to the existence of certain rare flora and fauna that thrive in and on the chalky soil. It really is a neat example of sustainable development ... although it appears that they still only vent the natural gas emitting from the landfill.

Our shopping expedition proved futile, but we did take in the Golden Globe best drama award-winner: Three Billboard Outside of Ebbing, Missouri.  Written and directed by Martin McDonagh (of In Bruges fame) it is a masterfully-shot film about a woman's attempt to prod the local police into upping their efforts to find the murderer(s) of her teenage daughter. The Smith-Walsh review gives it 4/5 stars. After the film, we had a variety of choices regarding a place to eat, so we settled on Tex-Mex at Chimichanga's.  The food was good, not great. Angela is suffering from a cold so her appetite was somewhat limited, but the boys chowed down (not sure my post-holiday diet was adhered to on this trip!).

A pleasant walk back (the winds were quiet and the temperature late in the evening was still hovering around 5 degrees C ... wonderful when compared to what we left behind in Toronto) to the hotel for an early night as tomorrow was going to be a big day!

Ale of the Day: Urban Pale Ale, Urban Island Brewery, Portsmouth, Hampshire

Day 101 - A toast to Dry January

Ah January. The month of fresh starts and broken promises. Here in England, the concept of Dry January is quite popular. A poll I read suggests that 3.1 million Brits are trying to refrain from drinking this month after over-indulging during the holiday season. That may sound like a lot, but when you think that over 60 million others aren't even bothering to try (probably pouring drinks as we speak in an effort to tempt those making the effort...LOL), well then there is no fear there will be much of an impact on pubs. 

Dry January began as a PR event by the charity Alcohol Concern in 2013, so it hasn't been around that long yet. So, who's to say what long-term impact it will have. Many pub hours will tell you that January has always been a slow month for sales...now it just has a name.

Well, with Phil and Alex together in the UK this month, I'm sure they will be doing there best to add a pint or two to the local pubs sales.

One notable change you see in January is businesses closing down for a few weeks. The beautiful Cotswolds do see a lot of tourists, but January is the slowest month, so it proves a good time for proprietors to take a well needed break. We also notice a lot of restoration and maintenance work taking place.

As a result, my efforts to show Alex Bourton on the Water today proved a bit futile. Oh, the town still looks lovely, but workers were taking the opportunity to lay interlocking stones along the walkways running alongside the river. The Motor Museum is closed until February and is undergoing some sort of refurbishment. So, we set off to the Model Village. I had never been to it, and the website indicated it was open. It wasn't! Closed too for "urgent refurbishment."Next up...a trip to the model train store. Again, closed. 

Hmmm. I hope this isn't going to be trend for his entire trip.

Day 100 - We're baaaaaaaack!

Happy New Year! Miss us? After almost a month of sub-zero Canadian temperatures we're back in the UK. We've always said that the weather here jumps from the equivalent of about Canada's early November to March, completely bypassing December, January and February. In the UK, it feels to us as if Autumn and Spring are simply drawn out over those months.

We flew overnight on WestJet for the first time. It's a flight; what more can I say. All the service has been stripped out: you have to pre-book food, although they do have some for purchase. You have to pay to check a bag, although they inevitably start asking for people to check their carry-ons for free. Lots of families as this is a cheaper alternative. So, lots of screaming kids. But I don't go anywhere without my earplugs...ha!

With a 2-3-2 seat configuration, we had two seats together, but get this -- our row had no window. But we managed to strain enough to see the green of England appear beneath us as we approached in the early morning with the sun rising. It felt good to see colour again!

Our son Alex returned with us and is staying for the next two weeks. He's really into military history, so expect a few of our blogs over this time to have that focus.

We flew into Gatwick and managed to get train connections to Moreton-in-Marsh straight away. So, we were into the flat by early afternoon, giving us all a chance to have a much-needed nap for a couple of hours.

We decided to stretch our legs by taking Alex on an early evening stroll up the High Street and do a bit of grocery shopping. Then it was over to the Mermaid Fish and Chip shop -- the first item on Alex's list of must eats while he's here.

Glad to be back...we have lots planned. So keep reading. Please send along your comments, and let us know if you have any questions or want us to write about anything in particular.