In the News — Room with a View?

Room with a view for Charles-Camilla wedding

London, March. 30 (AP): Bidding is intensifying, albeit slowy, on the Interet for a clear balcony view on the wedding of Prince Charles to his longtime partner Camilla Parker Bowles.

Real estate agency Nelson Bakewell, put the corner balcony in Windsor, west of London, up for auction on eBay last Friday with a starting bid of just one pound. By 9:30 am (1400 IST) today the bidding had gone up to 26 pounds, but a higher price is expected before the auction winds up on Friday — exactly one week before the nuptials.

‘The package includes a private room that can accommodate up to 20 people. The balconies (sic) provide excellent views to The Guildhall where the royal couple will be married,’ said the description on eBay. ‘You can bring your own catering (but) you and all guests are potentially subject to police checks,’ it said, adding: ‘To enhance your viewing experience, we advise that you may want to bring binoculars.’

Only a select group of friends and family will be inside the Guildhall for the civil wedding, after which Charles and Camilla are to make their way back to adjacent Windsor Castle for an Anglican blessing and a reception.

The very best views on the Guildhall are to be had from a hotel right across the street from the 17th century town hall, but rooms there have been re-priced for the day to a eye-popping 1,000 pounds.”

Boating on the Thames

On the Thames in Datchet there is an establishment called Kris Cruisers that offers boats for hire. We’d been having sunny days and decided to try our weather luck and hire a boat for the day. We did not have perfect sunny weather; but we did not get rained on and the sun broke through a few times.

We started off at about 0945 and headed towards Windsor and points beyond. We made it as far as Maidenhead by 1300 and stopped for lunch in a pub. After lunch we headed back down river. We were able to make it past Datchet to Old Windsor before we needed to turn back in order to return the boat on time.

If you were to look at a map of the Thames, you’d see we didn’t go particularly far. These boats are cruisers, not speed boats. We did five mph tops. Though the speed was slow, it was very pleasant. I would not have wanted to speed up the river, though I’m pretty sure that a couple of members of the party would have been happy to have picked up the speed a bit.

We went through four locks, enjoying the process of filling on our way upriver and emptying on our way down. The lock operators quit for the day at 1700, so Steve and John got to do the last lock we went through by themselves.

It was a very agreeable way to pass the day. Perhaps some day we will be able to hire a boat for a week and make it even further upriver, perhaps in the fashion of Three Men in a Boat.

The photo included here is Windsor Castle as seen from the Thames (headed back towards Datchet). For more photos of the day, including a larger copy of the Windsor Castle shot, click here.

Air Force Memorial

The Air Force Memorial is at the top of this slope. Sadly, the sign saying that it was a slope was not down at the bottom of the hill where we started.

Fortunately we were rewarded with a lovely view of the surrounding area.

Kennedy Memorial

This monument reads:

This acre of English ground was given
to the United States of America by
the people of Britain in memory of
John F. Kennedy Born 29 May 1917
President of the United States 1961-1963
Died by an assassin’s hand 22 November 1963
Let every nation know whether it wishes us well or ill
that we shall pay any price bear any burden meet any hardship
support any friend or oppose any foe in order to assure
the survival and success of liberty
From the inaugural address of
President Kennedy January 1961

The Magna Carta Memorial

The memorial reads:

To Commemorate
Magna Carta
Symbol of
Freedom
Under Law

And was erected by the American Bar Association (!)

Click here for photos from our outing to Runnymede last week.

Windsor Farm Shop

We’ve had glorious weather the last couple of days. Since it is approaching 70 degrees out, Steve and I went for a bike ride into Windsor. We rode to the Long Walk, then walked the bikes up to the walk a ways (no cycles allowed) and biked back through Old Windsor.

We stopped in at the Windsor Farm Shop to have a bite to eat at their Coffee Shop. I had a lovely turkey and cranberry sandwich and a bottle of sparkling water. Steve had a piece of cake and a bottle of juice. We sat outside and enjoyed the sunshine.

After we ate we wandered around the shop a bit. It’s not very big, but has a nice selection of fresh veg and canned sauces and spreads. They have a bakery, a deli and some dairy as well. I found a jar of cranberry sauce that I got with a mind to trying to make my own turkey and cranberry sandwich.

Last day at The Bridge

Yesterday was our last day to work in the Bridge Tea Shop in the village. We are not going back the states for another month, but with my parents coming for a visit next week and then the preparing for the movers and the two weeks of travel in Europe we have planned, we had essentially run out of time for helping out there.

I certainly enjoyed volunteering in the tea shop. I don’t think the kids enjoyed it as much as I did, but they did a good job helping out. We said goodbye to the lady that works before our shift every week and to the people who come in on a regular basis and the fellow that works in the Parish Council Office upstairs.

Word Play – Diary

To most Americans, a diary is a place to write down thoughts and things going on in your life. Something that teenaged girls scribble in. Here in the UK, a diary is a calendar. So, rather than “check your calendar and let me know” you get “let me look at my diary” or “has everyone got their diary so we can set a date for the next meeting?”

What do they call what we would call a diary? A journal. Let’s see…

Dear Journal,
Today Joe Bob asked me to the prom! He’s so cute! We’re going to have the best time ever! Suzy is going to be so jealous!
Love,
Fiona

Hmm. Doesn’t sound quite right to me.

Martime Museum

Saturday afternoon we spent about an hour in the Maritime Museum in London.

After closing time we walked up the hill to the Royal Observatory. At the top we took a few minutes to catch our breath (okay, it was just me catching my breath) and to take a picture or two of the prime meridian line. The view of the surrounding area was very lovely.

I hope we can go back sometime and give the Maritime Museum and the Royal Observatory the attention they deserve.

(note on the photo: the line is the Prime Meridian line. The sign overhead says Greenwich Meridian then East Longitude over Steve and West Longitude over me. The line went down the wall and across the pavement.)

Jailhouse Rock

Saturday evening we all went to see the musical Jailhouse Rock at the Picadilly Theatre. It was loud, but fun.

Jailhouse Rock The Musical is a new stage musical version of the classic 1957 Elvis film Jailhouse Rock. The show also charts the development of rock’n'roll from its roots in blues and country music and will feature a mix of musical styles alongside a host of popular rock’n'roll hits which will appeal to all theatregoers, with plenty of classic hits to satisfy Elvis fans!

Featuring a rich catalogue of 1950’s rock’n'roll classics, Jailhouse Rock The Musical tells the story of Vince Everett, a young man from the wrong side of the tracks who discovers his own unique musical talent whilst doing time in jail and emerges to become the world’s greatest rock n’ roll star, only to discover that he isn’t ready for the pressures that money and fame can bring.

Source: thisistheatre.com