Wednesday 24 March

Wednesday afternoon saw us picking up Alexander at school and heading for the station to take the train to Tottenham to see the Tottenham Hotspurs play Fulham in the quarter finals of the FA Cup .

Alexander had to change from his school uniform into more appropriate attire for the game. Of course, having a camera in my hand, I just had to take some embarrassing photos.

You may not notice, but he did not wear his Hotspurs underwear; yes he had Hotspurs underwear. 

Our route was Huntingdon to Finsbury Park. From there we took the underground to Seven Sisters station and back on the train to White Hart Lane. I did find the underground to be smaller than I had envisioned. I had to stoop to enter the train, and it was hot, very hot.

All provisioned for our one hour train ride.

Jeff and Alexander's favourite Turkish kebab restaurant in Tottenham. I had lamb shish, with bread rolled by the loving hands of Grandma.

On the way to our seats.

The huge football pitch and stands (all seats). The game was sold out with over 57,000 attending.

The boys kited out in their Tottenham Spurs regalia. To fit in I bought a regulation shirt with Garth Bale's name and number on the back, a jacket and the mandatory spurs scarf.

Now, I am being constantly corrected when I refer to the soccer game, "IT'S FOOTBALL", I am told. The following photo is not in focus, but I think you can make out the advertisement. So I guess they want people to attend their SOCCER school to learn to play FOOTBALL. I'm confused.

The huddle prior to the start.

I did not take any photos of the game because without the noise and excitement, they would seem flat. It was a nail biting game in the first half as Fulham scored. The second half was better as the Spurs scored three unanswered goals. I cannot describe the noise of 57,000 fans singing club songs, it was just awesome. Now there off to the semi-finals.
We missed a train home by 2 minutes and had to wait another hour for the next. Our little trooper was one tired boy.

Tuesday 23 March

Tuesday was a quiet day. I was able to get in a walk at the usual time and spent the rest of the day vegetating.
 Around 4:00 we heard a siren and Jeff remarked that it was very unusual to hear a siren in the village. Some time later there was a knock at the door and Rhiannon came in wanting to use the bathroom because the road was closed because of the fire and he couldn't get home. Of course the response was the pub was on fire. I grabbed my camera and went out the front door while the rest of the house bailed out the back door. This was the scene from the end of the driveway.

The part of the pub that was burning was the some 300 years old. The new buildings that are in view were added in 2004.

The very attractive lady who picked me up in her red MG was one of the first on the scene. Her car was effectively trapped by the closure of the main road. Unfortunately she fell and fractured the radial head of her left elbow, the arm she uses to shift the gears. So a photo of this lady and her car will have to wait a bit, but please stay tuned.

The full impact of the fire was seen the next morning. One of the problems fighting this fire was that it was impossible to pull off the burning thatch because it was common practice to cover the thatch with wire to keep out birds and vermin. Earlier thatched roofs did not have this covering and firemen carried long staves topped with metal fingers to pull off any burning thatch.

Sunday 21 March

Following a rainy Saturday, sunshine prevailed as we set off at 7:00 am for Milton Keynes. The CMFRC (Canadian Military Family Resource Centre) had planned a day of laser tag and paintball for the children of Canadian Military serving in the UK.

Alexander, on the left and another young man getting to know each other by not making eye contact and kicking stones around.

Walking on the way to the paintball bunkers and trenches. I am surprised that the sheep are free of any paint, they seemed perfect targets.

Maeghan and Louise in the entrance to the gaming area.

The rest area, surrounded by netting to prevent any stray paintballs from knocking over your cup of tea. Maeghan joined in the laser tag in the morning but opted out of the paintball.

The 'gang', including some adults, all kitted out for laser tag.

Alexander with a cyclops, i.e., a paintball to the middle of the face shield.

A shot to one of the less protected areas. This, says Maeghan, is why I did not join in the "fun"!

While the young people were trying to do as much damage as possible to each other, Louise, Jeff, and I checked out ASDA, a division of Walmart, and Costco. As you can see both are, again, very civilized in offering both groceries and beer, wine, and spirits.

After a delicious carvery and a pint of Batemans cask ale at the Greenman Pub in Swanbourne, we met Maeghan and Alexander, hosed them down, and headed for home after a successful day for all.

Friday 19 March

Another warm sunny day in Abbot's Ripton.

We set a little late for our early morning walk as Louise had to be at the house at 9:00 am to meet the insurance adjuster. They were finally picking up Jeff's car for evaluation and, hopefully, repair rather that right-off. Ten days after the accident!!! Their insurance policy allows them a rental car, but that isn't supplied until after the adjuster has picked up the car. Insurance companies, they are so happy to take your money and so full of assurances that if a claim is made it will be handled rapidly with little disruption in your life. Yeah right. They are spawns of the devil! They judge not on moral or ethical grounds; their guiding light is ''how can we get out of paying this claim.''
Sorry for the venting, feels better now that I got that out of my system, but it doesn't change my opinion of them.

We chose a new route today, we were going to walk on the Estate of Lord De Ramsey; as near as I can understand, although he owns huge tracks of land, this is his personal home and grounds.

Sue and Louise (a.k.a The Ladies) have just left the main road through the village and are heading down Moat Lane. The Three Horseshoes pub is to our left.

Moat Lane

Scenes after we left Moat lane for a footpath.

An interesting approach to having water in freezing weather.

Coming up on Abbots Ripton Hall

As close as I dare get to the front of the Hall. Not to sure how the staff would treat a colonial tourist.

Nice to know

The game-keepers house.

We are now off the estate and passing through the Wennington. As I walk along the roads I like to think I am a friendly sort of person, so I usually wave to drivers of oncoming cars. During this walk I remarked to The Ladies that the drivers didn't seem too friendly as they did not acknowledge my waves. Sue suggested it was because I was in shorts and they thought I was gay. Louise put it down to sun shining off of my lily white skinny chicken legs that blinded the drivers to my waves.
Now to briefly jump ahead a couple of days, I retraced the steps of our walk with the addition of one variable, long pants - it was too coll for shorts that day, and the elimination of two variables, The Ladies. For every wave I gave I received either a wave in return, or a smile and a nod of the head. One more walk around the estate with long pants and The Ladies will confirm why the drivers did not wave on the first walk; either it was the presence of the ladies or it was my skinny, white chicken legs. Stay tuned

John and Pippa Hemsley's 800 year old house.

Nice to see that the church is still involved with the education of children.

And so home. The Merry Men (a group of volunteers at St George's Cathedral in Kingston, Ontario that fix things around the cathedral) should take note that the clock in the tower of St Andrew's Abbots Ripton does work and keeps excellent time. Perhaps David McTavish could add clock repair to his little black book.