Monday, March 7th, 2016

Sad news from Northwick Park - our once inseparable pair of black swans are now a singleton widow or widower. Not entirely sure how you recognize male from female from a distance, and from a distance it would have to be; one day, I made the mistake of approaching them for a photo shoot, and was literally chased off their patch! There's something truly threatening about these birds as they run at you, with their six foot wingspan, all ferocious waddling and cawing! I am embarrassed to say that I did run! The monogamous nature of swans' relationships has been written about many times, so I won't ramble on about it, but it is unusual. I've now veered away from Alistair Cooke into 'Country File' or Diary of an Edwardian Lady'! It's hard not to write about the countryside when you live in an area of such peerless beauty as the Cotswolds, though.

We've had a very livable winter this year, with many sunny days. As you drive through the countless, undulating country roads, it seems each bend brings you to another stunning vista of rich pastures gently rolling hills, and, of course, countless sheep! I was a little worried that Irene had gone native on me the other day when she took herself off to watch.....lambing! Yes, this is the same Irene, late of Manhattan; never fear, though - the next day, we were off looking at antique shops, eyeing up truly magnificent and genuinely old furniture - for our American friends, this means 16th and 17th century pieces!

 We 'did' Amsterdam in late January - odd time of the year to go, as it was bloody freezing most the time we were there. The Netherlands shares the same kind of climate as Britain, so in late January it was damp, cold and windy! But what a great city Amsterdam is. We'd only ever 'flown through' the city before, so this was definitely on our to-do list. we went with our intrepid European 'fellow travellers' Ian & Loraine and revelled in the most viewable sights of the city - the van Gogh & Rijks museums, the real palace, Anne Frank's house. And I would add that unlike many 'famous' city sights, any one of these is worth the visit alone. We were warned about the coffee houses before leaving England, but you know, you really don't have to go inside them to savour the heady flavours of weed - some many people either living in or visiting Amsterdam smoke the stuff openly, that simply walking through the streets gives you a better than vicarious high!

I'll close this short post with a teaser - a picture of things past and times to come:

.............

A new beginning.....

I've been so remiss in not writing a jot this time, and the guilt has now reached a point where I can no longer ignore it, and, after 5 months here in the UK, I've finally found something to say. So, I will resume this blog by mangling a ploughed-field-full of metaphors, strangle some sumptuous similes, commit awful alliterations, and otherwise create despair in the hearts of readers of our so wondrous English language!

There has only ever been one radio journalist, or for that matter, any kind of journalist, who inspired me, and that was Alistair Cooke. As a boy, I listened in rapt wonder to his weekly "Letter from America". How ironic that many years later, it would become my second home. And so, in a pale remembrance of that great writer, I will attempt to return the favour, in writing regularly from the deliciously rural setting of England's Cotswolds.


This has been home since just before Christmas:

We'd always wanted a stately, long, winding drive, so we thought this would do - it's about a half-a-mile long, leads past a herd of deer, 2 ever-present black swans

 countless pheasants, until you arrive,........

here:

Our posh neighbours!

5 Juliana's Court

Or, more exactly, here:


Before we left Pelham, I had joined a splendid society of men, called "The Retired Men's Club of Pelham" - most of us were not yet in our dotage, just recently retired, for the most part. Well, within days of arriving at Northwick Park, I had been invited to join a similar group here, called Probus  - an offshoot of Rotary. It stands for Professional Business men's society. We all live within a few miles of its locus, Chipping Campden, and the club's program of speakers and events is truly awesome - a speaker every 2 weeks, for 10 months of the year, and a summer outing - this year it's to Bletchley Park, home of Alan Turing's legendary Enigma code breakers. The talks reflect the world's view of English eccentricity - so far this year, we've had talks on: George Formby (English comedian, singer and ukulele player) - the talk was punctuated with frequent renderings of Forby's most famous songs, including "When I'm cleaning windows"; Global Warming!,  the origins of musical wind instruments (with musical samplings from over 40 wind instruments, and the history of Punch & Judy! But by far, the most endearing aspect of Probus is its members. In contrast to the Pelham group, my fellow members are.....ancient! I am embarrassingly sprightly by comparison; most wear hearing aids, look in grave danger of falling over as they struggle to their seats, and some, one fears, may expire before the talks are over! The conversation, as we sip our coffees and teas before the meetings proper begin, is priceless. Imagine a bunch of aging, patrician Republicans,  discussing their last holiday in the south of France, or the little cruise to the Outer Hebrides, in the same ship, 'don't you know, that the Queen uses'!, or last week's Six Nations (Rugby) international. I wish you all really understood English sport, because this last chat was so memorable, recounting a TV interview (had to have been 40 years ago!) between 2 legendary stars of international Rugby, one Welsh, one Irish, discussing training sessions, where the 'chaps' wore Wellington boots; contrasting the 'posh' conditions at English clubs ("They even had doors on the changing room stalls"), and where the Irish 'lads' ''at least smelt fit, reeking, as they did, of Guinness as they trotted on to the pitch!" The talks are fun, often highly informative and entertaining, but the members' conversations leave me speechless!

Probus talk on Punch & Judy

And now, it's time to sign off. I will return with countless tales of rural England!