A miracle of London Underground York 2007

How many of you feel lucky? Well, I am the lucky one.

There are many reasons I’m lucky but I’m really lucky this time. From my lips . . . .

I’ve lost my digital camera, favorite hat and worldwide travel pack they are gone forever!

No way! The London Underground has officially notified us of our good fortune and we now have what we lost forever, the goods are in hand.

Thanks, to Bet’s attitude and evidently a system that works we have an unexpected miracle.

My worldwide travel pack is easily a 15 year old freebie. We have sought out and found a patch or badge(as they are called in England) for either the country, sight or city we’ve traveled to. Bet has sewn most all of them on that pack.

Can you believe, lost but now it’s found?

We had several pints down at The Maltings to celebrate. While visiting our local for bevies, I snapped pictures of some “Hen Party girls”.

These are moving bachelorette parties which roam the city’s pubs for all the drinks and fun they can consume till they fall over.

These pics were taken with Bet’s new Canon IXUS 70 to replace my newly recovered Nikon S4. That’s probably as clear as mud . . . . see ya,

j'bu

There's no place like home .... back to the future

As an American, I took for granted the technological advantages of my world. Little did I know that our basic washer and dryer would be one of those advantages but it is and for me it’s right up there at the top of my list.

Our combo under counter washer dryer fried its brains three weeks ago. Now I’ve long thought that the four hour end to end wash dry cycle for a single load was more than amusing. Of course, Betty has ingeniously cut that cycle to a mere three hours by removing the damp clothes and hanging them about the apartment. I guess I know why they invented heated towel rods and such.

Believe me we were not ready for the complete withdrawal of the wash and dry device. Any way, my Betty has devised a once a week trek by taxi to the local laundry mat where the deed (wash, dry & folding) is done in a few hours while she’s about her business. I don’t know what betty’s going to do with all that free time ....

see ya,

j'bu

Valentine’s Day Away; York, UK 2007

What makes this day different? The Sun has substituted itself for Bet, who is in Tennessee today. York is sunny and in the forties. This has a generally good effect on everyone and everything I come in contact with today. I’m missing her a lot. She’s my life long valentine. Thank god for the Sun and the wonderful day I’m having.
.... see ya,

j'bu

Bond fire Day is the fifth day of November in the UK, we dawgs had our day today!

In Britain, they have Guy Fawkes day which is, some say, a celebration for the man who tried unsuccessfully to blowup parliament. From what I can tell they really love the day here. This is a regular guys’ event. You get to burn up things, blow things up and consume large quantities of alcohol. Evidently, the UK folks are the fireworks champs of the world at least by my measurement. The general population has been actively celebrating for the whole week prior to Sunday’s festivities by shooting up fireworks from all the surrounding communities. Yorkshire folks practice by blowing up fireworks as dark falls. You know we have the forth of July, our own little fireworks show. Here everyone gets into the act big time. From our Westgate sixth floor structure where we live, we had a 180 degree view of the horizon. On this Saturday night for a solid four and a half hours the sky was ablaze and thunder could be heard all around. Even the Royal York Hotel provided a professional show for 20 minutes. Their staging area was less than a 100 yards away. Their show sent my doggie boy George to the shower to escape the noise and sights.

This has been one of the most memorable Saturday’s to date. During the all night light show, I listened via the internets to the greatest “Mississippi State” game ever. Our boys have been close but no cigar for the past couple of weeks. They just haven’t been on the same page. But not tonight, they played some good football and won a big one. Alabama fell on their home field.

Alcohol may have impaired many of my memories of great ball games played over the years at Bama. But I will always remember this night when we beat them good.

You just don’t get many victories over there. These boys deserved a victory they earned through their efforts as a team. Everyone involved deserved this taste of victory. Hail dear old state. I know there are some mighty happy bulldogs around the world tonight. … see ya,

j'bu

York a medieval corner … a tourist destination for UK residents!

Whip Ma Whop Ma Corner, as I call it, is a small piece of landscape in the center of York. It is a very small triangle with a 15th century church set on it. In medieval times it was a common location where public beatings of one’s woman could take place. Here in York they have many laws on the books which thankfully are no longer practiced but are still laws anyway.

On this occasion, our church street pals from Mariettta, Ga gathered for a great visit to our fair city. We had a great time walking, talking and fellowshipping with the locals. They made a drive trip north to Scotland with a St. Andrews round to boot. As you can see, we were all in good form ....
see ya,

j'bu

2006-07 College Football Season Opener

I've spent the summer months reading about Mississippi State's football program, recruits, players, coaches, training camps and NCAA decisions and non-decisions. I've enrolled is a sports Internet service so I could get the whole scope about the state of "STATE" football. Huh. Without this I would be clueless. Maybe it would be better to be clueless. The word "Football" has a complete different meaning outside of the USA. One thing for sure it universally conjures my great emotions most every where in the world. I ordered two "STATE" ballcaps all in preparation for the Mississipi State season opener. Bet brought them back on her return trip from Marietta.

I stayed tuned to the Internet broadcast of the game till four am. on a school night!

Let's say some of my questions were answered but now I have a whole new set. Our boys did well and we'll even be better when we get finished with that Auburn team next week. I can't remember when we played a whole game and came away with just one penalty.

That morning, casual friday I dressed in my colors ... maroon "STATE" shirt and jeans. A new Expat at work saw me and mentioned the thursday night ESPN disappointment. After much mouthing off, we concluded that we would miss the college footbal season the most of anything during our days in York. I'm pretty sure this boy must have been from the south and after just a month he's already home sick for some football!. see ya,

j'bu

IPADDER dot COM has gone shiny side down!!!!

We are patiently awaiting Bet's return from the USA which is tommorow.Not to worry, we have things to keep us busy. This is the last day of what's known as a "Bank Holiday Weekend". The UK has a number of 3 day weekends in the year. Our time has been spent completing our US tax data spread sheets for the accountants. It's really sad story. It would have been easier and faster to have done it myself in turbo tax like I've done forever but NO. The tax data is now in their hands. Good riddance!

The other big thing story for me. My Blog service provider has gone shiny side down. Whoa ... IPADDER dot COM is no more! That's right no more. I guess?. The really good news is we have most of our posts. The bad news is we have to get 'em in the new box!

If your reading this ... the new Blog service provider is BLOGGOING.COM. I like the service pretty well ... so far. The blog skin plus the advanced functions are super. It works much better than the stuff I did with my training whells on. Oh well, so there you have it. We are now on a quest to get all our goofy stuff back on the net . . . .
see ya,

j'bu