November 1st, 2010 | General, Travel, United States
When the clock alarmed me at 5 in the morning, all I knew was exhaustion and the weight of darkness. I turned on the light and groped for the phone and the instruction sheet. They said I should call to confirm after 4:30 and to be sure to be there at 7. The voice on...
October 31st, 2010 | General
Hallowe’en, as I remember it anyway, was all about the good stuff: popcorn balls, caramel apples, enormous chocolate-chip cookies, and all of it homemade. There was a lot of candy, of course. Too many Dum Dum lollipops and too few Tootsie Pops, an overabundance of...
October 1st, 2010 | General, Travel
How can something as large as a train station be so invisible? We confirmed the location of the Burnham train station and left with what we felt was plenty of time to get there, buy tickets and await the train. Problem was the station was nowhere to be found. We...
September 28th, 2010 | General, Travel
We prefer not to be dependent on restaurants. They serve too much, they cost too much, and they simply are not convenient. Sunday night we got to the Bee at Burnham about half past five. The kitchen was closed. Sundays and holidays do tend to be a problem; we nearly...
September 27th, 2010 | General
Do you know what happens if you are a little late returning to the car you left in the car park just below Windsor Castle? The warden boots your car–locks on a wheel clamp–and charges you 120£ (125£ if you use a charge card instead of a debit card or cash)...
September 27th, 2010 | General, Travel
It was not that we didn’t have a plan. Rooms at Grovefield House Hotel were booked a year ago. Everyone was up on time, bathed coffeed and nourished. The cars were loaded with wedding attire and other necessities. Only one run back in to close windows was necessary....
September 26th, 2010 | Friends, General, Time Passes, Travel
An evening at Homewood is incontrovertible evidence that time has passed. Samantha was my classmate at Princess Helena College in Hertfordshire. The original Queen Anne building was enlarged by the architect Sir Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944) in 1908. In 1935 the house and...
September 24th, 2010 | General, Travel
It was in Bath that we changed Nüvi’s voice from Daniel to Serena. I had favored Daniel, English-accented and resonant; besides, I am sentimentally attached to the name. Serena, we had heard was the best voice, the most audible and the most authentically human. It’s...
September 23rd, 2010 | General, Travel
It rained during the night. Boughs bow in the colorless light, the flagstones and rock walls are damp and the lawn glows that brilliant, peculiarly English, green. It is our last day at New Cottage and this is a lovely morning. There is, as usual, too much left in the...
September 22nd, 2010 | General, Travel
Nüvi: “In 0.6 miles turn right on road.” Nüvi: “In 1.3 miles turn left on road.” Left to our own devices, we would never have headed down an unnamed macadam track even if we thought that Kelmscott Manor was somewhere in that general direction. Left to a GPS device, we...
