Well, what a great few days! We had some extra special, VIP visitors which inevitably necessitated a couple of outings including last Sunday’s baseball game in London as well as a family get-together with lots of fun activities – badminton and Jessica’s performance of the piece she is singing (solo) at her annual show. And, the weather was grand!
Our dear friends Chip and Leca Boynton arrived at a very civilised time in the afternoon at Heathrow following a week or so in Portugal. On Saturday we took ourselves out to Stowe Gardens and enjoyed a leisurely wander around the grounds. This is yet another Capability Brown design – are there stately estates in England not designed by him? If you visit a stately home and see a landscaped lake in the grounds, it’s probably Capability Brown.
In 1741 Brown joined Lord Cobham’s gardening staff as undergardener at Stowe Gardens, Buckinghamshire, where he worked under William Kent, one of the founders of the new English style of landscape garden. In 1742, at the age of 26, Brown was officially appointed Head Gardener, earning £25 (equivalent to £4,200 in 2021) a year and residing in the western Boycott Pavilion.
Brown remained at Stowe until 1750. He made the Grecian Valley at Stowe under William Kent’s supervision. It is an abstract composition of landform and woodland. Lord Cobham let Brown take freelance work from his aristocratic friends, thus making him well known as a landscape gardener. As a proponent of the new English style Brown became immensely sought after by the landed families.
We had dinner on Saturday evening at the Red Lion in Culworth – an excellent example of a pub/restaurant which has successfully adapted to the conditions imposed by the pandemic. At the outset of the pandemic they started doing take away and also started a farm shop selling local produce as well as more take away options. Now, even though conditions have returned to “normal” they have modified their previous opening hours and now shut down the kitchen at 6.00 pm on a Saturday night and they are closed all day Sunday and Monday. Not surprisingly, the staff love it!
Sunday we were off to the baseball in the Olympic Stadium in London. It’s a bit of a trek to get to the stadium – it’s all the way across town in east London – but it’s a relatively easy journey assuming both the trains and the underground are running.
The baseball was quite an occasion – 55,000 baseball “fans” (obviously, one doesn’t include Penny in that number). There was a heavy showing of Cardinals and Cubs fans but Chip and I ended up spotting jerseys or caps from almost every other team. The ones we missed were the Brewers, Rockies and Rangers – I think we saw at least one supporter of every other team.
The game itself was “OK.” Neither of these teams are playing particularly well this season and it showed. The Cubs won the game on Saturday and the Cardinals won the game we saw on Sunday. It’s always good fun but it’s a very different ambiance when the crowd is evenly split with a significant number of neutrals.
Our immediate neighbours in the surrounding seats were interesting and great fun. In front of us was a group from the Netherlands – big baseball fans. The wife played softball and the husband was a catcher – very engaging and very knowledgeable. To my immediate left was a young boy from near Schenectady, New York. He was a big Red Sox fan but his mother, sadly, was a Yankees fan and suffered much ribbing by Chip and me throughout the game. I asked him if he had ever been to Fenway. Not only had he been to Fenway, he was invited, along with his two (I think) brothers to make the “Play Ball!” announcement at the beginning of the game.
I suppose one of the highlights of the game was when Chip and I went exploring in search of Pimms. Last time we went, four years ago for the Red Sox – Yankees game, there were gallons and gallons of Pimms to be had. There were concession stands scattered around the perimeter of the stadium as well as an army of mobile vendors wandering through the stands. This year, none! We stopped and asked a guy who turned out to be one of the senior ushers/staff who had a handy little booklet detailing where all the concession stands were located and what they were selling. No Pimms to be found anywhere! Quelle Merde! However, he very kindly pointed us in the direction of a concession stand selling cocktails – “Mojitos, strawberry daiquiri, sex on the beach, red, white and rose wine, you name it!” he exclaimed, successfully selling it to us. It was good but I still think I need to send a letter of complaint – no Pimms!
On Monday afternoon/evening we had an impromptu gathering – Adam, Ava, Jessie and Julieta came for a bit of a play and a barbeque. Jessie has recently taken up badminton (we gave her a set of rackets for her birthday) and, not surprisingly, she was keen to organise us into a competition. Unfortunately, it was very windy which made it difficult to take part in prolonged rallies but she did succeed in organising us and getting (most of) us to participate.
Tuesday afternoon the Boyntons sadly departed and on Wednesday morning we welcomed the team installing our solar panels – how exciting! We’ll probably have nothing but rain and cloudy skies from now on!
You will remember that I finished my virtual cycle ride along the route of the Underground Railroad a couple of weeks ago. After cycling aimlessly for a bit, I have finally decided where I will (virtually) go next. I’ve done the Pacific Coast from Vancouver to Mexico so why not do the route along the Atlantic Coast from Bar Harbor, ME to Key West, FL? Why not, indeed?
It will take a few days – 4,157 km (2,580 miles) but luckily, as I am starting in Bar Harbor, it’s all downhill. Now, if only the wind will stay predominantly at my back.
I did toy for a second with a route I ran across the other day – from Cape Town, South Africa to Magadan in eastern Russia. Apparently, it’s the longest walkable distance in the world, a mere 22,387 km (nearly 14,000 miles). You will undoubtedly be surprised that it took me somewhat less than a second to reject such a journey. I am thinking it might be a bit challenging cycling through Russia in the present circumstances.
Credit for this lengthy route goes to a Reddit user who drew it up on Google Maps in 2019. Claiming it to be the longest walking distance possible on the site, they found a route that required no flights, ferries or other boat-crossings: just open roads and bridges. The route takes the brave traveller up through Africa, past the Suez Canal, through Turkey, Central Asia and across Siberia to Magadan.
Where to begin with the YCNMIUs this week?
How about the news that the UK government has made no progress on its climate plans. Not disappointing progress or miniscule progress or slow, halting progress – no progress. And that’s according to the government’s own advisors.
And then there’s the Harvard professor who studies honesty who is accused of falsifying data in her studies. Really?
Or perhaps we could look at how Thames Water got itself into financial difficulties? We are now facing the absurdly preposterous situation of the UK taxpayer being set to bail out a company owned, predominantly, by foreign investors. Having loaded the company with debt, taken billions out in dividends and underinvesting in infrastructure, they can read the writing on the wall – time to bail on this idea but it was grand while it lasted!
Or finally, a video emerged of another Lockdown Party when the barely lamented Boris was Prime Minister and continuously assured the House of Commons that all Covid restrictions had been followed in Number 10. The video shows a Christmas party in full swing with a couple dancing vigorously (and pretty poorly) in the background while other revellers enjoy themselves.
The “party” (which was, according to Boris, a work event) came with its own invitation, an appeal to Jingle and Mingle. Two of those in the video so blatantly breaking the law were recently made Lords in Boris’s resignation “Honours” list. Nope, you could not make it up.
Someone, with more talent and time than I’ll ever have, shared the following on Twitter, an excellent amalgam of the Tories’ law-breaking with one of Jack Vettriano’s more well-known masterpieces, The Singing Butler. Love it.
We had Jessie for an over-nighter last night – we’re off to see Gifford’s Circus as we speak. We’ll fill you in next time.
Meanwhile, keep happy, keep smiling, be careful, wear a f**king facemask in crowded places and keep your distance. And keep safe. And be gentle to wasps and bees.
Lots of love to you all,
Greg