Day Two - Goodbye to Canterbury

     

Ate breakfast at the Greyfriar Inn. Although my girlfriend Lyma was quite excited about the full English breakfast – having lived here for four years and missing it – there was very little of it I could eat. Offered were:

Tea or coffee
Fried egg
Baked beans 
½ broiled tomato
Sausage
Bacon
Toast

I had a few bites of egg, a few bites of toast and some coffee. Hint: only stay at a B & B if you actually eat the breakfast – otherwise you are spending money for food you don’t eat.

Off to Dover. The white cliffs look just like the pictures. Although the Dover Castle was interesting, my favorite part was touring the “Secret War Time Tunnels” used by Admiral Ramsey during the famous retreat from Dunkirk. (Often referred to as the miracle at Dunkirk, over 330,000 English soldiers were rescued from Dunkirk in France, where they were surrounded by the Nazis and losing ground, fast.)

These tunnels had been started many years earlier, some of them dating back to hundreds of years ago. They also housed barracks for soldiers and even for the women working there in the various war offices. An interesting part of history I knew nothing about!

Hint: “Mall walking” does not prepare one for “hill walking”!! Yikes!!! 

Another short drive and we are at Battle Abbey – built on the land where the Battle of Hastings was fought in 1066. Gorgeous grounds! Used the audio walking tour. (These audio tours were available almost every where we went. I’d love to see this done more in the states!) We had an amazing view – the sky cleared and the remaining clouds turned pink. Daffodils in bloom as well as tulip poplars, cherry trees, and some sort of incredible “rose” tree. Wish I knew what it was. Do you know??

Walked into town and I was able to pick up some cheese and a cheese knife for the rest of the trip. Oh, and some cashews. Have I mentioned that everything here costs a small fortune????

Drove as far as Portsmouth where we spent the night at the Travel Lodge. (Think Howard Johnson’s from the early 70’s) Neat, clean, old, but relatively cheap. And so the sun sets on day two.  God is so good!

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Arrived at Heathrow Airport about 10:00 a.m. The flight over was probably the worst part of the entire trip. So if all I have to complain about is being squashed and uncomfortable for one night then I figure the trip was about perfect.

Challenge #1 – find Christy, whom we were meeting over there, find a cell phone rental place, find Avis and pick up our car. Found all 3 within the hour and were shortly on the road.

Challenge #2 – survive driving a stick-shift van, sitting on the wrong side of the car, driving on the wrong side of the road, and figuring out the “round-abouts” as soon as we leave the rental car lot. Whew! Praise God! We did not get killed, nor did we kill anyone!!! (His angels were working overtime, however. )

Challenge #3 – make it to Canterbury and find our B & B. We won this challenge despite the “secret” location of our little B & B. The Greyfriar’s Inn was built in 1267 and stood on a road unknown to us . . . or pretty much anyone else in town.

We made it to Canterbury Cathedral before it closed. What a totally amazing structure! I stood in awe of the ability God has given man to build such a work of art. And to think it was done in an age without any of the advantages of we enjoy. I doubt that such an edifice could even be built today – even with all of our technology I don’t think we have the artisans and craftsmen left that could do this type of work. Wonder of wonders - we were able to attend Evensong! During it, the men’s choir sang accapela – a more beautiful sound I have never heard. Truly, I could have listened for hours. Their voices harmonized up and down - singing songs of worship in the most beautiful place I have ever been – and filled the acoustically exquisite space.

Nighty-nite! Considering how very little sleep we all got, I think we did remarkably well to make it this far on our first day. God is good.

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Washing Machines & 5-year-olds

I was encouraging my friend Melissa this morning to teach her sons, 8 & 6, to do their own laundry. (Well, I just mentioned the 8-year-old because I knew she would be hesitant to let even her older son near the machines.) This friendly advice, from me – her children’s Godmother – was received rather lukewarmly. Now you have to picture this: Melissa in the basement with the laundry chute open and clothes backed up to the second story and the rest of the clothes knee-deep around her. (You know if she reads my blog I might be in trouble here! ) With four very active kids and clothes rivaling books for space in her house, she is ALWAYS doing laundry.

So . . . I was just giving her sociable suggestions based on my experience with the mountains of clothes our family generated with only two children. Then I made a mistake. I told her the following story:

When JB (our oldest son) was five, I decided he should be in charge of his own laundry. “You dirty it – you wash it” is my my motto. We placed a stool by the washer and I carefully explained the system:

• dump all your dirty clothes on the floor
• sort into two piles – dirty and REALLY dirty (this kept church clothes from being mixed up with “I was digging for buried treasure in the mud, Mom!” pile. Yes, I know that piles are usually sorted by whites, colors, etc. but if the whites are coated in mud it is hard to differentiate . . . )
• dump load #1 into the washer
• dump in one capful of detergent
• set on: large, cold, regular
• pull knob
• CLOSE THE TOP OF THE WASHER

This last instruction was paramount because our washer would not fill with water while the top was open. This concept was evidently intriguing to JB.  . . hence the excitement later when he proudly told me he had figured out what made the water stop and start. When the repairman came out to replace the part JB had ingenuously discovered, he confirmed that JB was indeed correct in his guess.

That was not the story to tell to encourage Melissa to give her children wings in the washing department. However, I am here to tell you that both my boys have done their own laundry ever since and for a number of years they did mine, as well. I list this as one of the smarter things I have ever pulled off! Someday I’ll blog about the some of the dumber things . . . 

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So today is the National Clean Off Your Desk Day. I am doing my part by throwing away all the misc. food/drink type trash off my desk. I totally don’t subscribe to the “A clean desk = an organized mind” theory. I forget who said that . . . the quote is on my desk somewhere.

But for those of you who just needed a National Day to get started on the dreaded task – here it is.

Below is a press release from www.organizingresources.com I am only including the first few paragraphs because the origin of this day cracks me up. I am the opposite of the Anne described below: I throw cloths over my OWN desk so I can work without all the visual abstraction of my own clutter.

I am taking a poll – how many of you have a clean desk right now? Honestly!

PS - I just cleaned off my desk. My method? Buy a large can of compressed air and blow, blow, blow!

Press Releases

 National Clean Off Your Desk Day

Second Monday in January 

          Are you concerned about what may be hiding in those piles on your desk?  Start the New Year off on a good start by tackling that messy desktop during National Clean Off Your Desk Day! 

This special day was originated by Anne Chase Moeller, the daughter of Mr. Chase of the Chase’s Annual Events—the very book where special events are listed.  Anne often helped out in her father’s office and shared his incredibly cluttered desk.  In order to create a place where she could work, she would spread a cloth over his chaos and then do her work.  When she finished, she would put her things away, including the cloth and leave.  The end of 1982 she declared that he would clean off his desk at least once each year.  Naturally, being in the business, they entered National Clean Off Your Desk Day into the record book for the second Monday in January, and the rest is history.  The record book has since been sold to a larger publisher, but the event is still celebrated each year.  It is a great time to get a fresh start for the new year.

http://www.organizingresources.com/pressreleases/cleandesk.htm

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Bats

Summer 2006

 I am not, in general, opposed to bats. They are afterall God’s creatures. They are small, sort of cute (from a DISTANCE) and they serve a purpose in life. (I forgot what it is but I am assured, they do.) So you will believe me when I say that I have nothing personal against them. Well, HAD nothing personal against them. Now it is personal. We have bats. Bats in the attic. Now, bats in the attic isn’t a truly horrible thing. After all, I NEVER go in the attic so I don’t have to see them there. But they got uppity and decided that their living quarters weren’t posh enough and attempted to move in downstairs. With us. With me. IN MY KITCHEN. I have never been especially good at sharing my kitchen, even with people. I certainly am not interested in sharing it with bats. I did not fuss too much when we found dead bats in the downstairs hall. They were, in fact, dead. I did not fuss too much (well, ok, I did fuss a lot,) when we found a live bat downstairs. BUT the final straw was when I not only found, but almost touched, a LIVE BAT hanging from the inside of my back door. The door I use 1,000 times a day. It was not even up high – it was right at my hand height – and it had no business being there. So, I declared war.

 After spending an inordinate amount of time (I’ll spare you the details of all the fruitless phone calls) getting an exterminator to come “take care of the bat problem,” They came. They went in the attic. They confirmed (surprise, surprise) that we did, indeed, have bats. Then, and I am NOT making this up: they said they could not kill the bats as they are a protected species. They would be happy to remove them for a mere $100.00 per bat. Seriously. Only $100.00 PER BAT. Bats the size of my hand. Little, harmless, furry critters that don’t fight back and are, in fact, ASLEEP while you remove them!

 But wait, it gets better. (And remember, I am NOT making this up.) They could not begin removal (assuming I would even pay them to do this) until AFTER THE “OFFICIAL BAT MATING SEASON” was over. So let me get this straight, I said. We have to wait around while they do their thing, bringing yet more bat-lets into this world (do they charge half-price for baby bats?) and once they have happily produced large, homeschool-sized bat broods, then and only then, can we have them removed? Righto.

 Where’s my shotgun?

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