Reuniting with a dear friend in Canterbury & the Cathedral

I first met Penny at McGill University in Montreal in 1974 when I was a reception clerk in the Employment Office and she came in for a job. Somehow we hit it off as friends and we have stayed friends for the past 45 years even though we almost always have lived in different countries and only meet up every few years. The last time we met face-to-face was 10 years ago this summer, when I was in England and she lived in Sussex. But this past Monday it was like that was only yesterday. We talked and talked as we wandered around Canterbury Cathedral and along the streets of Canterbury.

Penny had never met Richard and they hit it off immediately as well. It was a sunny, mild day for walking around Canterbury. The Cathedral was, indeed, magnificent. Overwhelming really. R has bought a book on its history, illustrated with beautiful watercolor paintings so I will enjoy looking through it and actually absorbing the Cathedral’s history.

We ate lunch at a very good Italian restaurant called, for some reason, Ask Italian. We sat and talked at the table for a couple of hours; it was relaxing and really quite magical. Then we went to M & S for sandwiches to bring up to our room and Penny drove us back to the hotel. I really hope it won’t be another 10 years before I see her again.

I am trying very hard to live in the moment. Don’t think of where we are going yet, don’t think of what might be going on back in Arizona or worries about the past. Just today, just where we are. It is so good to be an observer of history and realize that things change but patterns remain. And seeing history puts life into perspective somehow.

Looking into the Choir in Cathedral

Very old baobab tree in Cathedral grounds

Memorial to horses killed during World War 1

Busy town, loads of medieval buildings mingled with later ones.

And some background on Canterbury Cathedral

Comments

January 2024 and blogging

I haven't posted on my blog for a long time. Partly that was due to not knowing what to write about and partly it was wondering if I wanted to put myself "out there" anymore. And in what way. I subscribe to a few blogs on Substack, which is a subscription-based blog. You can pay to have your own blog, you can pay for someone else's blog, and that means you get to write and post and get comments back from a whole lot of people. You can comment on other people's blogs--if you pay--or else you can just read the blog and not pay. Of course you might miss some of the "pay only" content--much like modern news media has teaser stuff but to read the whole article, you have to pay for a subscription. The Substack blogs cover all kinds of topics and there are a few "professional" writers--meaning they're journalists and writers who have published and been paid larger bucks than the $5 a month they get per subscription on Substack--but I think most ...

Sunday in Richmond Park & Memories

One of the reasons I came back to London after Ireland was to keep a date with my cousin Elizabeth: a Sunday morning walk in Richmond Park. When I moved to England in May of 1978, I rented a room in a house near Richmond Park. I'd heard of the room through a colleague at McGill University's Human Resources Department, where I was working as a Senior Clerk. Montreal had become a bit difficult for me to be in owing to a twice-broken heart and a feeling I wasn't going anywhere at McGill. It seemed like an omen, then, on the plane returning from South Africa in January of 1978--I keep promising to write about that--that I came across an article in a magazine about young Canadians living in London. I'd always loved the idea of being in London what with growing up on a diet of British movies and then all of the articles about Swinging London in the 1960s/early 1970s. By the time I arrived at Mirabel Airport, I had the perfect antidote to my wounded pride over South...

Life on board the Queen Mary

Passenger's log on the Queen Mary 2: Dec 9th - First Day at Sea Didn't sleep well--think it was the soused mackerel at dinner. Anyway, R and I woke up at about 6:00 am and discussed the order of the day. Quite the swell outside and I can feel the roll of the ship. (No seasickness thank goodness!) Despite the mackerel, I was hungry so we went to King's Court at 6:30 a.m. Buffet with loads of choice of course. We sat in an alcove looking out at the ocean. Our server was from Croatia, Slavan. I asked him my burning question of the day--why did we get a free bottle of wine but a regular bottle of Diet Coke cost $3.75? Diet Pepsi is $1.00 less. Fruit juices are free on tap. Coffee, tea, milk, ditto. But you have to pay for soft drinks. Very odd. Slavan says it is because Cunard can't get a good contract with Coke. Hmmm.... our local School District back in Sierra Vista can negotiate .50 a can for the soda machines in the teachers' lounges but Cunard has to cha...

valeriesbookofme

Search This Blog