A Visit To The Old Blighty

I know that it has been a while since I last got some news away but due to the laptop here at home having crashed....gone with the Windows......famous last words on my last e-mail, I have been unable to write anything other than short notes to people. Hopefully I will get this away tomorrow as I have managed to scam some free internet time at the local library using Bettina’s card. Good score as the internet cafe was costing about 5 bucks per half hour.

It has been about a month since my last mail and in that time a lot has been happening not only here in Darmstadt but also around Germany in particular given the recent turn of events in New York. My plans to apply for work as an outside contractor with the U.S. Army / Airforce have been put on hold as all the bases over here have been put on full security alert and only military personel are being allowed on base. There are so many local venues that are not open for business as well which shows how much of an influence the U.S. is over here. When you hear the lists of public facilities that they have temporarily closed down you realise that all of these community services are military support networks. Everything from childcare centres to medical clinics to nightclubs and gymnasiums. Only essential services are running off base. Things are slowly returning to normal so with some luck I will be able to apply within the next few weeks. They have a web site which lists all the available jobs. As work here at the house is ever ongoing and the last days of Summer have been really ugly weather wise I am in no great rush. Looks as if we are going to have an early start to the Winter.

I had a great trip to England which saw me catching up with old friends in Birmingham as well as making some new ones. We did a day trip down to the Cottswolds and got to visit Broughton On The Water, Stow On The Wold as well as Upper and Lower Slaughter. Fantastic little medieval villages that are just picture postcard stuff. Found a couple of hooting pubs for a few quiet ales that in the main overlooked the streams and gardens that run through the centre of the villages. Managed to score one of the best Cornish pasties I think I’ve ever had for lunch and sat by the river watching small brown trout hanging on the river bottom giving the odd lazy flick off thier tails to just keep position against the quietly flowing river. The weather there through out my trip was just perfect and managed to hang at around 28c during the days and about 18c at night. Where I was staying in Mosely was just a great little suburb. Very arty and alternative.

A lot of great bands have hailed from there including UB40 and Jethro Tull. I got to meet Pete the Feet, one of the local identities, who’s great claim to fame is that he has never ever worn shoes even in the snow and ice in the depths of Winter over the last 52 years. One of the local barmaids was trying so hard to impress me that she kept giving me samples of the local beers on tap. May not sound much but at the Boars Head they have over 30 real ales to choose from and all the standard beer brands as well. Needless to say it was a great saving on the pocket and I left the establishment with a greatly heightened appreciation for English brewers, barmaids and the downhill walk to home. On leaving, my mate David gave me some new Paul Weller and bootleg Beatles studio out takes on CD. Some really neat stuff and certainly some studio recordings that the Beatles never intended anyone to hear.

For the last day and evening I went down to Oxford to stay with my friends Will and Joanne. Will has just finished his degree in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic languages and has done his thesis on early Egyptian contractual obligations and the laws that surrounded them. Due to his readings of some very obscure heiroglyphics he has found that a lot of legalese that we have always taken for granted as having come from the English judicial system was in fact implemented and used by the Egyptians some 1500 years earlier and was no doubt borrowed by the Romans and later transfered by them into the English system. Caveat emptor ( let the buyer beware ) being a superb example of this.

We had a brilliant day together as he showed me a great deal of Oxford University. We went to see his own college as well as the famous All Souls College which is locally refered to as the college without students. To be a fellow of All Souls you not only have to gain your doctorate / Phd but you then have to undertake a series of harrowing exams set by the board of governers. As a result very few people ever make it and at the time I was there they had a total of 3 fellows and some one hundred plus rooms to occupy. Will, explained that the university library is the largest in the U.K. as it acts as a central book repository for the entire country. Underneath Oxford there is a network of rooms and tunnels set to rival the London underground with motorised trams to haul the books around from vault to vault. Every week they receive around six shipping containers of books, periodicals, journals and thesis papers to label, catelogue and store away. What a job !

During the war years the Queen sought an agreement with the Third Reich that if they did not bomb Oxford then the British would not bomb Heidelberg and hence preserve the biggest university towns in both countries. As a result not one bomb ever fell on Oxford and the library remained in tact as did all the fabulous buildings and statues.

We went to a variety of local establishments to sample the local brews. He took me to some really unique little taverns set right back off the main drag and accessible only by narrow lane ways. I had to wonder how they got the kegs of ale in to them but I guess they probably use the library tram system underneath or some such deviant method. We went to The Bear , The Turf, The White Horse, Kings Arms and The Eagle & Child. At The Bear the walls are covered with the ends of hundreds of neck ties. In the UK. where it is common to wear ´the old school tie´ this pub has set about collecting the bottom six inches of any ones tie that they have not yet captured. Hence most of the schools, universities, regiments and rowing clubs in the England are represented here. Will tells me that the owner keeps a large pair of very sharp dress making scissors behind the bar and when he spots someone wearing one that the pub doesn’t yet have he enquires as to whether he may look at it and as soon as the patron leans over the bar the owner grasps the end of his tie as if examining it and then whips out the shears and whoosh, no more tie end. Apparently some of the punters have been upset beyond words. Some have even come to blows. There is however a small sign by the door that states that all neck ties become the property of management whilst on the premisies. Even I had to admit that you would need a magnifying glass to read it. They do how ever offer compensation by way of free pints to any one who falls foul of there evil scheme. Most are good natured enough and proud as punch to have there part of history on the wall.

The Eagle & Child was fabulous as this was the earliest of all the Oxford free houses and it was where J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S.Lewis drank, talked and discussed thier current literary works. There are places where they have scrawled bits of poetry and drawings on the brick work inside. Although it is quite a common sight to see Inspector Morse (John Thaw ) and Lewis cruising around in the maroon Mk I Jaguar it was not to be on this visit. A great day and a real eye opener of a day for me. We returned home where Joanne had made a fantastic evening meal of fresh figs with parma ham for the entree followed by Egyptian moussaka and home made apple pie with clotted creamand. All off this with a classic bottle of Chateau Neuf du Pape 1992 and the wonderful company of two of my favourite poms.

The flight back from Stansted dropped me in Frankfurt-Hahn about 15 minutes after the World Trade Centre was hit. Already things there were hapening with the federal border police zooming around everywhere with thier machine pistols under thier arms. I guess all said and done I was lucky as I found out later that within an hour of the attack all te airports in Germany were so heavily locked down under security that it was taking hours and hours to get through customs. It took me less than 10 minutes. Yahoo, I can’t stand queing for hours on end especially after the 4am finish that I had in Oxford same day.

The Blog Begins

Dear All,

Well good-aye again. This one has been a little bit late coming off the wire as I have been absolutely flat out, with a variety of things that have kept me at arms length from anything remotely resembling spare time to write. Not that I am complaining as it has been several months full of good times and great memories. All shall be revealed within, so read on, ye valiant purveyors of my on-line ranting.