Another Bucket List Item Checked

Louise and I accomplished another bucket list item over the holidays with our trip to England. It’s a bit unusual that with 28 years in the Army, I never crossed the Atlantic to visit any of the European nations. We finally got that opportunity through our son, Graig, whose fiancee’s step-father happens to be a British Pole (or Polish Brit). His family immigrated from Poland to England, and he grew up there prior to his career taking him to the US. They invited us to join them for a 10-day visit over Christmas and New Year’s. I won’t go into all the details of the trip, but just want to offer some observations and talk about one special evening that really impressed me.

I’m thankful that I did not have to drive while there. It was hard enough for me to remember which side of the car to get into (as the oldest person, and probably the least mobile, I was always offered the front seat). I kept trying to get into the right-side passenger seat, which was actually on the left side. And I was constantly on pins and needles as we roared off down the road on the wrong side of the road. Amazingly, we never had an accident, nor did we see one.

We spent the first half of our trip in the historic town of St. Albans, pronounced “s’nalbans” just north of London. Maciek’s brother, Stas, pronounced “Stoss,” lives in S’nalbans (Maciek being our polish-brit guide). The highlight of the trip for me, and the special evening I mentioned above occurred on Christmas eve. Stas and his wife, Susan, hosted a magnificent traditional Polish Christmas Eve dinner, called a Wigilia. As I realized how important and meangful this tradition is to their family, I felt very honored that they were willing to share it with us. Once everyone had arrived (and there were a total of 18 of us), and before anyone ate anything, we broke Christmas wafers (oplatek) together, embraced and exchanged wishes for good health and prosperity. Stas and Susan had a beautiful home with a large dining room. The long dining room table was extended by another table to allow seating for all 18 of us plus the traditional place set for anyone who might happen to come in off the streets in need of food and comfort. No meat is served in this 12-dish meal, but several fish items. The 12 dishes are symbolic of the twelve Apostles and the twelve months of the year. The meal began with a delicious beet soup, called red borscht, which is prepared over a period of several days and included dumplings. I’m not sure what all the other dishes were, but I did recognize several dishes of salmon, herring, and I believe, carp. Several bottles of wine and champagne kept our glasses full throughout the meal and the exchange of gifts that followed. It was a wonderful evening and certainly appreciated by this Carolina redneck.

St. Albans is an interesting town. It was taken over by the Romans in about 40 AD, when they invaded England. They named it Verulamium. The Romans occupied it for about 400 years, and built a wall around the city using local flintrock. After the Romans left, the village was named St. Albans, after a local citizen who was largely responsible for bringing Christianity to the area. They eventually tore down the wall and used the same flintrock to build a Bell Tower and an Abbey, which is now a magnificent Cathedral. The Bell Tower and Abbey/Cathedral are still standing.

Another interesting experience was a visit to Bletchley Park, the site where the amazing decoding of German transmissions occurred during WWII. The brilliant people who worked there clearly had a major impact on the outcome of the war.

The second half of our trip was spent in the London suburb of Chiswick, pronounced “chizik.” We rented an Airbnb there and commuted daily into downtown London, where we visited the Tower of London, Trafalgar Square, the Borough Market, Westminster Abbey and Big Ben, and Buckingham Palace, among other sites. We did a lot of walking, we rode the train, taxis and Ubers. I didn’t realize that London is on a much higher latitude than SC is. Even though the temperatures were about the same as we experience here in December, the sun went down at 4 PM in London. And although we lucked out on getting very little rain, it was overcast every day; we only saw a couple of hours of sunlight the entire trip.

One bit of advice for anyone planning to go over: if you want to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, see it on YouTube first. It was nice to actually be there when it was taking place, but if you are less than 7 feet tall, you’ll see mostly the backs of the heads of the 40,000 others in attendance. I did see some people on horseback, though, and I could hear bagpipes playing somewhere in front of me.

I’m pretty sure we visited every pub in St. Albans and Chiswick. Every pub is unique, but most of them have one similarity: the bar is usually in the center of the pub, and on either side of the bar are the family area separated from the rowdy area. The pubs are very family-friendly, provided you are on the proper side. The family side is always carpeted; the rowdy side is wood floors. Why anyone would want to eat fish as a snack is beyond me, but all the pubs specialize in “fish and chips.” The fish appeared to be cod or something similar. Of course, I learned that chips aren’t chips; they are actually french fries. And french fries aren’t really french fries; they are those thick steak fries. And if you actually want chips, you have to order crisps (I can’t even say that word without slurring).

So, we had a great vacation in England. We even managed to figure out how to use our computer with the TV to watch the Clemson-Notre Dame game. It was interrupted every now and then by buffering, but all is good. Now, on to the Natty.

Go Tigers!!