Month: May 2009

Another beautiful day in England

Posted on May 31, 2009 by Bruce

Yesterday was great! We headed over to Coventry to check out the Transport Museum. they had a Dr. Who Exhibition along with a wonderful history of British auto-making. I learned the in the orignal Italian Job the tunnel sequences were actually shot in Coventry… kind of cool. For the Dr. Who Exhibition I learned that while I really like the Doctor, I am a late comer (I recall watching it in the 70’s, but didn’t have a chance to follow it since the last season on BBC America. So while I was fascinated by the displays, I was lost as to their significance. Guess it’s time to start watching more on DVD!

After Coventry we headed to ShakespeareLand, yes Stratford-Upon-Avon. Beautiful town, very, very touristy. We actually took a tour since, while I am familiar with the bard’s work, I am not a scholar. It was interesting. The thing I found really neat was that they had a “kids” version of the audio. I listened to a portion of that and it was really neat. geared to hold the attention of a 9 or 10 year old (no comments). When I compared notes with Sue it seemed the same information was dealt with, just in a different manner. Stopped by to get the MINI washed since poor Nigel was looking a little messy.

Motoring in England & Dealing with the SatNav

Posted on May 29, 2009 by Bruce

Well as today closes (weather was back to being wonderful) I thought I’d post something quickly about motoring in England.  I recall the first time I ever drove the Dragon (US 129 on the border of TN&NC) wonderful road, makes my brain hurt to drive it.  I know there are those who zip and zoom around the 318 turns, but I’m enough of a novice that it just tires me out to think about it.  That’s kind of what driving in England is like.  Not the turn every second, but you have to think.  I’ve been driving long enough that I can do some things on auto-pilot.  A long stretch of Interstate and you can let your mind wander (keeping alert for changes) In England the roads are the same, but everything is backwards (75% of all MINIs made are left hand drive) I can drive with the wheel on the right, but the other side of the road still makes me have to think.  Sue has caught me making a right turn and going instinctively into the right lane!  Not a good idea.  I have improved a great deal since I first started out, but I still feel like I’m a new driver trying not to get into trouble.  Combine this with not being familiar with the roads and my brain is set to explode!

Now we have a Nuvi (Hyacinth) with the European roads on it, and I have Sue who is a great navigator.  Today we headed out to see an old friend of ours who is in England for part of the summer.  He sent us directions via email.  So we had Hyacinth, Sue, and Bill all telling me where to go…  Hyacinth took one route, Sue had her idea, and Bill had Google Maps directions-  the result was getting lost and taking almost three hours to reach our destination.  After turning off the GPS things got a little better (OK we had to figure out where we were first), The way home was also interesting because we decided to just follow the Nuvi’s directions- Neat roads but I don’t think I could find my way back without help.  Tomorrow is another day and more adventures-  the fun part is getting lost- fortunately I did mark our cottage as a waypoint.

A Trip to Booktown

Posted on May 28, 2009 by Bruce

Well yesterday was a long day but really neat. We drove into a town just across the border into Wales. Hay-on-Wye has this magnificent book festival besides being known as “The Town of Books” since it has so many bookstores. After checking out the children’s section at the festival (and finding lots of cool books for my classroom) we wandered the town. It was raining (finally some english weather) but we were fine since we were given an umbrella at the festival. Besides books I did manage to pick up a replacement for my Tilley hat. The things are indestructible but that doesn’t help much when you misplace it. I’ve posted a bunch of pictures on Flickr, but all I can say is it was a wonderful day.

Reading a little before heading back after a glorious day at the Hay Festival and wandering around Hay-on-Wye.

One observation I have made as I search for the culture that brought about the Mini is- There are just so many of them over here! If you don’t own a Mini (or didn’t at one time) you knew someone who did. It was the British “Model T” the car everyone had. While the numbers are increasing in the states, you can’t turn a corner without seeing at least one Mini or MINI. For the uninitiated you may notice that I type Mini or MINI which in type distinguishes the old Mini from the newer MINI. There are many diehard Mini Geeks out there who hate, loathe, etc. the new MINI (now 7+ years since the first one was built). But yesterday was for the book geek in me. I spent way too much, but ended up with what I hope will be some gems for my classroom.

Update from England…

Posted on May 26, 2009 by Bruce

As sit listening the the birds and the “gentle Breeze here in Sibford Gower (don’t you just love British names?) I thought I would post a quick note as to what my plans are since I really didn’t feel right flying all the way out here and not doing at least a couple comic strips about the MINI Factory and MINI United.  Of course the silly thing is you can’t do a strip about something that hasn’t happened!  Now that I’m settled down I have at least a few ideas before I start dealing with commentary about British life and yes, motoring.  When doing the planning for this back in November I looked up various museums to see what they might have about the Mini and basically got back little or no information.  Now that I’m here every brochure I pick up (for these same museums mind you) are all talking about the celebration of the Mini’s 50th birthday.  Go figure.  Well, Sue and I are stocked up and the weather is cooperating so expect more simple blogs in the days to come.