A lovely Sunday on the Thames...

Toni's crew whooped the Eaton crew handily in their 600 metre race this afternoon, under a brilliant blue sky... and 30+ degrees... on a lovely section of the Thames by the village of Burway (the Burway Regatta). Winning that heat qualified her crew for the final against a boat from their own school. The other boat, crewed by slightly older kids, slightly more experienced, won... the sad/disappointing thing is that Toni's crew lost the race before they even left the starting line. The older girls psyched them out...

The Thames, itself, was actually very busy. The race course was situated just up river from a small lock. Every 20 minutes or so the lock would disgorge a collection of boats working their way up river... small canoes to huge cabin cruisers. The race organizers did what they could to keep things from being disrupted, but I think that there were a couple of races that were negatively affected by the traffic.

The last race of the day was a heart breaker... single sculls, and a tight race until one of the competitors veered into a moored barge. Oooh, sporting drama! Nothing quite like it, is there?

Back at the house we were treated to several displays of children behaving badly; Toni and her friend, Freddie and her friend contriving to pout and cajole, and then berate the father of the friends into letting them stay the night. Ol' dad dug in his heels and took the girls off... good for him for being strong. The girls were completely out of line... Unfortunately the fallout continued well into the evening for us. Both Toni and Freddie became unruly and really upset their mother. Tempers flared, voices were raised in anger and frustration...

We had a long talk about the differences in parenting today from when we were raised, and the differences in what children have access to/are exposed to, and how it affects their behaviour. The children that we have been 'dealing with' on this trip are generally nice, polite, well mannered, well educated with an ugly sense of 'entitlement' that becomes the fulcrum for the rude insolence that all too often flairs up. As this particular group of kids fumbles its way into adolescence the parents no longer see some of the behaviours as cute, and huge tensions are developing... like what we saw with the girls' friends and their father, and what we see with Toni and her mother. Clashing hormones! Wow! This household was never a quiet, placid place... its going to be a maelstrom in the coming years.

The family is facing a series of substantial challenges due to the children maturing, the faltering UK economy hammering the sectors that the families (Woking and Southport branches) rely on for their income, the silliness of the Labor Government and their 'stealth' taxes, ridiculous laws and regulations... It may be a cruel and not just a little cowardly thing to say, but thank goodness we live on another continent. We had a hypothetical 'what if we decided to move to Britain' discussion... and realized that we probably couldn't afford to... our accumulated wealth (read; pensions) would be sucked dry trying to establish ourselves in the UK environment at the standard of living that we are used to in Canada, noting that what we pay a dollar for in Canada would cost a pound in the UK, a 1-to-2.1 relationship... and the emotional roller coaster this family is facing in the next few years would compromise our attempts at career building (or rebuilding). I don't want the stress... Gail doesn't need the stress. Gail will try to get back at least once a year to see her parents...

Its a really nice place to visit...

Just a quick update...

Just a quick note to update what's happenin'...

We're getting ready to set off for Warwick Castle, then on to Woking... then hanging out until my flight on Tuesday. Once we get to Woking I will spend some time talking about the last three days, including the visit to the fabulously enigmatic Portmerion, the only place I've ever been where they print the times of high tide on the admission tickets!

All is well...

Can't quite figure out this weather...

The weather is wet and windy again this morning... the forecasters seem to have even more trouble getting it right for this part of the UK as they do in northern Alberta.

On Sunday morning, I did board a train for Liverpool, all by myself. There was absolutely no resistance to me setting off on my own... and yes, I was very surprised. I suspect that Gail was starting to see the chinks in my good humour about it all, and decided to avoid the fight...

After paying my 3 lbs, 70 for the return trip, I took a place in a very clean and comfortable commuter train, not unlike the Toronto GO trains. In a little over 20 minutes I was standing on Water Street in Liverpool. After a brisk walk down towards the docks, I boarded a shuttle bus (free!) which took me and several thousand others to the Wellington Docks where the class A, or the large tall ships were berthed. Very high winds... almost unpleasant at times. I spent two hours at the dock, clambering onto a couple of the ships that looked most interesting, and then caught a shuttle bus back to city centre and the rail line. I will post a couple of photos when I have access to a computer that can handle it...

My father-in-law met me at Ainsdale station to take my cameras and a borrowed cellphone from me (so I didn't have to surrender them to British Open security team) and dropped me at the golf course. I wandered up the club house, flashing my guest-of-member pass, only to be told, politely, that I couldn't enter the clubhouse wearing jeans. Oh, bloody hell! I knew that. I really did know that, but I hadn't even considered it when I dressed for the trip to the docks. After convincing the club secretary to let slip through to use the payphone to call someone, anyone who could get me out of this, we stumbled across Gail and her mother. Gail, as only Gail can do, simply suggested that I go next door to the pro shop and buy a pair of pants. What I did buy was a pair of weather proof pants to use as a coverup... nearly everyone on an English golf course seems to have a pair. The fun part is that I ended up with a pair of Canadian designed and manufactured Sun Ice brand pants, which, factoring in the travel costs, have become the most expensive pair of Canadian pants I have ever owned.

The conclusion to the Open was very dramatic... suitable for such an event. I still must admit, however, that it is more exciting to watch golf on television unless you have some really riotous companions with you. The conclusion to the day provided the proper level of entertainment on all fronts.

Monday morning we boarded the train again and made our way to the Albert Dock and the Tate Gallery for the Gustav Klimt exhibit. The docks were the berth for the class B and class C of the tall ships. The Albert Dock is also home to a major Beatles exhibit... something I suspect the family has seen a number of times so they seemed quite blaise about it. My broadest of hints were ignored...

The Klimt exhibit did not disappoint, however I would have liked to have seen more of his portraiture. As it was, we saw a great deal of his design work, and that of his contemporaries, and got a good feeling for the history of the Viennese Secession movement that he had helped to found. Still, I expected more... but was not disappointed overall.

As we were leaving the docks, so were the tall ships in a formal 'parade of sail' as they started the race to Ireland, to Norway and then to the finish line at the Netherlands.

After lunch today we are headed to the Lakes... returning on Thursday. Portmerion on Friday and then, back to London Saturday evening... yes, they've changed plans on me again. Sunday we will watch Toni rowing on the Thames... Monday, who knows? And then Tuesday, I'll be on my way home...

No one has said anything directly to me, but I keep overhearing snatches of whispers about how little I am eating. I am actually eating nicely sized portions... I am fighting to eat nicely sized portions. And I am drinking the Ensures, at least two a day. Because I am walking quite a bit, I suspect that I am burning some of the calories that they think should be fattening me up... but the exercise feels good, and appropriate.

At the British Open

When the television cameras take their shots of the eighteenth hole and the clubhouse building in behind, if you look really, really closely, you'll see us on the other side of the glass in the clubhouse, staying warm and dry! I would try to post photos, but the ones I have are of the practice rounds (which I may post anyway). They are confiscating cameras and cellphones at the gate to the grounds.

The wet and the winds have been outrageous... we've found that it is more acceptable to be in the clubhouse (thanks to Sally and Derek's member guest passes!) or at the in-laws watching on the television. The in-laws live within walking distance of the golf course, so its no hardship to bounce back and forth between the two, depending on the weather. Unfortunately, that is not what is happening. We're either there, or not.

Today we ran out to 'Aunt' Jane's cottage in Cheshire for lunch... a lovely place with an absolutely amazing collection of art, both paintings and sculpture. I don't want to say too much about her collection in case the 'wrong sort of people' are reading this blog; just note that it is wonderful. We skirted Liverpool, so I didn't even catch a glimpse of the Tall Ships today. Oh, well... tomorrow will be at the golf course... although I'm thinking of threatening to catch a train into Liverpool in the morning to see the Tall Ships, and then scoot back to the Royal Birkdale (Hillside train station on the Merseyside line is within 100 meters of the main gate) to meet the family at the Open. That should get a reaction... I'm sure that Gail will absolutely refuse to let me do it... (hee, hee, hee).

Monday we are going into Liverpool to the Tate Gallery at the Albert Dock to see the Klimt exhibit, and, if we time it right, we should see the parade of sail as the Tall Ships leave Liverpool. And that's sorta why I want to slip in to the city tomorrow morning (Sunday)... the ships are closed to visitors on Monday as they prepare to sail off into the horizon...

We're off to the Lake District for Tuesday evening and Wednesday, back to Southport on Thursday, to Portmerion in Wales on Friday to see the village that was the set for the cult television show 'The Prisoner', and then just 'hangin' about' in Southport until I have to go back to London to catch my flight home. I am a little disappointed that the timing for the family isn't working to my advantage this time... I had hoped to either get into central London for a bit, or off to the city of Bath, but it doesn't look like either is going to happen. This is what comes of being beholden to your relatives when you travel... next time I am going to arrange for driving lessons and rent a car or a motorcycle, dammit!

On the health watch side of things, I still haven't gained any weight. But I do feel terrific!

Southport, Merseyside, UK

This morning has been, from a weather perspective, gawd awful! There's rain blowing in from the sea on a chilly breeze that is keeping us, well, me in particular, away from the first day of the British Open... we're watching it on television instead. We're within walking distance of the course and yet have decided to stay warm and dry in our little burrow here at Dunster Road. We will be going to course for 2:30 pm to meet sister-in-law Sally in the club house after she has finished her shift as Scorer.

Since we arrived in Southport on Tuesday evening the days have been blustery, calming into the evening with overnight rain. Typical English weather! I am travelling with shorts and two pairs of light khakis and dress sandals, and haven't worn anything except my jeans and ropers since we landed at Heathrow. At the least the people are nice and entertaining... We had dinner last night at Roy and Joan's (family friends) with Brian and Anne (family friends, though might as well be family), Jean-Claude and Claire (Gail's mother's half sister and chef husband from Nice), Aunt Pauline (who looks suspiciously like Dame Edna), Anne and Toddy (from Edmonton, AB, of all places! Family friends), Sara, Steven and their two children Spencer and Maryasa (Anne and Toddy's kids, living in Vancouver), and Alan and ? Jackson, (friends of Roy and Joan's), and of course the ever present Sally and Derek. It was fun.

I found a weigh scale here at my in-laws that measures in 'stones'... and no matter how you measure it I am still not gaining weight; 10.09 stone is still not more than 155 lbs no matter which conversion scale you use. In fact, if you multiply by 14 (14 lbs to a stone, in theory) I only weigh 141.26 lbs, which represents a weight loss of over ten lbs since we left Edmonton. And yet I have been eating much better, still maintaining my Ensure Plus intake, and have noticed an increase in appetite. It may be the exercise... but that doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

My surgeon is going to be very concerned if I really have slipped below the 150 lb mark. Hell, I'm going to be very concerned if I've slipped below 150... the oncology team at the Cross Cancer Centre threatened to install a J-tube or a G-tube if I didn't make up the weight by August. I do NOT want a tube in my stomach!

I feel great, however. I just don't know what's going on...

And last night we...

Yesterday was an all round good day. We went for a long walk down one of the many public footpaths... and actually met a woman who has lived in Namao and Edmonton; bit of a brassy American who has now settled in the same district as Andrew and Hayley. The husband is a bit eccentric, wearing a violent blue (and yes, I meant to use the word 'violent') ball cap with his gold engraved name tags from his previous American employers flopping all over it.

The girls rode their bikes, while we hoofed it, with the dogs running merrily through the countryside. We followed through the Sutton Green village to the canal (I've got some video of a small lock in operation with two canal barges working their way through if anyone is interested) and then back to the Olive Tree pub for a late lunch. During lunch we explained to the girls, in graphic detail, what I have been through, why the scars, and my current eating habits. I should point out that I am eating much better. There is a slight problem with swallowing, still, but for the most part my consumption of food is getting better every day. I'm going through a lot of milk at mealtimes...

Oh, and by the way, strawberry flavoured Ensure is vile. Well, at least the UK version is...

The early evening was an open air concert with Elton John and 15,000 of his devotees at Brooklyn's... an old race car track that has been converted to an outdoor concert venue. Mercedes-Benz has a huge stake in it... and owns the naming rights. After abandoning the Range Rover in the car park, we walked for a kilometer onto the grounds where there was the obligatory rock 'n roll concert fair set up. Concessions offered Wine, Champagne and PIMMS #1 by the pitcher, regular bar stock, Posh Burgers, ice cream, and there was even a Salmon and Oyster Bar. A disco dance floor was offered in a huge tent...

We met up with friends of Andrew and Hayley's... and realized that Andy had arranged a block of tickets for them and us... lovely folks, all.

The average age of the concert goers had to be forty (40).

The concert was pretty much the same as the 'Red Piano' concert from his Las Vegas show... and I must say that the sound was absolutely brilliant! I heard everything! I didn't notice any frequency drop out at all. Either my hearing is improving or it was so loud that I couldn't NOT hear it all. I can still be snuck up on easily, however... I still can't hear what I used to be able to, but I truly believe that it is getting better.

This evening Andrew will drive us as far as Birmingham where he will hand us off to Gail's mother.

the Bishop's residences in UK

As promised, here are photos of where we're staying in the UK... We are actually living in the darker building... they (our gracious host and hostess) are building the brick building shown in the other photos...

Notice how close together they are... the darker building will need to be knocked down before they can finish the main entrance. They expect to be complete by December, so long as Andrew's other building projects (Andrew Adams Developments) don't suck up too many resources.

Seven bedrooms, just as many full bathrooms... this place is absolutely huge!

If you try this:

apple acre, pyle hill road, sutton green, woking, surrey gu22 0sr

you might find the place on the map, however, if it doesn't work, try

Sutton Green Golf Club, Woking, Surrey

and if you zoom in you will find Pyle Hill to the south...

Woke this morning to bright sunshine. Will it hold? It bloody well better... we're seeing Elton John at an outdoor concert in the early evening.

We're going to take a quick run in to Guildford and then to a pub for lunch and walk by a canal. Where? I haven't got a clue... I've got to sort out some addresses so that you can Google map where we are... I know that the house we are staying is in Woking, Surrey, on Pyle Hill Road; the house is called Apple Acre. Will it work as a Google address? I don't know... I'll try it in a moment.

And I've got to get those photos uploaded.

Gail fell apart last night, finally admitting that she is still terrified that the cancer is going to kill me. I keep trying to tell her that the 'cure' rate for my type of cancer is 95%, but she has fixated on some statistic for pancreatic cancer which has a 95% mortality rate. She still isn't coping well, but the visit with Hayley is definitely helping. Part of the issue is that she needs 'hope', and something to look forward to. So, I gotta come up something that she can aim for... like a move to Costa Rica?

Today has been an 'okay' day from a weather perspective... until quite recently when we were treated to a brief downpour. The temperature has plummeted, things have gone a bit gray...

At the home where we are currently staying, Andrew and Hayley's on Pyle Hill Road, things are in quite a state. We are staying in their current house, an older frame house that has seen better days. But on the rest of their 2 acre plot, they are building a neo-Georgian mansion of 5000 square feet. The new house is absolutely huge... the current house, referred to alternately as the Clampett house or the 'shed' might be 2000 square feet in a pinch. The layout is, to my eye, odd. Long, rectangular rooms. I think that Andy made some quick upgrades just before they moved in (like new windows, a new bathroom/laundry room downstairs), but this house is a 'throw away'. He's going to knock it down once the new house is complete. You can lean (okay, big stretch) out the living room window and touch the new house. And things just got really interesting; the gentlemen installing a very nicely done split rail fence punctured the waterline to the 'shed'. We will spend the evening ferrying water, bucket by bucket from the new house to this one. And Hayley is prepping dinner for guests... Thank goodness for low flush toilets. Why not just run a hose from the new house to this one? The plumbers haven't yet installed the standard fittings in the new house; we'll be tapping directly into the mains... I find it fascinating that there are two water feeds to this property.

Yesterday was a nice day with two shopping trips into the surrounding towns. First we ran out to Guildford to get a particular type of jeans for Jennifer. They've made changes to labels, or something, causing Gail to balk at the purchase until she can communicate with Jennifer. We then walked around a bit... something which did not cause me any grief at all. My shoulder and back seem to be getting strong enough to handle the walking... its the standing that remains the problem. And as we walked through Guildford, we passed a Boots pharmacy a number of times, and I completely forgot that we needed to pick up some Ensure each time. I didn't remember until we got back to the house, and then had to ask Hayley to take us out again. Instead of Guildford, we went into the town of Woking, proper, and found a Boots. And they didn't have any! In fact, the shop girls (interesting British invention; shop girls) were quite taken aback by the request. They wanted at least three days to get stock. Now understand that Boots is the British equivalent of London Drugs (same colours on the logos), Shoppers Drug Mart or Walgreen's (USA). Frustrated, we called Gail's mother in Southport to ask her where she got the stock that she has laid in for me. She suggested a place called Moss Pharmacy, which is a dedicated pharmacy, the likes of which we haven't seen in Canada for some time. We found one, and discovered that yes, they had the Ensure. They keep it behind the counter. And, when asked how many I wanted, I said that I wanted a case; they were very surprised. I cleaned them out and still only managed to get a dozen cans/bottles.

But oddly enough, I am eating slightly better in the last couple of days...

Dinner tonight will be a collection of curries. For part of the shopping, Hayley and I went off to an East Indian grocery in Woking where I managed to score a tub of chocolate flavoured halvah! Lovely stuff, very tasty, but is proving to be very dry and drying... I grabbed the wrong stuff. If I had gone for the plain or pistachio flavoured halvah, its much wetter, and not unlike a spread like peanut butter or nutella.

I'm feeling pretty good. I took a walk down the road (a private road, no less) to the A320. No problems... everything is still working well. And the houses on this road are phenomenal! Andrew's latest construction on this plot will do the road justice... and, I'm guessing here, based on some stuff that one of Andrew's friends has said, but this new house should be worth in the £2 million plus range.

Guests have arrived... I'm going to have to go...

Wow... I just noticed that I haven't updated this blog since June 23... so much has happened since then; godson Tim dropped in on a whirlwind visit from Ontario, Gail had another birthday, Kimberley got a new and better job with Capital Health, and Jennifer bought a new car. I will try to fill in the details and the blanks over the next few days...

On vacation

I'm typing this while seated in the home office of Andrew and Hayley, brother and sister-in-law at their home in Woking, Surrey, UK. We arrived in London at noon on Wednesday, amidst an ugly downpour, which apparently had been going on for some days. After a nice sleep and a very quiet night, we have awoken in Woking (they rhyme, by the way) to lovely sunshine and steadily climbing temperatures. Hopefully by the end of day we will hit 22 degrees... a bit of a difference from the 28 we left, but, hey, it is the UK after all.

The flight over was comfortable, but punctuated by a dreadfully behaved 4 year old boy who was throwing a temper tantrum once an hour whether there was a reason or not. And then his sisters got into the shrill screaming thing... the mother seemed quite helpless. And what was more annoying was that the grandparents were travelling with them and absolutely refused to help her keep her kids under control, going so far as to ignore her and the kids. Not a group that I'd be interested in travelling with again...

Its still pretty early on over here. I will update the blog with my experiences with the food, and the accommodations... but let me just say that there is a world of difference between gluten free bread in Canada and what Hayley found for me over here.