Four days visiting the Jurassic coast

Monday

We travelled around the M25, down the M3, the A303, and some lesser known roads. We ended up in Weymouth, in the early evening, only slightly later than estimated.  One room for the three of us, with 4 beds, a microwave, fridge/freezer, and a larger than normal sink.  The accommodation, 'The Florian' is OK, especially considering it was booked fairly late.

Our eldest grandson is with us, this is his holiday more than ours, so we give him as much choice as possible.  He chooses fish and chips and eating on the beach.  The first fish and chip place has already run out.  This is after all the warmest, driest day for some time, but we soon find somewhere else.  We eat on the beach, then walk the length of the beach looking for fossils, but not knowing the best places or techniques we find nothing.  We return, eating ice cream on the way, in time for the fireworks. It is an 8-minute spectacular display from a barge in the bay.  We all wonder how all the 'dead' fireworks affect the marine life.

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Tuesday

Evidence of Ammonites

The day starts with breakfast, prepared in the room.  The provided selection is not great, but we have some of our own food too, so we make do, and everyone is ready to travel in plenty of time.  This is the high light of the trip and the excitement is building.  We drive for about 45 minutes to Charmouth, where the parking machine makes things difficult, but I managed to get a ticket at the third attempt.  Later, as we prepare for the guided tour from the Heritage Centre, there is a long queue of frustrated people at the machine.

The centre staff are wonderful and take us to a good site.  They also provide instruction and guidance, and will evaluate any rock, or piece of Victorian rubbish they are shown.  We spend a lot of time searching, fingers in the sand, moving rocks, occasionally breaking rocks.  We have a great time.  When the 'tour' time is up, there is a little get-together to see what's been found, then we are allowed to do our own thing.  We keep searching for another 45 minutes before the tide forces us to return to the centre.

We have lunch at the café, then we walk up the hill to the east of Charmouth, on the coast path in the direction of Stanton St. Gabriel.  It's a long climb for us oldies, and Jo stops part way.  I continue to try to keep up for a bit, but am defeated easily by the youngster.  After a rest, I make it to the top, and the views are worth the pain.  On the way up, he has a conversation with his family.

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Wednesday

The chosen activity for Wednesday was fishing, but I couldn't find any boats with spaces, other than ones that had 40+ spaces available.  So, we settled for some visits to museums in Dorchester - The Terracotta warriors (disappointing) and The Tutankhamen exhibition (quite good).  When it was time for lunch, he chose a little tearoom.  I thought it looked good for the 60+ age range, not the 10ish age range. It turned out to be an inspired choice.  Not only did they prepare the sandwich he asked for, which was not on the menu, but they were to appear on TV that evening.

Returning from Dorchester, we visited Nothe fort.  The organisation was brilliant - this is how to do heritage sites.  A guide explained all there was and suggested a route around it.  We were soon running up steps and down slopes, and into and out of the innumerable little rooms with different displays about how the fort worked at different times.  There is even a 'ghost passage' - a must for a 10-year-old. 

Back at 'The Florian', I asked, "What do you want for tea?" I had said we'd like to find a country pub that was a bit more upmarket for our last evening.  The answer "Chicken nuggets".  The question and answer exposed a hole in the internet.  Looking a pub menu and looking specifically for the children's menu is a nightmare. I must have visited 30+ sites before I found one that also had a table available.  So, off we went for an 18:45 booking, to a little village near Dorchester.  The food was good, but the service was slow, and there was the constant pressure of viewing a TV program to see what the tearoom was like on the TV.  

Back again at 'The Florian', the TV has only a few channels, and none of the +1's.  So we got the laptop out and played around for a while until we found out how to stream the program. It was worth doing.

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Thursday

 

Up early, and all packed and ready to go slightly before the scheduled departure time, we had a short chat with our host, and set out for phase 1 of our journey home.  We arrived at Stonehenge just as it was starting to get busy.  This is an expensive attraction.  When I first visited, dad stopped the car at the side of the road, and we walked across a field.  We could touch and climb on the stones, we were the only ones there.  I think that's why it has such meaning for me - a very special place.  Now it's protected, the car park is a mile or more from the site and buses are provided to get you there.  It's still a special place, especially for our 10-year-old, who loves to draw it.  He took loads of pictures, with the aim of improving his sketches.

Duxford with the grandchildren

It's been many, many years since I last visited IWM Duxford.  That was when the children were quite young.  I had judged that the youngest of the two boys was now old enough to deal with the distances involved and also to have enough of an appreciation of what he was looking at to enjoy the day.

So, I was excited about the visit, and it seems the boys were too.  Thankfully, the journey was easy and the traffic light. We arrived in the second half hour slot for the day.  Even on the approach, the hangars are impressive.  I had one thing I absolutely wanted to see - the Concorde, after that the boys could lead me round and enjoy the day.  

We started in a big open space, with instructions for making paper aeroplanes, and I helped each of them to complete the origami required.  It's not a skill any of us possess.  There were challenges - how far can you get it to fly, can you get it to fly through 2 hoops at different heights?  They tried.  I had to be patient, it's not for retired little boys, just young ones. We had limited success, but they seemed to enjoy themselves.

Then off to Concorde - right up the end of the hangar.  It's impossible to get good pictures of most of the planes because they are packed together so tightly.  Here's a shot down Concorde's wing, which I hope gives a flavour of the plane.

If you don't know, it's very narrow and VERY sleek.

They have other commercial planes too, the Comet 4, from the days when Britain led the world in aircraft manufacture, is the best example.  There is also a plane outside where the aircraft shots in the Netflix series 'The Crown' were filmed.

There are plenty of warplanes too. The TSR2 (Tactical strike and reconnaissance) prototype is there.  The TSR2 was a world leading fighter when its development was cancelled by a very short-sighted government.  I did not see a Harrier jump jet, which is a shame.

We were pretty much done in the main hangar by lunchtime and went out to the edge of the air field to see the planes take off and land, but not the promised spitfire.  We ate lunch and the boys played with their paper planes when there was no other action.

You can just about see the blue paper plane near the top of the picture.

In the afternoon, we visited the other hangars and the Battle of Britain war rooms including a very good video display of a sortie, making use of the room, so we could see how it worked.

The American Planes display was impressive too, with a Blackbird and a truly enormous B52. The land war building is also very good, but by the time we got there the boys were flagging a bit - it's a long walk to the other end of the site.

Coming back, we heard and then saw the Spitfire. The pilot was doing loop-the-loop and barrel rolls. Then there's the sound of a spitfire - I don't understand why, I was not born until more than 10 years after WWII ended, but the sound that spitfires makes is somehow iconic.  Between each stunt there was a long, fast, low flight from one end of the runway to the other.

What a brilliant day we had.  I just hope the boys enjoyed it as much as I did.

Alabama 2022 - July 20: Preparing for home

Not that much has happened in the last couple of days.  On Saturday, we were visited by friends of Karen and Robert as a celebration of their coming birthdays.  We have met them before, and it was good to see them again.  The visit was quite short as they have a long drive each way, and children who need to sleep.

On Monday, we saw one of them again as she popped in and joined us for Karen's birthday meal.  During the day, Karen also go the front brakes replaced on her car, and visited the local Starbucks for a 'birthday' coffee.

On Tuesday, we drove in the now quiet car to Atlanta to see the other family and watched the children play together.  The four of them play so well, with hardly any disputes, and those that do occur are soon forgotten.   When the rain stopped, we were able to watch them play in the garden, on a trampoline.  Then the two-hour drive home, uneventful, thankfully - just a couple of rainy patches to get through.

Today I return on the overnight flight.  As usual, I'm not looking forward to the travel, but I bring back some great memories of Robbie and the Lego building, and Madelyn and the silly games she loves to play. I have been well looked after, and have begun, just a little, to understand the way of life here.

Karen and I on the Veranda at Valerie's

 

On the trampoline

Alabama 2022 - July 15: Trees and Grass

This is as near as I get to a guest post.  All the photos of the garden have been provided by Robbie.

This tree is to the left of the middle of the garden on the rear fence.

 These trees are in the left corner.

The small tree is just inside the right fence near the back of the garden, this is where the mocking birds may have a nest, they got quite aggressive when disturbed by a running dog.

Debris from the middle tree.

And finally, a clover head:

Alabama 2022 - July 13-14: Thunder and Lightning

Not much activity on Wednesday, the children 'painted' T-shirts, we visited the store for some shopping, and got a take-away for lunch. That's not so unusual here. The source was one of the few places where they have some concern about 'single use plastic', but even here when they were asked to omit cutlery, they didn't.  At least some packaging was compressed board rather than plastic.  The quality of some plastic take-away containers that we've had is truly astonishing, it could easily be used 4 or 5 times.

In the evening, the skies became very dark and rain started.  There was lightning in the distance. It soon got closer, then the thunder started.  The lights in the house were required well before sunset.  When we finally retired to bed, the storms were still continuing, making staying asleep difficult.  So far as I'm aware, there were no power drop-out.

Lee County has a severe weather warning system.  It is a dedicated radio receiver, and is left plugged in all the time. It's mainly intended for tornados. Sometime during the night the alarm sound occurred, I woke and heard loud but indistinct talking.  I got up to investigate. I only caught the last sentence of the message - "do not drive through flood water, turn back".

Wise advice, because you cannot tell if the road still exists under the flood water, or whether there are other unseen obstructions.  I wonder if we had such a system in the UK, there would be fewer vehicles stuck in the ford - probably not, but you never know.

Call of the Wild

"Call of the Wild" It's a film I expect that most have heard of.  It's also a small zoo near South Woodham Ferrers.  It's ideal for young children and was a good place to take our grandchild, while his parents were at a high profile football match.  It is on the site of "Tropical Wings" that closed about a decade ago.  We had been there many times and always enjoyed  the visit.  They are still getting established - more animals are coming next week (alligators) and later in the summer (flamingos).  Some parts of the park are still closed.  Still, it was a good visit - and the new children's (under 6) play area was nice and much appreciated by our 4 year old.

Ring-tailed Lemur

We made it the Lemur talk, which was very informative, and it is great that they let us so close to the animals.

They have quite a lot of birds, meerkats and otters.  I had my new camera with me.  I got mixed results, but there is a lot of learning to do, so I expect to improve.  There is also a butterfly house, which was seriously tropical.  It was minutes before I could see through my glasses, much to the amusement of some of the other visitors.

There are various geckos:

This one I named Harry, after the lizard in Death in Paradise (which is CGI by the way!).  There are some small wild cats - servals:

They are behind a fence that looks a little like chain mail, I tried to get a shot of one eating, but my camera skills weren't up to it.

The birds of prey display should be ready later in the year, the birds are in training.  That seems to mean sitting on their perch, ignoring everything around them.  I hope it works out.

There are also goats, wallabies, a lama, pigs, a rhea.

Lego Saturn V - Bags 11 & 12

 It's finally finished almost 2 years after it arrived.  The main delay has been COVID-19, where we were not able to see the grandchildren for about a year.  

	Both the boys arrived to help, the younger one has felt a little left out of this build, I think.  We are happy to have him, but some of this is beyond his capability, and there were times when he started to get a little bored. This bag was started at 18:18 It was completed at 18:52, taking 34 minutes.
	The rocket is about complete here, just the command and service module and the lunar excursion module to complete in the next box. We can already see that keeping this protected is going to be a challenge.
	The final bag is full of some of Lego's smallest pieces. The bag was opened at 18:53. We just got straight on with it.
	The whole thing was finally finished at 19:23, exactly 30 minutes later.  This bag really was one that showed how quickly the older grandson can work.  His small fingers are nimble and his sense of how the construction goes is remarkable.
	I have stood next to a real one, both vertically and horizontally.  A picture of the vertical one and me is here (https://3cephas.blogspot.com/2020/01/lego-saturn-v-introduction.html).  The horizontal one was broken down into sections. If I were to break this model down, all the detail would be there, but I'm NOT going to.

 

All that remains is for me to get a case and mount it somewhere to be on permanent display.  I also have to go back through these blog entries and add up the time for construction.

Lego Saturn V - Bags 7, 8, 9, 10

	On 23 Nov 2021 at 16:54 we finally started another run at building the Saturn V.  My grandson has come to tea with us and left the rest of the family behind.  It is just him and me. That is, potentially, the most efficient approach, although I suspect if I left him to it that might be even quicker. Today we are building the second stage.
	The bag is finished at 17:30. 36 minutes. The instructions have been straight forward.  Now it is time to eat.
	On 23 Nov 2021 at 18:43 we begin bag 8, this bag will add to the outside of the second stage.  I begin sorting out the bag, and I am informed that there is not so much here, so just go for it!
	The bag is finished at 19:06 just 23 minutes later the bag is finished.  We are eager to get on.
	So at 19:06 on 23 Nov 2021 we start bag 9.  This may be the simplest bag of the construction so far.
	The contents of bag 9 are built by 19:17, just 11 minutes.  I admit that I am struggling to keep up.  Where there are 4 'duplicate' parts to make, he does 3 and waits for me to complete my one.   We find a small error as we try to clip the small black quarter-circular pieces on at the top.  It is soon resolved using the excess pieces from the previous bag.
	Bag 10 is opened at 19:17 on 23 Nov 2021.  Some of the fixings in bag 10 are new.  They are designed to reduce the diameter of the cylinder at the top (see next picture).  We find  another small error as we try to clip the last or the 'grilling' tiles into place.  One of the internal clips is horizontal instead of vertical.  Some disassembly is required.  His small finger get in quite easily and turn the piece through 90 degrees.  All is well.
	Bag 10 and stage 2 is completely built by 19:44. Just 27 minutes for the last bag and a total of 97 minutes for stage 2.  I know we had a long break, but I thought that a 9-year-old would struggle to concentrate for so long - he didn't - I would have at that age.  He was also singing and dancing after eating 3 large cookies (too much sugar), but it didn't affect his work.

Lego Saturn V - Bag 6

On Thursday 12 March 2020 we completed bag 5 of the Lego Saturn V.  Today, almost 1 year and 5 months later, we completed bag 6.  The bag 5 blog entry is here.  Hopefully this means we can begin to get the build done.  I watched 'Hidden Figures', a film about the beginning of the space race, and three incredible women, that started the process towards the building of the Saturn V, it just made me want to get going again.  I have walked into the spare room countless times itching to get the next bag underway, but have remained faithful to the original plan - to complete the build with my Grandson.  Today I had two helpers, as you will see in the pictures.

Here they are with bag 6.  This picture is the second attempt, so the smiles are a bit forced, they just want to get on with it.

Bag 6 adds the engines to the bottom of stage 1 of the rocket.

We started at 18:41.

As usual, the eldest grandson sorted all the pieces out into colours and shapes, and we worked through the pages of the assembly guide. The eldest was way ahead, when there were 4 things to assemble before attachment, he did 2, I did 1 and the eldest then helped the youngest to do his, when he needed help.

As always, there were some fiddly pieces, and some pieces that relied on a little trial and error.  What I wasn't expecting was the prediction.  Before I had turned the page, he had visualized what we were doing and already knew where it would go.  We (as in I) just had to check the book to see that the assembly was correct.

We finished at 19:21.

We are all looking forward to getting this done now we are able to meet up again.

Lego Saturn V - Bag 5

Last Thursday, we had a chance to complete another bag, so we took it.  Then it seemed that we would be getting back on track next week, but now that seems less likely.  Today we have the social isolation requirements for COVID-19.  I am no longer sure when we will get the next bag underway.  

	Bag 5 completes the outside of the first stage of the Saturn V.  Look at last time's completion picture (here) to see the gaps we filled in. It is a small bag with lots of small pieces and contains a smaller bag with smaller pieces.  Again it has lots of repeat pieces to build and then attach to the main structure. We started bag 5 at 19:11
	After some very fiddly bits, where small hands had a great advantage, we clipped the panels we had made into the main structure.  On the way we noticed and corrected a small mistake in one of the previous builds.  My grandson knew how to get the pieces apart without causing a complete breakup. We finished bag 5 at 19:28, a total of 17 minutes. Unfortuneately there was no time for bag -6

This is progressing like a real engineering project - delays caused by outside events we have no control over, and small construction faults having to be fixed along the way.

Looking forward to the next time, whenever that is ....

Lego Saturn V - Bag 4

At last we get to build the contents of bag 4, so much has happened that I had almost forgotten about it (not really, I couldn't wait, neither could my grandson).  After bag 4 was applied there did not seem to be a great deal of difference to the base of the Saturn V.  This time though it seemed that one bag was enough.  My grandson informed me that he didn't want to do another bag after dinner.

Start	End
I retrieved bag 4 from the big box, it was unsurprisingly the second to last bag I found, despite carefully putting them back in the big box in reverse number order.  I didn't bother with that again! This picture was taken at 16:54	While assembling parts I noticed and corrected a small mistake before we added anything to the main build.  This build was a little trickier than the last three, with attention having to be paid to which way round axels were put into the bricks that supported them. The completion picture was taken at 17:35

Working to the same plan as last time, and sharing the workload, bag 4 took 2 of us 41 minutes.  Again the youngster was quicker and more accurate than the old man - such is life!

Lego Saturn V - Bags 1 to 3

Around 6:15pm on Friday 17th January my grandson and I disappeared into the spare room where a table had been set up ready for the build. He is a Lego expert.  That means I have to be very careful his enthusiasm doesn't overrun the project, and I have to take a step back and listen to his instructions.
"First, Granddad, I lay out all the pieces sorted by colour."
"Then we're ready for the build, so I will take a picture"
It's not just the build I'm interested in, but the process, and the time I invest.

Bag 1 - 18:29 to 19:02
The build proceeded well, the instructions were clear, and there were only a few minor mistakes that I needed to be picked up on.

That was it for week 1.

Bag 2 - 18:24 - 18:37
The build required 4 sections to be made and attached to the rocket already built.  The labour was divided so the time taken reduced.  Attaching them to the already built part of the rocket was the only thing that might have caused an issue.  That was my job, my build, my risk.  He was having none of it, a very wise grandson.

Bag 3 - 18:43 - 18:59
This build also required 4 pieces to be assembled and attached to the existing build.  Again, the labour was divided.  There were some minor checks made to ensure that pieces were correctly aligned, but otherwise it was completely straight forward.  I have the job of adding the pieces to main build, and for these pieces care and accuracy was required.  Now I begin to understand the 14+ age recommendation.

Bags 2 and 3 were simple so we decided to do them in one sitting.  We will make these decisions about each bag as we go.

Staycation - Despicable Me

Due to various planning difficulties, and Brody having his treatments, the second week of my holiday will be at home this year.

So, starting with Saturday.  Liz had arranged a visit with Leo to see "Despicable Me 3" at the cinema.

I had won 4 tickets to the Odeon in the raffle at the Carousel concert at St Mary's recently, so we had to go to either Chelmsford or Southend.  Chelmsford is closer, and I don't like the Odeon in Southend, so it was an easy choice.  Not realising we could have book, we arrived at the cinema in time to get the last 4 seats together (2 in row A, 2 in Row B).  Things were going our way as I had driven straight into an available space in the car park on the ground floor near the entrance.

We were soon settled in the theatre, enforced toilet breaks taken.  It was FULL.  The noise was horrific.  Next to me two young girls were 'nesting' - they had a blanket, had removed their shoes and were huddled together like birds on a cliff edge in a storm - except they also had mobile phones.

The film started, and the volume it was played at mainly drowned out the noise, only during quieter parts could you here the inane chatter.  Next to me two skype sessions were in full swing, they weren't interested in the screen it seemed, they couldn't see it from under the blanket for part of the time.  Meanwhile, Leo sat in his seat eating his sweets and was properly engrossed in the film.  Surely that's what you go to the cinema for.

Ah, yes, the film. It is popular today to talk about fictional universes - so here goes.  The Despicable Me universe containing Gru,  Dr Nefario (who is still a man (#DrWho), but not in this film), Lucy,  the three girls and the Minions is not as consistent as it should be.  As the minions are looking for the 'most evil  boss' surely they should switch from Gru to Dru (the twin brother) but they don't.  Nevertheless, the story is good enough, the jokes are reasonable, and the animation is very good.  There are also some nice asides and cross-references for the adults.  Dr Nefario in Carbonite - for example.  So - enjoyable, if not brilliant.

Off the wall

I suppose every Grandparent will know that watching grandchildren grow up is nothing like watching your own children grow up.  Firstly, you are not as busy, so you have more time.  When you are with them, you don't have the ultimate responsibility, although it may see as though you do.  At a recent get together, I was playing with my eldest grandson (nearly three).  He is always running around and highly active, he has more energy than I do.  One of his favourite activities at this event was jumping off a wall.  Walking on and jumping off walls is one of those simple childhood pleasures that seem to be disappearing today, so I was pleased to watch him enjoying himself, while I was also looking after him.  He had a couple of tumbles at first, but he soon mastered his new skill.  He is not the sort of child who gives up at the first knock, so even when he fell he came back for more.  He was soon jumping off that wall as easily as he was running back to me to be lifted up again.  There were a couple of other boys there, both heavier and taller, but not a great deal older, I should think.  Perhaps they were impressed by my little athlete, or perhaps they just naturally like to join in.  Not being one to turn children away, I helped them up and held their hands for their first few jumps, as I had with my grandson.  All little boys want to be independent, so both of them wanted to try to do it on their own.  I'm pleased to say that both succeeded, but one got it slightly wrong on his third or fourth attempt and ended up banging his head on the grass - at which point he left in tears, and I didn't see him again.  It was a shame, because it wasn't a big accident.
Even writing this I am aware of the 'health and safety' culture that does not want to see even the slightest bump, but bumps and bruises (and probably much worse) are inevitable in this world, and are key to development.  Without knowing your current limit and trying to exceed it, no progress is ever made.  We don't need to get philosophical with small children though - all we need to do for them is let them enjoy the challenges - walking on, or jumping off the wall, or down the last step(s) of the stairs, and to let them enjoy the exhilaration of it.

Washington Day 8 - History of Man

It is warmer today, and set to be a nice afternoon. After breakfast we go to get supplies for Robbie, and then head into the city, to visit the Jefferson memorial. This is a good display, I think I understand Jefferson better than Lincoln, perhaps that is the display, or perhaps it is that he seems to be a very modern man in some ways. He is always looking to improve his lot and the lot of others. I do have some problems with the wording inside the monument. The words do not seem to make sense.Washington, the city, is cleverly laid out, walking down the steps of the Jefferson Memorial I am faring the Washington monument. Having that as a centre piece give a sense of balance to the area.
We buy lunch from the kiosk, and have to choose from the very limited options available. The snacks are OK, but I would have enjoyed the things on the menu, that I asked for, but they didn't have better, I'm sure.
We moved the car to the parking garage we had used before, and walked to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. Birds, bones, crystals, and the reconstruction of the hominid fossil record, and quite a lot more besides. The record of our ancestors from fossils is very limited, one chart shows gaps where we have no evidence at all.  It was a fascinating place, one afternoon cannot do it justice. The Hope diamond is one of the highlights, a must see item. It is not so impressive to look at, until you think about what it is. We could easily have spent days there, as usual in museums I was the slowest through all the exhibits. Robbie loved the various figures of early man, and waved at them, they did not respond, so he waved some more.
We traveled to the Founding Farmers restaurant and met Matt, Nicky, Anaya, Bobby and Crystal. The Founding Farmers approach is 'true food and drink', and the things they served were very good. The 'Beet by J' drink based on beetroot juice was very tasty. The meals are not cheap, but they are worth the money.

Washington Day 7 - Inhuman treatment

The blog titles seem a little heavy, but in a land where there's comparative freedom, it is important to remember times and places where that has not been the case.
We started the day with cold and rain, so after breakfast we stayed in and caught up with family at home.
For lunch, we went to TGIs, it was not a great experience. The TGIs atmosphere does not work at lunch times. The food was OK, if slightly on the expensive side, but we have had better.  Robbie needed more sleep, so we didn't set off for Washington until 3pm.
Robert went to watch the Denmark vs USA football, the rest of us went to the holocaust museum. By the time we got there all the day's allocation of tickets for the main exhibition had been used. This was very disappointing. However, we could still visit the special exhibitions. These seemed dedicated to trying to answer the question "How could it have happened?" The answer seems to be that ordinary people are easily manipulated, succumb to their own greed easily without thinking of the consequences for others and generally live in fear of the authorities.  Some, only a few, did not turn a blind eye, or passively participate, but that is not the story they are trying to tell. It was an upsetting show, I wonder what the effect of the main exhibition would have been.  While I don't agree with Human Rights without Human Responsibilities, it is a better place to be than Nazi Germany, and means that such extremes are much harder to repeat.

We then walked up to the Washington monument, where there is little information on the outside.  It is after 5pm now and the monument is closed. Why does it change colour about a third of the way up? It is an impressive stone tower, but without more context I cannot make any more comments.

For tea, we visited the Elephant and Castle.  A busy English style pub, unfortunately the food was not great, mine was at best lukewarm and unevenly so. Others were also disappointed. The manager did sort out a couple of other complaints, in the usual way, but we won't be going back.

The extra sleep has worked for Robbie, he is having a great time waving at people and laughing and grinning to himself and us. I have been very impressed with the way people have responded to him.  Always positive, and actively encouraging him.

On returning to the hotel I continued my blogging on a Microsoft Surface 2.  When Karen set it up for me the Windows O/S has all the same problems as regular windows.  I am using IE, and getting all sorts of blogger errors I have never seen before. The App store apparently only has one twitter client - the official one, which leaves a lot to be desired. It gets the job done, but it won't kill Android, so I doubt it will come close to competing with the iPad either.

We await Windows 10, with low expectations.

Washington Day 6 - Death

Switching on the TV we hear that an A320 has crashed in the mountains in southeastern France, after a very quick descent. No survivors are expected.  Our thoughts are with the families of the victims of this tragedy.  In a strange way it sets the somber tone for the day.

Our first stop is Reagan Airport to change the car. The girl on the desk is very helpful, but the manager is in hiding. She offers us a smaller car, but that would cause problems getting to the airport on Saturday as there will not be sufficient space in the boot (trunk), her manager is adamant that a larger car will not be provided. It is this sort of attitude that will give the company a bad name. Fortunately, another Impala has just been returned, so after a short wait we are given that. The fuel fill up on the old one is waived, and the drop off location changed for free to Dulles. There is the promise that the fuel fill up at Dulles will not be charged. Not too bad a deal.
From 'Advantage' we head to the Arlington National Cemetery. Like so many other places we have and will visit in Washington, our impression has been formed by TV and film. I expected the cemetery to be flat, it is not, it is the hilliest place we have been.  The rows and rows of white stones neatly laid out in ranks and columns follow the contours of the landscape, so that the dead are as neat and tidy as the living when they first marched off the training ground. The intervening horrors remain unspoken, only their sacrifice is remembered - that they gave their life in the service of their country.
Not all the dead at Arlington died in battle, some served their country, or in a few cases their allies, and lived on into retirement.
One British officer is honoured with a statue of him sitting on a horse - for services rendered to both the British and American high commands in WWII, because he was instrumental in helping them work together to achieve their goal. It occurred to me that Americans are normally very determined to get their own way, but will also honour people who help them not to.
We visited the tomb of the unknown soldier, and I just missed the changing of the guard. It is a grand amphitheater in white marble, with seating for hundreds. Then we walked across to the next hill, to the J F Kennedy memorial, a much simpler affair in light grey granite, with an eternal flame. I understand the appeal of Kennedys for my generation - his assassination ended an era of innocence and hope, but I wonder what he means, if anything, in a post 9/11 world. 
From Arlington we traveled to Ted's Montana Grill in Ballston, to sample Bison. With lower cholesterol than beef it is a red meat that I can eat. The meal was delicious, the meat has a gentle meaty flavor that brings you back for more, it is tender and has an even texture.  This was undoubtedly the best restaurant meal of the year so far.
Traveling back into Washington we arrived at the Iwo Jima memorial. The statue records the planting of a flag on the top of the hill, apparently it was staged for the famous picture. The battle is the equivalent of the Normandy landings in the Pacific Theatre - awful loss of life but a really important step that must be taken for there to be a final victory.
Next was the Korean War monument. Almost every thing I know about this war I learnt from MASH. There were some Koreans leaving flowers there. The monument consists of a number of troopers in full kit walking over small hedges. What makes this distinctly Korean, is their walkie-talkies, with very long arials. 
From the Korean we move on to the WWII monument. The contrast is immense. Now we have white marble, and each state is represented. The Atlantic and Pacific campaigns are listed at each end of an oval pool with fountains also close to each end. A wall of golden stars represents the dead. 
Finally we take a short detour to visit the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, and listen to a teacher explaining why it is like it is. Martin wanted some words which his family decided made him sound pompous, so even in death he did not get what he wanted.

We went to tea with Bobby and Crystal at the Dogfish Head craft brewed ales company. I ordered Chicken and chips, and made a bad choice. The chicken was dry, the beer however - Raison d'etre, a dark beer was very good.

The day left me pondering the need for war, sometimes it is obvious, many times it is not, and once started must be played out to its logical (or illogical) conclusion. I was also pondering my likely reactions and responses to my sons or grandsons being involved in future wars, my response at the time, should it occur will no doubt surprise me, for now it is simply dread.

Washington Day 5 - Sickness

Yesterday a brake warning light appeared on the Chevy Impala that we had hired. I called the car rental company (Advantage) and was told to call the place where we had hired the car and picked it up - Reagan Airport. I called and they said return the car for a replacement. We cannot do that today because we have to be in Baltimore in early afternoon and Robbie's cough is getting worse, so the first port of call this morning is Urgent Care. There are understandable concerns about the cost because we are not in the state where the insurance was bought. We have breakfast, then Karen and Robert take Robbie to Urgent Care. Jo and I stay at the hotel and I begin typing my blog into the laptop. Forgetting part of the equipment required to run the technology is clearly inherited, Karen hasn't got the power supply, so that may be my only go.
Just as Jo and I go for a walk, Robbie returns and it is good news, only the drugs are chargeable, so everyone is happy.  The run to get to Baltimore begins. We get petrol (gas) and a few essentials from Safeway, then we have lunch at Noodles and Company, a basic 'order at the counter' restaurant. The food is good. Then it is off to Baltimore for Karen's appointment with the government. We find the building easily enough thanks to Google maps. Parking is just around the corner, we come out of the car park (garage) through a door that is right next to the main entrance. We waited inside for Karen, there was not long to wait, but Robbie was not happy and could not settle. Even when Karen returned he remained upset. Rather than explore Baltimore we returned to base and left Karen and Robert to settle Robbie, I borrowed their laptop and typed in a few days blogs. That's it for the laptop now, only 25% of battery left.
Jo and I went for a walk around the shops just to get out of the room, we were offered some free samples at the tea shop. I did not like the Chai, the flavor is gone even as you swallow the tea. We met in California Tortilla for tea. It's another 'order at the counter' restaurant serving food that is unfamiliar to us. They had a special offer 'spin the wheel', on certain dishes, so even though the options on the wheel were quite limited, we ended up with some different thongs to try, which made the meal more interesting. After eating a good meal we walked around the craft store for a while then headed to bed.

Washington Day 4 - Civil War

We met up with Bobby and Crystal for second breakfast at "First Watch".  I chose the porridge, and it was very good.  Afterwards, because we had finished breakfast early we went back to Bobby and Crystals place in George Mason University, where Bobby works.  The five of us travelled to Matt and Nicky's home to deliver chocolate and to join with them for a day out.  Then all 8 (+2) of us drove in convoy to Manassas National Battlefield Park.  That is where the first battle of the Civil War was fought.  The film and exhibits were very interesting, but the lobby area of the museum was very confusing, with only a small sign saying there was a charge for entry, and no queueing system to get your tickets from a desk where the people were mainly giving advice about the site and answering questions about the battle.
We set out on the guided tour, where the message of the film began to make a lot more sense.  I'm the only one there interested in the battle, but with no background, so the others wanted to move on, which is what we did.
When the war started people on both sides were very ready to fight, so the armies were made up of enthusiastic volunteers.  Most people thought that only the one battle would be required, so it became a spectator sport, with people taking picnics out to watch the action.  What would modern health and safety have to say about that?
The story has a similar feel to the story at the start of WWI, both sides very ready for what they expected would be a short campaign ("It'll all be over by Christmas"), and armies full of willing and enthusiastic, but poorly trained volunteers.
War is always unpredictable, a lesson that seems to surprise us every time.  A year later the Civil War was still in progress.  Eventually there was only a narrow victory and the death tole was shocking.  More Americans died in the Civil War than in any other campaign they have been involved in since, including WWI, WWII and Vietnam.
So we left the battlefield early and headed to the Barrel Oak Winery, where they do wine tastings and you can bring your own picnic.  Bringing your own is a good idea, because the food on offer is very expensive, and the sample that I tried was not that great.  The winery is a lovely place for an afternoon out with views over the valley and plenty of tables outside as well as inside.  The oddest thing was the number of dogs there.  Robbie is suspicious of dogs, and does not like to be licked.  When a large Alsatian turned to sniff him, he fled, as fast as he could, and was crying.

After spending some time at the winery we had our evening meal at BJs just off I495 on Leesburg Pike.  Our main courses were very good, the same could not be said about the sweet course.

Washington Day 3 - Blossom, what Blossom?

We travelled into DC after breakfast to meet Matt, Nicky and Amaya. Amaya is 10 days older than Robbie. Matt is a friend of Roberts from his Mission days.  We parked in an underground car park on the edge of the city centre.  The only way out of the car park was via a lift, there were no stairs.  The lift initially went the wrong way, but we saw daylight eventually.  Then we went for a long walk across the city, seeing many of the sites, and eventually arriving at the "Lucky Bar"
I now understand how disappointing it is for visitors to a city when they arrive in a tourist destination to find buildings covered in scaffolding.  There are building works (construction) everywhere, obscuring the view, preventing normal access and generally being obstructive.  The Capitol dome is covered in scaffolding.  It will all be a great improvement when it is finished, but for now ...
The White House is an unassuming building (for the area).  If the image was not firmly planted in your brain by films and news reports you would just ignore it and look at the much larger and more ornate grey building next door.
We walked on to the Lucky Bar on Conneticut Avenue NW to watch the Newcastle vs Arsenal game and have lunch.  It is an English Pub, and is affiliated to Arsenal somehow.  It looks like a New York bar, very narrow entrance, with a bar at the front and space at the back.  It is here I notice the occupancy limit notices that are all over the place here - more health and safety? I have time to look around because Robbie it busy picking at a paint blister on the wall.  They do not serve De-caff, so I try the "Brooklyn Brown", a very drinkable brown ale, with a good smooth flavour.  We ordered Fish and Chips, and hoped!  Heinz ketchup and malt vinegar were delivered to our table, the fish and chips arrived hot, and they were proper chips, not the McDonalds style at all.  A very nice meal, except for the tartar sauce, which had way too much of a bite to it.
Matt guided us around the city a little more so that we could get some photos.
On the way back home we stopped at Nandos.  It is so very similar to the Nandos in the UK, and could easily be mistaken of a UK restaurant. 

We have walked a lot today, Karen has sore feet, and we are tired.  I also have sunburn on my head, the skies were clear, but the day was cold.  I have learned that hats are required even in March, but I don't have one here!

Today is the start of the Cherry Blossom Festival, there is supposed to be a parade, but we did not see it.  Spring has been cold here, so there is no blossom to look at anyway, most of the trees still look like they do in the middle of winter.