Harry & Martin
Charles and Flora
Tony & Katie
Toby & Tom
Today, Tom is writing the summary, with bits by Toby.
Well, 2 weeks have gone by and here we are. Sorry for missing a week, we were traveling over the long holiday weekend. More on that below.
Sadly, the queen mum has passed away. She was loved by all, and had devoted her life to the service of people. As I write this, there are 25,000 people queued up outside Westminster Abbey in London (the queue is over a mile long) to pay their respects. That says something, doesn't it? It went well. As it should have, considering they've been planning this for 20 years (or so I heard on BBC news). (Toby says: Actually, she was pretty well respected and admired by most, but all week I've been hearing letters read on the radio about her death. 1/2 are appalled at all the time and energy and fuss that's been given to her funeral (an old lady died, lets get on with it) and the other half say she was a great lady and deserves all the respect. Frankly, I've come to admire her personality through all I've heard and read since her death.)
Before going away over the easter holiday, we had a lovely Passover Seder at the Moss' (my brother-in-law's parents). Thanks to Frances and Martin for having us. Here are a few pictures from there: notice the American flags they put out in our honour.
Harry & Martin |
Charles and Flora |
Tony & Katie |
Toby & Tom |
Here in the UK, you get a 4-day weekend at Easter, which includes Good Friday and Easter Monday (whatever that is). Anyway, we, and everyone else, took the opportunity to go somewhere. We chose Wales, (mostly because every other place we tried was already booked) and did a quick tour around a lovely country. Welsh is a language you will no doubt be unable to read. Look at the picture below of me in front of Cardiff Castle and try to read the sign. The problem is that it uses letters we are used to but some of them have different sounds -you might as well be reading cyrillic! We had lots of fun saying the placenames. Here was our trip in a nutshell:
Saw a lot, enjoyed ourselves. Sounds right to me.
| A few pictures from Wales. Click on one to see a larger version. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 "castle sign") Cardiff Castle Sign |
) Cardiff Castle Outside |
 "castle keep") Castle Keep |
) Toby at top of keep |
) Peacock at castle |
|
) Castle Panorama |
) Millenium Stadium (Cardiff) |
) Going into the coal mine |
) Coal vein. |
) Outside coal mine. |
|
) Dam in Elan Valley. |
) Small inn where we stayed. |
) Tom at slate mine. |
) In the slate mine. |
) Another slate mine pic. |
) Toby outside copper mine. |
) Panorama at copper mine. |
) Sheep & lamb. |
My speeding ticket is moving along. Yesterday I got a letter saying that alternate action would have to be taken because I don't have a UK driver's license. It mentioned a fixed fine (no points), and then court stuff. I haven't quite figured it out but I don't think it's ideal. Either they'll waive the fine or I'm being deported, not sure which. Here it is below, if you think you know, tell me!
"...you are not in possession of a Driving Licence issued by DVLA at Swansea. The law that governs this particular type of enforcement permits, in certain circumstances, the issue of a Conditional offer of a fixed penalty to an alleged offender. However, this is dependant on upon the Licence held by the offending driver. In your case, your Driving Licence cannot be endorsed except in its country of origin. I must therefore advise you that the alleged offence will now be considered for process in the Magistrate's Court.
The papers in this case will now be forwarded....Officer in Charge of that unit will contact you in due course advising whether any proceedings will be taken in connection with this allegation."
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