Moments in Time

don't enjoy flying , OK ,I've said it before
why travel , then
moments , moments

M has no relatives to speak of , here in Canada
in England , we are good friends w/ her cousin and family
driving to Bath , all that I heard was laughter coming form the back seat
M and K get along , wonderfully , so , moments

Twice , T drove me to Sainsburys ( read , large grocery chain or Walmart on steroids ). We went b/c I wanted a coffee.
coffee ?  Get a life !
no , a cup of coffee  ?  Difficult to find a good one , for us
I had a ' mocha ' , read here , hot chocolate and cream  w/ a hint of coffee
Sainsburys has a product line called ' TU ' . I was given a  TU coffee mug w/ the Union Jack as the motif , on a previous visit.
Someone figured the mug was appropriate
The S's cafe is bright and open w/ variable seating , tables , easy chairs etc.   moments 

Moments , sitting , watching the beach at Porthmeor , sheltered in a ' pod ' or cabana. The wind ripped around the cafe , the sun shone down , the lifeguards trained in the surf 
moments

Weather : unsettled , gray and gloomy
the wind is up , the leaves are stirring

Have a good day
have a good moment , know the moment

LATER THE SAME DAY
Apple has overtaken Google as the most recognized symbol on the internet
The T.O. Rock lost in the first of 3 final games for the NLL

Trees.........

.....swaying in the summer breeze ' by Peter & Gordon
well its not summer but the rest is true. 
We are going for 80 F and humid , chance of showers  
No floods predicted , yet

Here in T.O. , the proletariat are desperate for a championship team
Meanwhile , the Toronto Rock of the National Lacrosse League are in a 2 / 3 series w/ the Edmonton Rush for the NLL title. Most likely 12 000 will throng to the game ( s ). Not me.
Really not in to the indoor game , box lacrosse
I played in university for the house team , Innis College , for 5 years. Four years , I was the goalie.

Now , I watch field lacrosse

Lets Get ( a ) Physical

... sang Olivia ' Neutron - bomb '  ( Newton - John )
didn't have brekkies to -day. Fasting was necessary pre- blood work
The physical came first - A - OK

Wrist - my tendon problem is classic , ice and support
            no predicting when etc 
            live w/ it

Allergy  , is not
I have a sensitivity to plants
live w/ it
but he pre - prescribed the cream that seems to help
thus , I am armed and ready for the next bout which is due in a month ( JUL 2013 , JUL 2014  .......... 2015 )

The weather is beuti or in sGWN speak ' it is patio '
we get patio or winter here , no ifs ands or buts
a 2 season country

Septic Bladder or the head honcho of FIFA ( soccer inc for the world ) is up for re - election. Minus a whole cadre of his fellow flunkies who were just arrested on bribery and influence peddling or doing what they all do  .... Standard Operating Practice
Do not fear Putin , Ruskie Prez backs the Bladder and blames the U.S.
join the line Putie baby , everyone blames the U.S.

Will Rogers , American . did a routine where he joked about the much maligned U.S. 
In France , after a large prison break out , the French press blamed the escape on U.S. media. The American films gave the French prisoners the unusual idea of escaping from incarceration. 
Do tell !

My weight loss was duly noted by the receptionist at Doc's office
The doctor only asked  if the weight loss was on purpose - he is still slim and wiry.

Live with it

My new motto , it seems

The Claiming Process

the story so far
The claim for the UK accident was received
The Company ( Halo ) is asking for more info
But I've sent everything that I have

Well ,you didn't think it would be simple ?
Did you ?

The weather : stormy last night and the temperature dropped like a stone after 6 PM and then the rain came
The morning broke clear and cool w/ steady strong winds
At least we don't have flood water running through our home
as in Texas etc

I'm fasting from 10 PM til 10 AM b/c after my physical exam w/ my doc , I go for blood work on Fri

The Toyota Highlander that I drive is a 2005 model. Shortly , I'll need to get the vehicle checked for a whole whack of stuff. i went over all the invoices that I have for work and discovered that I might be using the same spark plugs that came w/ the car. 
I'm not sure that this is possible or even desireable
????  ten years on the original plugs
????  no tune up

Thats what it looks like , according to the invoices that I have

On line Dating

.... nope but on line claims are the topic

Yesterday , I plucked up my courage and submitted an insurance claim on line.
The Audi A1 apparently , rubbed up against a post in a parking lot as I was turning. We didn't feel it happen but this turn in the parking lot  is about the only possibility. i went up on the curb a bit and I guess that I caught the front passenger corner of the lower painted bit. All in the first hour that we had the rental , go figure !

I purchased ' stand alone ' insurance for Collision  & Damage.
The cost was $60 but also included driver injury insurance up to $ 100 000. The rental car company wanted to charge a minimum of $ 84 but that is not their premium coverage which they say is a ' peace of mind ' thing. ( for 120 )

The claim. All the documents - rental agreement , Mastercard statement , damage claim form and original policy , all need to be sent electronically.  The site warns you that if your documents are not easily available that you could ' time out ' of the submission session.
Somehow , they got all the bits and Bobs ( little joke , here , Ohio , to see if you're paying attention ). I have a representative , looking into my claim and he will be in touch.
The amazing thing is the companies involved.
I used ' icarhire insurance ' as the website
which is a subsid. of Halo
but the claim goes through Chubb insurance
and is processed by Crawford something or other

All in all , it feels like I'm being processed

As well , the icarhire website mentions , tires , aerial , windshield , roof as being covered by them. Sort of leads you to believe those items are not covered , normally by CDW.... are they ?
As well , I mentioned the driver hospitalization bit - as in ' what I wouldn't usually be covered ? '  
The policy also covered ' rental car ' downtime for repairs which I have heard of before. And this downtime is not always covered by their insurer or yours
Simply put ' their insurer wants X dollars ' , your insurer will pay Y dollars ' if the two don't much - you pay the difference.
I would like to get the money that I paid to Hertz for repairs , back
You need to pay right away then claim.

However , the real issue was if there was a large claim b/c the stand alone coverage would have been way better than Hertz's CDW

Weather is summer delight - a little humidity is building but a gentle breeze is blowing.

Nattering On..........

... about the trip to UK

Recent info has come forth opining that it takes 1 day for every hour time change that you travel through. I mention this tidbit b/c we are on day 4 of the return home - meaning , that I have one day left to claim jet lag problems................... and I will

I need to mention the SIM card that we purchased for our i Phones and then the i Phones themselves.
EE , the mega company b/c they swallowed up two other service providers as EE grew. Recall the deal , 150 min talk , unlimited texts and 500 mB data. Never came close to any of the caps. It was comfortable knowing that we could call / text at anytime.
However , things are different in the UK. To wit , if you call a cab on a mobile phone , the cab company or driver will
 a) text you back to confirm
b) text you to say ETA and the description of the cab coming for your safety and surety that you'll not mistakenly take another cab

c) we co - ordinated pick up times w/ the cousins and verified our ETA at the apartment and  B/B  we stayed at.

The i Phone. B/c we had data stream , the locator function mapped my location in each place we stopped. To be fair , navigating was something else w/ or w/out the ' locator , GPS '. I mentioned Bath was a walled city and got added to by need. There were times when I turned in a circle just to find where I was - let alone going somewhere.
St Ives , is a semi - circle of roads bent and angled according to grade , so , roads only go straight for blocks THEN bend or stop.
Cute , eh ? 

The weather is fine ' nothing could be finer ' as the song goes
Scattered or more determined showers for 2 days , but we can deal.

Saturday , the season for JHU came to an end w/ a 11 - 10 loss to Maryland , in the semi s. Go Jays !!

I'm about to make my first claim on line . This is the process for getting my money back from the insurer for the post scratch on the Audi in the UK. My instructions to myself ' take it step by step and don't panic '
I'll likely panic. The documents need to be uploaded in a short time frame or you meter out of their system.

Have a good ' un !

Lagging...... HD

The after effects are fading...... the lag from jet travel. Woke at 4 AM ( 9 AM , London ) , however managed to fall asleep , this morning.
Now , I'm gaining much respect for people who travel and then perform in business or sport or life.  The steward on our flight 2 trips ago said ' sleep the day , and pay the price for travelling ' , couldn't sleep ... paid the price.

Burglaries in the World News by the Numbers


2                million burglaries in the U.S. in 2013
4.5              $ billion  in losses
25              % decline in burglaries internationally
2 300         $ , as the average loss per burglary
13.1           % , the police solution rate for burglaries

And Europe has dirty air

600 000     pre - mature deaths , in 53 EU countries , 2010
                  due to particulates in the air
9                of 10 people in Europe are exposed to excessive 
                   air particle pollution
1.6             $$ trillion as the annual cost for those deaths
10              % of the EU GDP is needed for the cost of those deaths
35             % of Georgia GDP lost to premature deaths . worst
                 in Europe

And , of course ,  China would never release those kind of numbers

Weather is summer , blue sky and warming , very warm
66 F , on the back deck , 9 AM 

Perspective

I'm not sure , re - reading the blogs of recent history if I have a grip on what the trip was like

In London ,  being at the cousin's house was a respite from the plane. Jet lag diminished , a day alter we went by tube to Downtown Ldn.  The river tour and lunch.

The drive to Bath included a stop in Lacock and our first dynamite lunch. Lacock still timeless in architecture and Dame Judy Dench.

Bath , marvelous , infinite walking city. Advice was ' you can do Bath , in two days '. We must be slow - heck ,we are slow. The seven nights in Bath were pleasant , easy and interesting. I believe you can absorb a lot if you walk around and look. We did.

The cousins drove us out there and stayed for 4 nights. Terrif !

Then on to St Ives , Cornwall. People come for a day trip - alright , we took 5 nights. The variety of buildings , the way the St Ivites get around - very interesting. You could tell who lived in S.I. by the way they walked the hills and you have to walk the hills or you go no where. The S.I. s lean into the hill and go.

Food. I feel that was the theme of our time in the UK. I'm not sure we had a bad meal or bad beer. 
Here is the top contenders for ' would they go back there to eat '

Porthmeor Cafe , St Ives
Crab sandwich ( and I didn't even order it , M did )
the view , sitting in a ' pod '.

The Sloop Inn ( oldest pub in St Ives )
hand picked crab , open face
our first meal and second meal

Bathhampton Mill , Bathhampton
Crikey , the whole menu
stop - off for the river tour ( I chose the tour , I'm a genius - well , that day )

And , Op Osm , get fit plan.
We must have done something right. same weight in as out 

Weather : coolish going to warm for the next 3 days

The yard is green and filling out

The boys in ' Columbia Blue and Black ' go after Maryland this afternoon. The BJ s are on a 7 game run. Some commentators have said that its a run of 7 ' can't afford to lose ' games.
Starting from ' lets find anyone we can beat ' 4 - 6. The Jays have overcome Penn State , Michigan , Maryland ( 4 th ranked ), Ohio State ( 12 th ranked ) , Virginia ( 7 th ranked ) and Syracuse ( #2 )

Its Maryland , to - day , the olest rivalry in College Lax

GO !  you Blue !!!!!

Crossing Back

We flew out of Gatwick airport in the southern - ish part of Greater London. LGW is a relief airport for the London area that now needs relief.
Secondary , here , is a relative term. The LGW is big , itself. Well organized as in security check area and shopping. The duty free area is 500 yds of corridor lined w/ shops alcohol , cigarettes , clothes , candy etc. Brand names are everywhere. ' SuperDry ' seems to be big in the UK , Victoria Secrets , Chanel etc too.

Our hosts got us there in plenty of time , time to chat and have a coffee at Cafe Nero.
We passed security in 45 seconds , start to belt on. So , quick.
The airport board posts gate locations right before your flight. We saw the gate flash up and walked to the area. We sat. I noticed people lining up and asked an attendant if these people were boarding our flight ' YES ' . Went and grabbed M and got checked through.
The airlines fed us well. Time for 3 movies - sort of - I barely heard 2 and read closed captioning on the other. Hate earphones.
The upshot , we got home
gratefully home
Wanderlust , was a magazine title in the Bath apartment
No , I don't have wanderlust. A twinge of envy , occasionally , but give me home

HOME

Recollections. Comfortable trip . Not bad for being away , and out of country. It was England after all.

Regrets. I didn't go to the bookies and place a bet. Oh , I would have lost , anyway.

Its 5:30 A and I couldn't sleep , recall its 10:30 A London time
Back to bed and another try

The Haven

WE are now in Hayes , Middlesex , the outer west of London.
The cousins are putting us up again. We were here at the beginning and now at the end. We are fortunate to have a haven from risk and newness , here.
Summarizing the day , yesterday. Exhilarating , driving and a little tense , left lane driving. The trip was fast , considering the distance and switching needed.
We took the train from Bath to Reading and barely made the connector to outer London ( Hayes and Harlington ). A train operator held the doors for us to shuffle onto the train ( the Bath train was 6 min late , we went the wrong way on the platform , uhuh ) Safe
Safe is the word for to -day. Still away , but home
The sun is out and the day is promising
Frist job , off to the Co - Operative. The Co - Op is a chain ( humongous ) of small to large stores , that are grocery and corner drop in stores. We have shopped at a Co -Op in every city we've been to.
I'm going for jello and fruit cocktail for breakfast.

Back from Bath

Drove to Bath from St Ives , the A30 , M5 , M4 and Freezing Hill Lane ( yepper ) 1 1/2 cars wide. The Audi lost out to his brothers
A3 , A4 , A5 and A6  , those boys were flying

Trained the rest of the way , Bath to London , via First Great Western , the people mover.
Not like N America , people take the train , commute and travel around

Of course , it rained for three days , off and on.
Sunny , now

When on the Road

be flexible , build in time for relaxing
I think that we might overdo that last one

Our goal to - day was train to Penzance
bus to Lands End 
walk around look for Newfoundland across the pond
Go home

Poured rain off and on , during the night , wind were gusting 40 mph. The day started the same
We rode the train 10 miles each way , great view of the sea
walked into St Ives , sat on the seawall , grabbed a beer.
The pub was the Union Inn and the beer ' Theakston Mild ' and a little more walking
We ended up at Porthmeor Cafe above the beach. Duck and confrit
for me - crab sandwich for M
Devine ,w/ a capital ' D ' for delicious

We didn't go far but we did well - then a nap

The train ride was dry , the day was dry , til after we got home.

perfect day

how was yours ?

Last night or day ( back in old time zone ) Johns Hopkins built a lead in the last half and hung on by one goal. Their foe , Univ of Syracuse , had beaten the Black and Blue several times since 2008
in NCAA year end action. The result was that the 10 th ranked team beat #2 in the tourney. The biggest upset of the Championships , which eclipsed when 13 th ranked JHU knocked off ,  #7 Univ of Va.
Barely. Mammoth upsets , both of them

Now , off to Philly ..... to face , U of Md - a grudge match
Maryland v Maryland as the locals read it , in the semi finals

The West Country

of England , Cornwall , Devon.
No surprise but buildings , legends and history are old.
The birthplace of the King Arthur myth , standing stones and rings

And amusement parks based on farming , nature conservancy and plain old fun - waterparks  , ordinary zoos etc.

In the lacrosse world ( Amer College ) , the focus are the quarters for the NCAA championship. Yesterday , the Fighting Irish beat the Great Danes of Albany and the Pioneers of Denver beat Ohio State.
This afternoon , in Annapolis , the Maryland v North Carolina and the Syracuse v Johns Hopkins games happen.
Go ! Hop

The weather is cool , gray and broken by sun.

Time to start downhill

Lunch to -day , at Porthmeor Cafe , bch of the same name.
I had tapas - salad spinach , crushed almonds and baby tomatoes
M had the omelet brunch
Fantastic ! 
Our view above ,from the deck of Porthmeor Cafe , sitting in a pod 
or enclosed booth w/ heater , lifeguards training on the sand or in the surf

About the Place

This ST Ives , Cornwall
A seaside town , likely fishing based , shipping 
To -day , tourism is big , us and the others. 
The town climbs up the hills in all directions
There is a rule of navigation , going home , you go uphill , when you get level , watch out b/c you need to know where you are.

Our room is up 3 flights and thats OK b/c everything is this local is up 3 flights

Except for McDs on the road , we have tried to eat local food , fish pie , crab tart and steak and mushroom pie etc.

In a town the size of our shopping mall back home - we got lost
We knew where we were but not the restaurant we had pre - chosen
Thus , we settled for the safe choice , the Sloop Inn , oldest in St Ives. The pub has you walk to the bar and order drinks. For food , the same , walk up , give your table # and order. Food is brought to  your table.

EE is our service provider for cell and data. I've explained the deal we got and how pleased we were. Yesterday , EE had a fit !. We went from ' your service has expired ' message to the original promised call , text and data limits , back to the real numbers - all in 2 - 3 hours.We figure that we may be OK now.
I'm using the i Phone map function but other than ' pinning ' the public washroom and finding roughly where I am - I'm not confident in navigating w/ the map function. 
This town is laid out in a semi - circle but not everyone who built a street or lane was in on the plan.
We wander down the hill , find the tourists and roughly follow the ' bread crumbs ' so to speak. 
Loads of art galleries , and the nautical theme is everywhere.

I look at the

And the Sea Gulls cry

The gulls were up early. We are in the attic , sloped ceilings , nicely appointed.
The air is sea air and the water blue
Full breakfast and full me

weather : full sun and cool , as promised 50 ish

H'Audi

Hired a car in Bath
The car is an Audi ( A3 )
It navigated down the M5 and A30

Weather : rain all day
We get to St Ives and the sun broke out but not the warmth
probably 50 F or a little more

The view form our room - 'Magnifico ! '
" Location ,location , location ! " is what you pay for
We did

Using the i Phone 4s

Dinner venue , was the ' Sloop Inn ' the captains table
Fish pie
Hand picked St Ives crab meat - open face - on sun dried tomato bread + aioli dressing My next meal and my next meal , too !

EE & Me

Recall , the Car Phone Warehouse , in ColdHarbour Ln , Hayes , Middlesex, sold us the 1 GBP SIM card and the top up 10 GBP.
The remaining value on the top up - 143 min of talk , 473 Mb of data. Bearing in mind that the i Phone is updating emails all day and I've been using the ' location ' feature to navigate
 - actually navigate is being generous , I only get less lost. Bath is built from a walled central core and then arterials added on. There is a system of through roads but I haven't figured it out. 
We get home b/c we are on the A4 or London Rd. And if you can't find the A4 , well , you are lost.

 To find us , go to a map of Bath.
Find the A4 ( London Rd ). Identify the A46 route , branching off the M4 from London ( M , for Motorway or I series , Interstate equivalent ) on the east of Bath. Find the A36 , leading to central Bath. We are in between A36 and A46.

The beer of the day , Tues was Bell Ringer ale at Sam Wellers Pub
In researching bath pubs , I don't recall this one. Archetypical Br pub narrow , wood and brass. Friendly bartender and , of course , I had fried food ( bad boy ! ). Scampi and chips .... and peas

We got sun , all day. We returned to Roman Bath Square and listened to a violinist ( not my cup of tea , as they say here )
We wandered home but M tripped and cut her lip. Blood was everywhere. Passsersby stopped and helped. One fellow came running out of his house w/ a roll of tissue. We walked by the surgery and by then the bleeding had all but stopped. We limped home. Kuckily , this place has a washing machine and , of course , we've been here long enough that it was like coming home

Handily Morrisons ( full grocery ) is 3 minutes away and I slipped out for straws , and snacks for dinner.

and we have sun again , to - day

Road Notes

A style of travel
Our ( my ) predilection is to stay put while vacationing
First , some clarifications
' vacation ' , we are retired , we don't get to vacation.  A vacation is a spell away from the ' humdrum of normal life ' - ipso facto , we are touring
' touring ' implies moving. We don't move.
We have been in Bath , now , for 5 days.
Yesterday , the group of 3 visited the ' Roman Baths ' , the 1 st C baths created by the Romans and restored by the Bathians of to - day. The group incl M was in there for 2 hrs.
This time allowed me to : a find a washroom , saunter about and get a beer.
My choice was the smallest pub in Bath , named the Coeur de Lion.
The beer was Adnans , SouthWold Bitter ,a  very good brew.
Previously , I had tried Gem bitter in Bathampton Mill ( upstream from Bath ) , Wadworth ale in the Saracen's Head in Bath ( the oldest in Bath , built 1713 ).

And yesterday , as well John Smith ale and Butcombe bitter in the Crystal Palace. John was the loser , here , OK    but Butcombe , splendid
Back to the time alone in Bath. Sat on a bench , listening to the buskers in Abbey Square , I basked in sun ( first for our trip ) and struck up two conversations.
Chris             ( later hubby Rick ) from Washington State.
                      Their plans for 3 weeks incl. London , Bath , Wales ,                          the Midlands of Eng. , Scotland ( Edinburgh and                                Inverness ) . She added , ' we may have been over                              ambitious '.
Helga             is an ex - pat tour guide for German visitors arriving                         by bus. She was the locum hired by tour companies.                         She  has lived in Bath for 19 yrs. Her last group ?                              German tourists dropped of by bus and picked up 2                          hrs later. The upshot ? 1 1/2 hr in Bath. Helga said                            they ran  through Bath Abbey church. The bus was                            headed for Southampton and the ferry home.
 I added ' we are here , for 7 days , just looking '. Helga said ' fantastic , you are doing it right '. No , we didn't pay her to say that.
As we were leaving , discussing pubs - our days seem to revolve around food and / or beer , Helga walked over and said ' the Couer de Lion is nice - try the Crystal Palace. Ah , thats how you got there , you say.  Yepper !! The Lion , as they say here , specializes in most things fried , not the beer, though.
Oh , we got pooped on by pigeons ( ? ) as we sat in the garden patio of Crystal Palace
- nasty greeny looking stuff - ugh and ugh.

Wud Happnd

I went to Hopkins sports on the net. I clicked on ' the little bird ' icon. The first tweet was ' thats the quarter , 7 - 1 for JHU '. I followed throughout the game , the BJ s smothered the Cavs of Virginia. The final 19 - 7 apparently ,was a representation of what went on at Klockner Stadium , UVA.
The Js avenged an earlier 1 goal loss to the 'Hoos of UVA.
I've been wearing the very gaudy , JHU lacrosse jacket for days.
There is a ' bird , Jay ' plastered on the back and crossed sticks on the sleeve w/ JHU written large everywhere
Go Jays !
This game , yesterday , was the first round of the NCAA tournament. Next ,only the #2 ranked Syracuse Orange. They beat us already at the dome , their home field.
Alright , Bath. We were on the road , yesterday , and drove to Wales , kind of. We crossed into Wales , stopped for a coffee and turned around. Oops ! Not quite what I thought and it was my idea.
The day was saved when we jogged down the coast to Weston - Super - Mare , a seaside vacation spot. Sunday , the English seek out a carvery  and do the whole roast beef thing. So , did we.

Weather : If you are a duck , this is for you. As for humans , cool and damp. BUT , the English and Welsh , are in short sleeves and shorts , not everyone but always someone , out on the street.
These dudes and dudettes are tough

Bath , the Experience

Why choose Bath , Somerset , UK , for a vacation ?
The town is Georgian , architecturally. New buildings try and conform to the style of surrounding buildings. Of course , in this country called England , much is old and references to the 1700s is not un common and having once been a Roman outpost and trade centre , England can seem very old.
Walking in the town , on stone streets , viewing buildings made of local stone , the past calls. The past calls from doorways and windows interspersed w/ modern franchise names.
The old mixes w/ the new.

The weather : cool and rainy or damp - here you get no choice
The sun breaks through and you feel glad

We can say that we've been to Wales. We drove over the Severn Bridge that spans the Avon Estuary. We stopped for coffee and the loo in Tesco s and drove back across the bridge to England and Weston Super Mare  , by the sea. Our lunch was a Sunday carvery meal by the sea.
Walked about a bit and headed for Bath the long way , winding through the Somerset country side.
We are home.

Good Choices

... rare or luck dependent ?

The EE airtime deal : includes 500 Mb data. When would I ever use 500 Mb ?,  recall the hotspot at home provides 200 Mb per month. Looking down at the i Phone yesterday , I finally realized..... the iPhone is checking e - mails , all through the day.... using up those Mb s , uh huh , says the wise boy.

Here in jolly ol' Eng. , the Brits do not use the term ' jello ', of course its a brand name back home and stands for flavoured gelatin.
The Eng. term is ' jelly '. When the Brits do home made ' jelly ' , the jelly is bought as gelatin cubes , approx 12 per package. Then you add boiling water to the separated cubes and dissolve the suckers.
Or , the lazy , can purchase pre - made individual containers , some w/ fruit inside. 
We drove from London , our base , toward the West. The lunch time destination was Lacock village. Lacock is famous as the filming site for ' Downton Abbey ' scenes and ' Harry Potter '. The village theme is ' no you don't ', as in , no satellite dishes or above ground wires. All the homes and buildings are traditional stone roofs and stone walls. the streets are mostly unpaved. Quaint is the ' descriptor ' - untouched is the motto.
Then on to Bath , where the good choices title comes in. We reserved a place called ' Kensington Chapel '. The places , all have names. The chapel is modernized or re - fitted. Two en - suite bedrooms ( 2 couples ) and full kitchen. wood floors and WiFi and TV. Perfectomundo , dudes and dudettes. 

The Bitter...........

...........truth
I shouldn't fly. Some people are not meant to be great pianists... I'm not a flyer.
Massive jet lag , I can't sleep on a plane.
Here , in London , history is all around you... and old history. The guide yesterday announced ruins from 46 AD - that was way before I was born

For a guy , looking for deals re: cell phones , this is the place
We brought our iPhone 4s s to prove the 4s was truly a world cell phone (the term is ' mobile ' here )
It is. A company called the Car Phone Warehouse sold us an EE SIM card for $2. That came w/ 25 min , 50 texts and no data , good for 1 week. The counter guy was patient enough to pop in his own SIM to test our 4s and express his uncertainty.
He knew ' unlocked ' meant different things for each phone.
Well , mine was unlocked , unlocked
We added $20 as a top up and got : 150 min , unlimited texts and 500 Mb data , good for 3 months for each phone
I'm over the moon w/ the deal.

If............

............you can keep your head about you ............   " the words of Rudyard Kipling , Victorian balladeer

Always sounds good , until you are rushing around or running in circles

Yes  , seems to be us to - day
Frustration mounting
lost heads

Settle down

#1 , as in the B1G Champions in lacrosse
First ever B1G title awarded

Somehow the JHU BlueJays found a defence , they've held opponents in the last 2 games to under 3 goals in the last half of the game
The Black and Blue won over OSU by 13 - 6
Thus ,we come to the bad
Yes , the Jays get the automatic qualifier , they have punched their ticket to the ' dance '.
Now , the fun part. The NCAA Selection Committee has figured that the AQ allows poorer teams into the round of 16. The Comm is right. Some AQ s come from easier leagues.
The solution as mentioned previously - take the 4 teams w/ the poorest records as AQ s and have them play in.
This method means 18 teams as announced for qualifying are winnowed down to 16
Ah , you know the number as the ' sweet 16 ' from BB
To - night , the committee broadcasts their 7 AQ s and 11 at - large teams , which are chosen by record and quality of opposition.
At 9 - 6 Hopkins may have had difficulty qualifying this year , the Jays would be a bubble team , sort of in / sort of out
Their quality wins would be OSU and Maryland

We shall see said the Zen Master

Weather : warm , blue sky and gentle breezes

Amazing

Of course , the advent of YouTube has brought many astounding views into our grasp.
Yesterday , while watching ' Wild.... something ' , I watched a sequence where a village worker brought out a basket of meat pieces and proceeded to put pieces of meat on a stick held in his mouth. Surrounding him was a pack of hyenas - waiting to be fed.
The hyenas apparently take turns grabbing the meat. The individuals wait theri turns and then step up and grab.
Crikey ! the pack waited ... and took turns  !!

Weather : temperature was 64 F at 10 AM. Blue sky and still air.

What did you watch on the  ' boob tube ' ??
Expanding your horizons ?

Should do.

Cyber This

There is a new TV series , all set to rev up your paranoia
The scenario , you charge your phone for free at the airport charge station. You board your flight and your phone disables the WiFi system on the plane.
On landing , you are arrested. Only to find , your credit card and bank account are cleared out. and so is everyone else's on the plane

the show is called ' CSI , Cyber '.
I'm jittery enough about using information storage ( cloud ) and using my phone for anything but a phone
As I've mentioned before  b/c of this blog , I must be leaving a information trail thats titanic.

Weather : gorgeous to very gorgeous. Balmy and sunny

This is sGWN ????? Tell me about it

You've been waiting.... YES , the boys in Blue and Black took out the solid Blue of PSU. The Lions staged an alarming rally , down 5 - 1 , the Nittany monsters reeled off 5 straight. Hop tied and moved on. unlike other games this year , they fought back and went on a 4 - 1 rampage sealing the victory
In the other semi final , the UM Terrapins looked to have the game going their way. But lax is often a game of runs, the Buckeyes got game and scored 6 to win the game.
Thus , Satruday the Johns Hopkins Bluejays take on the Ohio State Buckeyes , in the first ever B1G Championship in lax.
OSU has beaten Hop already this year. A total Hopkins disaster , that was.
Go ! HOP Go !

Maryland despite the loss will qualify for the final 16.
OSU , winning the B1G takes the monkey off their back and w/out the B1G AQ , might still make the 16. For Hop , this is : You'd better have game Saturday. the B1G AQ is their ticket to the play downs.

" the summer breeze came rolling in
across the bay
it touched your hair and lingered there
and called to me "

lyrics , for the ' Summer wind ' by Frankie S