10th August 2018 Cambridge to Haverhill on Top of a Double Decker Bus

Hi Dear Folk,

Would you like to ride at the top, at the front of a double decker bus?  A great thing to do, because you have such a good view.  My trip back to Haverhill from Cambridge and yes it is the same day.  This is typical weather change when you live on an island.

I took a series of photos of this Miata being escorted off the road by two police vans.  I took these photos for my son, as he has a Miata and that colour.  He says he wants to post the photos on his Miata group.

I like comparing all sorts of things, from one country to another, I find this so interesting.  Road signs and markings, street lamps, different styles of houses, housing estates and on and on.

England is not just thatch cottages.

Because of the very hot summer everything had been harvested one month earlier.

The village of Linton.

I wanted to visit this pub, but never did get there.  They do a lovely Sunday dinner, and you can sit in the garden on the little river there.

This was the little village my mum and dad used to live in.

Not a very good photo, but this was my parents thatched cottage, which I loved.  I did not grow up here, but grew up in just as lovely a little cottage.

The big articulated lorries that ply the roads of the UK that come in from all over the Continent.

I'm sitting at the top and front of an identical bus, taking this photo.

Roundabout, I love round about or circles as they call them over here.  Give me a roundabout over a traffic light or a stop sign any day.

All the children walking home from school.

A mixture of Victorian and more modern houses.

Do like the effort and money that the local council puts into flowers and hanging baskets throughout town.

A new store in town Lidl and I just googled them and it seems they too are in the States.  Something similar in format to Aldi's.  They do have very good prices at Lidl's in the UK, wish they had a store around here.

Petrol/Gas is 1.33 pounds sterling per litre, 1 = 0.264 US gallons.

Some roundabouts are just painted on the road, but the principal is the same.  It keeps traffic flowing, not all this stopping and starting, don't get me started.

Note, free WiFi.  I hope you enjoyed your ride, it's time to get off now, and walk up the hill home.

Christine

My American Dream

Hi Dear Folk,

I know at one time I did have more tulips, but I think the squirrels ate them.  I've heard they don't like daffodils, but do like tulips, so I picked the odd ones that have sprung up on their own throughout my garden, and put them right here on the desk where I sit and can enjoy them.

Even in their demise I think they're lovely, such shape and inner beauty.

My American Dream, this is it.  A Teardrop Camper with a Clam Shell back and I'll take the Caddi Convertible that I drove for one whole summer when I first came here, and lets set off down Route 66.

When I saw this stamp I had to go back for it, I had a coupon for 50% off from a competitor which I used at Michael's to buy this.

Back in the fifties, sixties and I think even early seventies, American families would load the kids up in the estate wagon, towing the pop up camper and take off out West on a month long camping trip. To view all the kitsch stops on the way. Long gone are those days.  I doubt if many people take much more than one week off at a time, if not just a long weekend.  Times change.

Route 66 is that iconic road to travel, to step back in time. John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath. Route 66 was the first highway of it's kind, built in 1926 to connect rural and urban America, 2,400 miles. It was the road the Dust Bowl migrants used to head out to California, their dream.  Only about 85% survives today.

Depending on which way you are going, out East here I'd start in Chicago, Illinois, then through St. Louis, Missouri, Kansas, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Amarillo, Texas, Sante Fe, New Mexico, Flagstaff, Arizona, ending in Los Angeles, California.  The USA is huge, you can drive a whole day or more and the scenery hardly changes at all, not like tiny Britain, where the scenery changes quite quickly.  So would it truly be my dream.  I would not want to see the ghost towns, where dreams have faded, but still somewhere deep down inside me I want to drive it.  I want to try the old style motels and eat at ma and pa diners, see the attractions, we all still dream.

Bad news at the thrift shop, I succumbed to this hand knitted brand new bag.  It had obviously been someones Xmas present, as the gift receipt was still inside dated 9th December.  I love it.

Six Poppytrail plates, made in California, the design is Dahlia.  My absolute favourite design by Poppytrail is the design named Homestead, I think that goes along with Route 66.  I have a friend who is in her nineties and many years ago she saw it in a department store and bought the whole Homestead dinner service, she has always loved it.

A little European black Austrian crystal necklace, they always sparkle.

My beautiful deep purple lilac, which only last about a week and we've had a lot of rain, so will they have flowers next weekend, I do so hope.

Christy

The Boy In Chicago

Hi Dear Folk,

This morning we woke up to a light dusting of snow, just cold enough to stay for a while and brighten everything up.  Dashed down to the train station and parked the car, which is harder now to find a space, since everybody is back to work.  I sat on the side where you can view the river, and got to see two herons fishing for breakfast.  I love the snow it enhances what's beautiful and covers what's dinghy.

Reading my first out of print American woman writer, her autobiography, Mary Austin - Earth Horizon.

Just a few pics from The Boy's visit to Chicago last New Years weekend.  Rob has two lots of friends who live there, Charles who's family are in Chicago and Rob met at Ithaca and Yesenia who went there to Art College from Rob's High School and now lives and works there.

He booked a ticket and the realized that it was an evening flight on Friday and not a morning flight, so had to change his ticket, needless to say it cost a lot, you know how that goes.  Live and learn, I always check and double check.  He did it late at night and was tired so another no, no on booking an airline ticket.

I always like to see what is in the bakery where ever I go.

Rob thought the Cultural Building, but correct me if wrong.

View from the John Hancock Building 96th floor Signature Bar.

Rob at a local book store, just down the road from his friends.  Looks like my kind of book store.

Breakfast at a Super Hip Diner, is how Rob puts it.

Chicago Botanic Garden

Aren't these flowers lovely?

Taken with phone, and not his good camera.

Christy