England and Ireland---Day 7

2 up 2 down---to me, typical houses

Jiti, Moni, Amaya and I drove to Kent today.  First stop was the village of Hartley where Ranjivan's parents (who are Jandiala Johls) live.  After a very nice tea we left Amaya and drove into Gillingham to see Jit and his wife.  More tea...

Jit and Jiti  cricket test match

What usually happens...

Kent countryside

I do like the Kentish countryside.  Lots of open rolling hills with wheat, still green here, alfalfa, pasture with cows and sheep.  The only problem from a photographers viewpoint is the hedgerows.  You spend a lot of time on small roads driving through green tunnels.  Just as you hit an open spot with the views, and hit your shutter button, another hedgerow has blocked it.  Argghhhh...

Gravesend gurdwara

Ranjivan's dad, Parmjit, drove Jiti and I to see the gurdwara in Gravesend.  It is easily the largest gurdwara I have ever seen, and looks like it was transplanted from India straight to England.  It cost £12 million to build, and they are still working on it.  "Wow" was my first thought.  Great appliqué in the floor tile too.

After leaving the gurdwara we drove by the Thames. It is quite wide here, but hasn't yet reached the sea.

Kent sunset

After a lovely meal at Hartley (Darshan is a fantastic cook), we left Amaya with her Nani and Nana and drove back to Ascot.  Lucky it is light so late.  We reached home about 10:15 and it was still light out.

England and Ireland---Day 6

Fancy water aerobics site

Moni and I went to water aerobics this morning at the Berystede Hotel & Spa.  Many similar moves to those I usually do, but in an indoor pool with the water just a little warmer than I am used to.  Afterwards we sat in the hydropool, which is what I would call a jacuzzi, then the sauna, the salt room, then finally a nice shower.  I think the combination of the exercise with the warm water totally exhausted us, so much so that we decided not to go to the Natural History Museum in London today.

Mary Ann and Kulwinderjit

Moni offered to take me to visit a Facebook friend of mine, Kulwinderjit Hayre.  We had "met" on JJ Johl's Facebook page, Hayre or Hayer? many years ago.  Her family was originally from Moranwali which is near Banga in Hoshiarpur Dist (for those who care).  This was obviously meant to be, as she lives in a town only about 10 miles from Ascot.  It was very exciting to meet Kulwinderjit and it turns out she and Moni know some of the same people.  We had tea with some very nice pakori to eat.

Ranj and her Ascot hat

The Royal Ascot Races will be next week, and Ranj is going with a friend to the Royal Enclosure, no less.  Hats are mandatory, and the brim must be at least 4" wide.  I think the hat Ranj borrowed meets the requirements.



A note about the roses...they are fantastic, and the smell is so wonderful.  Too hot in the Central Valley to grow roses like this!

Days are so long this time of year.  The sun rose at 4:44 and it has not yet set at 8:45.  I think it's not supposed to set until 9:15 tonight, all of which makes getting children to bed at a reasonable time difficult---school tomorrow.

England and Ireland---Day 5

 

Lady Godiva

Although I did not see the Godiva statue on this trip to Coventry, I am posting a picture for Surani.  We did not go anywhere near downtown, and, as a matter of fact, I have not seen any fabric stores either.  Money saved!

$2.19/liter = About $8.76/gal !!

Afternoon tea, latte and scone

After leaving Coventry we drove back to Ascot.  After this we drove to Bracknell to the City Centre Mall so Moni could get some mobile phone things done.  Shopping at Bentall Department Store, I bought a cup to replace one I broke recently, and Moni bought me one with red poppies on it.  Afternoon tea was in Nero's, in the Bentall, but was a latté and a scone rather than tea.

Ranj and Amaya

We then drove to Aldershot to pick up Amaya from her nursery-child care, and then home.  Moni did a lot of driving today, and I still think English drivers cut in too close, but I saw all kinds of roads, from fairly small country lanes to the M4, which is a busy four to six lane freeway (or dual carriageway, if you prefer.)

More English sky

Typical English garden

A busy British bee

England and Ireland---Day 4

Your truly, Sukhdev and Moni

We decided to spend the day in Coventry and go back to Ascot tomorrow.  We drove to a mall near Sukhdev's and went to a Marks and Spencer and Next.  I was not impressed by the prices and can better understand why Moni likes to go to Ross when she is in the States.  Colours were very nice here, much better than what is popular in the States right now.  Lots of blues and a very clear orange.  I only bought a new pair of pajamas for £10 which is about $16.  (They had cherries on them, and I'm a real sucker for cherries.)

In the sunroom

Weather here is very changeable.  Woke up this morning to sunshine, then a very heavy rain for about five minutes, then it cleared up to a beautiful day...blue skies and puffy white clouds.  Late in the afternoon it clouded up and rained again.  Warm through all of this and I have only worn my sweater occasionally.

After sitting on the bench outside of the stores in the nice warm sunshine, we drove to a restaurant names Chiquito's.  Interesting interpretation of Mexican food, but tasty for all that.  By this time it was 4:30 and we went home for a short nap.  Even spent watching Indian soaps and talking.

England and Ireland---Day 3

Village church in Bray

Off to Birmingham today, just Moni and I.  Still have trouble with "wrong side" driving, and feel way too close to the car on my left.  Drivers cut closer here than in the States and I spend a lot of time stepping on my non-existent brake.

Tony the barman

Navi, Moni's daughter, wanted us to stop by the cricket field in the village of Bray, which is a typical English village.  Navi treated me to a Pimms, the quintessential summer drink of England, at least according to Navi.  Very like a sangria or fruit punch, nice and refreshing, and not too alcoholic.  After a snack lunch at Navi's it was off to the motorway and our trip   to the Midlands.

Navi and her family

A Midlands sky

Parm Braich

Paulo

Saw all the relatives in Birmingham today.  Amazing that we could get it all done in one day.  First stop was at Paulo's, where we also caught up with Parm and his wife.  After discussing it, other than Facebook, Parm and I haven't see each other for about 22 years.

Dalli and his family

Next, on the Dalbir's house.  Dal is Parm's brother who drove us all over when we were in England in 1994.  By all over I mean all the way from Kent to Glasgow in Scotland.  We met his wife and daughters, as well as a cousin and his wife.

Baksho and granddaughter

 Final visit was to Baksho, Paulo's sister's house.

Off to Coventry to spend the night at Sukhdev's house.

England and Ireland---Day 2

Rhododendron in Jiti's garden

Woke up to thunder this morning,  a typical English day.  Guess I didn't bring enough sunshine with me.  It did clear up this afternoon and was quite sunny and pleasant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Hyare House, Woodside

I went shopping at Tesco with Moni today, strictly groceries.  Prices are a little higher, but not terribly dear.  We then drove around Ascot and looked at the race track.  The big races are held in two weeks, too bad to miss them, but traffic is supposed to be terrible then.  I am pretty much recovered from jet lag, but did take a small nap this afternoon.

Aanya Hyare

Nim and Bira

Drove to Islip, about 25 miles away this evening to see Holly's brother and sister-in-law.  While we were there Momma and Pappa Uppal came back from visiting and were very surprised to see me there.

and daughters

England and Ireland, Day 1

Actually more like Day -1, Day 0, and Day 1, as I had forgotten how disorienting travelling to the east is.  I drove a car load to Santa Rosa, unloaded, then off to Oakland, where I stayed the night with Rob.  Cold in the Bay Area, but they certainly grow great flowers.  Rob and I went to Rockridge for pizza at Zachery's.  Very nice deep-dish, Chicago style pizza.

                                                  Slept very well on Patrick's contribution to Rob's apartment,a

My first adventure-BART

sleeper sofa, then up and off to BART.  This was my first time going under the Bay, and what surprised me was the pressure as you go into the trans-bay tube.  Rode to SFO and, with a short walk, and no lines, had checked into United.  I was not charged for my suitcase, and I wonder if it was because my flight was international.  Anyone know?

Crapper...really

Plane flight was only nine hours, and since we took off at about 1:00 in the afternoon, it was only 10:00 PM by my internal clock by the time we reached Heathrow.  I did not sleep on the flight, so by the time we reached Moni and Manjit's I was tired.  Took a two hour nap, then spent the rest of the day jet lagged.

"Real" fish and chips

Had fish and chips for dinner, stayed up until I could not stand it anymore, and off to bed by 9:00.