Jackson's Actions

All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, and desire. --Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC) <

Setting Off for London


From Lichfield, Mary and I took the train to London. I adore the Trains in the UK and Europe. They are clean, fast and very convenient. A little pricey, but it sure beats the price of gasoline there!


I got an opportunity (at last) to see the English countryside. I fell in love with the fields of rape (planted to enrich the soil between crops.) It's gorgeous!


Mary has family in Coventry and I can envision her visits here by train.


The rape of England! Glorious to my eye.


The countryside is just as beautiful as I always imagined.


And I couldn't get enough of these golden fields.


We passed through "Rugby" on our way to London (which amused me).


And here's the old girl in a London cab!


Mary thinks I'm daft to be so excited, I'm sure.


We dropped our luggage at our hotel and went to find lunch.


We found a Spanish tapas place and I even found sangria!


It happened to be very good food! A table of Spaniards nearby too~


The Big Bus Tour


We decided to let me play tourist and found a tour bus.


It was a beautiful day, and Trafalgar Square was teeming with buses.


I loved the lions lazing around Trafalgar Square.


I am a Leo, so lions always hold a lot of appeal. (Most cats, actually.)


We had perfect weather and the streets were bustling with people.


A lot of what I saw wasn't known to me. Napoleon, I presume? (what's he doing in London?) It took my French friend, Iffig Palud, to remind me of the battle of Trafalgar, and that this is NELSON, for heavens' sake!!! Is my face red!! Well, history was never my strong suit. (nor math, nor geography, nor science.) I was good in literature however!


And the Sphinx too! Gives new meaning to globalization.


City scene with Big Ben in the distance. A beautiful city!


Americans love these red phone booths! There's few booths of any kind left in America.


History and statuary abounds. I could never get enough of it. All over the city.


We got closer to Big Ben so I could take some snaps from the roofless bus.


Big Ben is impressive. And it IS big. And symbolic, historic, and a delight.


Another big attraction is "The London Eye" which is a huge ferris wheel that overlooks all of London. Afraid of heights? Probably not for you!


We even saw a bagpiper on the streets. Mary's Scotch ancestry made him a fun find!


The topless bus gave me a great view of the city as we drove and drove.


Enamoured of the art that pops up everywhere, my finger kept clicking.


And clicking.


Unfortunately the guide on the bus had such a thick accent, I couldn't catch the names of most of the important buildings. But this was one of them!


And art everywhere. I was ecstatic.


More art. Keep driving!


St Pauls Cathedral, built by Sir Christopher Wren to replace the one that burned in the great fire of London in 1666. (info provided by my Scots friend, and I may have
just assigned it to the wrong building! I'm hopeless).


Likewise. (can someone help me out here?) (I believe this is St. Augustine Church,
if a reader identified this for me correctly. ) Thanks for all corrections!


The Thames and Tower bridge in the distance. (A kind man corrected me,
this used to say "London Bridge" which he reminded is now in Arizona. (blush))


And eventually we drove over the bridge itself.


They call this building 'the gherkin.' ha!


And this odd one is London City Hall!


The chariots of yore!


And I believe this is Parliament.


And if there's any doubt, here's a good photo of Parliament!



We Hit the Galleries


One of our goals was to hit the art galleries of London.


So the next morning we walked the bridge to the Tate Modern. Unfortunately, no photographs were allowed inside the Tate. But it was an enlightening visit, and tons and tons of modern art that we enjoyed.



The Tate was followed by a visit to "White Cube" gallery on the other side of town where there was an exhibit of Gregory Crewdson's unbelievably evocative photographs. There must have been 35 of them, upstairs and down, and here's one we saw:



Like much of his work, the people are posed in enigmatic positions, giving rise to a story (likely different in every viewer). They are shot in waning light, and every detail is clear on the canvas of an enormous photograph. (they cost as much to shoot and produce as a documentary film). It was a treasure, this exhibit, and we enjoyed it enormously.


We stopped at a little pub while we were seeing art, and I loved the sign on their door.




Thank you, Mary for our treasured time together. Friends for almost ten years, we finally got to visit in person, and what a time it was. I shall not soon forget. It was like having a sister of my own. Thank you.

##