Monday, 2-12-96
9:429 PM London
3:29 PM E-Town
I just finished watching John Major, the Prime Minister of England, speak on the BBC about the bombing in London, by the IRA, on Friday about 7 PM. I got many e-mails from home today inquiring about it & my safety, so I made a point to watch John Major’s speech on TV & the news. Though the whole thing is scary, I believe it was a somewhat isolated incident & hopefully the IRA will take back up it’s cease-fire… I pray so for it!
Okay, once again I will try to finish recapping this weekend! Saturday I went on the ISA excursion. Lori had gone to Amsterdam for the weekend & I took advantage of the time on the excursion to have some selfing time… On the trip to Hampton Court Palace, I did my income tax returns that Debbie & Alex had brought me from home. I was expecting approx. a $130 refund & much to my dismay found that I owed about $100 instead! ☹︎ This put a damper on my mood for the morning… I tried to enjoy the atmosphere at Hampton Court, but my head was a bit clouded. Stress was upon me & I had a time of it trying to relax & take in the sights before me… Luckily my history class is going there Wed. for class, so maybe I will appreciate more then & be in a more sane state of mind!
By the time we got to Windsor I was feeling much better… I decided to plunk down £9 & really see the whole Castle! (Queen Mary’s Doll House included ☺︎) I really got a lot out of the trip to Windsor Castle! The State Rooms/Apts., whatever, would make even the most wealthy North Shore family from home feel poor… Even the ceilings had intricate paintings on them & the dining room seated like 50 people!
St. George’s Chapel was beautiful & I got to see where Henry the VIII was buried w/ his fav. wife, Jane Seymour! I came across George VI tomb there & a great quote there which he read in his Christmas address in 1939:
“I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown and he replied, `Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God, that shall be to you better than a light & safer than a known way.'” ~ from the poem God Knows by Minnie Louise Haskins
After really taking my time exploring the castle & even chatting w/ a security guard, about what the queen does when she is there, as she was Sat. (signified by the flag being up…), which he said was mostly horse back ride & relax! (She had even been for a ride that morning… not bad for her majesty who is all of 69* yrs. old! ☺︎) I checked out the gift shop before moving on. I found 2 placemats that made my day! They had little soldiers all around the edges & inside the words to “The Grand Old Duke of York!” I instantly knew I had to get them for Mom & Dad & send them home for them w/ Debbie & Alex! When Meg & I were little, after meals (esp. Sat. morning brunches) we would get on Mom & Dad’s laps & sing the “Grand Ol’ Duke of York!” What a great memory… I believe Mom & Dad will appreciate them & and get a real kick out of them! ☺︎
I went to a yummy sandwich shop for a late lunch… I had a ham & cheese croissant warmed, with a Tango (orange soda) & a choc. chip cookie! As I ate, I strolled the streets of the towns of Windsor & Eton (where Price Phillip or William, I forget, attends private school) & people watched and window shopped!
Sat. night Debbie, Alex & I went to a pub across the street from their hotel called “The Crown!” Alex had a 1/2 pint of cider (rather she had a sip) & I had a beer & Debbie a liquor drink. We toasted to our lives & great experiences, such as this time in London! We hung out, drank & chatted! When the pub closed, we moved our socializing to their hotel’s lounge for some crisps & another drink (there I had white wine…)! Then we went up to their room, I was staying over, & chatted more! It was like a big slumber party! ☺︎ Alex got a hold of my quote book & the 3 of us ended up at one point all laying side by side along 1 single bed reading them & discussing them together! I don’t know what time we finally went to bed & that is probably a good thing!
Sunday morning we went to Camden Town Market! They really enjoyed the atmosphere & we had lunch in a little café overlooking a canal there. The service was slow & Alex had to be back to the city for a meeting w/ the Royal London Ballet people, so soon after lunch I got them on the tube heading in the right direction & then went home to study some & grocery shop!
After their Ballet meeting they were able to make it to The National Gallery! Meanwhile I had managed to lock myself out of the room & Lori wasn’t back from Amsterdam yet… Will & Molly weren’t home at first & I thought Debbie, Alex, & I were going to a show that night, so Anne & Ruth we ready to dress me w/ their shoes & clothes for the occasion! ☺︎ But Will & Molly arrived back to Pembridge in time to save the day! I met Debbie & Alex at their hotel about 7:30 PM. We were gonna go to a show, but realized that there aren’t any on Sunday nights. So we hung out for a while & Alex told me all about the Royal London Ballet Summer Program. Then she was tired & I was hungry. So Alex stayed in to get some sleep, their plane left early this morning… And Debbie & I went for a late dinner at a sorta French restaurant in btw. their hotel & Covent Garden.
It was called “Doma” or something similar & had a great atmosphere & very yummy food! We sat in comfy black chairs. There was very appropriate background music (Motown, Annie Lennox, & Enya). Debbie was determined to get a good meal in me, so I had a very tasty “Rump Steak” & chips & a large glass of Merlot wine. She insisted I have dessert & so I had choc. choc. chip ice cream! Wow! A Heavenly Meal! ☺︎ We had a great talk about Jess, Alex, Gary, & life & love & experiences! After dinner we went back to the hotel lounge & talked more about our lives & feelings… I was touched & felt closer to her as a friend, more than ever before (less of the 2nd mom role was there)! While continuing our talk, she ordered us “night caps!” She had me try “Bailey’s Irish Cream” which was very good! It tasted like a watered down milkshake almost! Finally, a little after midnight we said our goodbyes & she sent me home, rather back to Pembridge, in a cab. I had a neat little chat on the way w/ the cab driver! Which was the perfect ending to a whirlwind of a memorable weekend…
Lori was back & still awake when I got in and so she told me all about her adventures in Amsterdam & I told her of my experiences this weekend!
Oh, I got letters, going all the way back to Thurs. up till today, from: Jessica, Deborah, Ruth, Sue, Mrs. Murphy, & Gramma Dee! I got e-mails from Deborah, Mom, Dad, & Meg, as far as I remember… The postal letters were so great & full of love & news! They really brightened my days!
Today in Int’l Business P. Cooper spent the 1st 1/2 hr. or so discussing/explaining the IRA Bombing of London on Fri. & explaining the situation/conflict btw. Britain & N. Ireland. It helped to understand the events that led up to the bombing. Also every group, but Adam & Mark’s group, lost lots of £ in the foreign exchange portfolio exercise! ★ P. Cooper played Beethoven’s 9th Symphony while he passed out this wk’s results! ★ We lost over £9,000, which was a bummer after gaining over £4,000 last week! On a whim Raymond suggested we put all over quid in Yen! He said, “drastic times call for drastic measures!” We’ll see…
After class I did e-mail & then worked out w/ Jill at ULU! Then I went to the Birkbeck Library to get a book on Nicholas Hawksmoor, for my architecture presentation this Thurs. After that I went to mass at Newman & was overcome w/ the holy spirit during Fr. Scott’s saying of the mass… When he says mass he does it so serenely, it is infectious! The 1st reading was really great too! It talked of indecision upsetting God & being like wavy waters in the sea. I left inspired & relaxed…
Well, I had a good dinner, wrote some letters, & chatted some w/ Lori tonight. I just got back in the room from running around the house & joking & hanging out w/ some of my housemates! Adam needed advice on hanging his new posters & then Melissa gave Lori & I some Belgian chocolate! Mel & I are gonna go to “Harrod’s” together Thurs. afternoon! Well, time to wind down for bed… After all my distractions, it took me over 2 hrs. to finish this entry/summation about my weekend leading up to this very moment! (11:53 PM London & 5:53 PM E-Town)
CHEERS! ☺︎
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Note from Present Day Kathy: After a few short entries in a row, this sure was a lengthy one!
I am glad that I wrote about current events, such as the IRA bombings in London, while I was there in my journals. It was definitely a scary experience for me to live through overseas. I remember doing my best to make peace with the risk of being in a place where that happened, understanding how unlikely it was for me to be hurt or killed by a bomb, and also trying to stay safe and follow protocols, when train stations were closed or other public areas blocked off to protect people when suspicious packages (such as unaccompanied backpacks) or other potential bombs were found. I also appreciate that my International Business tutor/college professor tried to help our class, which was all American students, understand what was going on.
I’ve noticed in my entries that I write “e-mail” with a dash, which eventually must’ve faded into how we write it now = email.
I appreciate my frustration with my tax returns, especially being on such a tight budget while I was abroad, owing vs. getting money back is always disappointing, but especially at that age and stage of life.
Since I have so many relevant pictures for this post, I am saving those from my two visits to Hampton Court Palace to share with the entry where I describe my second time there.
*In regards to when I was talking about how old the Queen was at a the time… In my original entry I wrote 95 yrs. old! Not sure how I got that number, as in retrospect, unless the Queen Mother was still alive and I was referring to her, that would make the Queen Elizabeth 117 now! I looked up how old she would’ve been in February 1996 and found the answer to be 69.
I have such vivid memories of sitting on my mom’s and dad’s laps with my sister, after our weekend morning family brunches at home, singing “The Grand Old Duke of York!”
It’s cool to see these pictures of Windsor Castle and St. George’s Chapel after Prince Harry and Megan Markle’s recent wedding there, earlier this year. It’s also funny that I said I thought Prince Phillip or William went to Eton, as I must’ve confused Queen Elizabeth’s husband Phillip with their grandson Harry, who must have been less on my radar at the time. As I mentioned in a previous entry, this was before Princess Diana died, when, sadly, her sons were put on the world’s stage as they mourned.
(Not her real name) Alex had just turned 16 at the time of their visit and its crazy to remember that the drinking age in England is/was 16! When we go on our planned family trip to England in August 2020, our Sean will be 16 and can try beer, wine or cider, if he wants to. I did a quick Google search to confirm that is still the case/law across the pond, which it is. I saw that he cannot buy his own drinks or have hard liquor, though.
I have always been fascinated by the difference in legal drinking ages between the U.S. and the U.K., wondering if much of the problems here are related to adolescents wanting to rebel and if it were not against the law, if they’d be less inclined to abuse alcohol?
Again, reading about these special memories of experiences with (not their real names) Debbie and Alex is so very bittersweet for me. I can’t imagine what I’d think if you told me back then how many dear ones that I wrote about in my journals, during my time abroad, would die within 20 years. I doubt the deaths of my grandparents would’ve been that surprising, however knowing they’d all be dead within 4 years of my return might be. I’m sure learning of Alex and her younger sister Jess’s deaths would’ve crushed me, as they did in reality (in 2014 and 2011).
The little differences in British and American English still amuse me… Such as fries = chips and chips = crisps in the U.K.
The quote book I speak of in this entry used to be one of my prized possessions! It’s been missing for years and I still believe it will turn up someday, amongst the many boxes I have saved of sentimental things. I used to write quotes that spoke to me, from books, movies, and such, in it and loved looking at it for inspiration and validation when I was feeling down or just wanted to remember words and thoughts that I loved.
I can still picture that dinner and hanging out afterwards with (not her real name) Debbie. For much of my childhood, as her daughters’ regular babysitter, she was more a second mom/mother figure to me, so to connect with her on a different level that night was really special. Also, when I do the math, I realize she was close in age to me now, as (not her real name) Alex was close in age to Sean’s age now. It bizarre to think about being in a similar stage of my life now, that she was then.
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Reminder: Unless I’ve been given permission to use people’s actual names, in most cases I’ve removed or replaced the names of the real people who were part of my journey/experience there, in effort to protect and respect their identities/privacy in my London Semester Journal entries. I will also not share details that I think and feel are too personal for anyone I interacted with, my loved ones, and me.
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Here’s the back story of My London Semester Journals from 1996, including what prompted me to revisit and decide to share them here in 2018. And here’s a list a list of the entries, which I will update as I share them.
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