Reading, Writing & Listening
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The Palace of Westminster
London We had an 8:45 departure this crisp Monday morning from the hotel. First stop The Palace of Westminster or more commonly known as the Houses of Parliament. I have been to London many times before, and there’s much to see but I’ve never been to visit the inside of the Houses of Parliament prior…
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A ‘Full English’ on the First Morning in London
Endel Street, London Time for a ‘Full English’ breakfast I had an excellent night’s sleep last night after being out at a drinks party at a friend’s flat over in Marylebone until 1:30 AM. What jet lag? I’m sitting here at a small sidewalk café just off Covent Garden after having had an excellent little…
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Heathrow Express
Heathrow Airport Catching the Heathrow Express to Paddington I caught the Heathrow Express and if you haven’t ever done this it’s the new train that goes directly to Paddington Station. It gets you from Heathrow to the City in 15 minutes. All the cabbies are of course quite upset about it, but such is progress.…
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Somewhere Above the Pole
Somewhere Above the Pole Compliments to the Staff The flight was excellent. We arrived on the flight to Heathrow a few minutes early and I actually had very nice service from two flight attendants, both of them English. Well, actually from one flight attendant. The nice one was quite sweet and sincere and the other had been flying with…
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Overheard at the Red Carpet Club
Red Carpet Club, Los Angeles International Ahh—a nice crisp, cold glass of Chardonnay. Well, cheap Chardonnay, but anyway it’s cold. I’m still sitting here in the Red Carpet Club and as I posted earlier it’s rather busy here. All I could hear were middle-aged white guys chatting on their cell phones about.. well I didn’t really care…
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Breeze though LAX
Los Angeles International Airport I arrived here at LAX a short time ago. Check-in was a breeze. I think it took all of about ten minutes to use the kiosk, get my boarding pass and get through security. I didn’t actually realize that you could use the kiosks for international flights, but you just select your…
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‘Churchill’s England’ – D-1
Los Angeles Departure -1 and Counting Tomorrow I shall depart for England and I hope to be able to convincingly and effectively convey the journey in photos and these diary entries. I do hope that it will be as enjoyable for one to read as it will be for me to experience and to write…
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In two days I shall become a foreigner
Los Angeles Departure -2 and Counting In two days I shall become a foreigner. I’m in the final stages of confirming reservations and sorting out what to pack for the adventure upon which I am about to set out. I checked the weather in London—it’s to be a bit of rain intermixed with a bit…
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The British Intelligence Connection
Los Angeles Another one of the other more fascinating responses that I got to my letter of introduction was from a friend here in Los Angeles whose grandfather’s best friend was Sir William Samuel Stephenson CC MC DFC (January 23, 1897 – January 31, 1989). He was a fascinating character. Here’s part of what Wikipedia…
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Le Grand Introduction
Los Angeles It’s now one week from departure. D -7 and counting! Last weekend I emailed a short letter of introduction, discussing my upcoming trip, to a number of contacts in my address book which included friend’s, family, and colleagues. I also emailed it to the ChurchillChat group on Google, thinking that there may be…