Becoming British

I’ve finally managed to book an appointment with my local council to go over with them my application form to get British nationality! I say ‘finally’ because it took me a while to pass the ‘Life in the UK’ test, gather all paperwork needed, find proper references and actually fill the form!  

Studying for the test wasn’t that bad and I can say I quite enjoyed it. United Kingdom has quite a fascinating history. The book starts from the prehistoric times going through all the way to the previous coalition government. It includes many different chapters including some regarding Magna Carta, the Elizabethan times, the Civil war, Victorian times, world wars and facts regarding social life. Parts of it are really interesting like learning about Henry VIII, Cromwell or how the Black Death of the 13th century affected the socioeconomic state of the country. However, there are things that I’m pretty sure not many British people know like the year that Sake Dean Mahomet opened his first curry house, how many people form a jury in Scotland or who was voted the greatest Briton in 2002! Just to let you know the answers are 1810 in George Street, 15 and Churchill. The book itself is quite small but dense with events, people and dates. What I personally found difficult to remember were all the names I didn’t know of British actors, artists, athletes and scientists mentioned with their accomplishments. However, I managed to pass the exam on my first attempt. 

Since then I’ve been trying to fill in my application form, which hasn’t been an easy feat. The form itself is 32 pages long and requires information regarding where you’ve been working the last years, where you’ve lived the past years and even where you’ve been on holidays for the last 5 years! The latter has been quite difficult since I had been having long weekends away here and there and that information is buried deep inside old emails. Not to mention the bookings that JJ had done that I couldn’t easily confirm. What I assume they want is to check whether I’ve been on a terrorist summer camp or if I’ve left the country for more than 270 days in the last 5 years! I did manage to gather as much information as possible. I’ve also got copies of my degree, P60s, ID cards, contracts for houses and jobs etc.  

After that meeting with the council, I’ll have to go for an official interview with the ‘Home Office’ and after that (hopefully) I’ll be all cleared for the ceremony and the naturalisation. Cross your fingers and wish me luck. 

Life in different speeds

How far should you go till you stop thinking about the ‘us’ and focus more on ‘I/me’? What’s more important; the benefits of an individual or the wellbeing of the group? Should you stay and fight? Should you abandon a sinking ship while being rational and logical about it, or are you just being a selfish prick?

Greece is in peril at the moment. The current government got elected by promising no more austerity measures and a solution to the financial standstill that the country was in. However, they failed to explain how that would be achieved since there are no government funds to actually sustain a healthy economy, pay salaries, pensions and public expenses. They just made grand but empty promises without any real backing. It’s such a narrow sighted approach to the problem insisting that the evil Europe is out to harm Greece and they are the main reason that the country is in trouble. Unfortunately, such an approach made Tsipras the PM of Greece with uncertain and dangerous results. 

There are rumours now that the government will try to use an Icelandic type of solution to the problem. I can’t say I completely understand how that will work, but as far as I know it involves creating a new fictitious bank into which Greece will deposit (get rid of) all high risk securities and also apply restrictions on money and capital transfers. A solution like that might throw the country into chaos and create social unrest for some time.

However, Iceland had its own currency and could control its value. In addition, the government applied very strict austerity measures to allow the small percentage of growth that the country is now having. So, why go through all that uncertainty if stern financial decisions will need to be made anyway? Greece is now losing money left, right and centre (tax avoidance, black market, unnecessarily stretched public sector). That’s the problem that needs to be fixed and it would be better to be done as part of the EU.

The Greek PM is worried about staying in power and leader to his party more than what’s best for his country. There is a far left wing part of his party that disapproves of the EU and the western world (‘capitalism’ is their number one enemy). That part believes that there are other solutions to the problem and already Tsipras has approached Putin for various conversations! By the way, I believe that getting money from Putin is like borrowing money from the mob. It’d be better if we used a high street money loan shark instead.

While all this is happening, everybody I know who works in Greece has financial troubles. There are lots of my university friends who are currently unemployed or in minimum wages. There are absolutely no investments made and no new constructions planned. The high street is suffering a slow death. My parents who are pensioners saw their pension diminished more than once. I feel a bit guilty telling them when asked that I’m doing great, planning house renovations and holidays.

UK is also planning an EU referendum. That of course is caused by completely different reasons. I believe that the main one is the fact that they’d like to impose restrictions on migration and border control. However, such an act is opposing everything that the EU stands for.

With all that in mind, I’m being selfish and plan to apply for a British nationality this year. I’ve been working in this country for years, paying my taxes and now owning a property. The good thing is that I can keep dual nationalities and have two passports. At the moment I’ve applied to take the exams for the ‘Life in the UK’ test. I’ll let you know how that goes…

The countryside

Last weekend, I took JJ and we went to the Peak District. OK, I admit he was doing all the driving (I can't handle driving on the wrong side of the road), but the area was my idea! We had rented a small car and a house in the middle of a tiny village called Hartington. The village was so cute. It had a pub, a hotel and a couple of tiny shops. We got to meet some of the locals and I can say they're really nice. The goal of the trip was to go hiking, which we managed to do successfully. The first day we walked for about 4 hours going up the Lose hill and the Mam Tor. The second day we walked around Bakewell and the area around Chatsworth Estate. It was such an amazing weekend!

I want to say that's an oak tree, but I can't be sure. I'm more of a city person. I don't know my trees

I love these old brick bridges

Walking around Bakewell

Following the trails was 'interesting'. I only fell once in the mud! That's a good score for me.

Do I look like I belong there?

That's early in our ascent. I still look fresh

The view from the top - breathtaking

Leaving our house the first day of our hike.

Random Thoughts Day

I went to watch the ‘Only lovers left alive’ the other day. If you watch the trailer and you expect a vampire action movie, you will be gravely disappointed. The movie is not like that. It’s slow paced and to be honest, it doesn’t have lots to offer in terms of plot and character evolution. However, that doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy it. The cinematography and especially the music of the film is exceptional. I’m a huge fan of Tilda Swindon and Tom Hiddleston proves to be a very talented actor as well, able to stand next to her. What the movie might lack in plot, it covers in acting and direction. I know it’s not a movie for everyone, it’s Jim Jarmusch after all, however, I’d recommend it for a different but interesting viewing.

 The month of March will be quite busy in my little casa. It starts with a small road trip to the National Park of Peak District. I’ve never been there before, but I’m hoping that it will be a nice hiking destination. I can’t say we’re that much into hiking. Our last trip was the white cliffs of Dover a couple of years ago, but I believe we’ll enjoy that little excursion. We’ll see how it goes. Hopefully, I’ll have pictures to share next week.  After that, for almost a week we’ll have our first formal guest staying with us for a week. That will be a first after our lodger left. Then, it’s the birthday of yours truly and my Half Marathon at the end of the month. In the meantime, we’ll be finishing getting connected to the main national gas network and having our front and back garden properly cleared from the last tenant’s garbage. I simply can’t wait to get a proper spot to plant vegetables for the new season.

On a different matter, I’m thinking of adopting a ‘coffee’ name. Something easy for people to understand and be able to write on a cup. I was thinking either Steve or Dave. I’ll run some tests and see what might come up.

Nick i a difficult name apparently

UK same sex marriages approved

Although I'm getting ready for bed at the moment I couldn't not share the very wonderful news that same sex marriages have been approved in the UK. According to BBC:

"MPs have approved same-sex marriage in England and Wales in a key Commons vote, despite the opposition of almost half the Conservative MPs.

The Commons voted in favour of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill, by 400 to 175, a majority of 225, at the end of a full day's debate on the bill.

Prime Minister David Cameron has described the move as "an important step forward" that strengthens society.

Deputy Prime Minister and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said: "I genuinely believe that we will look back on today as a landmark for equality in Britain.

"Tonight's vote shows Parliament is very strongly in favour of equal marriage.

"No matter who you are and who you love, we are all equal. Marriage is about love and commitment, and it should no longer be denied to people just because they are gay.

Happy New Year

I’d like to wish for you a jolly, healthy, successfully and productive New Year!

We went to central London for the change of the year. We had arranged to meet some friends, but it was so busy that it was impossible to reach them. To give you an idea we were in the North Bank of Thames around 10 pm, close to Temple station (that’s two stops away from Westminster), and it was already crowded and we couldn’t get closer. They had already blocked parts of the road leading to the area around Big Ben. By 11pm the closed road where we were was full of people and there was nowhere to go but stay put and wait for time to pass.

At midnight, the fireworks display was really nice. I tried to enjoy the ‘show’, so I didn’t take many pictures. It wasn’t easy to zoom in, keep steady with everybody moving around and take a decent shot of the fireworks anyway. The atmosphere of the joyful crowds was pleasant as well (excluding some drunk people).

When the display was over, we quickly tried to get to a convenient open tube station and head home. JJ was working the next morning and we couldn’t afford to get stranded in the centre. The way back was funny. There were lots of people wishing each other for the New Year. The girl sitting next to me in the train had a carton decapitated Queen with her. Since she was slightly drunk and falling asleep, the Queen was resting on my shoulder as well. I couldn’t resist and told JJ to take a picture of me:  

  

Political

(that was written yesterday morning)

Today’s all about politics. I’m not sure what time I’ll be posting this, but maybe the new president of the USA might have been announced (it has). If not, most (responsible) fellow Americas might have or will be casting their votes still. I haven’t finished my homework regarding this, but I feel like supporting the existing president far more. Some of the things I’ve heard of the other candidate are atrocious. Also, in some cases, it’s better the devil you know. So, hopefully it goes well (it has)…

A Greek friend of mine sent me an email that she read that the Queen is very sick and dying! Her source of information is the very reliable American magazine called ‘Globe’. Do you know it? It looks really trustworthy. Of course when I read her email, being the selfish bastard that I am, I instantly thought of my holidays. Would there be a problem with my flight? It’s a constant worry at the back of my head. Oh, it snowed in some parts of England! Gosh, I hope there are no flight disturbances. The Queen might die! Oh, I hope there’s no national mourning and all holidays are cancelled! I know it’s very selfish of me, especially when another human being is dying (even a blue blooded), but I really want to go on this trip…

On the same political subject, the situation in Greece is getting more tense. There are new austerity measures announced by the coalition government for the budget of the new year. The previous measures aren’t really working as sufficient as predicted and tougher laws need to be applied. The national debt is not really shrinking and the situation is not really improving much. The people are generally fed up and this week is all about strikes and protests, especially in the capital but not only. The situation is getting out of hand with public transport and the media not working for the whole week. Hospitals are only accepting emergencies and the lawyers refuse to work for 48 hours. Not all parties of the coalition government agree on every measure and decision taken and there are disputes and cracks on it. Hopefully there will be no schism and elections again.

There are dire social consequences of this situation. Most of the people I talk to have become so pessimistic, almost to a depressive level. It’s so sad hearing young people not having any hope left that all this can improve any time soon, not even in decades. And it’s not only that. There are almost every day now news on racist attacks and fascist comments. It’s a well-known fact that the party called ‘Golden Dawn’ is mentioned in gallops as being third in power. Third! The white nationalists, neo-Nazi racists with no respect of human rights.
I’m sorry. I get a little bit carried away with all this. The stories that I’ve heard made me ashamed of my country’s decadence. Hopefully, the storm might pass and things might gradually improve. I can’t see a light at the end of the tunnel yet, but there must be one, somewhere?

(today. I’m feeling so much better after my yesterday’s outburst)

Olympic fever

Although some Olympic games have already started, the opening ceremony is only hours away. The world has their eyes on London and the excitement is apparent. There are more people on the streets and Olympic vehicles and personnel are around the central. Various events are taking place around the city and a huge party with big screeAns and concerts is planned for tomorrow in Hyde Park. Today’s also the last day of the torch relay through central London.

I don’t want to be part of the pessimistic group of people loving to moan and complain that things will grow terribly wrong during the games. They’re might be some problems, that’s expected on an event of that scale, but I hope that everything will be fine. There was already a minor but funny hiccup at the games yesterday (at least very funny to me). During one of the football matches yesterday when North Korean women football team was playing, on the scoreboard the flag of the South Korea was displayed!!! They hate each other so much that it must have been a shock to them…

I haven’t booked any tickets. I can’t take any days off during the Games and JJ’s work schedule means that he will be working during some of the upcoming weekends anyway. His shifts for the next weeks are very recently finalised and we might try to get some tickets on the Paralympic events. Although it’s not entirely true, I have the feeling that the Paralympic events are not that commercialised, or at least they have an extra meaning. A friend of mine was joking yesterday that in order to support ‘Team GB’ we need to eat McDonalds, devour Cadbury’s chocolates and wash it all down with litres of Heineken beer! Since they are the major Games sponsors, it must be what the athletes do…

When I was much younger, we drove as a family to Olympia, the place where the ancient Greek Olympic Games took place. I remember the experience vividly because it was a fine sunny day and we even ran a bit around the old stadium like the ancient athletes used to do. I had found it hilarious when my father took us rolling down the nearby fields. My pants and t-shirt turned green from the grass. I think I was around 10 years old but I understood the significance of the place. That’s the same place where the ceremony takes place when the Olympic flame is lit nowadays.

We used to have a children’s book on Ancient Greece. It was big and blue with Hercules on the cover. I loved going through the pages and checking the images.  It contained some mythological stories and facts about Ancient Greece. There was a huge chapter on the Olympic Games. It explained how different city-states were competing in honour of Zeus (hence the way the flame is lit using mirrors and sunlight) and that general truce on all conflicts was imposed during the time of the Games. Only men could take part or even watch the games and the winners were treated like heroes.

Ancient Greeks paid lots of attention on ‘isterophimia’ (υστεροφημια) which can only be translated as ‘how one person is remembered by the next generations’. Winning an Olympic medal (or an olive branch that was awarded back then) was a ticket to eternity. Even today, after so many centuries, many famous athletes are still remembered, like Diagoras from Rhodes. The island’s international airport and local football club are named after him and he used to compete 2400 years ago! So, if it happens that you’re visiting South Greece, go to Olympia.

Jubilee weekend

So, last week when the whole world's eyes were on London and the Queen's celebrations, we decided with JJ to rent a car and simply leave. It was the first time we had so many days off together in 2012 and we decided to have a road trip! We do love to take a car and simply drive to places. Also, we knew that watching the celebrations on the television would probably be better. The following pictures describe what we did.

 

Our first stop was the New Forest Wildlife Park. That picture's from the butterfly area.

Otters are so cute... 

The first time I saw a wallaby 

Lovely stickers... Can you see the 'sushi' comment on the bottom? 

Having breakfast in Bournemouth (not fish and chips) 

Playing cricket by the sea in a cold grey day...  

tempted to jump in 

Torquay: the English Riviera...  

We couldn't not have proper English tea with scones, a very camp lemon cake and everything else in old china that day!

Torquay beach when the tide is high 

Increasing my cholesterol tenfold in a Texan restaurant! Amazing food and cocktails... 

Poster in a pub. The picture's a bit blurry. Don't ask me if I had a drink earlier

Thatcher's Rock 

We had amazing time driving around the South West coast of England. I don't regret not staying in London to see the flotilla and the other celebrations live. We managed to see most of it on the television anyway. There are so many nice places to visit and see in the UK. 

Getting ready for the Jubilee weekend

 Apart from the Olympics, there’s another reason for the British to celebrate this year! The Queen celebrates 60 years of reigning, her Diamond Jubilee! 60 years? Imagine that! According to the omnipotent Wikipedia she was born in 1926 and her coronation took place in June the 2nd 1953 following the death of her father, George VI the previous year! She was so young when she became a Queen, only 27! She’s the second longest reigning monarch of the United Kingdom after Victoria. If she keeps this up, and I believe that she will, for a couple more years, she’ll beat Victoria no doubt!

So, London and I assume the rest of the country and maybe parts of the Commonwealth (?) are getting dresses in red, white and blue with Union Jack decorations everywhere. The formal celebrations started earlier this year with the Queen controversially hosting all monarchs of the world, the most exclusive member’s club ever, in a formal luncheon in Buckingham Palace. Various other formal events took place earlier this year.

Lego Queen at the Hamleys

However, this weekend is the public’s turn to celebrate. Normally we have a bank holiday the last Monday of May, however, this was transferred to this Monday and due to the Jubilee, we got Tuesday the 5th as well! So, we have a 4-day long weekend ahead of us! Hooray! During this weekend, there’s a massive boat parade on Sunday on the Thames with the Queen also on a boat waving at the crowds. There are numerous street parties organised around the country and a massive concert with popular names (Kylie, Robbie, Tom Jones, Elton John etc) singing in front of the Buckingham Palace for some lucky ones who received a ticket through a ballot.

1953 - Coronation day

I can’t say I’m a royalist. I grew up in a country that turned its back to Monarchy and told the former King Constantine to simply pack his bags and leave, a decade before I was even born. However, I give them credit when needed. I love getting extra days off work. Last year we had the Royal wedding, this year we have the Jubilee! What’s not to like? To me, they are like posh celebrities. They do cost lots of money to the tax payers but act as proper tourist attractions! PS. Harry’s turned up to be very good looking.

Queen picture from the Silver Jubilee celebration (1977)

The Queen lives a very fascinating life, or at least used to when she was younger. She’s travelled all over the world and must have met the most numerous people than anyone alive from country leaders to artists to everyone! I wouldn’t like to be in her shoes though. She’s constantly under scrutiny, on the spotlight and having to cover up and be reliable for the whole family’s scandals and dirty stories. It also must not be very easy trying to keep some balances. Imagine that she had to deal with Churchill at a very young age or Thatcher later on. There are so many conspiracy theories around her, with the death of Diana being the most famous one.

Anyway, I hope you have a great weekend! See you soon.

Yoga class and Easter weekend

So, last Friday afternoon I left work a bit early to go meet my friends for my very first yoga class. Working in a stupidly male predominant, geeky, antisocial, sexist IT environment, I did hear some comments about that session. Someone even mentioned that I would leave my genitalia in the locker room and start growing a vagina (ha ha)! That was his attempt at being funny! I didn’t even feel like it deserved a reply. This is a big serious discussion I’m not going to comment on now. Some people are simply really ignorantly stupid!

Anyhow, I met my friends and we headed to their ‘health centre’. As I mentioned before, I was going to use a free pass to go with them so that I’d lose my yoga virginity with friends and not alone. Apparently, a ‘health centre’ is the posh way to say gym! I didn’t see any difference between that and my gym. The receptionist was very polite though.

After changing into simple shorts and t-shirt we moved to the class room. There was only one girl already there and I thought that it would be an almost private session. However, other people arrived soon afterwards. Overall, there were around 9 of us excluding the teacher, 4 guys and 5 girls. The majority of people were young and looked like they belonged to the class. Then the yogi (?) came. He was tall, very thin and looked to be in his late 30s. He talked in a soft voice, prolonging all words in calmness. He did say gooooooood many times during the hour that followed. At first I couldn’t make out what he was saying, but then I got used to his soft low voice and we started by telling us to gather helping blocks and belts and by asking who’s new at yoga (me, me!).

At first I felt a bit lost. The yogi wasn’t actually doing everything he wanted us to do as I thought he would at least at the beginning, but he simply gave us instructions. However, for an inexperienced ear like mine, I couldn’t follow him. He was also using yoga terminology that I was completely unaware of. What’s the warrior 1 or warrior 2 position? What’s the fish? Cobra? Huh???? So, I decided to start looking what other people were doing and mimic them. It’s not that simple to observe other people, try to link it with the instructions and keep the difficult positions at the same time. I fought some building frustration and decided to go with the flow.

Soon I was really enjoying it. I sweated a lot which I took as a very good sign. The yogi was walking around us, fixing our posture (which translated in feeling more pain), saying things like ‘gooooooood and ‘breeeeeeathe through the stiffness’. He was generally nice with us, the newcomers. He explained how we could use the blocks or belt to do some exercises better or explained how to add a little bit more difficulty to the experienced yoga goers. Overall, I enjoyed my class a lot. Yoga would be something I’ll gladly try again. As a matter of fact, I’ll try Ashtanga yoga tomorrow. Let’s see how this turns out.

--------------------------------------------

Changing the topic, last weekend was the Christian Orthodox Easter. Apart from talking to family and friends about it on whatsapp and on the phone, I didn’t do remotely anything about it. On Saturday evening I had sushi for dinner, a DVD for company and stayed in, which as you can imagine is not very traditionally Greek. All the people I know in Greece went to church around midnight and had magiritsa (μαγειρίτσα) for dinner afterwards. On Sunday during the day when the whole nation has lamb spit roasts I had healthy vegetable stir fry and I even managed to burn my hand. I poured boiling water over it, a moment I am not very proud of. I don’t even like  μαγειρίτσα (it stinks) and I do feel bored at the family gatherings, but with the pain of my burnt hand I did feel a bit homesick.  My hand’s a bit red still, but hopefully it will heal soon. I’m also going to Greece beginning next month, so I’m fine now. It was just a weak moment that passed.

UK Hate Crime Legislation

I’m not that great when it comes to understanding law. However I was reading about a recent case in the UK that included the distribution of gay hate leaflets and I wanted to share it with you.

Ihjaz Ali, 42, Kabir Ahmed, 28 and Razwan Javed, 28, were distributing gay hate leaflets outside a mosque and posting them through letterboxes in the Normanton area of Derby. The leaflet had the title of ‘Turn or Burn’ or Gay - an acronym for ‘God Abhors You’ and pictured a burning man in a lake of fire.

Gay people who received the leaflets were horrified. One man, who didn't want to be named, told Sky News: "They incite violence and I would even say it's incitement to murder. It lists various methods of executing homosexuals from burning alive, stoning, hanging or being thrown from a tall buidling and I felt that was directed at me. My initial thoughts were that I was actually being targeted by an individual, it really was quite frightening, it's a very very scary image, especially when you realise what the message is," he said.

Of course the leaflets created quite a stir in the local community and thankfully the responsible people were arrested and trialled. Ali was sentenced to two years in prison at Derby Crown Court, while Ahmed and Javed were jailed for 15 months.

In that landmark case last month, the trio was the first people to be convicted of inciting hatred on the grounds of sexuality since new legislation came into force in 2010. According to that, hate crime legislation is extended to cover "hatred against a group of persons defined by reference to sexual orientation (whether towards persons of the same sex, the opposite sex or both)."

However, to prevent the Act being used to inhibit freedom of speech on the subject of homosexuality there is a new section entitled "Protection of freedom of expression (sexual orientation)". I’m not going to go too much into detail about it.

The way it was explained to me, a third person can now act and denounce doings that he or she believes are acts of hatred towards people with different sexual orientation. I think that up till now, it was only the person targeted that was able to go to police and press charges. This ‘hole’ in the previous legislation was of course exploited by various people. Hopefully this case will act as a basis for better justice to be enforced.

Picture Fail

I was reading the news the other night and this made me laugh...

There's a local respectable magazine called 'Radio Times'. It's owned by BBC and published since 1923 with radio and TV programme listings and other articles. There was a minor error on the February's issue though! A MAJOR fail with a picture!

In February there will be a TV programme for the Royal Marines in Afghanistan. With the listing, a picture of the Marines was published! In that picture though, one of the marines was going commando! Without anyone noticing the picture was published! Of course an apology was issued by the editor and probably someone got fired.

However, the whole incident was hilarious. I give you the published picture. Check the guy around the middle in the green / gray shorts! I think you can enlarge the picture by clicking on it.

PS. Thank you for voting to my poll about the new template. It is much appreciated.

Road trip

As narrated at my previous posts, we had guests staying over at our place. They were here for a total of 12 days, which were more than enough to visit the most important monuments, museums and central areas of London, especially at the pace they were running around. So, we decided that it would be nice if they could travel a bit outside the Capital to see Britain’s countryside. We rented a nice cool car (Audi A1) that JJ would drive and made plans about which places to visit.

The first day we spent in Warwickshire. We drove up M40 and firstly visited the Warwick Castle. I hadn’t been there before but I was told it was nice. I found it more than that. The Castle sits on the edge of the hill next to Warwick overlooking the Avon River. It was built in the 11th century and a symbol of power for many years. Now it is run by Mme Tussaud’s and a visitor can take a glimpse of the way of life in the castle. As you can see it is beautifully preserved and the views from the tower are breath taking. I highly enjoyed the experience.

The entrance to the Castle

The views from the high tower

The cage they used to lock people

                                   Henry VIII                                                      A guard

After spending a couple of hours at the Castle we decided to visit the village. However, it was getting slightly late, the weather wasn’t very good and since it was Sunday evening the place looked a bit miserable and deserted. I think that on a bright sunny day the architecture of the village would be sufficiently portrayed and its beauty more apparent. We did pay a visit to the medieval Church of St. Mary’s that’s prominent in the village.

After Warwick we drove down to Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. Stratford-Upon-Avon is much bigger than Warwick. There’s a lovely big pedestrianized high street where the Shakespeare museum and house are located. When we arrived there, the museum was closed but we did take some pictures of the house and walked around the area. Unfortunately it started raining, a lot! We got drenched on the way to the car. While driving back, it seemed like buckets of water were being thrown on our windshield. Fortunately the motorway wasn’t very busy and drivers were careful. It’s so dangerous going on high speed on such conditions. We arrived home safe and sound though.

Shakespeare's house

The next day we drove to Oxford. One of the girls studied there many years ago and we had to pay a visit. The weather was good and we enjoyed walking around. I hadn’t been there either. I’ve been to Cambridge many times but not to Oxford. The latter is quite bigger and the university buildings are distributed in the City and not joined together like Cambridge.  However, the grandeur and history of the place is obvious.

Oxford

On the way back from Oxford, we stopped at Windsor. It’s one of my favourite places outside London. I love the old train station and walking around the high street or towards Eton. Unfortunately, once again we arrived late and there was a drizzle. Not many people were around and the place looked a bit gloom.

My guests left yesterday! I believe they had an amazing time and I’m very happy for that. I’ll probably see them soon on my visit to my hometown, this holiday season.

Oxford