First Post from the Other Side (of the Pond)

 It has been a long time since I pulled an all-nighter. 

I need my beauty sleep!  However, my seat assignment on the Delta 767 assured that I would get not sleep.  I was in the middle seat, middle section, immediately behind the restrooms.  I am still trying to get my ankles out of my ears.  I frankly do not know how Ghandi did all that yoga stuff at his age.  I guess you have to start out young and skinny.

The plane arrived in Amsterdam at 6:10 this morning.  The weather was not at all what I was expecting.  It was rainy, cloudy and cold...see your breath upon exhale kind of cold!  My sweatshirt was conveniently located in my suitcase, which was conveniently located in the belly of the plane.  

Live and learn!

Today was a down day, a recovery day.  After arriving at the Newcastle Airport, I took a taxi to the Hedgefield House Bed and Breakfast.  Fortunately, they were able to accommodate me at 10:00 instead of the agreed-upon 3:00 PM.  I believe the English have something against Americans sleeping in the lobbies of their finer establishments.

This afternoon, I set out on foot to explore the city.  EVERYTHING is in bloom.  They have lilacs!!! I miss lilacs, especially the heavenly scent they exude!  The homes are mostly made of brick and sandstone with the Dickensian tile chimney pipes.  Shades of Bert the Chimneysweep!  I expected to see Mary Poppins, but did not see her.

Every little home seems to have a beautiful, carefully tended postage stamp garden full of flowers and vegetables.  I saw many reminders of home, and numerous little things to make me think of Gloucester, Virginia.

I swear I saw a Pileated Woodpecker, but had I done so I would be the first person ever to see one in England.  They are native to North America.  However, I am almost positive that I saw a Great Spotted Woodpecker.  I heard several Mourning Doves calling to one another, and took some verbal abuse from numerous squirrels who refused to reveal their hiding places.

As I walked the sidewalk along Stella Road, following the railroad and the course of the River Tyne, I saw several crew teams out rowing on the Tyne.  The little town of Blaydon where I am staying (a neighborhood within Greater Newcastle/Gateshead) is famous for its historic horse race, the Blaydon Races, which were immortalised in a song in1862.  The song, Blaydon Races, became the preferred marching tune for British Infantry soldiers of the Fifth of Foot and has become the official anthem oft he Newcastle United Football Club.

 The scenery and historic buildings (Hadrian's Wall runs just north of town) also make me feel very young and naive as an American.We celebrated the United States Bicentennial the year I graduated from college.  In 2007, Virginians celebrated 400 years since the colony's founding.  Lindisfarne Island, where I head on Monday, was founded in the seventh century (635 AD).

Sort of puts things in perspective, doesn't it?

Tomorrow I am going to concentrate on learning to speak the English language so that I can communicate with the natives.  George Bernard Shaw once wrote that England and America are two nations divided by a common language.

I believe it!