Kathleen and Igraine2 days, 14 hours ago
Hello John- thanks for your message. :) I can't believe you're only 25 miles from London! And you drove there- you are bold and courageous I would never think of actually driving there. I am really not a big city person, for example, I rarely go to Minneapolis proper, but live in a smaller city about 15 miles SW of the city, population around 25,000. And when I do drive to the city, then I hate the traffic and the expense of finding parking and all the one ways streets, not to mention the terrible public transportation. I guess I wouldn't want to live right in London but being nearby where I could get to it on a train would be wonderful. I don't know what it is about London that caught my heart, as I am really not into big cities at all, but there is so much history there, and just a lot of little things I love about the UK and British people in general, the accents!! Get me every time, and the different words you use from American English, and the incredible British sense of humor. And overall how polite people are. I'm sure it's not as fun to live in London as to visit, when I visit, I am happily ensconced in Zone 1 and taking the tube everywhere, I have no problems with the tube, and love the museums, the old buildings, the churches, just being able to wander around and feel safe, I would never feel safe wandering around Minneapolis after dark by myself. Last year I was there for a baseball game with my former boss and his boss, and we were standing on a street corner looking around and someone just came up to my boss and punched him for no reason. And so many shootings, assaults, and murders.
Anyway, I am rambling on again. I am going to Scotland with my best friend, Mary, and a client of hers, Janet, and a friend of Janet's, Janene. If you saw my FB post when we were at an Irish pub in Minneapolis (and it was a sketchy part of town too, I was nervous), Mary is the one sitting next to me. Then Janet and then Janene. I didn't know either Janet or Janene until we started planning the trip but we have met several times over the last 6 months. I don't know if you're familiar with the TV show Outlander - I have never watched it- but it is filmed in Scotland, so Mary and Janet wanted to go to Scotland to see some of the locations, like the Culloden battlefield and Fort something, sorry I forgot the name. Then Mary asked if I wanted to go, and I did, but we felt if we could add a fourth, it would be easier in terms of booking hotels, instead of trying to find hotels that have rooms for 3 people, so Janet invited Janene, and so it was set. While we're in London, we're staying right off of the Kensington High Street, which is right by where I stayed at university in 1979. I know things change a lot all the time, but so many things there are the same. The church where we stayed, Maria Assumpta on Kensington Square is still there and the little park in the middle of the square, although it is padlocked now and only residents can get in. And the local, the Greyhound is still there.
When I went back to London in 2018, I wandered up Kensington Church Street and the bakery that I used to go to was still there, but when I was there in 2022, it had moved out of the Kensington area. I'm sure new restaurants, etc pop up all the time, but it is a nice feeling to go back and see something that you saw when you were 21 is still there 45 years later!
Well I'll hush now, hope you have had a good day and have a better one tomorrow, lots of love, Kathleen xxx 🤷♀️👑❣️❣️💞
