Lagging Behind – or am I Ahead?

Jet lag is the dirty secret of travel.  You can finds loads of beautiful travel magazines and brochures from travel companies all promoting various trips to fabulous places all over the globe  - sparkling white tropical beaches untouched by others’ footprints, alpine lakes surrounded by majestic pines, exotic cities pulsing to different rhythms of life, and remote mountain paths running towards ancient ruins.   What the articles usually fail to mention, however, is that if the travel required to reach the featured destination crosses more than 2 or 3 time zones, the traveller is likely to experience symptoms of jet lag.

Jet lag is far from the most serious medical condition one may suffer, but it is a well-known and well-documented condition that merits attention on a number of medical websites, including those of the NHS and BUPA.   The list of symptoms from jet lag can be quite lengthy, but for many people, including myself, the most common is difficulty  with sleeping.  One may feel really tired in the middle of the day, and then be wide awake at one’s usual bed-time.

Jet lag results from disruption of our “body clock,” our body’s natural rhythm attuned to the rising and setting of the sun.  Crossing times zones changes the length of time we experience daylight and darkness, and a lot of our daily functions, including appetite, digestion, mood, and sleep, can all be affected by jet lag.

Most experts agree that going from west to east increases the likelihood and severity of jet lag.  Experts believe that one may experience symptoms of jet lag for up to one day for every time zone passed on a trip going eastward, and up to two-thirds of a day for every time zone crossed going westward.  This means, for instance, that an American travelling from California, in the Pacific Time Zone which is eight hours behind Greenwich Mean Time, may experience jet lag for up to eight days after arriving in Britain.  If their trip in Britain lasts only one week, they may be jet lagged the entire time they are here (this might explain some of the strange behaviour one might see from Americans on the Tube in London).

I think tourists should consider the effects of jet lag when planning a trip.  Obviously, a short trip across a number of time zones may not make for the most enjoyable experience.

I have been back in Salisbury for 7 days now after flying back from San Francisco, and I have not yet had a normal night’s sleep.  It seems like my jet lag has lasted longer on this trip than most.  I am slightly reassured by the formula I noted above that my experience is in the “normal” range, but I am really looking forward to getting a good night’s sleep.  It should come any time now.

 

Remembering and Giving Thanks

For the past two weeks I have been in America visiting friends and family.  Travel always gives one a new perspective,  and it is always interesting to reflect on differences between the UK and the US on such trips.

First, I have still been thinking a lot about the Remembrance Day activities in the UK.  I think that this year all of the events meant even more to me than usual after having just visited the D-Day beaches and the British, American, and German war cemeteries in Normandy.  It was especially moving to watch the video clip during the concert at the Royal Albert Hall the night before Remembrance Sunday of the veteran of a Welsh regiment singing the Welsh national anthem at the grave of one of his mates who is buried in the British cemetery we visited outside Caen.  That concert, the Remembrance Sunday service at Salisbury Cathedral, and the events on Remembrance Day itself were all very moving and emotional.  No country does a better job of remembering the sacrifices of its fallen soldiers than Britain, I believe.

At the Remembrance Sunday service at Salisbury Cathedral I especially appreciated hearing the song of a poem that we saw on many graves in Normandy.  The words are by Laurence Binyon, and the music was by Douglas Guest.  It says:

     “They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old.  Age shall not weary them, nor years condemn.  At the  going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.”

In America today it is Thanksgiving Day.  It is a uniquely American holiday, and one that I have always enjoyed as it is a time for being with family and friends and reflecting on all the blessings that we have enjoyed.  I am in San Francisco, and this morning attended an Inter-faith service that reflects the best that is San Francisco and the US. It was held in a Presbyterian Church, and  included clergy and members of the congregations from the following faiths:  Islam, Jewish, Buddhist, Episcopal, and Roman Catholic. 

In the newspaper yesterday, the daughter of a famous American columnist reprinted a poem written by her late mother, Pauline Phillips, otherwise known as “Dear Abby”, the advice columnist.  I’ll close this post with her poem:

     “Oh Heavenly Father, We thank thee for food and remember the hungry.  We thank thee for health and remember the sick.  We thank thee for freedom and remember the enslaved.  May these remembrances stir us to service, That thy gifts to us may be used for others.  Amen.”

 

 

Autumnal Activities

September gave us the nicest month of weather I have had since my move to the UK nearly two years ago.  Almost the entire month was Indian Summer weather, with beautiful blue skies, warm temperatures, and very little wind or rain.  Now, having turned the calendar page to October, and the official start to the Autumn two weeks ago,  we are getting autumnal weather, with the last two days overcast, cloudy and rainy.  In fact, it was so dark most of yesterday morning that little night lights we have in the hallways that are light sensitive did not turn off by themselves; I had to switch them off.

With the change in the weather, we have been changing our activities.  On Sunday we harvested the large heads from some of the sunflower plants in the back garden; the heads were over one foot in diameter, and they were on huge stalks over ten feet tall.  I cut several of the stalks down to make room for some of our fall and winter plants – wall flowers.  I had not known about wall flowers until we planted some last fall, and was pleasantly surprised how they grew and flowered during the winter, and also by their beautiful early spring display of multi-colored flowers.  So last Saturday we bought several packages of plants from a stall in the Salisbury market, and were lucky to get them planted on Sunday.  The plants were looking rather wilted when we put them in the ground on Sunday afternoon, but the drizzle yesterday and the rain today has been good for them.   Meanwhile, we left the sunflower heads out to dry, and hope that the birds will enjoy eating some of their seeds this winter.

On Saturday we also bought four or five packages of bulbs in the market.  We got two more packages of the huge bulbs that produce the large daffodils that did so well in the front garden last spring, as well as a bag of mixed smaller daffodils.  We also bought two bags of red tulips, and one bag of blue parrot tulips; I hope the tulips next spring will do better than ours did last spring – or you may not see any more tulips in this corner of Laverstock.  All of the bulbs need to be planted by the end of the month, so our next task is to decide where to plant them, and then to get them in the ground.  Finally, on Sunday we also set up a small plastic covered greenhouse that we have put on one end of our patio, next to the house.  I have filled 8 or 9 pots with hollyhock seeds, and put the pots in the new little greenhouse in the hope that we might get some little seedlings to plants out next spring.   

The trees are beginning to display some beautiful fall foliage, with the beginnings of yellows and oranges.  The fall foliage is one of my favorite things about living in this part of the world.  In San Francisco the fall was often the warmest time of the year, with the summer fog gone, and there were very few trees there that would turn color.  One can see some fall color in California, but you must travel more inland to see it, and nowhere in California is the foliage as spectacular as it is on the east coast of America or here in England.  Stourhead, the National Trust home and gardens here in Wiltshire, is nationally famous for its gardens, which are particularly spectacular when the trees turn color, and we look forward to visiting them again in the next few weeks.  

Grocery shopping yesterday also reflected the change of the seasons.  The grocery store was brimming with bags of British apples, along with 2-for-1 priced displays of broccoli, cauliflower and other fall crops.          

I do think that Autumn is one of our most beautiful seasons, and even with the rain today, I am enjoying this time of the year.

 

More Bits and Pieces

Last night we had an absolutely gorgeous sunset here in Salisbury – full of orange and gold and blue and purple streaks.  A really thrilling sight, followed immediately by a beautiful moonrise.  Although there was some cloud in the west to color the sunset magnificently, the moon rose in a cloudless sky to the southeast, and it was a beautiful three-quarters moon, as bright as a searchlight, and very near a bright star, heading to the annual full harvest moon on Sunday, October 4.  With such wonderful views, it is no surprise that our ancestors down the road at Stonehenge and elsewhere paid so much attention to the skies.

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My sister returned to America on Saturday after we had a wonderful 12 day visit together here.  Yesterday I went shopping at Tesco, descaled the coffee pot, made Irish soda bread, baked an apple-blackberry crumble, and made a bacon-leek pasta dish for supper.  We will miss being together until I travel to America in November, and I think all my creative activity yesterday was a reflection of that.

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This afternoon I have the second of my beginning French classes at Wiltshire College here.  Our instructor is very good, animated and friendly.  I am really glad to have the time to take this, my first ever class in French (I studied Spanish for many years in America).  The class and our accompanying book and CD take the approach that it is best to hear and imitate the French words and sounds first, before looking at the words in French, because when we read the French our brain will first try to make the sounds in English.  This is a very different way of learning for me, and after the end of our first two-hour class my head was reeling a little bit.  I also think it is true that the younger one is, the easier it is to learn a new language.   Still, I am really enjoying learning a new skill, one that will hopefully prove to be fun and useful on anticipated trips to France, and a “brain test” that is much better, for my money’s worth, than these computer “brain test” puzzles currently advertised on television.

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I had another enjoyable day serving as a room steward at Mompesson House in the Close here in Salisbury on Saturday.  It is fun to speak with the visitors, some of whom will tell me where they are from and ask where I am from.  To several I said that my coming to live in England has been something of coming full circle, since one of my maternal ancestors, William Rockwell, emigrated from Fitzhead, in Somerset County, to become one of the founding settlers of the original colony of Maryland in America.   Somerset is the next county north and west from Wiltshire, so it very nearly is a complete full circle.

 

Following the steps of Romans, Saxons, Normans and Tudors

On Bank Holiday Monday in the UK, following a soggy and dreary morning, we had a gloriously warm and sunny afternoon.  We decided to take advantage of the nice break in the weather to visit a number of sights in the local area.  The three beautiful places we visited, all within ten miles of Salisbury,  gave us some additional insight into local history with the Romans, Saxons, Normans and Tudors.

We began by visiting the Rockbourne Roman Villa, south of Salisbury and just over the Wiltshire border in western Hampshire.  The villa was not discovered until the 1940s, but it has been determined to be one of the largest Roman villas in the south of England.  As applied to the Roman period, a “villa” refers not just to a large country house, but to an entire farm estate.  Here at Rockbourne the villa  was built and occupied for a period of almost 400 years, from roughly the time of the Roman conquest in 43 AD until around 400 AD, and was built on the site of an earlier Late Iron Age farmstead.  Over the decades and centuries, the villa was enlarged and expanded to include a large central house, with dining room and kitchen, a large bath house suite, a smithy and corn drying facility, an entire range of farm buildings, and other houses.  A number of artifacts have been found on the site, including two large pottery jars filled with Roman coins.  Evidence also exists about the ultimate decline and ruin of the villa following the departure of the Romans, including the remains of a skeleton, possibly of a Saxon “squatter”, who may have been killed when one of the old Roman buildings collapsed.

I can still remember being almost shocked in college when I first visited one of the old Roman settlements in Kent.  Until that time I had not realized the extent of the Roman occupation of Britain, and it still amazes me how far the Roman civilization extended.  Even here at Rockbourne there is evidence of the villa enjoying wine and olive oil that had been imported from the Mediterranean, and the area also contains evidence of the vast Roman road network.  Also on display at Rockbourne are several interesting mosaic floors that have been unearthed, displaying a level of comfort and culture that was not eqaulled in Britain until modern times.

We next visited Breamore House and  St. Mary’s Church, Breamore, which is just over 3 miles east of Rockbourne, near the A338 between Salisbury and Ringwood.   St. Mary’s is considered to be one of the most significant and complete Saxon buildings in southern England.  It was built within a few years either just before or just after 1000, preceding the Norman Conquest, and it still retains its original 3-foot thick walls.  There are at least 7 Saxon windows, which “splay” out, giving equal views on either side of the window.  Also remarkable is a Saxon carving above an arch, reading “Her swutelath seo gecwydraednes the,” which has been interpreted to mean  “Here is manifested the word to thee.”  The churchyard contains a number of ancient grave markers and tombs, along with several huge and ancient yews.

On the edge of the churchyard is a large hedge of shrubs and some other ancient trees, with an opening leading to Breamore House, from the Elizabethan period.  It is built of red brick, with leaded windows and tall chimneys, sited near the top of broad, sweeping hill leading up from the River Avon.  There are no formal gardens, just simple paths through some trimmed hedges with a few pieces of sculpture, but the fields, full of wild flowers and tall trees, make it a very beautiful setting.  

Driving through the village of Breamore down to the road to Salisbury, we stopped to watch a column of 20 white geese folowing a massive goose at the front along the road, through a gate and into a stream.  They walked one-by-one, in almost military precision, honking loudly as they entered the gate, as if they each wanted to let the villager know that they had arrived home safely.

Our final stop was at the Downton Moot gardens, in the charming village of Downton, just a few miles south of Salisbury.  The Downton Moot was a meeting place in Saxon times, and the Normans built a castle there.  It is right on the banks of the River Avon, and has been converted into a pretty park area.  The park contains a large hill rising up from near the river, and it forms a natural amphitheatre, where plays and other performances are staged. 

By the time we had wandered through the park and along the river bank we were pleasantly tired and happy to return home to Laverstock.  A very nice afternoon, enjoying the natural beauty and remarkable history the area has to offer.

 

“Every day is a gift”

Yesterday morning we awoke to the news that U.S. Senator Edward (Ted) Kennedy had died overnight in Massachusetts.

Then my partner and I spent 4 or 5 hours in the garage going over old photographs, reviewing them quickly and then putting them in new airtight storage containers for eventual storage in our loft.  The pictures were my partner’s, and covered a period of 40 – 50 years.  They had been in no particular order in their previous boxes, so one set of prints might have been from last year, the next 30 years ago.  One set would be his sister’s and brother-in-law’s family wedding here in Salisbury 25 years ago, the next of a little family reunion around his mother’s sick bed in hospital 14 years ago.  Many were from his trips to San Francisco over the years since we first met, or from various places in the U.S. that we visited on holiday or together on my previous business trips. 

Most of the pictures, no matter where they were taken, had family or friends in them, sometimes with loved ones who are no longer with us, and almost always showing someone looking much different in younger days.  For instance, we have many baby pictures and infant pictures of my partner’s nephew.  Now, recent pictures of his nephew look just like his father (our brother-in-law) did on his wedding day 25 years ago.  Similarly, I think my partner now looks very much like earlier pictures of his father who unfortunately died suddenly at age 65 a number of  years ago.

After getting the pictures sorted we went out to Salisbury District Hospital to visit the very frail mother of one of our closest friends.  She has been in the hospital for over 2 weeks after falling at her home and breaking 5 ribs.  She is receiving excellent care, but obviously is uncomfortable and is going through a difficult period. 

Everything we did yesterday was a little emotional for us, and it all was put in perspective this morning when I read in the on-line version of  The New York Times an article about the last 15 months of Senator Kennedy’s life.  The article quotes the Senator as saying that after he received the diagnosis of his brain tumor, he was determined to make “a good ending” to his life.  A friend of the family says that the Senator would often start phone conversations with the mantra that “every day is a gift.”  

All of the things we did or thought about yesterday reminded us of that very true advice from the Senator.

 

Our Rana temporaria

Since discovering a frog in our back garden last weekend, seeing it has become a new nightly ritual for us.  It has been living in a small strip of grass and plants between our patio and the brick wall surrounding the garden, right next to the house.  It is where our water tap for the hose is, and the frog will often jump out from its hiding place when we unroll the hose to water the plants in the evening.    

I was a little concerned that it might be a bad sign for us to have a frog in our garden, worried that it might mean that our garden was too wet or damp.  So I did a little research on the Internet about frogs, and learned some interesting facts. 

First, the scientific name for the common British grass frog is Rana temporaria.  Rana is the Latin word for frog, and temporaria refers to the changeable nature of frogs – I guess in changing from an egg to a tadpole and then to a frog (and maybe to a prince?).  

Next, it was reassuring to learn that it is not uncommon for frogs to live in fields and gardens.  They only need to be in water in order to lay their eggs, and as they grow they may travel a long way from the area where they were hatched.

Frogs may be distinguished from toads by the fact that frogs jump and toads crawl.  As I have said above, our little amphibian definitely jumps when we move the hose reel and water the plants, so I feel safe in saying that we have a frog.

Finally, and what may be the best bit of news, I learned that one of the frogs’ favorite foods is slugs.  Reading that, I suddenly realized that our frog has found the perfect home - there is a huge feast available here every night for our new friend that hops.  Now I am beginning to hope that our rana temporaria will invite some of his or her friends over for dinner.

 

Benefits and Burdens

In law school, we learned that every estate in real property came with benefits and burdens.  For instance, a lease came with the benefit of the right to quiet enjoyment of the leased premises, as long as rent was paid.  The burden was that the property had to be reasonably maintained with no nuisances.  The analysis of property benefits and burdens was part of the broader learning in law school that every argument has at least two sides.

This learning is also generally applicable in life.  Almost every decision, every action, and even every person, has both positive and negative points.  The same is true of travel.

We returned to London from Tampa on Friday morning.  We had a wonderful 10 days in Florida, visiting my parents and my sister, who all live in Venice, about 70 miles south of Tampa, on the Gulf coast of Florida. 

We had great weather for swimming, and every day we were either in one of the community pools in the development where my sister lives, or in the very warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.  As both my parents and sister had moved within the last few months, we had time to help with some picture hanging and furniture rearranging.  We had time for nice chats and walks, shopping, watching the sunsets over the Gulf, and some lovely meals together.  In short, it was a really great time, and we are very thankful that all of us were in good health and able to enjoy time with each other.

Being able to travel around the globe and have good times together with family and friends is the great benefit of modern jet travel.  Being able to get on a plane in London and get off in Tampa is a tremendous thing, and one we were very happy to be able to do.

The burden of living in this modern age is that families and friends can live great distances apart.  My partner and I live in Salisbury, my parents and my sister live in Venice, and my two adult children live and are studying at universities in California.  We have wonderful friends in San Francisco and throughout the U.S., as well as in London, Norfolk and other places in the UK, as well as in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.  

It is wonderful to get to see family and friends around the world.  Saying goodbye at the end of a trip is the hard part.

 

Bits and Pieces

My partner and I go to Florida tomorrow to see my parents and sister and to have a bit of summer sun and fun in the water.  So today we have spent the day packing – putting bits and pieces in the suitcases.  This post will be a little like the suitcases – full of some bits and pieces.

 Yesterday was a gorgeous day and I enjoyed my morning walk into Salisbury city centre.  The sky was bright blue, with some beautiful white clouds, warm sun, and a little refreshing breeze.  I also thought the air was a little sweet with the scent of buddleia in bloom.  The purple varieties seem especially fragrant, and there are some large bushes along the footpaths from Laverstock  and then up and over Kelsey Road into the city city centre.

I had my second day as room steward at Mompesson House.  As with my first day, we had some very nice and interesting visitors.  I stewarded at the back of the House, in the Library, the only room in the House still decorated as its last owner, Denis Martineau, had decorated it in 1958.  It is a fun room to work in because it is the only room in the House where visitors may sit on any chair in the room, including a Hepplewhite chair from 1760.  It is not every day that one can sit in a chair that was made before the start of the American Revolution, and when I told this to several visitors they all took advantage of the opportunity.

The room is also very nice because it has very tall windows, maybe 20 feet high, that look directly out onto the lovely back gardens.   Each of the two large windows has a comfortable window seat, and it is delightful to sit in a window seat and look out at the lawn, trees, and pretty flowers in the well-established herbaceous borders.

At about 3.30 PM yesterday we were are startled, however, when the fire alarms in the House went off.  The Manager of the House quickly came through to make certain that we had evacuated all of the visitors safely, and then she asked me to lock the back door to keep anyone from reentering the house.  The Salisbury Fire Department arrived in good time, and after she and the firemen had inspected all areas and found no fire or smoke, we were able to let the visitors back into the home. 

I asked one of the veteran stewards, who is mentoring me, how many years she has been a volunteer, and how many “real” fire alarms she has seen.  “More than I care to say, and this is the first”  she said with a laugh.  Earlier in the day I had told  all the stewards about this blog, so they all had a little chuckle, saying that I would plenty to write about now.  We were all relieved, of course, that there was no fire, and we were happy to reopen the House to all.  

After finishing work and having supper, we walked with a friend up to the tops of Laverstock Down and Cockey Down just as the sun was setting.  It was a spectacular evening and sunset.  The “fields of gold” – the golden fields of barley, really are gold now, and I expect that by the time we return in 10 days the fields will have been harvested.  They are a really beautiful sight now, however. 

The fields of rape seed have gone from their spring colour of bright yellow to dark brown, a deeper shade of brown than even the colour of rich topsoil.  They are also close to being harvested.  Together, the landscape is a fascinating patchwork of light green grasses, dark green hedges and trees, and fields of golden barley and brown rape seed.  

Also enjoying the lovely day were a number of children in a new park and playground that has just opened in our housing estate.   The playground has some nice equipment, and it is good to see children having some “old-fashioned” fun, swinging and climbing, rather than sitting at home playing “virtual” games.

As I said, we’re off to America tomorrow.  I do hope to be able to post from the USA.  Vive la difference!

 

Lettuce Eat – Part II

Everyone knows the old saying that “in life, all good things must come to an end.”  With the changing of the seasons, that saying is certainly true in the garden, and so it is that the lettuce that just a few weeks ago seemed inexhastible has now finished.  I cut the last leaves this evening, and tomorrow I hope to plant a few new rows, along with some radishes, spinach, and maybe a even a few pumpkin seeds.

The lettuce really has been the star performer in the garden this year.  We have had many delicious and beautiful salads this spring and summer.  The lettuce was Unwin’s “cut and come again,” with mixed leaves, including some red varieties and some leaves shaped like oak leaves.

Another star performer is our courgette (zuchinni in American English).  With just one plant, we have already harvested 5 0r 6 nice size courgettes, and they were delicious last night in a stir-fry with some red pepper and onion.

In addition, we are also really enjoying our little raised bed with herbs.  The rosemary has become a beautiful plant, with a great fragrance.  Also in the herb bed is a nice plant of thyme,  and we also have parsley, oregano, and leeks.  I picked some rosemary and thyme tonight and put it directly on some chicken breasts that I grilled.  The herbs really made the plain chicken very tasty and something a little special.      

Last week I made a new little raised bed for vegetables in the garden, and I filled it with 10 brussels sprout seedlings I bought in the Salisbury Market.   I hadn’t really wanted that many seedlings, but they were a good buy, and the lady in the flower and vegetable plant stall in the Market said it was a good idea to have that many so “some could be for me and some can be for the pigeons.”  It does seem like the only birds we get in our garden are the wood pigeons, so if they like brussels sprouts, I guess that she gave good advice.

Rather than a problem with pigeons, however, we now have a race on between the seedlings and the slugs.   I think the slugs are eating the seedlings as fast as they can grow.  I’ll keep you posted about who is winning.

Brussels sprouts do have a mixed reputation.  Several people just smiled when I said I was planting them, and one person said that “there is nothing like a good brussel sprout.”  That reminded me of the old joke that ”there is nothing like a good ear of corn (or tomato, etc.), and that, sir, is nothing like a good ear of corn (tomato, etc.).”   I do hope that  will not really be the case with our sprouts.

 I used to think that one could grow anything back in California if one had water for the plants.  Here in Laverstock we do have plenty of water, and we are really enjoying the bounty of our little garden.