Changed over to Google Chrome and the board works fine now. Must be an issue with IE. Below is a post that I posted elsewhere but wanted to test the scrolling thing. Works OK now. This is a test......
Strider is back in the house - only took me over 3 days to get home, but home is where Warren is right now....
Left Luanda, Angola about 10pm on Wednesday and flew into London arriving on Thursday morning. They were cancelling so many flights that we landed around 7am and sat on the tarmac for almost 3 hours because there was no jetway for us to pull up to. Had to shut off the engines and go to a battery cart because they were sucking so much snow into the jet engines.
Should have know something was in the works after I cleared immigration and entered the UK and was walking out to get my first cigarette and when I looked down, this was the luggage that hadn't been claimed yet that had been pulled from the turnstiles....BOY HOWDY!!!!!!!
Got checked in to the hotel and yepper, TOURIST TIME BABY!!!! Just got on the tube with an all day pass and rode to nowhere....Got off to get a cigarette at Kennisgton and decided to have breakfast while I was there. A traditional English Breakfast with freash squeezed OJ and a HOT cappucinio (Remember, it was COLD!) What they call bacon is more what I call ham. Sausages were outstanding as were the free range eggs (you can tell by the yolk color).
Kennisgton is where a bunch of the musuems are, so I strolled over and checked out the Natural History Musuem again (as long as I was there).
You know, I need to write a book some day..."How to TOUR LONDON FOR FREE". I mean, I have been going there every month for two years now and seen all kind of stuff and except for one Thames River Boat Cruise and the Tower of London (and both of those have cost less than $40), I have not paid one penny to see anything in London - not one cent. So much is free there if you want to see it....Anyway, checked out the dinosaur exhibit again....That is old Darwin up there on the landing.....
Since I was right there by it, I also checked out the Victoria and Albert Musuem again....
Went and checked out the Middle Ages area again and the awesome stained glass....
And some castings of folks like Henry I.
Harrods was only a few blocks away and the tube station of Knightsbridge was right there, so I strolled on down. I had been to Harrods but never inside, so I went in to see if I could pick something up for Bonnie so that she would have something from Harrods plus the bag. Folks, let me tell ya, that place ain't for a biker's paycheck!!! No way - no how! I reckon it would be like a Neiman Marcus or something. I went to the purses and the cheapest STARTED at $600 and still had a "made in China for Walmart" sticker inside of it! That is what they STARTED AT!!!!! I looked for a trivet for Bonnies kitchen and they started at over $100. Well, sorry babe, no Harrod's bag for you. I went to the pet section - yes, they have a 1/2 floor for pets and they had mink coats for dogs and the leashes started at $50. I mean, they had $300 water dishes.
So, out for a smoke and off to a building that would change my life. (This is Harrods)
I had checked out the internet before I left Angola and I found that I had yet to see the National Art Gallery in London - been to Trafalgar Square but not to the gallery, so I jumped back on the tube and went to the National Gallery.....Folks, I will NEVER BE THE SAME AFTER THIS VISIT.....
I am a lover of art just like the next person I reckon - I mean, if you go to Cafepress.com, I love getting Bonnie a tee shirt with a Jack Russell imposed on top of Van Gogh's "Starry Night" and stuff like that I always loved a good Norman Rockwell, but......
I got to see some paintings that BLEW MY MIND!!!! Seriously, THEY BLEW MY MIND AWAY!!!! I have to wear reading glasses to see up close, so I would stand close, put on my glasses and see a mess of dots and brush swirls and then you step back about 6 feet and the world comes to light...you are seeing what the artist saw.....IT WAS UNREAL!!! Not only the colors that Van Gogh used, but the textures.....It was the first time I ever saw a Van Gogh or a Monet up close and I left breathless......MY MIND HAD BEEN OPENED TO THE TRUE MAJESTY of what I saw!!!!! The subltety, the colors, the mixtures of colors....Unreal!!!!!!!
You would LOOK closely at something like Van Gogh's "Trees and Undergrowth" and all you saw were lines of dots of a certain color and broad brush strokes that almost looked childesh (up close) and THEN YOU WOULD STEP BACK 6 feet and this came into view......
It took my breath away! Monet was the same......
Well, on the way back to the hotel, got off the tube at Earl's Court - just because I had not gotten off there before...A couple of blocks down, I found....
Asked if thier fish and chips were any good and after being assured they were, I ordered them with a couple of pints of Stella and they were the best thus far!!!!
So, the next day when I went to the airport at 5:40 for a 10:00 flight and found my flight had been cancelled (and got a replacement ticket for Saturday), off I went back to the National Gallery to see if what I had seen the day before was as awesome as I thought it was - IT WAS!
My favorites didn't even make the National Gallery 30 paintings you MUST SEE! I loved every Van Gogh and Monet. I also was overwhelmed by the "The Execution of Lady Jane Grey" by Paul Delroche....
She was the Queen of England for only 9 days and was executed in the Tower of London at 16 years old.
Another one that blew me away was Francesco Hayez, "Sussana at her Bath" from the Old Testament - this picture does not do the painting justice, the EYES on the painting....whoa!!!!!
And did I mention Monet? Close and it is child like paint marks and dots, but step back 10 feet and his world comes to light......Anyway, after digging on the Gallery again, I went and checked out the free National Portrait Musuem, then it was time to call Bonnie and tell her I was not coming home that day and go in search of good Pub Food!!! After stopping in one of those red London phone boothes and letting Bonnie know it would be tomorrow before I got home, I found this cool Pub.....right by Trafalgar Square.
Asked em what they suggested as the snow began to swirl outside and the cool bartender said that they were famous for the steak and ale pie. "Steak and Ale Pie it is, my good man, and a pint or two!"
Then I just strolled down the Strand....Got to see the Queen's Calvary.....
The Tower of London "White with Snow"
Or how about ice skating in front of where Lady Jane got beheaded?
And Parliment under snow.....
Eventually it was back to my room and some warm Chicken Tikka Masala....
Then it was off this morning to the airport at 5:30 for a 10:00 flight again. Glad I did though. Since the Christmas Eve terrorist act, security is heightened.... Anyway, left out about 2 hours late from de-icing processes.
WAIT. I gotta throw out the English Breakfast....Eggs Benidict with Cappa and Cranberry juice...
Got home and after some hugs and kisses from Red, got my critter love!!!! (Hey, ya know, another reason I keep going back to Bawanaland). Nothing like walking in to almost a 50 lb Jack Russell who wants to wish you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
And the "little ones" (the Rescue Duo) as well......
Well, anywho, I is back home Groovin and that is BIG TIME RIGHT NOW!!!!
Well, to end it off, gonna try a video now...You know how something just sticks to some music for you, well, it was Dylan, "Ring Them Bells" for me...man, I must have listened to that song 30 times over the last 3 days. It was one of those that I kept hitting "repeat" on. I get on the tube to go to Central London on the second day and I am in between a bucnha nuns of the the same order as Mother Teresa I think (white with the blue stripes)...On go the headphones and Ring Them Bells goes on - just seemed fitting....
