The Old Country

I'm in England; so is my suitcase, after an overnight stay in Dulles airport - because apparently two hours is not long enough for the baggage handlers there to transfer a bag from one United flight to another. The weather yesterday when I arrived was spectacular - sunny and breezy, the daylight lasting well into the evening. Currently I'm staying with my good friend (and ex-colleague) Liam in Hampton Wick, just across the river from Kingston-Upon-Thames. (Good shops, white swans and houseboats on the river, and - luckily - a Starbucks where I can get wireless access.)

I've already noticed a number of changes in London/the U.K. - unsurprising, as it's four years since I visited last, and it's thirteen years since I lived here. For example, everyone on TV and in the new cabinet has a pronounced regional accent, something that used to be forbidden by law in the old days. (R.I.P. Received Pronunciation.) Broadsheet newspapers like The Times, The Independent and The Guardian have shrunk to tabloid or Euro-tabloid size. At Heathrow, a madhouse as ever, traffic is not permitted anywhere near the runways: it took us nearly half an hour of driving to escape the place. Twenty-five pounds, the sum I was given by United to make up for not having any clothes or toiletries for 24 hours, doesn't go very far at all at Boots the Chemists these days. And Liam is right: The Royle Family is one of the most hilarious TV shows ever. I saw one episode on a plane trip years ago, but he has the whole series on DVD. I know this last point doesn't really qualify as a change: it was just something I missed out during the wilderness years in New York, etc.

Here are some pictures taken in the grounds of Hampton Court yesterday around seven PM. When Liam came home, we took a walk through the fields and then walked into the gardens through an open back gate. This was one of the first palaces I visited on our family trip to the U.K. in 1978 - that day it was raining, and we all got wet trying to escape the maze. But I was instantly addicted to the stately homes and historic places of Britain: during that trip, I drove everyone crazy asking if we could stop at yet another ruin or castle. Too many Jean Plaidy novels, I guess.

If all this pastoral bliss is too much for you, visit Earthgoat, where Grendel has written an excellent post about Holland, and check out those saucy Dutch TV commercials. And if you yearn for literary chat, Guy Somerset, my editor at the Dominion Post, has an opinionated lit blog called Shelf Life. Chatting with one of the higher-ups at the Dom Post during a Creative New Zealand seminar last month, I suggested that Guy would make an excellent blogger. Next thing: Guy has a blog. But is he grateful? Not at all.

Comments

[Bookman Beattie]

Lovely pics of Hampton Court. Thanks for sharing.
Your point about the broadsheet newspapers now being now being tabloid is true but they still have wonderful arts sections with loads of book reviews. Yay! Travel well, enjoy the UK.
Ciao,
Bookman Beattie