What gives

Today my neice was in a sprint mode so we made three different trips out.Early morning we went to Nottinghill and enjoyed the festivity of the weekend in the colourful town,I have always loved the colourful painted houses so could not resist a photograph for my wall at home, sold by the photographer, enlarged to slate size.It was all of twelve pounds but he could not shell out a two pound change so waved it off.I felt a little sad so asked him again if he was sure and he said a definate yes. We also had mixed fruit juice in pineapple shell with pineapple slices.By mid-afternoon we had had a lemony day,my neice concluded. We had lunch at an italian place where they were serving home-cooked meal Annie had Gnocci and I had beef lasagne with ice tea and lemon.Annie was not impressed with the food.She thought she had eaten better.We walked up and down the open air market while Annie picked bits amd bob from this stall and that. I needed a suit-case so I bought one for half the price quot...

Last two days Annie and I have been soaking London up.The first day we rested the morning and then crossed the road and started walking the northside of Thames,We walked to the London eye,watched the Thames and the ship and ferries ,Annie took a lot of photographs,reached St.Pauls...walked down to a fete in the grounds ,ate original yoghurt with blueberries and strawberries.Watched the waters,took a ferry back to London bridge,walked to tower,bought some fish and chips ,sat on the pavement over-looking the tower for sometime and then walked back to Anu's flat in monument. This morning we took our time with our breakfast and then took the underground to high street Kensington,walked to the Kensington palace,garden,Hyde park,Buckingham palace,Royal Albert Hall.We caught some lovely hot waffles with icecream and nuttella in the garden while we took photographs gallore of various flowers.We took the underground to Covent garden ,enjoyed the street performers with a very cooperative ch...

We reached Edinburgh in the morning ,a beautiful architectural marvel .Mrs and Dr Macdonald hosted us with such warmth.For me it was a lesson in humility to see the resilence of the stalwarts.Dr Macdonald's humility,warmth ,sharp mind and extensive encyclopedic memory,Joan's efficiency,perkiness,ability to embrace,beautifully traditional home-cooked meal both Indian and Scottish ,and seeing an evidence of fruitfullness in their old age. Dr Ann Urquat came to see me from Dundee.She is a marvel.She is a tiny fire-brand for the Lord.I was deeply touched to hear just how matter of factedly she explained why she decided to settle in Dundee.She had been requested to do so for ministry purpose. She also gave me a packet of letters to deliver once I get back to India,impressive in it's earthy connectedness to her place of mission. I had the privellage to meet up with Kathleen Mackenjee and her husband for lunch just talking about Lakhnadon. Two youths from the church were kind ...

We spent the afternoon with John and Jenny who were absolutely wonderful and gave us a taste of English hospitality.We drove up the hill to enjoy the view of Vales,Exmoor and just the expanse of green ,green lawn with horse-riding,amateur horse races and beautiful footpaths.Mid-afternoon,we drove down the valley to this beautifull tea-place overlooking the beautifull hills where beautiful people were enjoying cream tea.It was a traditional place and I would guess awefully precious for the local people. We enjoyed freshly brewed tea and fresh scones from the oven and learned to cream the scone the Taunton way with cream first and jam later. After the relaxing tea,we made our way to see the steam engine which is a national heritage site and has a host of volunteers who run the place.There was an amiable man who calls the engine which stands for Great Western railway,God's western railway.The station was a charming place with some posters from the early 1900s and we caught the stea...

Yesterday we spent the day in Bath.John and Jenny drove us to the train station in Taunton .We took the train to Bath via Bristol temple mead.I had wonderful memories of Bath from the past.It is for me the most beautiful city especially the areas around the Bath abbey and the roman bath.I booked a ticket for Annie to get into the bath while I sat in the sun reading on the bench outside the abbey enjoying the sun,the crowd ,the pigeons and beautiful classics both opera and musicals sung by a lady.It was frightening in it's beauty with the ability to transport you to another place altogether,I could have wept but I found myself clamping down.I travelled to the Doone Valley with Lorna Doone vicariously though. Annie enjoyed Bath ,she took a lot of photographs,bought souveneirs in the abbey and just enjoyed the architecture of angels ascending and descending ,the stained glass windows and the amazing ceiling and then we walked the town of Bath popping in and out of shopping centres,vi...

Today ,Annie and I decided to wake up at leisure and made ourselves walk with a small backpack each towards Taunton after breakfast.As confident as I may have been about walking it ,the incredible look on the faces of the people we talked to made us realise that we had to catch a bus somehow.We had an incredible experience as we sauntered along the highway.There was a sheep farm with some sheep grazing ,Annie wanted to take some pictures.As we positioned our camera and stood near the gate chatting ,all the sheep just sauntered to us and was leaning towards us with such trust.That to us was an unusual experience.It refused to budge from our side and there was not an iota of doubt in their trust for us total strangers.It deeply touched both of us and I was telling Annie how Christ calls us His sheep. We had some coffee by a roadside cafeteria,where they had never heard of anyone using a bus to commute,so had no idea about the timings. We eventually caught a bus to Taunton after raisin...

Reached Taunton after four hours of gruelling travel.John ,the host came to pick us up and waited patiently for over an hour as we were delayed enroute.He even waited patiently while we picked up some groceries and took us around and showed us all the nitty-gritties and the essential. The place we are booked in is away from the hustle and bustle of town,a good five miles or so away.Oakes is a lovely exclusive town centred around an anglican church with a single village shop,a post office,and beautiful big houses with lovely gardens,horses, sheep farms and a pub.We walked around the village appreciating the house designs ,the colour and the beauty of the flowers. The rectory we are staying in is from the 1700s ,a very charming english cottage with lots of books ,very english crockeries and we had a lovely sponge cake awaiting us. Annie and myself are figuring out ways to get to Bath,Glastonbury and the coast on either side before we make our way to Edinburgh.We plan to catch the long...