Stamford

Some photos of our guided tour of beautiful historic Stamford:

Some tributes

I thought I'd take a moment to make some tributes to recognize a few people/moments in recent days that are worth noting:

Norry Bell, perhaps the most colorful character we've encountered on our travels, was Eric's host in Sleaford. He showed up one night looking like this:

And the Scotsman showed up another time looking like this:

And now, a tribute to the American donut. Poor Eric, our resident police officer, had been feeling the hunger pangs of a donut craving. Fortunately Colette's host Nick was able to help him out.

Stamford St. Martins

1. Yesterday, I had my vocational day at the hospital, "cutting up." I was welcomed by Drs. Linda, Charlie and Chris. Life in the Urology Theatre is much the same as in the U.S.
   
2. Last evening, my hosts Pres. Helen and Martyn Gatehouse offered a home-cooked meal of coq au vin. We then went to the local theatre for a quality production of "The Pirates of Penzance," performed by locals in Stamford.
   
3. Our British friends have been sadly misinformed that the American Bloaks are malnourished. Every time we turn around there is another banquet or trip to the Pub. Southern hospitality could take a lesson from our friends across the Pond. A daily run has become an absolute necessity, to assure that the pants (oops, they call them trousers; pants are underwear) that we brought with us will fit at the end of the trip.
   
   

Tomorrow, we sing our theme song again, by Willie Nelson, "On the Road Again." We are off to Northampton. We look forward to attending the District Conference in scenic Torquay, 6 hours away at the end of the week. I spent my "free day" on the computer, preparing for our presentation that will KNOCK THEIR SOCKS OFF.

Now, we are off to a banquet hosted by Stamford St. Martins. Life is tuff.

Free Day !!!

While my teammates are trucking all around the UK today, I am enjoying my free day at my host's home. Now that I have a few spare minutes I figured I would share some more pics with you.

I spent Wednesday 9-24-08 with the Lincolnshire Constabulary (Police), my partner for the morning was PC Andy Jarvis (below) took me around to the Police Training Facility.

This is Chewy, short for Chubacca, who is a pup that is being raised at the dog training center in hopes to one day be a working police dog. The Lincolnshire Police raise their working dogs from pups. Handlers take their dogs home with them and many of them have 2 dogs assigned to them, one patrol & tracking (mostly Shepard's), the other is for drugs or explosives (mostly spaniels).

That's me, in one of Lincolnshire's fastest cars, a Subaru Impreza, fully equip with tag reader, camera, radar, CPU etc. PS the tag reader is in the back window and is tiny compared to the ones used in the states.

Moving on to Friday, I went to London and worked with Metropolitan Police. I went via train to St. Pancreas / Kings Cross station (London's version of Grand Central Station) and spent the day with one of their Counter-Terror officers who is stationed at the train station. We then went to New Scotland Yard (which is actually the name of a building, not a police force).

Tower bridge and a WWII ship

I then took a walk over to the National Police Memorial, this memorial is fortunately much, much smaller then the one in DC, being they have fewer officers killed. Underneath the stone shown below is a book behind glass that is open to the page that shows the names of the officers killed in the last few years.

And, on a much lighter note, the Stamford St. Martin's Rotary Club was very gracious in getting me a jelly donut so I felt like I was home. It was good, but I'm staying loyal to the Donut Man..

The team is headed off to our fifth home on Monday, below is a picture of Stamford which is the area that we have been staying in, very nice area. Cheers!!

A note from Colette

I've had some great vocational experiences, I had to share...

At rutland water preserve learning how livestock are used to manage grasslands.

Wetland habitat for wading birds and osprey.

Joe and I had the opportunity to visit Hill Holt Wood which is a 34 acre woodland used to help educate troubled boys. Nigel and his wife Karen have created not only a center for education but also a sustainable system for them to live, contribute to society, and remain financially stable. It was very inspiring.

It was complete with compostable toilets and woodworking shops to create items from the wood grown on site.

I've also been able to enjoy some English style horseback riding while I've been here. Thanks so much to Anita (and Mary) and Stephen for making it happen!!

And now some pics from Sleaford

Walking down Steep Hill in Lincoln. The hill is aptly named.


We visited Lincoln Cathedral, famous for its imp carved in stone among the Angel Choir. No one knows quite for sure why the imp is there. Regardless, there he is. Some of the others got some better shots of the imp. I wasn't using my good camera that day.



There's the imp on a table. He's become quite the mascot of the cathedral and the town.

Lincoln Cathedral was built at the end of the 11th century. It's a stunningly beautiful building. Some of The DaVinci Code was filmed there!





The original Norman Baptismal Font.


And now we transition to our day on the farm...

I think Colette dubbed herself the Straw Queen of Sleaford if I'm not mistaken.


Mary with corn.


Mary with baby cows.


Sleaford Rotarian Michael Brearley showed us around his farm Roxholme Estate. We tasted raw corn and sugar beat!


Airplanes and war history...

Our Sleaford friends took us to RAF Coningsby and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Visitors Centre, where various British WWII aircraft are on display. It was quite interesting.

Sleaford Club President Stephen Bath, some of our team and others from the Sleaford club listening to our guide.

A WWII plane.

Outside of Petwood Hotel, where we ate at Dambusters Bar, named for the WWII British Dam Buster planes that bombed Germany.

Tattershall Castle, built in 1432 by Ralph Cromwell (no relation to Oliver), who was Lord Treasurer of England. I think I'd like to have a castle. Nothing says you're somebody like a moat.

Some more pictures from our time in the Deepings

After our croquet match, we were given PRE-PRINTED runner-up certificates! Sounds fishy to me!

I know this has absolutely anything to do with anything, but I fell in love with little Daisy while I was staying with Joe and Barbara.

I figured I had to include a shot of the whole gang enjoying time with our hosts at a local pub, The Goat.

Hello from historic Stamford!

Some pictures from our time in the Deepings:

Joe tries his hand at croquet during our UK/US matchup.

Turns out Colette was holding out on us and has some mad croquet skills.
Good form, Eric, good form.
Meanwhile Daisy and I relaxed while I brainstormed my next move.

The Burghley House -- some scenes in Pride & Prejudice and The DaVinci Code were filmed there!
The Burghley House -- built by William Cecil in the 1500s for Queen Elizabeth I.

Our trip is just about at the halfway point -- crazy!! Where has the time gone? We arrived today in Stamford after a wonderful few days in Sleaford where we all had fantastic vocational days, roughed it on a couple of farms (trying raw corn and sugar beat, mind you!) and had an overall great experience.