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Blue from West Oz - On Liberty in the US and England
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Part 15 of Paul "Blue" Hartridge's travels
throughout the US, and now England, visiting friends and family.
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| England Leg 1 -
Brighton, England - 4/20/2004 - Host: Blue's Great Aunt Rita |
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 Blue: G'day
mates, Well most of you will get a chuckle out of this...it was raining when I
arrived in England! lol
Safely arrived after leaving AtoZ at the Air Train station for JFK Airport, it
wasn't too much longer when I realised I was to have my picture taken for my
farewell for the travelogue...I do, however, have a picture of me at the Subway
at 103 St Station which I will post soon. My cousin, Lorraine, has a computer
and internet connection so here I am. *_*
Made my way to Brighton on the coach, suposedly a 2 hour journey, but somehow,
it ended up being 3 1/4 hours. One of the luggage doors opened up as we turned
off a roundabout and left about 4 bags on the road, he he, what a mess. Just
glad it wasn't my back pack which now weighs 60 lbs mind you. The driver wanted
an engineer to check the door out, he didn't seem to interested in a
'Fore-Endies' technical detalied description of the door, "Mate, it's
f£$%&d" I said *_*
When I arrived in Brighton, there was no shipmate to meet me, so I had to walk
the mile, perhaps a little more with my back packs...I was slightly, only a
little, knackered when I got to the top of the hill and found my way to my
Great Aun'ts. I had a little 3 hour sleep as I hadn't slept on the plane and
then later went out to watch Mark (Lorraine's 16 yr old ) play indoor soccer.
Came home, had a nice cup of hot chocolate with my Great Aunt, Rita and
then went to bed at midnight.
Woke up at 10:30 !!! and what a beautiful sunny day it is. Going to a play
tonight and then tomorrow night going to hit the local bar... I wonder if any
English Rose will take pity on me?... (Hopefully there are no Counties/Shires
over here called VIRGINIA for me to spell incorrectly! lol )
Well I have only been away for two days, but I miss you bunch of ugly bastards
already!
Blue *_*
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Blue in Brighton, England - 4/24/2004
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 Today is Saturday, just been
relaxing and spending time with my Great Aunt, Rita, along with her daughter
and family.
Last night I went to the local pub with Rita, and her former Son-in-Law who I
have met way back when I cam to England in 1980 and '83. Had a real nice time
catching up with him but was most upset when I asked where are the sheila's and
he said it was known as a gay pub! Asked why they drink there, they replied
it's the closest, fair enuff then.
Tonight I am catching the last train to London which should get me there for
around 0130, I then only have 3 1/2 hours to kill before the 0500 Dawn Service
at the new Australian War Memorial in Hyde Park, hope to catch up with one or
two of the guys who are over here also. After the Dawn Service, there is
another Service at the Cenotaph, I believe, then a Church Service at
Westminister Abbey, unsureif I can get in as it is a ticket required service,
see if I can gate crash huh?
Anyway, intend to do some sightseeing whilst I am in London so should have some
pictures to send along!! Later... Blue *_*
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England Leg 2 - London, England - 4/25/2004
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 Blue:
G'day Don, Catching up with some news of England at last.
Caught that last train to London, after a 20 minute delay 1/2 way there to
remove two idiots (no, I wasn't one of them!) We arrived at Victoria Station
about 20 minutes late. I then walked around London looking for the Australian
War Memorial, eventually I found it, then went to Picadilly Circus and grabbed
a hamburger. Too many drunken idiots hanging around so decided to go back to
the Memorial and stake my place.
  
Australian War Memorial
The two 'bright' photo's (above) are actually taken at around
0300 with minimal lighting. I set my camera for a 16 second delay and look how
it turned out, I believe the bright light in the centre of the pics are from
the police helicopter that was above doing a security search of the area prior
to the commencement of the day's activities.
The Memorial was officially opened in Novemeber of last year and this is the
first ANZAC Day ceremony to take place here. The Wall has the names of the
townships from where all the Australian Service men and women come from, the
names of some of the towns are highlighted to form the names of the Battles
where we have fought during WWI and WWII.
There was approximately 4 to 5,000 Aussies and Kiwi's in attendance - a great
turnout. I met up with another retired Australian Submariner for a quick chat,
and then I recognised the Rockingham Member of the Labor Party, Mark McGowan,
he is also the Premier's Secretary, he recognised me and so we had a chat, he
then introduced me to the West Austalian Premier, Dr Geoff Gallup ( USA State
Govenor equivalent ) Pretty amazing to travel around the world and meet your
State's Premier I thought! (far left photo below)
  
Mark McGowan, myself and Dr Geoff Gallup. Blue and LCDR Doug Theobold,
Blue and the House of Parliament... and Big Ben
I then had a few more hours to kill before the Service at the Cenotaph at
Whitehall, just next to Downing St ( where the Prime Minister of England
resides )..so I went walking, again, to The Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar
Square and then loitered around waiting for the Service to commence. I met an
Australian LCDR who is on exchange duties so had a nice chat with him and then
I recognised another LCDR (middle photo above), I called out
to Doug and he came over, very surprised, as I was, to meet up with an ex
shipmate, I believe he and I served on HMAS OXLEY in the late 80's together, he
was a trainee officer submariner at the time and I a Leading Seaman if I recall
correctly. So, I came to England and caught up with 3 people I know on ANZAC
Day. I was here in 1980 as a trainee submariner and attended the Service at the
Cenotaph back then too.
Caught the train back down to Brighton, refreshed and went out ot a different
pub and ended up taking on the POM's at a quizz night. It was me against 7
tables of 6 or more uni students... this wasn't fair on them so I took it easy
on them! lol Yes, I did lose, but my score of 66 was not bad for a table of
ONE, the winners score was 126 and second lowest was 88... this either tells me
that I am of pretty smart, or, the POMMY uni students are not as smart as we
think!! lol Blue *_*
 
Blue's Great Aunty Rita, her daughter Lorraine and her husband Steve. The
National Gallery in London is even getting in on the act !!
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