Time flies

It's one week since I lasted posted. Where did that week go? I woke up recently to realize that I'm not just a grandfather of four wonderful girls, but am now a granddad to an adult, as our eldest has just turned eighteen!

It seemed like only yesterday that we visited our daughter and our first grandchild in the maternity ward - come to think of it it doesn't seem that long since I was feeling faint watching the birth of our own daughter!

More concerning is that in a couple of months I will reach the official retiring age (UK). Is it really nearly nine years since I took early retirement? I'm so glad I did.

At church on Sunday our deacon was saying how Lent has arrived seemingly "hot on the heels" of Christmas. I find it amazing that we are now into the "purple patch" (as one friend calls Lent, purple being the color of church vestments for this season). We enjoyed a real treat on Shrove Tuesday, when students from Duke University Episcopal Center cooked our traditional pancake supper. A big thank you to them and their Chaplain Karen.

Ash Wednesday has come and gone and we are now into the 40 days - 46 in fact, but Sundays are not fast days, which is good for me as I've given up desserts and after-dinner snacks - that's going to be a tough one. Watch this space - I will report on my progress.

Signs of Spring

The ground was maybe a tad squelchy under our feet as we walked through the woods by the banks of the Eno River this morning. It may have be just a little cold and we still have to reach the milestone of more consistently milder days. But I could feel it all around - the awakening.

The weak, but persistent sunlight through the bare trees was encouraging the growing buds at branch tips, birds seemed to be more active. The crocus and daffodils are poking their sleepy heads through to the sunlight. There is definitely a stirring in Nature. Yes, Spring is on it's way.

I don't want to speak too soon, but we in Central North Carolina have had a good winter. Sure, there have been the odd night when it dipped well below freezing. There have been days of what I call "English weather" (dull, damp, miserable), we even had a sprinkling of snow, but overall we have had it good compared with many parts of the nation.

With the daily news menu of gloom and doom, it really does cheer one up to witness this annual awakening. Get out there are enjoy it - it's free!

Recommended blog

My daughter-in-law writes a wonderful blog. She is, and since we have known her, always has been inspiration and caring person. Despite being a generation younger than I, she had made me think more about subjects I would never have dreamed I would taken an interest in.

Take a look, I know you will enjoy reading her postings . . . . . .

http://throughellieseyes.blogspot.com/

. . . . . I know I do.

Cross Atlantic media

One of my weekly joys is to read local news from my previous "home" countries. Friday usually sees me checking out the online editions of the Great Yarmouth Mercury, the Eastern Daily Press, both Norfolk, England newspapers and the SUR in English, the weekly Costa del Sol newspaper.

I consider North Carolina my home now, so I'm wondering if it's normal in keeping abreast the news, both good and bad, from where one used to live? Perhaps it is a good way to avoid becoming insular or parochial? England and Spain are experiencing the same devastating economic problems as us here in the US with the resulting rise in unemployment. Sport dominates many pages here and there. People have the same worries over mortgages and other debts.

This weeks SUR has articles on alternate energy sources (southern Spain is an ideal place for solar and wind energy capture), the problems of recycling (the Spanish are having difficulty in determining which items should be placed in which color-coded bins), joy that the reservoirs are full after a extra wet winter and the regular items on the pros and cons of immigration (the Costa is a short hop from north Africa from when hopeful immigrants spend their savings on the often perilous boat ride to the shores of the European Union).

And there are the funnies . . . . my favorite this week (again in Spain) is the story of a Romanian burglar who broke into a house in Benalmádena (my old home town) and got away with several items of jewellery. Unfortunately for him, he left his cell phone at the scene of the crime, which helped the police to track him down and make the arrest. He also left behind his tools with which he forced the entry.

Perhaps we're not so different in the global world as we like to think we are.

Another Post - pun intended

Okay, here comes another bus (see previous posting). I have today completed a mail-shot for a new publication of our church history. As I opened the door to the office of the United States Postal Service (North Durham Station), I was greeted by a smiling face, a "thank you so much for using the US Postal Service" and the wishing me a good day.

I have a great admiration for the USPS. Up to now, we have never had any item go astray. Letters, greetings cards, packages and parcels all seem to magically wing there way over the nation, indeed in many cases for us, across the Atlantic, for a very reasonable cost and usually within a short time. Letters to England normally arrive within four working days. Of course, it's a two organization operation, and the quality of the United Kingdom's Royal Mail have to be congratulated also.

As I've mentioned before, we lived in Málaga, Spain for five years. The Spanish postal service, the Correos, it has to be said, is a poor, very poor, imitation of the USPS and Royal Mail. We had only ONE delivery per WEEK (and we lived in an urban, not rural environment), mail would go astray on a regular basis, we often received mail intended for an address miles away,the counter service was non existent and it would be normal to be greeted by a sneer rather than a smile. Parcels containing gifts mysteriously disappeared, both on their way to England, or from the US. I have used the past tense as it's over three years since we lived there. To be fair, the situation may have improved. I hope so.

Getting back to the US, we have a great letter carrier, who is thoughtful, friendly and helpful. One service I love here is that we can leave our outgoing mail in our mail box for our cheerful letter carrier to pick up - just a shame we have to add a stamp! Just joking.

England, Oh England!

I apologize for not posting for a while - I suffered writers' blo(g)ck. Now, it's like buses in London, you wait ages for one and then three or four come together!

I know I extol the virtues of living in the USA, and am very proud to do so. But I am English (at least for the moment). I've always been proud of my heritage, but there are crazy goings on in the "Sceptred Isle" (yes, I do know that technically England's not an island, but even Willy Shakes got that wrong). Did you know that there is no English Parliament? The Irish and the Welsh have their assemblies, the Scottish have their own Parliament, but does England? No, it has to share the Palace of Westminster.

Don't misunderstand me, I have nothing against the Scots, Irish or Welsh. I have friends of all these countries, but I have to agree with the following, from the website of the Queen's Royal Lancers:

Goodbye to my England, So long my old friend
Your days are numbered, being brought to an end
To be Scottish, Irish or Welsh, that's fine
But don't say you're English, that's way out of line.

The French and the Germans may call themselves such
So may Norwegians, the Swedes and the Dutch
You can say you are Russian or maybe a Dane
But don't say you're English ever again.

At Broadcasting House the word is taboo
In Brussels it's scrapped, in Parliament too
Even schools are affected, staff do as they're told
They must not teach children about England of old.

Writers like Shakespeare, Milton and Shaw
The pupils don't learn about them anymore
How about Agincourt, Hastings, Arnhem or Mons?
When England lost hosts of her very brave sons.

We are not Europeans, how can we be?
Europe is miles away over the sea
We're the English from England, let's all be proud
Stand up and be counted - Shout it out loud!

Let's tell our government and Brussels too
We're proud of our heritage and the Red, White and Blue
Fly the flag of Saint George or the Union Jack
Let the world know - WE WANT OUR ENGLAND BACK!

Despite a couple of glaring inaccuracies, I subscribe to the general theme. As we all know (or should do) the Union FLAG (not Jack) is the flag NOT of England but the Union - I have no problem with that. And Shaw English? That proves how low education has sunk. The man was born in Dublin for heaven's sake!

Oh! I do feel better for that - I'm sure my American friends will understand my frustrations.