I've Retired!

[sunstoned]

On 9/28/2016 at 6:47 PM, Garden Girl said:

Several things... 

One, we were impressed how we would be driving along and notice in a field among the cows or sheep, or on a hill, the crumbling stone ruins of a priory, or other stone ruin, and not one hint of graffiti or vandalism...

Second, the feeling we got standing beside the Tower of London, and other historical castles (William the Conqueror's castle dating to 1066 A.D.) and other sites like York... and how surprised we were at how small the men (and probably women) must have been, probably about 5' - 5' 6" based on the size of the metal armor on display... and the height of the door jambs... We stayed in a Cotswold village at the Royalist Hotel, that had some parts dating to 986 A.D.

I could go on and on... our trip was amazing...

GG

 

 

The sense of history there is astounding to me.  I grew up in the American West where a building older than a hundred years is somewhat rare. The farm house my son's in in-laws live in which is southern England, is over four hundred years old.  To them, that age for a private building is not uncommon.

[Tacenda]

My wish list includes a trip to the UK, anything I should know not to miss Stargazer? BTW, I didn't know you lived there at one time.

[Stargazer]

On 10/2/2016 at 4:12 AM, sunstoned said:

The sense of history there is astounding to me.  I grew up in the American West where a building older than a hundred years is somewhat rare. The farm house my son's in in-laws live in which is southern England, is over four hundred years old.  To them, that age for a private building is not uncommon.

Visible from my backyard is the site of an Iron-Age hill fort, called Chanctonbury Ring, on top of Chanctonbury Hill.

[Calm]

Nice view even with the TV antenna.  Feels cozy.  Open vistas aren't the only enjoyable things to look at in my book.  Hope you are making some good friends in the neighborhood.

[sunstoned]

11 hours ago, Stargazer said:

Visible from my backyard is the site of an Iron-Age hill fort, called Chanctonbury Ring, on top of Chanctonbury Hill.

I am so Jealous!  That i so cool! 

[Stargazer]

12 hours ago, Calm said:

Nice view even with the TV antenna.  Feels cozy.  Open vistas aren't the only enjoyable things to look at in my book.  Hope you are making some good friends in the neighborhood.

You don't know the half of it.  TV antennas on every house.  Every. Single House.  That's the best I could do, to only have one showing.  Although, interestingly enough, many of them have been up for so long they have honest-to-goodness LICHEN growing on them!  No cable TV around here.  Power lines are all underground, so the only above-ground cables are for telephone -- and they are light-fibre.  (notice the British spelling)

I am really enjoying this place

The one thing I am rather hesitant about is driving a car.  It's not that they drive on the other side of the road (I once drove a motorcycle here, back in 69-71), but the roads are all narrow.  And the cars are all so little.  It's like they're speeding little bugs on the road, and the size makes them feel like they are going twice the speed they're actually going at.  I am letting my wife drive me everywhere for the present.

Wendy hasn't yet introduced me to the neighbors, but that is coming soon  Well, I did meet one of the neighbors who popped in for a quick visit.

The LDS Ward is definitely smaller than my US ward.  And so is the meetinghouse.  I've already got a home teaching route, but the bishop hasn't quite gotten to giving me a calling yet.  I'm looking forward to giving my first talk, but I'm actually used to talking to 200 people at once, and we have less than half that.  I actually find that more rather than less disconcerting, to my surprise.

I'm now checking into getting my British amateur radio license  I can use my US ham license here for three months without having to get special permission, but since I like taking exams, why not go for it?  I know most of what needs to be known anyway, so it's all good.