Chipping Norton May 2025

From London I took the train to Chipping Norton in the Cotswolds, where I met up with 8 of my friends from the University of Birmingham. Some background is necessary here. The nine of us have been meeting for the weekend on the first Friday in May since 1981, so this was our 45th anniversary. I think I have made it to over 30 of these events and several of the group have made it to all of them. Until last year, we always met in the village of Abbots Bromley For 40 or so years, the village had enough good pubs, restaurants and places to stay that we stayed loyal to our tradition. Last year we realized that AB no longer met our needs and decided to move our annual retreat to Chipping Norton, which is a much larger and more vibrant town, with good hiking and other things to do on the Saturday.

Friday evening is always beers, then dinner, then more beers. Good times!

On the Saturday, our outing was to Blenheim Palace, which is was the family seat of the Dukes of Marlborough and notable as the birthplace and ancestral home of Winston Churchill. The grounds are fabulous and the interiors are vast and exquisite, despite being under massive renovations.

A vote of the group decided that we will be back next year!

London April 2025

After the SE Asia cruise, I headed to England solo for 9 days of fun and adventure with family and friends. Laura flew home to Austin.

Monday April 28 - Wednesday April 30 I stayed in London at the Charlotte Street Hotel, which is in a lovely area full of pubs, restaurants and shops, but a comfortable distance from the bustle of Tottenham Court Road.

On the Monday, I had colluded with my brothers Laurence and Paul to set up a what turned out to be an epic pub crawl around some of London's oldest pubs . It was Paul who compiled the list of 10 (!) pubs we should visit, and needless to say we only made it to 4 on the list, and a couple of others. Part of the problem was that in each place we went, we made new friends, who in turn had suggestions of "a pub you must not miss". So it was easy to get led astray.

Tuesday was mostly spent recovering from Monday evening. Wednesday was my birthday and I met my best friend Mike for cocktails at the Donovan Bar, followed by dinner at Mike's favorite restaurant Langans Brasserie. We had a great time, but sadly there is no photographic evidence.

Bangkok Thailand April 2025

The cruise finished at Laem Chabang, which is a huge industrial port 80 miles from Bangkok, and the traffic around and in Bangkok is horrendous. We had treated ourselves to a one night stay at the Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok, with our flight to Amsterdam leaving at noon the next day. It took our car transfer over two hours to get to the hotel. So we saw a lot of Bangkok at walking pace, sweltering as the car's AC struggled to keep up with the temperature and humidity

We had intended to explore Bangkok in the afternoon after checking into the hotel but the traffic jams, heat and humidity deterred us. Instead we enjoyed a late lunch on the hotel veranda - with enough shade and fans to keep us reasonably cool. The food, drinks and service were exemplary.

As you can see the hotel is right on the bank of the Chao Phraya River, which meanders through downtown. The views from our room were captivating - a bit like watching a fountain or a fire - hard to look away

The next day, KLM whisked us back to Amsterdam, from where Laura flew home and I went on to visit family and friends in England. This was a very cool trip!