Happy 21st Birthday Simpsons!!!

A tangent from the trip.  Steve and I love The Simpsons and used to watch it religiously when we lived in Griffith.  I read in The Big Issue last week that the show has turned 21 so thought this was a good opportunity to share a cuppla encounters from my trip.

Here's Bart at Whitesands carpark - where all the dudes hangout at the weekend.

The owner and his girlfriend returned while I was taking the photos so I asked if it was OK.  The girlfriend said it happens everywhere they go.

Later in St Albans, in England, I saw this at the market.

I have to say it had never occurred to me to get a Simpsons stained glass window.  I do have this rather tasteful plate in my kitchen, though.

...green and magic land.

Back in England, Mum and I went our separate ways for a day

Cynthia, John and Mum went to this grand house and garden, Osterley? I think.

and did what they do best.

I boldly caught trains into London

If I'd only waited 30 seconds I could have shown you the incredible colour and diversity of the passengers who disembarked from that bus - I started to feel how exciting it could be to live here...  I was sitting outside a Starbucks waiting for my friend and former Wu Tao teacher, Shanah.

We drove to Avebury - like Stonehenge but more accessible.  The carpark guys told us that the carpark was full but an obliging tree allowed us to lift its branches and park under - that's the sort of thing that happens with Shanah.

 We entered the stone ring and had a picnic

and watched a pagan ceremony.

Then we walked to the village

for a little shopping.
Here's a photo of the area taken from a postcard:

We walked across country to the mound you can see at the top of the photo.  This is Silbury Hill and is man-made.  We crossed the road to West Kennet Long Barrow

and danced Wu Tao overlooking Silbury Hill.

This was sublime.
When we had finished dancing we went to have a look at the Barrow.  And guess who was there?

The Green Man and the Keeper of the Stones.
Some of you know I'm a bit of a fan of the concept of The Green Man.  It was however The Keeper who was the important one on the day - apparently this group use a ceremony based on a Welsh tradition and the Keeper is always a woman.

We wended our way back to the car, then along the M4, over Hammersmith, through Chelsea and back to the Underground Station.  We said our sad goodbyes and I caught 2 trains home to Watford feeling I was dancing all the way.  It was a day made on the Good and Bountiful Earth.

Adios Espagna

You may recall that our trip to Spain was to be for 10 days but we had to cram it into 5.  Here's the result

Maybe that's how all our hosts felt as we left!!

But then there was the very sad business of leaving.