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Some Nostalgia for Lanie
St. Nicholas’ Church, Great Hormead Vacation Day 9 – Saint Nicholas’ Church, Great Hormead
Today we rented a car and embarked on two-and-a-half weeks of traveling around the county. First, we’re on our way to see my son and his family. We’ve visited my old haunts before, but I thought it’d be nice for Lanie to see some of them on our way. Our first stop was my old Senior School. I didn’t take any pictures as it’s not changed since I last took pictures of it in 2007. Then we took Lanie to see the village I grew up in and went for a look in the church.
Stained Glass, St. Nicholas’ Church, Great Hormead
St. Nicholas’ Church, Great Hormead
Lanie examining a plaque
My spot in the choir – behind the organist where she could keep and eye on me!Link: My earlier pictures of Saint Nicholas’
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The River Thames from Tower Bridge
The River Thames from Tower Bridge. Copyright © 2014 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. We took a leisurely stroll along the South Bank, passing the Globe Theatre and The Golden Hinde. We stopped for a while at the Tate Modern (I like the Tate Modern). Unfortunately, all this walking had tired us out, and it wasn’t long before we headed back to the train – beating the commuter rush.
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The Tower of London
The Tower of London. Copyright © 2014 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. The tour of the Tour of London was very good, and I highly commend it. Though you might like to consider leaving any pissy teenagers behind. Speaking of which, Lanie would not believe that the Crown Jewels were real and initially didn’t realize that the display included some very precious items. She went back for another, closer look once we’d enlightened her.
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HMS Belfast
HMS Belfast. Copyright © 2014 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
The Shard, River Thames and HMS Belfast.
The Shard, River Thames and HMS Belfast. Copyright © 2014 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. After visiting the Tower, we took a stroll around St. Catherine’s Docks – mainly because I wanted to see the barges. Lanie & Ginger were more interested in a bunch of marines maneuvering a modern landing craft into a berth than with my thoughts on the finer details of the rigging and handling of a Thames Barge. I surmised the landing craft was probably related to the D-Day festivities and tried to ignore it.
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Lanie, Ginger, and Tower Bridge (The one that goes up and down…)
Lanie, Ginger & Tower Bridge Vacation Day 8 – Tower of London & Tate Modern
I last visited the Tower of London in early November 1964. I know this because we went the week before the Buntingford Branch line closed on November 16 1964. I’ve been to the Tower of London Many times, but that was the only time I went in. I worked for a year in the near-by American Square, which (in 2008) had the very appropriately named, to my mind anyway, Missouri Angel Bar across the road from the office. Most lunch times I’d walk around the Tower of London and visit St. Catherine’s Docks and look at the barges.
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A Short Stay in London
One cannot visit London without having one’s picture taken in front of the Houses of Parliament. Vacation Day 7 – The National Gallery and St. Paul’s Cathedral
Lanie on the train to London Our plan was to visit the National Gallery, Tate Modern and the Tower of London.
Ginger, Lanie and the London Eye (from Westminster Bridge) 
The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last berth to be broken up, 1838 The queues to get on the London Eye were formidable, so we decided to not bother. Which was an excellent decision as we found a much better way to view London from on-high later in the day. Our first stop was the National Gallery. We spent several hours enjoying the paintings. Lanie got quite excited about seeing pictures she’d only seen before as prints. I was particularly impressed with one of the Turner’s. Most of the pictures I’ve seen of this painting show it as dull and insipid. The picture as it is shown here is much closer to the painting I saw at the National Gallery in 2014.
It was so vibrant and ‘glowing’ it startled me. I’d often wondered what the fuss was about this painting, now I knew. The prints I had seen just did not do it justice.
In Trafalgar Square, Outside the National Gallery After the National Gallery we went to St. Paul’s, taking a ‘self-guided’ tour. We hadn’t realized you can get right up to the top (some 500+ steps) The views were excellent, and just as high as the Eye.
Even better, we arrived on the Feast Day of St. Barnabus the Apostle and there was a scheduled mid-week sung Holy Eucharist. We were able to take Communion at Saint Paul’s and hear the choir sing. Magic.
View from the Top of St. Paul’s Cathedral
After visiting Saint Paul’s we found an Indian Restaurant, had a meal and then headed west to our hotel.
Link: A panoramic, high-detail view from the top of St. Paul’s.
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The Fighting Temeraire
The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last berth to be broken up, 1838 The queues to get on the London Eye were formidable, so we decided to not bother. This was an excellent decision as we found a much better way to view London from on-high later in the day. Our first stop was the National Gallery. We spent several hours enjoying the paintings. Lanie got quite excited about seeing pictures she’d only seen before as prints. I was particularly impressed with one of the Turner’s. Most of the pictures I’ve seen of this painting show it as dull and insipid. The picture as it is shown here is much closer to the painting I saw at the National Gallery in 2014.
It was so vibrant and ‘glowing’ it startled me. I’d often wondered what the fuss was about this painting, now I knew. The prints I had seen just did not do it justice. Link: an interesting article on this painting from the BBC.
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Lanie on HMS Warrior
Vacation Day 6 – Portsmouth Historic Dockyard
We caught the train to Portsmouth Harbour and after a minor mix-up managed to meet up with Robert to visit the dockyard. We crammed far too much in, what with HMS Warrior, HMS Victory and the Mary Rose.
The day started with an attack of cuteness on HMS Warrior. Some visiting school kids recognized Robert and were falling over themselves to say hello. I’m pretty sure Robert was mumbling something about not being able to get away from work even on a day off.
Ginger and I have visited HMS Warrior and HMS Victory before and it was great to be back. Lanie found it all very interesting. We spent a long time looking over the three ships. The Mary Rose museum was new to us all. I was surprised just how big she was.
Some Family History. Back in the seventies I did some voluntary work for the Mary Rose conservation team with my father. If I remember correctly, we installed hydrogen lines for special ovens used in the conservation process. It was a fascinating experience as there were hundreds of arrows being preserved in large flat bowls of what looked like water. There were also a couple of cannons waiting to go into the big vertical ovens. I was lucky enough to be out on the Solent watching from a friend’s boat the first time they tried to raise the Mary Rose. There was a problem at the end of the day, with the whole structure slipping with a huge shudder. We got to see her break the surface even if we weren’t there when she was raised and towed to shore.
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Lanie Flies The Flag and Eats Her First Fish & Chips
Vacation Day 5 – D-Day Celebrations and an Evening Meal
Gail organized a trip to the common to take part in some of the weekend’s D-Day celebrations. We enjoyed an afternoon of forties music, British food, sunshine and people watching.
Gail was having some problems though. She was getting all worked up about the evening’s forthcoming meal, because it was the first time we’d be meeting her parents. I could only chuckle and enjoy her discomfiture. We were not in the least bit worried. The meal had taken on a life of its own: initially a small family affair, it had grown until there were over twenty people expected. It was good to have so many people turnout, but it was too many people to have a decent chat with each of them. I did enjoy talking with Gail’s parents, I have no idea what she was so worried about.
I also had a meal here on May 22, 2008. It doesn’t look like the furniture’s been changed since then.
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A day out with friends of the family
Alma, Mick and Lanie at Hobby Craft Vacation Day 4 – Off to Dorset with Mick
I’ve known Mick and his parents since I was an infant, so that’s a long time. Leaving people behind is one of the hard things to live with when you emigrate. Which makes it all so much the better when we get a chance to meet up.
It was super to be spoiled, reminisce, and learn things about my parents and my youth. Lanie seemed to enjoy it. Ginger as always liked getting someone to fill in details on my background. Unfortunately, I was, and remain, ignorant on such matters.
Mick and I did some running around (well fast walking actually) before lunch. In the afternoon we visited HobbyCraft, where Ginger wanted to do some business research, checking out what crafting supplies are available in the UK.
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Lanie gets to ride in a double-decker bus…
Lanie gets to ride in a double-decker bus… Copyright © 2014 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Vacation Day 3 – A walk along the seafront
I was expecting too much to think we’d be able to get to the D-Day memorial in time for the remembrance service. Too much traveling and a six-hour time-zone change slowed us down significantly.
We caught the train into Fratton and walked down to the seafront. First stop, a visit to Southsea castle. Then we visited the very busy D-Day museum. As you’d expect being present on the seventieth anniversary of the invasion of Normandy, the museum was full. There were visitors, families of veterans, and a few veterans, some of whom looked to be deeply wrapped in their own thoughts. I was horrified to catch Lanie performing a Nazi salute, and some immediate parenting was required. Once Lanie had been obliged to carefully read some of the displays she had a better understanding of the sacrifices made by those involved.
My plan, duly executed, was to walk along the seafront to the Harbour Station and catch the train back to Havant from there. At Clarence Pier, Lanie could not resist getting into this double-decker bus.
Lanie gets to ride in a double-decker bus… Copyright © 2014 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
Lanie gets to ride in a double-decker bus… Copyright © 2014 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.And that would have been that for the day – except walking along the seafront between Clarence Pier and Old Portsmouth we bumped into my niece – Emily. That was an unexpected and pleasant surprise.
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Fratton – Portsmouth UK
Fratton – Portsmouth UK. Copyright © 2014 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Fratton – Portsmouth UK
Fratton – Portsmouth, UK. Copyright © 2014 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. I cannot resist an architectural shot every now and then, and this was one of those times.
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First leg complete, now to hop across ‘the pond’
Our trans-Atlantic transport at Dallas Fort Worth Airport. Copyright © 2014 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Vacation Days 1 & 2 – Springfield to Havant
Our trans-Atlantic transport at Dallas Fort Worth Airport. Rebbie gave us a lift to Springfield Regional Airport, and this time, I managed to board the plane without breaking my camera. I did (as usual) have trouble getting through security. It seems they don’t get many DSLRs. I had to show them that my laptop worked, and then they unpacked my bag to inspect my camera. I picked our route to travel out via Dallas Fort Worth (one of my favorite airports) and return via O’Hare (one of my least favorites), on the grounds that Dallas generally has better weather and is less likely to suffer delays.
This was Lanie’s first international flight. She’s also flown internal flights unaccompanied, which impressed me. However, I’m not sure she was prepared for just how boring long-haul flights are.
The flight was uneventful, and I managed to get a whole bunch of work done – which is good as I’ve the June Edition of the Diocese’s ‘Spirit’ Magazine to get finished, printed and mailed out while I’m away, thank goodness for the Internet!
Just before we left, I realized we’d messed up the timing of our flight as we missed a chance to see the Red Arrows perform a display over Southsea seafront the afternoon we arrived. The Red Arrows are always great to watch from the seafront as they seem to fly a lot lower over the sea. We should have booked our flight for one day earlier. Oh well.
My brother was waiting for us in the arrivals hall and took us home to Havant. In the evening Lanie disappeared off to look at horses with Ashlyn, Nathaniel and Marcelle, and we joined them later.
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Lanie’s High School Orchestra Concert
That’s our Lanie! 
Ready and waiting 
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Impromptu Concert
The Grandparents visited today, and Lanie and Jim put on an impromptu concert.
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Easter Vigil
Holy Saturday, Easter Vigil. Copyright © 2014 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. The Easter Vigil is one of my favorite services
I knew I wanted to get a candlelight picture. In my mind I thought it would be of all the congregation. However, I saw this picture which I had to take ‘around’ Lanie who was sitting next to me. This is the shot I saw and wanted to get. It is not the picture I took – as I had the wrong lens on the camera. To achieve the very narrow depth of field I wanted, I added the lens blur in post processing.
I used this photograph as the cover picture for the first Spirit Magazine I edited and produced (Volume 6 No. 2 – April 2014).
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Glock 17
Glock 17. Copyright © 2014 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Another good thing about having visitors from the UK is that I can ask my friends if I can borrow their handguns to take to the range. After all, I have to have some choices for my visitors to try.
Confession. I’m not a fan of striker-fired guns, and I have no intention of owning any handgun that relies solely on a trigger-mounted safety. That’s just a personal decision I’ve made. So, Glocks and many other ‘modern’ handguns will not find a permanent home in my gun safe. I wrote a bit more about my thoughts on this here.
Glock 17 with the slide back. Copyright © 2014 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Beretta 92FS
Beretta 92FS, Hammer cocked, safety off. Copyright © 2014 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Compared to the Glock the Beretta just screams finish and quality. I really like this handgun, it’s just a bit on the large size for everyday carry though.
Beretta 92FS Copyright © 2014 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
