• Wait, I didn’t think we were in Missouri

    This looks very familiar. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
    This looks very familiar. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    This looks very familiar, and sparked a conversation on copying in architecture and art. This is the Step Short Memorial, honoring WWI soldiers, not a copy of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

    We spent most of the afternoon and evening in the hotel, alternately working and watching the weather, which eventually turned to rain.

    Remember I mentioned Dungeness Power Station? Well, from our hotel room, you could see it in the distance, along the coast. 🙂

  • Folkestone beach and harbour wall

    Folkestone beach and harbour wall. Copyright © 2024 Ginger Allman, all rights reserved.

    Ginger captured this excellent view of the beach and harbour wall. The next morning I had a great run1 of just under three miles. I ran from the hotel, through the back streets and passages down to the harbour, and out along the harbour wall. Then back along the beach and sea front ending with the 160 ft climb back to the hotel.

    1I ran on 13 days, managing 34 Miles. Unfortunately, I didn’t fit in any strength training while we were away. I really felt it when I finally got back to the gym in September.

  • Even the bathroom was ‘Victorian Style’

    Even the bathroom was ‘Victorian Style.’ Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
  • Home Altar

    Home Altar in our room at St. Benedict’s B&B. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    I’m used to religious artifacts and architectural features having special names (I even have a book dedicated to the topic). However, despite numerous web searches, the best I could come up with for this is ‘Home Altar.’

  • Bi-Fold Room Divider — St. Benedict’s B&B

    Bi-Fold Divider leading to the ‘Dressing Room’ at St. Benedict’s B&B. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
    Dressing Room at St. Benedict’s B&B Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
  • St. Benedict’s B&B

    Day Eight

    Our room at St. Benedict’s B&B. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    Today our plan is to head further east to visit Folkestone (you guessed it, I’ve not been there), missing out Dungeness on the way — I have been there1.

    We want to be out of here quickly, to get to our hotel (and a room with a sea view) in Folkestone. Hopefully the cell service and the internet will be better than it is in St. Leonards, as we have a bunch of work to catch up on.

    The whole house has been restored and carefully curated with Victoriana and religious artifacts and memorabilia, extending to details such as the bell pull is a pull and rings a bell that could be heard tinkling in the distance. I also noticed a working ‘dumb waiter.’

    A cassock-wearing orthodox priest served breakfast (excellent). While settling our bill, we exchanged anecdotes on the merits of working with bishops.

    We liked St. Leonards-on-Sea, and St. Benedicts. I’d like to think we’ll be able to fit in another visit in the future.

    1 Many years ago, a company I and a couple of colleagues founded, completed some projects for Nuclear Electric, and I spent lots of time at several nuclear power stations. The nuclear power station at Dungeness was one of the sites I visited. The relevance of this will become obvious later.

  • Dressing Room at St. Benedict’s B&B

    Our Dressing Room at St. Benedict’s B&B. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    Complete with a home altar, storage, and, of course, the en-suite.

    Divider through to the dressing room. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
  • Our bedroom at St. Benedict’s B&B

    Our room at St. Benedict’s B&B — What an absolute gem this B&B was. We stumbled upon it quite by accident, and it was wonderful. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
    Our room at St. Benedict’s B&B — What an absolute gem this B&B was. We stumbled upon it quite by accident, and it was wonderful. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
  • Marine Court on St. Leonards-on-Sea seafront

    Marine Court on St. Leonards-on-Sea seafront (East Sussex, UK) -  an Art Deco apartment block built between 1936 and 1938 and modeled on the Cunard ocean liner Queen Mary.
    Marine Court on St. Leonards-on-Sea seafront – an Art Deco apartment block built between 1936 and 1938 and modeled on the Cunard ocean liner Queen Mary. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Dusk on St. Leonards-on-Sea seafront

    Dusk on St. Leonards-on-Sea seafront – featuring Marine Court, an Art Deco apartment block. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
    Seafront at St. Leonards-on-Sea. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
  • Seafront at St. Leonards-on-Sea

    Seafront at St. Leonards-on-Sea
    Seafront at St. Leonards-on-Sea. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
  • Ginger testing the water at St. Leonards-on-Sea

    Day Seven

    Ginger testing the water at St. Leonards-on-Sea. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    We spent the weekend catching up with family and the grandchildren.

    As the grandchildren are otherwise occupied this week, we decided to rent a car and explore along the coast to the east of Portsmouth.

    Thursday, we have arranged to meet Jacqi, a Flickr Friend we’ve known since 2007, in Brighton. Jacqi lives in New Zealand and is in the UK, touring and visiting family. It’s an opportunity far too good to miss. We last met up in 2011 in Missouri when she visited us while crossing the US on her way to her new home in New Zealand. Before that, we met in person for the first time in 2008 in Bletchley Park (UK).

    After seeing Jacqi, it’s back to Portsmouth for a night, and then we head off for the first two of our business events of the trip, near Northampton on Saturday and in Norfolk on Sunday. Our plans for the latter have already gone awry, as it has been announced that the road from the hotel in Ipswich we’ve booked to the venue will be closed. It will be a long diversion on the morning of the event.

    In the meantime, we have a couple of days free to explore. The plan was to go places I’d never been, so our first destination was Rye. I’ve not been there and always wanted to visit it. It was a disaster. The traffic was awful, and the parking was impossible, even after we found a spot. You needed an app on your phone to park, and we couldn’t get it to install, because the App wouldn’t text the access code to my US cell phone number (We’d got UK data only eSIMs, as we can call and text using our US numbers via data. And WhatsApp is all we need to get in touch with family and business contacts).

    So, I left Rye in a huff. Next on the plan was the Seven Sisters, but somehow, we missed them, and settled on heading towards Hastings. I’ve never been to Hastings.

    We’d not booked hotels in advance, so before we got there, Ginger did some searching and found what looked to be an excellent B&B in St. Leonards-on-Sea.

    Luckily, there was a room available, and it was suggested we go eat while it was made ready. So, we ended up eating a very nice curry, followed by a walk along the seafront at St. Leonards.

  • Fox

    Day Five

    Fox — seen on the way to visit my brother. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    Today, we moved from the hotel to my son’s house.

    In the evening, we went to visit my brother and, on the way, saw this fox by the side of the road.

    Fox — seen on the way to visit my brother. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
  • HMS Prince of Wales

    HMS Prince of Wales — leaving Portsmouth Harbour. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    Today is our last full day at Gunwharf Quays. We took a stroll along the Millennium Walkway to pass the time and were there to watch HMS Prince of Wales leave Portsmouth Harbour.

  • Interesting things happening in front of our hotel

    Interesting things happening in front of our hotel. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    Day Four

    We were fascinated by the construction of this miniature golf course going on below our hotel window.

    We discussed the business model, marketing, construction methodology, finishing, and testing among many other things.

    This was not a ‘regular’ attraction, and gleaning some clues from what we saw, we discovered the company installing it specializes in pop-up miniature golf courses, and originally created theater props — which explained a lot. Some other clues suggested a drone might be used in the marketing (otherwise why put logos on the top of things?) — and on the last day of the build, sure enough a drone was used to do a fly through.

    Yes, we are easily entertained in a cerebral kind of way.

  • What Gare Bears might wear in the woods

    Day Three

    What Gare Bears might wear in the woods. Copyright © 2024 Ginger Allman, all rights reserved.

    With the emphasis on might. Well actually, might not. We had a good laugh though.

  • Fish & Chips and a couple of pints at The Still & West

    Fish & Chips and a couple of pints at The Still & West — A pint and pub grub on our first evening in Pompey. Copyright © 2024 Ginger Allman, all rights reserved.
  • Ginger, Gary and the Spinnaker Tower

    Ginger, Gary and the Spinnaker Tower — Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth. Copyright © 2024 Ginger Allman, all rights reserved.
  • London Heathrow, T5

    London Heathrow, T5 — I love buildings like this, and we spent ages looking at the construction details. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    We had discovered that one of Ginger’s community members would be at Heathrow the morning after we’d arrived, so we made plans to meet up in Terminal 5. I booked a car to pick us up at two pm, giving us plenty of time for people watching and looking around after our meeting.

    We’ll be back at T5 at the beginning of September for our flight home.

    Next stop, a three day stay in a hotel in Portsmouth, where we can enjoy some quiet time, rest, and get over our jetlag.

  • Heathrow T3 from our hotel

    Heathrow T3 from our hotel — The hotel’s sound insulation was very impressive. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
    Heathrow T3 from our hotel — The hotel’s sound insulation was very impressive. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.