Yes, Friends, have YOU ever returned from vacation almost like a new person, and ready to "take on the world" with your new 'slant' on the world? Most of us have, at one time or another, haven't we, and there's a local story with a big impact in this morning's local Onion News, quickly picked up by the 'nationals', like the Times and the Telegraph, and, on an admittedly 'slow news day' even led the early morning bulletins on the BBC World Service, would you believe!!!
And reading Egbert's story this morning brings a hint of a vapid smile to the faces of me and my wife Lois, here in semi-tree-covered Liphook, Hampshire this morning, no doubt about that! Because, by a complete coincidence, we ourselves have returned home from an invigorating holiday in Ipswich, Suffolk, with a new lease of life after a ton-load of delightful 'vacation experiences' with my baby sister Jill (68) and members of her family, no doubt about that!
(left) us on Thursday morning, bidding a fond farewell to the view of the bustling
harbour at Ipswich, Suffolk from my sister Jill's flat, and (right) waiting
to catch the Greater Anglia train home, on Ipswich's throbbing railway station (!)
I have to confess, however, that, unlike Egbert in today's Onion lead story, we're not going to be engaging on any headlining work projects, to put it mildly! Happily retired for over 20 years, would you believe, we're just going to have to expend, or "take out" (!), our renewed energy on each other, and no shame in that!!!!
flashback to Monday: Lois and I experiencing a warm welcome at my 'baby sister' Jill's flat,
both from Jill herself and from her 'flat cat', Billy. And (below) mine and Lois's room
with its stunning view of Ipswich Harbour, where "there's always something happening" (!)
Ipswich is the ideal holiday destination for Lois and me, because not only do we get the opportunity for hours of 'chat' with Jill and also with her charming daughter Lucy and Lucy's equally charming fiancee Rosanna, which is nice, but also, for history buffs like Lois and me, Ipswich is just soaked in history, going way back through medieval England, into Anglo-Saxon and Viking times, as we discover during Jill's highly personalised, and amusing (!), 'walking tours' of the town - so what's not to like!!!!
(left) Lois and (right) Jill and me, absorbing the many medieval sights to be enjoyed
in Ipswich, England's earliest, and longest continuously inhabited, town since the 7th century
The people we meet are all very friendly, even the statues, like this one of the town's most famous sons, Cardinal Wolsey, 16th century statesman from Henry VIII's time, which is nice!
the people of Ipswich, we find, are extremely friendly and always willing to help out
when we stumble to take 'selfies': even this statue of the town's most famous son,
Cardinal Wolsey, somehow finds the time to shake Lois's hand as she passes, which is nice!
Lois and I didn't know that Ipswich was England's first real town, and therefore, also the country's longest continuously inhabited settlement, since back in the 7th century AD, as we learn from the town's many informative displays.
On Jill's 'walking tour', between stops in coffee-shops for a welcome sit-down accompanied by some quick americanos (!), we also have time to have a bit of a chuckle with Jill over the town's less earth-shattering exhibits, the houses belonging to relatives of medieval celebrities, or houses 'next door' to some now-disappeared famous house or other (!). Also, the many memorials to the town's modern-day 'famous son', up-and-coming young pop singer Ed Sheeran, which is a nice 'change of pace' from all the serious stuff, to put it mildly!
some of the more 'underwhelming' plaques: commemorating (left) a house belonging
to the 'relatives' of medieval writer Geoffrey Chaucer, and (right) the house
'next door to' the now-disappeared house (!), of painter Thomas Gainsborough
plaques commemorating the achievements of another son of Ipswich: pop-star Ed Sheeran
What a crazy world we live in !!!!!
Best of all, the time we have in Ipswich this week is a chance to chat about this and that, and put the world to rights, with my sister Jill, who's still, after all these years, a full 12 years younger than me, a fact that I'm, nevertheless, anxious to confirm (!).
me and my 'baby sister' Jill, (left) this week down by Ipswich Harbour,
and (right) flashback to 1960, us in the back garden of the family home in Bristol
It's also a chance to chat with one of Jill's three daughters, the charming Lucy, who lives in the same block of flats as Jill, and also to meet Lucy's equally charming fiancee, the Anglo-American Rosanna, actually born in Turkey, to American parents. We dine with all three at a Turkish restaurant, the Kervan Kitchen, on the Tuesday night, and Rosanna cooks us all a delicious meal on the Wednesday night, which we have in Jill's flat, so we don't even need to set foot outside the flat, which is nice!
(above) Tuesday evening's meal out at Turkish restaurant Kerwan Kitchen,
and (below) we enjoy a meal in Jill's flat, cooked by Lucy's fiancee Rosanna
It's so nice to catch up with local lawyer Lucy's latest news, and to meet Rosanna for the first time, especially as Lois and I will be back here in September for the couple's wedding, so watch this space!
Will this do?
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed, so-not-Ed-Sheeran (!!!!)]
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz!!!!!
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