You left out executing elderly barefooted and pregnant cross-gendered women in wheelchairs who are gay single Bible-thumpin’ welfare soccer moms with funny-sounding names and who are lapsed atheist Arabic and Spanish-speaking community organizers of oppressed Feeemason polar bears from Area 51.

These dastardly enemies of the people can be found hiding next to the bloodthirsty Texans under your bed.

As for your comment regarding “Public executions, rolling heads, the continuation of government-sanctioned racial discrimination, immigration raids, murdered babies – good grief!” You could easily be talking about the USA. Think about it, those blood thirsty Texans who readily kill, the poor, minorities and mentaly ill criminals on a regular basis aren’t that far behind.

This week the British government quietly allowed decisions of certain Sharia law courts in Britain to be legally enforced. The mind boggles… Via La Shawn Barber…….

Stonehedge (not big at all and at the time, RIGHT beside a highway).

Wales (OK, not England but the UK)

Strafford on Avon (Shakesphere country)
Buckingham palace.

Many other castles. I actually lived on the grounds of a castle being restored. The land owners rented out buildings on the grounds to help pay for taxes and to get money to help restore the castle and grounds.

Partied in London.

Tried to get to the White Cliffs of Dover, but didn’t have time.

Want to visit: The Ivory Coast, Ghana (where people think my ancestry lies), Australia, and take the wifey to Paris. (I’ve been there and it was nice, although dirty).

This trip will also require a lot of coordination and organization, as my dad is a dialysis patient. That is also why it will be so expensive. I can’t take chances on a substandard hotel, as I am trying to improve my dad’s quality of life, not make him sicker. Also, tourist class is fine for me, but I think that given all of the health issues, I should make sure that they are flying business class, which I know that they are too frugal to consider doing for themselves.

My vague plan starts with a few days in London and a train trip to Grantham. Then to Edinburgh. Then to York. Or Bath. Then back to London.

I am a bit of a dreamer, but I think that this trip will be worth it.

An ideal vacation would be to travel in Europe and show my wife and daughter some of the places I saw when I was in the Navy. One time I took a train raide from Taranto, in the ‘instep of the boot of Italy’ up the Adriatic coast and on through the Alps to Munich, Germany. The only time I’ve ever skied was in the Bavarian Alps!

That tea tour sounds like fun but I’d also enjoy a pub tour –

The following list shows the most common pub names and their number in a data base.

Red Lion 902
Crown 808
Royal Oak 728
Railway 577
White Hart 546
Plough 541
Swan 503
White Horse 471
Bell 445
Kings Head 421
Ship 409
Rose and Crown 408

Other popular names, listed generally in their order
of popularity, are:

Kings Arms, George, New Inn, Queens Head, Wheatsheaf, Black Horse,
Prince of Wales, Victoria, Greyhound, Cross Keys, Star, White Lion,
Castle, Rising Sun, Anchor, Chequers, Sun, Bull, Coach and Horses,
Fox and Hounds, Angel, Hare and Hounds, Three Horseshoes,
George and Dragon, Nags Head, Globe,Fox, Lamb, Golden Lion,
Masons Arms, White Swan, Beehive, Green Man, Travellers Rest,
Foresters Arms, Waggon and Horses, Black Bull, and Cricketers.

There are a few fun names in that lot!

Last “travel”: 6000 miles, 23 days, coast-to-coast-and-back in 2007. Really fun to see people we hadn’t seen in decades, but definitely no “vacation”.

Europe: My “uncle” (Sam) paid my way for a 3.5-yr tour. Loved it, learned A LOT (e.g. St. Aug. FL is not an old city). Toured for 3 wks when my mother visited, incl. 6 days in London (staying with a family friend). No tourist places except Rotenburg before it burned.

Micro-travel to England: We are devoted viewers of the “Brit-coms” on PBS. My wife and I, and my sister, even tend to use some Brit sayings, we watch so much. Generally funnier and more intellectually challenging than U.S. sitcoms (we avoid the ones which are not). Favorites: As Time Goes By, Keeping Up Appearances, Good Neighbours, My Hero, Chef!, The Thin Blue Line, A Fine Romance, ‘Allo, ‘Allo, To the Manor Born, Jeeves and Wooster, Wodehouse Playhouse, Freddie and Max, No-Honestly, Fresh Fields/French Fields. Unfortunately, some of these had very short runs, and/or are not seen here but occasionally. (Different stations air different shows, up to a half-dozen in any one season.)

We really couldn’t afford to travel much our first 15 – 20 years of marriage and just never had jobs that allowed enough vacation time to do fun things. Our daughter is enjoying education opportunities neither of us really had, and we’re banking on her taking us places when she grows up. She went to Israel for the first time over this past summer and loved it! She promises to take us there in the future. Other than that, Scotland and Ireland seem like romantic destinations.

Have fun on whatever vacation you choose La Shawn.

Israel-Could easily spend a week there cycling and seeing where Jesus walked.

Greece-The food and the music

Ireland or Korea-Mainly because I want to go back and see my familes Celtic heritage and the other to see the birthplace of TaeKwonDo