Grubs and worms you love to taste moving around in such haste!

Through the reeds your body glides It’s Mr Pike you’d better hide!

His hungry jaws you so dislike! waiting patiently to strike!

The dangers gone but as you look !You see a baited fishers hook!

Wary and cautious you approach to be stopped in time by your friend the Roach!

On and on you swim about through the steam so clear and cool, till you find yourself in a soft Mill Pool!

With Lillie pads and Frogs and things you stop and gaze quite wondering this watery world you’re living in!

As I look back now It seems almost Surreal! Because at the time while it was all happening! we never really knew too much about it, or even gave it a second thought! We were just living our lives, and digging  it all!  not really knowing or aware we were experiencing something New and Great! We were just a part of this wonderful crazy thing, which now history tells us was the 60’s phenomenon

When the Beatles came out with their own special brand of English Rock, with the simple words of I love Her and She loves me type lyrics,  It took hold, and The British Masses Went Crazy!!

It was followed very quickly with alternate choices of  Bad Boy R&B that groups like the Stones the Yard birds and Kinks were producing  But what ever camp of music  you were in didn’t seem to matter!  it was all great, and was a very special time in Music!

You could cross over and enjoy it all, no one cared! it was music for the ages, for young people, and the young at heart!  My parents certainly embraced it all, as many other grown ups did too! It seemed everyone was humming  tunes or singing along with the lyrics of some famous artist. The Fab 4, and Beatlemania, was the Biggest  Success story of that/My Generation, and continued on into the late sixties, with their more creative and progressive style of lyrics, music, and orchestral compositions!

But in the very beginning, everything was just Raw and Fresh!  Completely New Different! and Wonderfully Fab! And on a Saturday Night the place to be was at the Mecca or Locarno where hundreds of Teenagers would gather to dance and hear live up and coming bands of the time!

What you wore was of course the latest and coolest  of London Fashions, Guys dressed in Mod  suits and ties and Hush Puppies! the Girls in Flapper type short dresses and Kinky Boots! and if you were super Cool you arrived wearing a fur trimmed Parker on your sparkling Chromed Lambretta or Vespa Scooter!!

Everywhere you went their music was being played! everything you wore was influenced by them! and it seemed like for a fleeting moment in time, it took over who you really were! But at the time we didn’t care, we just enjoyed it! and loved it all!!

What a Time ! and What a Time We Had!

Back in the 18th and 19th Centuries, especially along the Thames Embankment in London this was a common practice for the poor to eek out an existence!

For amusement working class vacationers would throw pennies in all directions to watch a handful of  these Urchins or Mudlarks knee deep in mud and filth, begin fighting over the few pennies tossed their way! While amusing and entertaining it was also dehumanizing, and in some ways saddened me, to see these young boys no older than myself (around 8 or 9 years old), subjected to this type of degradation! fortunately times have changed and the Mudlarks have all but disappeared

We became the Greatest Nation on this planet, by not being a Welfare State, by not holding our hands out for freebies all our lives, We became the Greatest Nation on Earth  by hard work determination, and a sense of accomplishment! And from it, the pride and self respect that comes from setting goals and reaching them, by improving ones self! and ones position in Life!

Is the Welfare Check  that’s handed out  each month ones only incentive in life! Is accepting entitlements  from Cradle to Grave ones only ambition!   Should we allow ourselves to fall Victim to any Political Party that stifles individualism, and offers only dependency and dead end class  oppression??  What we don’t seem to understand is the price we are paying  for a Free Hand Out ! When one is given something for Free! your Obedience is usually required in return!! and that price and obedience is inevitably the erosion of  our Rights Liberties and Freedoms!

It’s sad to see the desire to better ones self by individual work ethic being destroyed, by ones willingness  to take what one can get from the system, without having contributed to it! Sure there are certainly those that Genuinely Need a Government Safety Net! but far too many Do Not!

Falling into this trap of taking and not giving! with  total dependency on the system! will not only destroy ones self in the end, but ultimately the very system  one is sucking from!

Nothing in this World is Free!!  Someone is paying for the Free hand outs, Question is ? Is it you!!!  And do you even care??

Whats there not to like about this endearing little creature with a short snout, tiny legs, and big eyes , that curls up in a prickly ball when threatened

A loveable little rodent that used to be quite common on British roads, appearing out of the Hedgerows only to get squished in the process! and now with homes having fences that  the Hedgehog is unable to negotiate, his territory is being compromised, as are their numbers. Sad to report, It may soon become an endangered species! their numbers having been reduced by over 50%!! In recent years!

What can we do about it! Drive with a little more care on Country roads for a start! Protect their habitat by leaving a hole at the base of your garden fence so they can move about, Just these few simple steps will allow them to meet up with each other along the way, and increase their numbers!

As in most cases It’s Mans intrusion into the habitat of our cuddly friends that usually brings about their demise!

So my theme for the day is Hug a Hedgehog

Alice Liddell, Was, it is said, the 8 year old that inspired Lewis Carol to write Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass!

By all accounts Alice was a precocious child, inquiring full of imaginings, one might say even mischievous!

This was based on Carols own observations recalling how Alice and her two sisters would  insist, that Carol Tell them Stories, during sunny afternoons on the river!

Carol’s  fascination  with Alice was beguiling and even hypnotic!  Some into days climate might  say a Little too unnerving for comfort! However in Mid Victorian Britain this type of association was considered harmless and acceptable!

Victorian Standards are one thing!  The disturbing attentions and interludes of an older Man to  three young Girls another! and Mrs Liddell was having no more of it! Raising the question of What are you! and  “Who are You” ??  After some time, His visits became less frequent!!!

What we do know is!! that Charles Dodgson was a Professor of Mathematics at Christ Church College Oxford!

What we don’t know is!!’  Did he engage in the use of mind altering drugs, such as Opium Mushrooms  Peyote and the like!

Which of course would account for the “Wacky” but Creative Vision  of  this fictional adventure!  Or was it nothing more than being  Naturally Gifted and “Whacked to begin with,  Aided perhaps by the Innocent and Whimsical Imaginings of The Liddell Sisters! who may have simply encouraged him in his, and their own fanciful pursuits!!

We perhaps will never know! But it does as Shakespeare once put it, “Dive Thoughts Down To Ones Soul” !!

This is a tell it like it is! shoot strait from the hip Blog! If you are looking for P.C. then this  Blog is not for you!!!!

Britain is obviously gearing up for the London Olympics to be held this July/August!

For those traveling to The United Kingdom in 2012, In particular to The Games in London!  Please look out for another kind of Olympian!! The kind that engage in a totally different type of gamesmanship!!  I mean the usual assortment of Losers, Scoundrels, Degenerates, Thieves and Pick Pockets, that seem to spring up like mushrooms wherever Large Crowds Gather!

Also pay special attention to the Supply and Demand Thieves! Who pray on opportunism! These the authorities do not police!

I’m referring to Hotels, Restaurants,  Institutions, Store Keepers and such, that rip you off in a more polite fashion!

And then there’s those Dubious Fly By Night Parking Lot Operators “You know The Kind”, That unsavory individual toting  a Flashlight and Sign, directing you into some pot holed darkened space, for outrageous fees!!  They all take what I consider to be a scandalous advantage of the situation!!

Ticket Gouging otherwise known as Scalping, will also be in full force !

You may also have to ‘Run the Gauntlet” of unlicensed vendors selling  low quality souvenirs at overblown prices! Along with  food sellers offering you the occasional Gastro Bellyache, from food Items often  produced in less than acceptable sanitary conditions!!

My advice!  By all means enjoy the Olympics!  but please be aware of your surroundings at all times!

Having lived in these United States for going on 40 years, One might say that I am fully committed to the American way of life, And

I am proud  to be a  Naturalized Citizen, and to call  this wonderful country my home for what has now been most of my adult life!!

I truly believe however, one can love two countries in equal but different ways!! Pretty much, In the same way a Mother can love her two children!! Be them Son or Daughter!!

England is the place of my birth, and like the bonding of a child to it’s mother’s womb, Their is a connection I hold for  the land I grew up in. The impressionable years of childhood are always a vivid reminder of where I came from and what makes me who I am today!!  The joining of both cultures, with  their diversities and complexities, has no doubt enriched my life!!

So as the curtain begins to fall, and I approach the Golden Years, My needs for the simple uncomplicated pleasures in life, are still to be found in the England I knew as a child!! Not so much in the large overpopulated cities or commercial tourist venues, But in the green and pleasant land that is still England!!

“Yes,” the England I remember in my youth still exists!!

I relive those special memories every time I take people on tour!!

I sincerely hope we see “you” sometime soon!!  be glad to have you along!!

“In this Blessed Plot”  I love so much, Which will always be a part of me!!

“England” and the British Isles!!

I however tend to think that maybe another kind of spiritual energy is being passed on to the new inhabitants!

Additionally if the structural integrity of these fine old buildings has not been compromised:

If  one can still see and enjoy  from a distance  that it is  the same old church, that has been a spiritual icon in the area for hundreds of years, which has now been given a new lease of life for hundreds more! Then I for one have little objection!  A far better alternative to the Wrecking Ball, and ultimately another Walmart !!

One of the things we used to “Get Up To”, was to go up and down the Gigantic Escalators and Elevators! and walk through the many tunnels that led to different Subway levels, eventually riding  the different routes to all parts of London! Seeing a great many of London’s major attractions The Tower of London: Buckingham Palace: Trafalgar Square: Piccadilly Circus, to name but a few!! Which at the time we took for granted!!

One of our most frequent stops, being The South Kensington Museums, Which offered Free Admission, To either the  Natural History Museum, The Victoria and Albert Museum, or The National Science Museum, the later being our favorite as it had many exhibits in Glass Cases! (It’s important to understand the period was in the late Fifties) Where one could push a button or turn a handle, and the display in the case (Mostly Steam Locomotion) would move! you see they all had working/moving parts, making them fascinating for the young adventurous  mind!

They had a Mock up Coal Mine with Trucks that carried  fake coal along the tracks, with life size dummies displayed in action like positions, The manikins even had their Davey Lamps lit! with coal dust and grime on their faces to make them look even more life like and Scary!!!!

And here we would be, not a care in the world, walking through this mock up mine shaft, absorbing everything, totally engaged and fascinated!

For Hours we were immersed in a Surreal world! Most of the time it was a fantastic Romp around London! Totally carefree, getting high on life’s experiences! our imaginations running wild

Never realizing for a moment, that this  adventure was setting the stage for our Adult lives! Unaware we were absorbing  a venerable  store house of knowledge, experiences and  information! A young boys journey into manhood if you will! Part of a journey that would be invaluable in later years!!

It’s important to understand the period we are referring to in this blog is during the late 1950’s when an 8/9 year old could wander around London unsupervised, With their parents blessing! and would be considered Socially acceptable, and safe  to do so! and I might Add  the Norm!!

These British Boyhood Adventures! I’m sorry to say, have become a thing of the past, in today’s climate of Ugly Predators, Over Parenting!! and Government Controls!