senoritafish | (no subject)

So my brother is spending Christmas with his friend Katy in Bristol, UK. He sends an update...

Hello!
I did arrive in London safely and did not crash into the sea.

I took a bus trip on the National Express to Bristol. OMIGOD...64 bucks! Well,....I guess a taxi would have been more. On the way I saw sheep and horses. All the horses had a nice blanket on and it was only about 50 degrees. In the US I never see horses with blankets on. It was really great to see that there were virtually NO suvs on the road.

Katy picked me up from the bus stop all smiles. We went on a ferry ride down the harbour. Her brother evidently owns the whole ferry boat company. They also own a small boat that they plan on taking to Newfoundland from England. Its a replica of ships from the 1500's. Looks like one of the ships that Christopher Columbus used..u know....Nina, Pinta and the Santa Maria.

Bristol is really huge....old and beautiful. Katy and her Mum have so many people coming in and out of here that I don't know that I will be able to make it to London or Paris. I may have to go on my own if I want to go. I'm still jet lagged so I keep waking up when sleeping but my body still feels tired. Gross feeling

Last night we went to a party in a Georgian mansion and it was bizarre to be at a party where everyone is British and you are the only American. There were four other adults and 5 children ranging from 9 to 17. Four boys and 1 girl. All were highly educated. The kids could all play piano and the one mother could improvise anything. There were two pianos one of which was a concert grand steinway. The kids names were...get this....Casper, Ralph (Rafe), Barney, Mallory (a boy) and Clem. All Of them were fucking gorgeous and thin and had very milky white skin with natural blush in their cheeks. Disgustingly beautiful! Ah to be seventeen again. We had lamb lasagna, peas and carrots. Champagne was flowing and the kids poured it. "Can I charge your glass?" they asked. The one mother Bella, kept asking me to sing the standards and showtunes that just kept pouring out of my head and onto the piano. And the kids sang and played...amazing. I never see that in the states. After dinner we played Charades and Celebrity. They\'ve invited us back later in the week so I guess they enjoyed our company.

After Christmas I will do a lot of walking around town and take in the sites.....lots of Georgian and Victorian homes here. As well as parks, squares, cathedrals and markets. More updates soon! Merry Christmas to you all....send me emails and let me know what you are doing tonight and tomorrow.

xoxox
Doug

John says yeah, but how many of those kids know how to hotwire a car when you've lost your keys and it's snowing outside?

Lets see, we're going to do tree, gift wrapping, making of traditional Xmas eve chowder, and filling stockings after kids go to bed. Tomorrow after mass unwrapping of pressies, we may test drive my gift to the family, a beautiful dragon kite (providing it's not foggy like this morning and there's enough wind), and if I don't feel worse than I do today, we may go visit John's mom and grandmother. Gigima has surgery on her other knee coming up so I don't want to make her sick. John is having an argument with his mom right now, so I don't know how that's going to go...

But I think we're starting a new xmas tradition...Ornagami!

Found this very cute book at Barnes & Marmoset: Ornagami: An Origami Christmas at Your Fingertips. Gareth is wanting to try and fold all the really hard ones, that I'm even having a hard time with!