DAY 280

Monday 16 April 2012

My goodness, what gorgeous weather! Are we sure this is England?

That's better.

A sign Dian painted for the family, identifying the
Tigbourne Cottage estate.

Surrey was ablaze with wild flowers and the kind of green grass that only grows when it’s saturated with rain. We puttered around Nigel and Mary’s house returning e-mails and writing blog pages while Nigel was at his office in London and Mary was with clients. (Nigel is a film producer and Mary is a Pilates instructor). Dian asked if they would like a sign for Tigbourne Cottage and set about painting one for the front gate, on a long wood post she found, with a rusty nail jutting out the back.

After lunch Dian and Mary drove into nearby Godalming for a quick perusal of the charity shops. There were quite a few but luckily neither Mary nor Dian bought much. At Fleetcroft Guitars, Ben put a new screw in the tuning peg of Dian and Nicole’s guitar ...for free! The small town generosity was appreciated and probably wouldn’t happen in Los Angeles. After a quick stop to mail Grandmother a birthday card Dian and Mary sped down the country lane in her convertible Audi.

If any of our blog readers have a chance to dig in nettles – don’t! Dian sustained many prickly nettle burns when she tried to bury the post she’d painted in the ground. The antidote leaf was unfortunately NOT in the area.

Nicole inherited an ultra comfy onesie from Topshop!

Mary treated the Andrews to a delicious Indian dinner in town and we really feasted. Besides it being one of Nicole’s favorite types of food, it was too spicy for Nigel and since he was still at work we ordered dishes with lots of heat. Back at home he tried to tell us that a treacle was a small animal – though we knew from previous experience it was a sweet dessert . He complimented Nicole on her follow through after watching the prom queen bid and thank you videos she made the year before on Facebook.

With an in-depth map consultation between Nigel and Charles that lasted into the night, we were set for our upcoming Wales and Scotland leg of the journey.

DAY 279

Sunday 15 April 2012


What else should one do when visiting in the countryside of merry olde England than have afternoon pork or beef roast with yorkshire pudding? The Mulberry was a perfect choice by Nigel and Mary for our Sunday lunch and we drove there on side roads since there had been an accident and power outage earlier. (In fact, Mary had been pressed into service while walking the dogs with Dian and Nicole as many drivers stopped to ask her how to get around the road block.)

Mary giving directions

We enjoyed the atmosphere of the Chiddingfold restaurant owned by famous radio DJ Chris Evans, and after a Guinness or two and a round of arm wrestling, we left for a little tour through Godalming, (in the news that very week as the home of Jack Phillips, a hero of the Titanic disaster who was the young telegraph operator who stayed at his post until the last minute, and perished while trying to send a message for help.) The cricket players in their white sweaters and pants barely looked up on the green near the famous Charterhouse School, one of the original nine founding British "public" (private) schools, built 1611 and still operating with about 750 students (yearly tuition: $40,000/25,000 pounds/30,000 euros). The band Genesis formed there, and we thought the classic '60s counterculture film "If " (introducing Malcolm McDowell) was shot there but it wasn't. S'posed to be, till the headmaster discovered the controversial content of the movie.

Mary and Nigel

Yes, fig and goat cheese is nice, but...

...bring on the meat!
Photo by Dian

Elderberry sorbet

What, you don't fight over the bill like this?

This arm wrestle was purely for fun...well, maybe fun for Nigel, Dian's arm hurt a lot after!

Cricket at Charterhouse

Charterhouse school

After a nice cup of tea back at Tigbourne Farm, we watched the Sarah Palin biop, "Game Change" then played a game of trivia (with Nigel contesting nearly every answer in the book). We ended the night by calling Grandmother and Granddad in Rancho Palos Verdes, then had eggs on toast and asparagus whipped up by Mary, yum.

Sandy and Poppy, none the worse for ware!

Like a good English dog, Sandy is quite proper and formal.

DAY 278

Saturday 14 April 2012

Flying over the white cliffs of Dover

Nicole got up at 7AM with Astrid, she to take the metro to her parents, and Astrid to go to school. With a few breakfast items crammed into her mouth and pockets, Nicole said goodbye (she had finished chewing by then) to Hourik and Astrid, and hoped to see them again. She texted at 7:30AM on the cell, “I’m on the metro.” Charles and Dian picked her up at the bus stop after checking out of the camp. With fresh croissants and hot coffee aboard we headed for the ferry in Calais. When we found out the price was better in Dunkerque we drove there then waited a couple of hours for our crossing on the DFDS Line. The hour crossing was uneventful but we got a little bit of excitement when the border/customs official began interrogating Charles. It became clear that our best tack would be tact since this official obviously believed in the letter of the law – meaning why were we travelling into her country and how were we paying for it – did we intend to STAY there?

Anyway, Charles got some good material for his next column and we entered England unscathed. Driving on the left side of the road took a little getting used to but Charles did very well and we were at Nigel and Mary’s house in Surrey by 7PM (note the hour time change).

What's wrong with this picture? We're on the wrong side of the road!

It was great to see our old friends plus their dogs Poppy and Sandy and we caught up over a delicious fish and chips meal brought in by Mary from their award winning take out place. Once again we were ensconced in the bedrooms on the second floor with the view we remembered from a few years back of pastureland with grazing cows. Ah the joys of farm livin’.

And treacle tart to top it off!

DAY 276

Thursday 12 April 2012

April in Paris! Dian and Charles' second time. The tulips were just beginning to bloom as the daffodils were fading. The famed, huge cemetery Pere Lachaise was our first destination and after catching the camp shuttle bus to the metro station we rode all the way out to the 16^th arrondisement. Before finding the four block square graveyard, we stopped at a charming gift shop and the owner gave us a map book – usually a four euro price. Merci! We bought a card for Grandmother’s birthday then trekked to the sites of some beloved personalities.

Oscar Wilde's grave

Nicole was saddened that Oscar Wilde’s tomb, which had formerly been covered in lipstick kisses, had been refurbished in 2010 and had a plexiglass barrier, which she nonetheless kissed (gingerly), and we remembered Aunt Monica’s performance in "The Importance of Being Ernest" and how she rocked the role. Next we walked to Edith Piaf’s grave. A young English boy was wondering aloud to his family how she died, and since there was a crucifix on her tomb he declared that “it must be really ANNOYING to be hung from a cross.” After these moments of gallows humor, we walked to Jim Morrison’s grave, which of course was crowded (but not like in summer when you have to wait in line just to pass by). The unspectacular grave marker had us musing about celebrity and why we remember some people more than others. He was a man who touched many lives and was a true poet.  Edith was a devil with an angelic voice and Oscar Wilde was, to quote an inscription scrawled on the tomb, “My favorite dandy.”

Edith Piaf's grave

Gum-infested tree in front of Jim Morrison's grave:

Jim Morrison's grave

After lunch (Charles insisted on having his sandwich in the cemetery, to honor the Lizard King.... somehow) and a coffee at a nearby café we headed to La Cinematheque Francaise museum (designed by Santa Monica's own Frank Gehry) for which we had free entrance coupons. As we stood in line in the drizzle, Charles went to the front of the line and discovered that a Tim Burton exhibit was taking place in a separate part of the museum. With his press pass he got in free and Nicole got a student discount, so we jumped out of the long line and straight into the Burton show. Some of you may know about him and his early career as a resident and budding artist in good ol' Burbank CA (there was a typical-Burton-style official city anti-littering poster on display), and a four year employee at Walt Disney Studios, but his long and varied list of movie credits was a revelation to Dian. His macabre style didn’t quite mesh with Disney and so with the friends he’d made at Cal Arts he started doing his own thing. What an amazing collection of art – from sketches on napkins to gigantic models. We took the last 45 minutes to peruse the French cinema memorabilia in the museum and it was equally fascinating, with really early ("magic lantern") film cameras, the model of the robot woman from "Metropolis" with that landmark film projected onto the floor.

It was really special for Nicole, seeing memorabilia from films by George Melies and  the Lumiere brothers

Nicole saw this when she was "too young," says she, so this was a rather momentous occasion for the two

It was a great day for Metro-musicians:

You haven't lived until you've heard "Proud Mary" done in a French accent...and well!

The fountain by daylight

Finally, we called Hourik, whom we had met some years ago while she was visiting our friends and neighbors Mark and Mary in Santa Monica, and whom Dian and her sister and mother visited in Paris three years before. Nicole and her granddaughter Astrid became penpals (yes, real letters, snail mail, or would that be escargot mail?) but had never met. After a reunion/meeting at their apartment we walked to Leon de Bruxelles (famous in Belgium for their chocolates) for their also famous mussels and fries. Charles and Dian left in time to catch the metro and bus back to camp while Nicole stayed at the apartment and shared Astrid’s bedroom.

Street art

Astrid and Nicole

Dian and Hourik