The warbler season is off to a good start this Spring with the arrival of male Cape May warblers.
Today is the coronation of King Charles. It seems like yesterday that I watched his investiture as the Prince of Wales.
Long live the King!!
THE CLASS OF ’43
Women who broke so much more than mere glass ceilings.
WOMEN FERRY PILOTS
Women ferry pilots flew more than nine million miles in 72 different aircraft for the Ferrying Division, US Air Transport Command during WWII. Unorthodox women who billiantly helped sustain the vital flow of military aircraft around the country at the height of WWII.
The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was the brainchild of Winston Churchill to take the fight behind enemy lines in WWII. Violette Szabo was one such SOE agent. She was captured and executed in the infamous Ravensbruck women’s prison on 5 Feb. 1945. She was posthumously awarded the George Cross and the Croix de Guerre. Fittingly, her statue stands alongside Lambeth Palace in central London.
The inevitable rivalry and conflict between the SOE and MI6 is brilliantly depicted in one of my favourite television series, Foyle’s War.
SOE safe house where many agents spent their last night in London prior to being dropped into France via parachute or Lysander aircraft. To those in the know, the SOE was to become known as the “Baker Street Irregulars” since the agency occupied several pieces of real estate in the nearby Baker Street area. The large exhibition halls of the Natural History Museum were used for their basic parachute training.
I spent the first few months of a diplomatic posting living just a half block away in Dorset House and became quite familiar with the area.
MEMORIAL PLAQUE, ONE DORSET SQUARE
Today, One Dorset Square is suitably the home of the Alliance Francaise in London.
In what is possibly a hat tip to the role played by Queen Elizabeth in WWII, the inestimable British actress, Honeysuckle Weeks, plays the uniformed driver/mechanic for detective Foyle in the eponymous TV series.
As the song says, “Bless ’em all, the long, the short and the tall”
What we do without them??
The Silicon Valley Bank was closed down today by Californian regulators. Brought back memories of bank failures which I witnessed over the years in London.
Most memorable was the forced shutdown of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) with headquarters in Karachi and London in the 1991. For those in the know, BCCI was frequently referred to as the “Bank of Crooks and Criminals International” for its penchant for catering to customers who dealt in arms, drugs, and hot money.
Certainly the most dramatic collapse was the sudden forced closure of four Kuwaiti banks around Marble Arch the morning after the surprise invasion of Saddam Hussein. I’ll never forget the sight of fevered throngs of expatriate Kuwaitis pounding desperately on closed doors while hastily erected hand written cardboard signs in the windows told them to “Go Home…No money!!”
Below is a pic I took at the start of the financial crisis of 2008 when the Northern Rock became the first failure of an English bank in 140 years. A clear market “sell” sign if ever there was one. What I thought at the time was a small failure of a minor regional bank would become swept up into a world wide financial contagion. Let’s hope for a better outcome this time!!
Got to give it to the English, they can politely queue…… even in a banking collapse!!
On this day in history, President Grant signed the bill to fund America’s first national park.
I was fortunate to experience the park under both summer and winter conditions in the space of one eventful and photographically sublime week. No Kevin Costner in sight!!
For a more complete view of the park, check out my photobook here:
Today is the anniversary of the signing of the peace treaty for the Vietnam war. This effectively ended American involvement in the southeast Asian conflict.
Thirty feet below the surface, this is a self portrait taken in the Chu-Chi tunnel complex built by the Viet Cong which, believe it or not, had been widened to accommodate western tourists! Definitely not for the claustrophobic.
Today, January 27, is the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Below are a couple of images I snagged at Yad Vashem memorial museum in Jerusalem a few years back.
THE QUEEN IS DEAD! LONG LIVE THE KING!!!
Her Majesty died today. Amongst the torrent of ink that will be spilt I can add only my all too brief personal recollections.
I was fortunate to be in her presence during two summer garden parties out behind the palace and at one Diplomatic Ball in the Buck House ballroom. And yes, I did get to tip my gray top hat to her once at Royal Ascot.
(Besides acknowledging the Queen, another thrill that day was getting to talk with American royalty, jockey legend, William Shoemaker, aka “Willie Da Shoe”, as I wished him luck and a good ride in the paddock parade!! Sadly, he was only two years from riding a wheelchair for the rest of his shortened life.)
However my closest encounter with the sovereign came when I was fortunate to be the only official Canadian representative at the grand opening of London’s new inner city airport in the old Docklands, out near my old haunts in the East End. The Queen and I were VIP guests of honour of the airport’s general contractor, Mowlems.
CHAIRMAN OF MOWLEMS GIVES QEII A FLORAL BOUQUET
THE DAY I GAVE THE QUEEN A RIGHT EARFUL
(and I do mean “right!!”)
November 5, 1987
Representing the senior Dominion, I was given pride of place to the immediate right from Her Majesty during the official ceremonies. No one in our dignitary line, which was at right angles to the Queen’s chair, was closer! To my immediate right sat Her Majesty’s Lady in Waiting, and past her sat several High Commissioners of the Commonwealth. The London Symphony Orchestra serenaded us from the lobby below alongside a few thousand standing guests. I felt that the universe was finally unfolding as it should……after all it was my birthday!!
Ceremonies started with the arrival of the Queen and as she was seated in front of me, the LSO struck up the music to “God Save the Queen” and we all rose to sing with gusto. In the excitement of the moment, no one more so than myself! At a distance of about no more than 4 feet from my lips to her right ear, I belted out perhaps the worst rendition of that anthem that the Queen had ever heard!! Poor soul! I must have even drowned out the LSO! If she was not amused she did not show it. However she did manage a couple of quick, quizzical glances my way. (“Like who is this bearded idiot beside me??!!….and could someone tell him to pipe down!!”). Thankfully, she graciously and stoically endured my enthusiasm which had apparently won out over the irritation of my vocal limitations!!
Later the Queen and I were ushered out on to a balcony to watch a flypast of two Canadian deHavilland Dash 7 aircraft, the only plane authorised at that time for the short takeoff and landing restrictions of the new airport. Hence our priority in the overall celebrations.
What a way to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day! With the Monarch herself!!
Later that night I received an excited phone call from my dear old East End landlady of yesteryear, Ada ( a Queen in her own right in my estimation!).
“What were YOU doing sitting beside the Queen??”
(Having personally observed my limitations close up for the better part of a year, she could be forgiven for having had low expectations of my life’s outcome!)
The Queen and I had made the BBC nightly news!
(Note the small piece of aluminium foil on the floor which had fallen off the stem of the Queen’s bouquet. I discreetly picked it up later and it was kept by my mother for several decades until her death last year at 101.)
WE WILL NOT SEE HER LIKE AGAIN!
WHAT A BEAUTY!!
(Let me say it just once more, this time in hushed reverence and far out of royal earshot!!):
“GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!!”
MAY SHE REST IN PEACE!!!
AVE ATQUE VALE
“Sing me a song of a lass that is gone,
Say, could that lass be I ?
Merry of soul, she sailed on a day
Over the sea to Skye.”
THE OUTLANDER
Rose Queen of the Snows, Queen Mary’s Rose Garden, Regent’s Park, London
“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” William Shakespeare
The Garden is home to one of the largest rose collections in the world with over a hundred varieties. Even had it been the full bloom of summer instead of a bitterly cold Christmas morning, Evelyn would have out shone them all!!
“Merry Christmas Ev!!”
(Thanks once again for allowing me the privilege of joining you, your Mom and your aunt for the midnight Christmas eve service the night before at Florence Nightingale’s old church on South Audley. Unforgettable!)
Dog Day Afternoon, Montmartre, Paris
“A woman for all seasons!!”
Paris Airshow, 5 star hotel, Michelin restaurants and a classy lady clinging tight to my arm! Almost too much to take in! Wasn’t like this when I was hitchiking through Europe as a broke student, sleeping in ditches and youth hostels!!
“What? We missed him?…….Picasso??!!”
(Loved the outfit, gloves, glasses and cool, casual pose. Right off the cover of a fashion magazine! Hey, at least one of us knew how to dress in “La Ville Lumiere”!)
Pilgrimage walk to Jim Morrison’s grave, Pere Lachaise Cemetery, Paris
“C’om on Baby, light my fire!
Girl we couldn’t get much higher!” The Doors
(The graffiti would get much worse the closer we got. I recall her utter devastation at the sight of the hippy desecration around Jim’s tomb. Horrified and shocked, she stopped 30 yards short of the final destination. I could coax her no closer, the air thick with the smell of marijuana! Such was her sense of respect and decorum. She’d have no part of it. I think Jim would have approved. The daughter of a prairie preacher, her high standards were innate!)
Evelyn and Mom, Hiking the South Downs.
“Don’t mind the “Bull in the Field” sign! I think we can make it if we walk fast enough!”
What the HELL was I thinking?? Putting the two most important people in my life at such risk!!
Stout hikers, Ev and Mom formed a natural bond. Decades of difference in age, both women would be called home but three days apart.
I live in hope that they are united once again!
Jousting Festival, Hever Castle, Kent
Transported in time back to Merry England!
Two courtly ladies outclassing Anne Boleyn in her own backyard!!
“Sorry Anne! Nothing to lose your head about!”
Checking out Irish accommodations.
“AirBnB said what??…….Fresh air experience!!??”
At another remote B&B on the west coast of Ireland, Evelyn graciously declined the offer to sleep in a bed once used by Julia Roberts on the lam from Kiefer Sutherland……and offered it to me! Generous to a fault!!
(Not much of a gift as it turned out! I was so eroticised I didn’t sleep a wink!)
Ashford Castle Hotel, County Galway.
“Now that’s better!! Well done you”!!
Here I was served the finest slice of wild salmon I ever tasted.
Then again, maybe it was just the company!
Hiking in Van Gogh’s English footsteps, Welwyn, Hertfordshire
“But I could have told you Vincent,
This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you!!”
“Starry Night”, Don Mclean
(Fashion notes: I carved Ev’s hiking stick, her “bâton du pèlerin”, from a maple sapling. It remains one of my prized possessions. The boots, “Big Johns”, my personal cast offs but which fit Ev perfectly, were made in my hometown shoe factory where my mother once worked as a teenager! )
George Bernard Shaw Residence, Shaw Corner, Ayot St. Lawrence
Note from GBS to Winston Churchill:
“I have enclosed two tickets for the first night of my new play. One for you and one for a friend...if you have one.“
Reply from Churchill:
“Can’t possibly attend first night. Will attend second…….if there is one!“
OH, TO HAVE LIVED IN A WITTIER AGE!!
Checkmate!!
Our English hikes were often punctuated by stops at rustic rural pubs for light refreshment.
Evelyn had a special talent for organization. Tickets for Phantom of the Opera, or Buddy (where we danced in the aisles) or Les Mis (where we danced on the stage) or dinner reservations for Langan’s or Rules. She could do it all.
I’ll never forget sitting directly in front of Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones and watching Peter O’Toole give his final performance on the London stage.
How she got us front row tickets to Wimbledon Centre Court I’ll never know! “You go girl! Well done you!”
And thanks once again for patiently feigning interest while actress Beryl Reid filled me in on the minutiae of family history. Reids at Culloden!!….who knew??
Ev’s postings with the Canadian Department of External Affairs included Washington, Ottawa, London, New Delhi and Budapest. A consummate professional, she was highly respected by all her colleagues throughout her career. Her New Delhi lodgings came with 24 hour security.
The Taj Mahal never looked better!
Stunning architecture!!
Lending class to Fatephur Sikri, ancient capital of the Mughal Empire.
Evelyn would have stood out in any harem!!
Casual stop along the Grand Trunk Road, India.
Evelyn is swamped by young admirers who were fascinated by her natural good looks, easy going nature, fair skin and gorgeous dark blond hair.
“An alien goddess has landed amongst us!!”
Little did I know that these hikes and historical explorations would be our last. I had been to Scotland many times before and wanted to show her around. We spent most of our time on magical, mystical Skye in the northwest highlands after making a mandatory diversion to visit Culloden.
Culloden Cottage was used as a makeshift nursing station during the Battle of Culloden, 1746, Britain’s last major land battle. My direct ancestor, Francis Reid and his brother William were included by the great “Glenbucket” of legendary Jacobite fame among his 11 Tacksmen who were sworn to order in the historic Peace Bond of 1699. No doubt Glenbucket signed with fingers of one hand crossed behind his back, all too aware of the horrific penalty paid by the MacDonalds of Glencoe for their late declaration but 6 years earlier. For the moment, the Highlanders were keeping their heads down and their powder dry.
Glenbucket and his men were “out” in both the ’15 and ’45 rebellions when all hell broke loose. At Culloden on that fateful day, about 200 Glenbucket men had pride of place to the left of Lord Lewis in the highland line before getting blown to bits by Col. Belford’s excellent cannon. No doubt this hallowed field contains many bits and pieces of my family’s DNA.
Of all the Jacobites who survived Culloden, perhaps the most famous is Simon Fraser of Lovat. Born in 1726 the son of one of Scotland’s most infamous Jacobite nobles, he led his clansmen at Culloden in support of Charles Stuart. The Lovat Frasers are estimated to have lost about 250 clansmen that same day.
Hiking up to the MacDonald’s hidden “Vale of Capture,” last refuge of the desperate survivors of the Glencoe massacre, 13 February 1692.
“Let it be secret…. and sudden!”
The Glencoe Massacre would rip apart Highland solidarity and leave the feudal society highly vulnerable to all the coming shocks of modernity in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is the key to understanding Scottish history of the last several centuries.
Deep caves line the sides of the steep trail. How the MacDonalds could push cattle up here is beyond belief.
No doubt theses caves provided shelter to the fleeing massacre victims in the midst of a blinding snow storm as they were pursued from behind.
Despite the strain of the exertion, Evelyn held up well!
“We’ll make a mountain lassie out of this prairie girl yet!!”
“I will build my love a bower,
By yon clear, crystal fountain.
And round it I will pile,
All the flowers of the mountain.”
Wild Mountain Thyme
Success!! We reach the path’s summit!
The Glencoe valley floor is far below as Evelyn takes it all in…..the magic, the mystery…the history!
We had the Vale all to ourselves. It was like being transported a couple of centuries into the past!
This hidden highland pasture in the sky has only one narrow point of ingress/egress. Perfect for hiding and grazing stolen cattle. The isolation and desolation reminded me of some of my hikes on Greenland.
Evelyn makes friends with a Shetland pony.
“All creatures great and small”
And if you thought Ev was going to let a mere fence come between herself and her new found friends, you’d be wrong!!
ON THE ROAD TO THE ISLES, CASTLE STALKER
Evelyn patiently endured our frequent stops and allowed me to indulge my passion for photographing crumbling old castles.
We stopped to stretch our legs on Morar’s famous beach, which I had visited and crudely sketched years earlier. From here it’s but a hop skip and a jump to Mallaig and the Skye boat ferry. The blue islands of Eigg and Rhum are in sight!
“Bring on the Cuillins!”
Nous y sommes! Evelyn relaxes on a remote beach, Isle of Skye
Despite the bucolic setting, this outing nearly ended in disaster. We hiked out to a point along a rocky shore line against a vertical cliff. Having no knowledge of the rapidity of the turn of local tides, it wasn’t until it was almost too late to retreat. Hopping and skipping on the slippery and rapidly disappearing rocks, we barely made it back to the safety of the shore, sodden, bedraggled and exhausted. We narrowly avoided being swept out to sea. It was a close call!!
Could this have been the point from which Flora MacDonald help spirit the Bonnie Prince back to France? If so, the Jacobite rebellion had nearly claimed two more victims.
Nevertheless it taught us an important lesson. Skye held many secret and hidden dangers!!
Deep in the Cuillins, mountain tarn, Isle of Skye
“Oh, the far Cuillins are puttin’ love on me”
(Road to the Isles, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV5mh4SbjWs))
(Ev’s fellow Saskatchewanian, Bill Millin, was personal piper to Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat in WWII. Lord Lovat learned first hand the lessons of the disasterous Canadian debacle at Dieppe. On D-Day, now Brigadier Lord Lovat, in defiance of “English” orders, had piper Bill proudly march up and down Sword Beach, oblivious to the carnage all about him, playing this and other highland tunes to encourage his fellow Jocks to fight on to victory. Prairie born are built tough! Ev was no exception!!)
(Another Simon Fraser would be born 30 years after Culloden of a woman who shared Evelyn’s family name. He would become one of western Canada’s greatest explorers with a river and a university named after him. He lies buried but 50 miles from where I presently sit!)
(“Ev, I thought I just distinctly told you NOT to touch the stones!!!”)
Sheep dog trials, Isle of Skye
Not a tourist in sight as we crash a remote sheep dog trial. The rustic and ruddy faced locals were a bit overawed by Evelyn’s presence (far right) and grant her pride of place in the impromptu food line. Good to see that highland hospitality towards the outlander still survives!!
(The chopped liver on the grill??? Ah, that would be me!)
I never saw Evelyn more relaxed and contented than on Skye. It was a marvelous holiday exploring all the island’s nooks and crannies. Skye had worked its magic on both of us.
( Pace Jim Croce, “If I could put time in a bottle!”)
“Sing me a song of a lass that is gone,
Say, could that lass be I?”
Merry of soul, she sailed on a day
Over the sea, …… to Skye!”
Willow and breeze, islands and seas,
Mountains of rain and sun,
All that was good, all that was fair,
All that was me is…. GONE.”
(Skye Boat song, Outlander version,(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGLwdcR1yRU)
Evelyn hears the Call, takes the High Road and vanishes into the distance.
GONE!
BUT NOT FORGOTTEN!!
“Will ye go, lassie, go??
And we’ll all go together.
To pluck wild mountain thyme,
All around the blooming heather.
Will ye go, lassie, go??”
(Will Ye Go? (“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w97uEToBzJ4)
WILD MOUNTAIN THYME,Traditional Celtic Song
FAREWELL TO EVELYN
Thanks for the fantastic memories Ev!!
Your aversion to my “stuffy” Oxbridge club is hereby forever forgiven!!
You go girl! For Heaven’s sake, don’t look back!! Always out in front, no holding you back!!
Safe travels as you blaze the path!
Head North by Northwest…… it’s where we had it best!
Remember to seek “the heather tracks wi’ heaven in their wiles.”
Mark the trail clear and bright so that we might follow on that dark night!
I pray for your peace at journey’s end. Say hello to Mom!
Jusqu’à ce que nous reprenions notre bâton du pèlerin
…………encore une fois!!!
AVE ATQUE VALE!!
EPILOGUE:
Outlander Claire Randall: “She came back to the stones??”
Jamie Fraser, Clan Lovat Fraser Tacksman who will die at Culloden:
“Aye.”
“She did!”
“THEY ALWAYS DO!!”