John's Journeys

This was supposed to be Saturday's post to the blog...but the stupid internet has been extra poopy over the weekend, so I'm catching up now. I wrote this in Word on Saturday and am pasting it in here now.


So, tonight Kevin watched the child while I walked around outside alone. It was raining, as I’ve been told it does A LOT around here. Luckily, I came prepared with an umbrella, which sheltered me most of the time, but would turn inside out with the wind pretty frequently. I heard a few people chuckle as I wrestled with it on the sidewalk while I got drenched. I thought that I would just walk and see where my feet took me. I had intended to stay outdoors for the course of my evening, but the rain (and the worthless umbrella) drove me indoors. I found myself in a building known as the Bob Hope Community Center.

There I met a delightful man by the name of John who kept calling me “love”. “Come right ‘round here, love, so you can see this map”. Anyway, John organizes frequent tours to the local hamlets to see historic abbeys and cathedrals and other buildings of interest. I asked him one question. “Is this where I go to book a tour, or is that in another building?” He went on for almost 2 hours about the different tours offered by more than 4 offices on the base. There are bus and plane tours offered by the “Information, Tickets, and Tours” office. We’re probably taking one of these tours on Saturday to London. There are outdoor and wildlife tours, usually hiking tours, offered by the Outdoor Recreation office. There are “getting used the the culture” tours offered by the Family Readiness Center. They only go one place: Bury St. Edmunds, but it’s free and it’s a tour. And then, there are the local history tours offered by my friend John…the one who called me “love”. They are called “John’s Journeys”. They last from April to October…although his last one is here in two weeks to Cambridge. We’ll probably be on that bus as well.

John told me about so much of the local history, loaded me up with London Underground maps and schedules, magazines about local entertainment and fun, and I went home with my head spinning. Since then, I’ve browsed the magazines and found out several things we would like to do this month. Some of them are a little more costly (what in Europe ISN’T costly?) and some of them are free. Nonetheless, there is more to do here than we will ever be able to see or do in the course of 3 years. I am excited to get started.