Yes, we’re back from England! We had a great time and spectacular weather while we were there. You know, people always talk about how rainy it is there, but we were in various parts of the country for a week and didn’t see a drop of rain, forcing us to conclude that it never rains in England, ever. If anyone tells you otherwise, they are lying.

We were in London, Bath, York, and (briefly) Salisbury. Among the many things we saw were the usuals: Big Ben, the Tower of London, Stonehenge, Westminster, Parliament, and the London Eye, along with the British Museum, British Library, Salisbury Cathedral, the York Minster, the Roman Baths, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Sherlock Holmes museum. Plus much more. A web page detailing our adventures will be forthcoming.

While in England, I learned the following fascinating facts about that country:

• It never rains there. See above.
• There are no schools there. British schoolchildren are not kept in any classrooms - instead, they are led around the country in groups all day. In addition, all French schoolchildren are sent to England to be educated in this manner.
• An elevator is called a “loo”. If you are ever in England and need an elevator, ask someone where the loo is.
• Jelly Babies don’t taste as bad as you remember.
• The Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI) isn’t there anymore.
• If you feed your kids sugar all day long, they won’t settle down for the two hour train ride to York.

And we also learned so much more. Details will follow soon!

We had company galore this past weekend! It all started when Beth came into town to see Mark. Then Amy and Nigel and Daniel were called in. Then Anne and Sydney appeared as if from nowhere (Stewart was away on a life-saving secret mission in Madagascar.) Photos of the mayhem are now available for your perusal.

Also, you can check out Sydney having a grand time kicking her feet.
Sydney Kicking

Hating the French is all the rage now. Whether we’re renaming food to “Freedom Fries” and “Freedom Toast”, or demanding the return of the bodies of U.S. servicemen from previous World Wars buried there, the message we’re sending is clear: France, meet us behind the bleachers after school and we’ll beat you up! I don’t love France any more than the next guy, but last I checked, they were a sovereign nation, free to pursue whatever actions they feel serve their interests best, just like other nations I could mention.

Let’s take a look in the legomancer.net mailbag, shall we? “ddcddc” writes:

Thanks for your moving piece on Fred Rogers. Like you, I’ll never forget him.

Well thanks, ddcddc, but I didn’t write that. My good buddy Dave Thiel wrote it, and was kind enough to let me post it here. The cool thing is, not only has it gotten a lot of hits here, but it’s been a big hit elsewhere. Current, the magazine of the Public Broadcasting System, will be printing in it their newest issue. You can read about that here. Congratulations are in order, and are well-deserved. It’s a very good tribute. Dave also is currently snazzing up his website!

It’s going to be a busy next few months here. There’s the move to Massachusetts in summer, and before that there’s the trip to England (next week!), a visit to Louisiana for Jeff and Gabe’s wedding, and possibly a trip to Slithytoves.org headquarters in Jackson, MS. We’ll also have to get to Mass. beforehand to find a place to live. We’ll be quite bee-like.

It wouldn’t be an entry without some geeky stuff, so here goes. I traded in a bunch of gaming stuff I didn’t want anymore (all my older D&D stuff, my WEG Star Wars stuff, and some other things) and scored some credit at my game store. Walked out with Savage Species, Deadlands: Hell on Earth d20, Forbidden Kingdoms, and Mutants and Masterminds. Also, in a gaming emergency last night, I ran out and grabbed the Monster Manual 2. All these new books might seem like just more stuff to move, but it was a pretty sizable box I got out of there, and still more is going to leave.

Next time on Legomancer.net: Merry Olde England!

   

Congrats go to Becky, who will be teaching at Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts!

Yep, the long dark office hours of the soul are over. We’re headed for Springfield!

We’re very excited about the move, which we’re thinking will happen around the end of July. Of course, that means many upcoming projects for us - fixing up the house for sale, getting rid of stuff we don’t want to move, packing stuff we do, and learning how to spell “Massachusetts”.

We’re going to miss our friends that are still here - April and John, Dave and Vicky, Rob, Brian, and the whole gang. But we’re lucky that in Springfield we’ll be close to Beth, Michael, and Amy and Nigel’s families. Plus, it should be a breeze to visit us, and plenty to see and do when you’re there! Do you like witches, beans, massacres, basketball, or driving past the Stop-n-Shop with the radio on? Then you’ll love Massachusetts! For those of you who would like to eventually visit as many of the states as possible, you can’t swing a cat up in New England without crossing a border!

This is a great relief to the both of us. The job looks like it will be really nice, and I’m sure I’ll have plenty of opportunities up there. I hear there’s a college or two in Massachusetts, so comics and game stores shouldn’t be a problem for me. There’s over 1000 geocaches within 100 miles of Springfield! I think we’re really going to like it there.

Regarding our impending move, the plot thickens! A new player has entered the field, State University of New York at Cortland! This one called Monday to say they were interested, and is now on the list with Mount Marty, Iona, and Springfield. A decision will have to be made soon!

In preparation, I’ve been cleaning out stuff of mine. Many things of mine are going to be finding new homes soon, or at least new stores to sit in and await new homes.

Which suddenly makes me thirsty. A milk-based product with an attitude sure would taste great! If only there were such a thing…

So, to the ever-growing list of un-American activities, you can now add wearing t-shirts. But really. Blatantly wearing a shirt calling for peace? Those troublemakers had it coming.

The other day I was thinking to myself - you know what would be funny? If some sort of beverage had a flavor called “Berry Mixed Up”! You see, ’cause it’s kind of like “VERY Mixed Up” only it’s “Berry”! That would be a riot!

Can I just say how utterly thrilled we are that Bush has decided to schedule his chest-thumping exercise for just when we’re going overseas? Jerk. This war is shaping up to be fantastic. I don’t want to cry that the sky is falling, but it strikes me that all we need now is for someone to dig up the corpse of Archduke Ferdinand, drive it through Iraq, and wait for someone to take a shot at it. Meanwhile, we’re making all kinds of shady deals with Turkey that will under no circumstances ever ultimately bite us in the ass! Anyone taking bets for which good friend of ours in this conflict will be flying planes into our buildings in 15 years?

Did you catch that cutting-edge opinion-expressing above? That’s the freedom of a blog, baby. The man’s not keeping me down here, no sir. Hell, I just called the president a jerk! That’s some serious attitude there. And it’s not just me - reading this totally puts you in the “in the know” crowd. This is where it’s happening. This is the revolution, daddy-o.

Oh, and before I forget. Drink Raging Cow.