Pomp, Circumstance, Cod, and an impromptu organ concert


A hand painted seal of some king from a long time ago.
 Band playing at birthday party for Prince Philip


Accidentally stumbled into the senior organist rehearsing for an upcoming wedding




Little models of the fighter planes that "saved" Britain in WW II


No surprise to have a kids area in a little church - but in a big cathedral? They also raise money by selling "bricks" for a Leggo model of the cathedral - if you buy a brick they let you put it on the model.


While in York, I stumbled into Prince Phillip's 97th birthday celebration.  5 places put one on each year.  Marching band, lots of spit and polish, and swords, and fancy marching and a 21 gun salute.  Highlight of the trip.

Grimby, the next day, looked like a town past its prime.  I'm old enough to remember the "cod wars back in the 50's and 60's, but with no recall about what they were all about.  Seems the Brits were fishing close enough to Iceland to piss on the beach.  So, Iceland tried to push them further out - 4, then 7, then 12, and finally all the way to 200 miles off the coast.  The Brits sent half of their navy to protect 12 fishing boats and there was a bit of bumping, ramming, and firing of non-exploding shells back and forth.  (The only fatalities were a welder who got electrocuted welding in the water, and a couple fishermen who got killed by recoiling trawling ropes when they were cut by the Icelanders.)  The Brits said we won't buy your fish if you don't let us catch some of our own, the Russians (remember the cold war?) said we'll buy your fish, the Icelanders said if you don't stop fishing here, we'll quit NATO and play nice with the Soviets (and, with Iceland controlling submarine access to the Atlantic, this didn't sit well with NATO), so the Brits had to agree with the 200 mile limit and poor little Grimsby took it on the chin.  Went from the biggest fishing fleet in the world in 1950 to a dock for unloading cars imported from Germany, and a fishing museum.

Tonight we're in Boston.  Apparently, back in the 1620's, about 10% of the population moved to Massachusetts where they transferred the name to another up and coming city.  I had always though of the Pilgrims as small church people, but somehow here they were getting along with a huge "Minster" - which seems to be a biggish cathedral.  We went to visit and happened in on the senior organist giving a rousing rehearsal for a wedding for this weekend.  Enjoyed it greatly.  Nice big church with nifty stained glass windows.  Now that the Puritans are gone, the nearby pubs have re-opened providing excellent options for rehydrating after today's ride and in preparation for tomorrow's ride which is forecast to be 115 km into a 17 km/hr headwind. 

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