Windsor Castle

Today (Friday) began with an easy 30 minute taxi ride to Windsor. Very cold out, several inches of snow on the ground, but no traffic problems. Our driver let us out right in front of Windsor Castle, very near where William Shakespeare surely must have waited to see the changing of the guard before he almost certainly would have gone in to the St. George Chapel to watch Mary Sidney's husband, two sons, her father, and her brother Robert get invested as a knight in The Most Noble Order of the Garter.

Robin at the Windsor Castle entrance.

The entrance from one courtyard to another.

Windsor Castle is in the middle of town. Robin strolls along the castle wall, headed towards the Thames.

A beautiful young woman stands by the gate at the rear entrance to the castle. 

The same woman, admiring the St. George Chapel. That's the same St. George that was a dragon slayer.

The inside of the chapel is amazing. Henry VIII is buried here, along with lots of other noble persons. Incredible architecture and memorial statues inside. Unfortunately the choir didn't perform because of the weather. And the changing of the guard ceremony was cancelled because of weather. Also unfortunately, no photos or video allowed inside. Do a Google image search for St. George Chapel.

We stood there, visualizing Mary Sidney standing in the balcony as she watched her husband, two sons, her father, and her brother Robert get invested as a knight in The Most Noble Order of the Garter. King Henry VIII added the balcony for Katherine of Aragon so she could watch these ceremonies (1509 – 1547). Hmmm, that's a hundred years before Santa Fe's mud hut Palace of the Governors was built. I guess those Europeans are just hard to beat when it comes to over-the-top chapels, cathedrals, and castles.

A special King Henry VIII exhibit in the State Apartments (not usually open for tours), included original drawings by Leonardo da Vinci. There were many other drawings by Hans Holbein the Younger (drawings of important members of Henry's court, like Thomas More and other interesting characters you might have seen in the HBO series The Tudors). Drawings by Peter Brughel the Elder were also on display, and others I don't remember. The castle must have one of the greatest collections of art in the world. And of course, we saw King Henry's suit of armor, plus lots of others suits of armor. Tons of swords, rifles, pistols, fancy china, incredible furniture, and gifts that have been given to various kings and queens. Needless to say, I felt impoverished by the time we left to meet Susan Sheridan at The Carpenters Arms for lunch, just a stone's throw from the castle grounds. Susan was the recipient of a Mary Sidney scholarship a couple of years ago.

The Carpenters Arms pub. Good food. Interesting place. On a cobblestone street that King Henry VIII and Shakespeare must have walked down, arm in arm. Oops. Maybe not. He wasn't born yet. But maybe the dates are wrong. Hey, it works for the Oxfordians.

Robin and Susan discuss authorship at The Carpenters Arms.

After lunch Robin and I walked around town, seeing the sights and taking photos.

The Crooked House of Windsor.

A woman feeds the swans on the bank of the Thames River. Which causes a pigeon attack. All swans on the Thames belong to the Queen. The bridge in the background goes to Eaton, home of super-exclusive private schools for royalty, nobility, and not you or me in general.

The Long Walk, a three mile, tree lined promenade behind Windsor Castle. From here we went to the old Rail Station (that is now a cool restaurant and specialty store mall) to meet our Oxford friends for dinner (Neal and Lynn Robson). Lynn was Robin's tutor during a couple of summer study courses in Oxford. 

The castle wall at dusk. The Old Rail Station (the new mall) is across the street. Henry would have loved it. Shakespeare too.

Our dinner destination. This railroad station was built for Queen Victoria, to make the trip from London easier and faster. Windsor is about an hour from London by car, but in Queen Victoria's time, travel was by carriage. 

The hilly parts of the road outside the castle have metal inserts in the curb, to prevent parked carriages from rolling down the street.

Robin studies a castle map.

More photos tomorrow.

Wet, cold, windy, and relaxing

We’re getting caught up on some work before leaving for Windsor Castle tomorrow (Friday) morning. We decided to take a taxi (a 30 minute trip) rather than deal with a one hour and 23 minute bus trip (including two bus changes).

Partly because it’s so cold, windy, and damp, our one trip outside of the residence hall was to the cafeteria located on the main concourse in the middle of the campus. At one point it was so sunny we decided to walk to downtown Uxbridge (a one mile walk), then, before we could put our coats on, a blizzard stormed through. For five minutes, then sunny again.

One of the things we’re working on is a new blog about design for Peachpit Press, called Robin & John’s DesignWorld. Coming soon.

Robin introduced me to a two-woman cleaning crew that was cleaning the kitchen, one of which is an artist, Kateshna, (Kate) from Poland. I’ve also met Abdullah from Zanzibar, Pam from Thailand, Kwi (I’m not real sure about her name) from Taiwan. Also Osman from Canada. I haven’t met Dimetrius from Greece yet. Pam is organizing a food party for Monday night for which everyone on the floor will bring a dish from their country. Some people are gone for the holiday, but most are here. I’ll try to get some photos, or a group photo.

Big adventure today: I cut Robin’s hair. For a first-timer I did pretty good. Just don’t expect any closeups of Robin for a while.

Robin’s room has a walk-in closet and an attic, Brunel style. 

Robin at work. Shot from the attic area.

Hallway with vacuum cleaner. 

Installation art by JT. 

A part of the Brunel Visiting Artists permanent collection. 

Residence halls at night. The big windows without shades are shared kitchens. When you walk into a hallway, or laundry room, or kitchen, the lights turn on automatically.

Darn. I was just getting ready to vacuum out the kitchen sink when I saw this sign. I guess this sign being posted means that some students actually try to clean up water or unclog sinks with a vacuum cleaner.

I pity the poor fool who keeps his oyster card near his salto card.

Ah, the memories of American Airlines flight 50

I was going through the few short video clips I've taken so far. Oh how the memories streamed back from several hours ago. Mainly the memories of being scrunched into an airline seat in the middle rows of an international 9 hour flight, next to a guy who was so unconscious he was leaning against me while napping in a diagonal chair position and flopping his coat sleeve over me as he used it for a blanket. I sat there for a while, grumbling to myself. Then I started thinking "Would Ryan (Robin's son) or Josh (my son) put up with this doodoo?" Nooooooo way. So the next time he squirmed around and his coat sleeve landed across my chest I slapped it back so hard he sat up and said "Oh, sorry. Haha." I didn't have any more trouble after that. Except a couple of times when he was hogging the arm rest and bumped my arm, in which case I would SNATCH my arm away violently. I didn't make any new friends, but I didn't have to play human pillow either.

So, my travel tip today is: don't hesitate, if necessary, to make the person next to you think you're crazy, or maybe just an uptight unstable border-line psycho who can't stand being touched.

The guy on the other side of me wasn't a problem. He stayed in his own space. But I did almost have to grab him by the lapels and shake him to wake him up when I needed to get up and grab my bag from the overhead storage bin. One other time he woke up from a dream so suddenly that he banged into me, arms flailing. Maybe he was just using my travelers' tip.


I shot this scene at about 4:00 am of multiple movies playing on the backs of airliner seats. Unfortunately my own seatback movie screen didn't work. However, being a savvy traveler, I attached the external power supply to my nearly dead iPhone, plugged in the Bose Noise Canceling headphones, and watched a movie I had downloaded the night before (The Hangover). Darn good movie. If you're a guy. I'll pass along Robin's review after we hold the Michael Bevis Hall Flat 25 Room 10 Film Festival (seating for two, maximum. Come early to ensure you get a seat. Oops. Too late, sold out).


Robin arranges an extra mattress and pillows at Concourse Hall, location for mailboxes and various campus services. And next door to Michael Bevis Hall.

Back at Brunel University

Ah yes. Back at Brunel, in spite of the fact that I took the wrong bus from Heathrow Airport this morning. I knew it was the wrong bus, but it said A10 Uxbridge Express and I thought "hey this is better than regular ol' u3 non-express. I'll take it."

Turns out that "express" must mean "stops every 30 seconds." I asked the bus driver when I first got on if the bus went to Brunel. He said something that sounded like Audrey Hepburn talking to Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady. Rather than admit I had no idea what he said, I nodded knowingly and hopped on with my bags, figuring if I get to Uxbridge, I'll be within walking distance to Brunel, or I'll just get off where ever in Uxbridge and then look for a U3 bus I should have been on in the first place.

As we got closer to Uxbridge, the bus made one of its many stops and the driver said "something something blah blah yadda yadda Brunel University." I grabbed my bag and hopped off the bus, wondering where to go. A woman who exited the bus at the same time (and who obviously had incredible powers of observation) noticed me standing there with my bags looking like I'd just been dropped off in the middle of an alien planet. She said "go that way" then pointed at a half dozen student-types with back packs and said "follow them."

A light snow was falling, and I followed them through a little lane that ran along a little creek. Surprisingly, the lane came out in the middle of the Brunel campus! I walked through the main concourse of the campus to the building where Robin said she'd wait for me. When I got about 50 yards away she came out to welcome me. We went back to her flat (the floor she shares with other students) and cooked breakfast in the flat's shared kitchen: rashers (bacon), potatoes, eggs with mushrooms and cheese.

Tomorrow we plan to get some work done on some projects. Friday we take a bus to Windsor to tour Windsor Castle. A special King Henry VIII exhibit is on display. Later that afternoon, Lynn (Robin's Oxford tutor) and her husband Neal are meeting us there for dinner, then driving us back to Brunel U.


The entrance to Robin's new, smaller room (I thought the last one was small, but now I get it). Still room for a private bath (on the right).

The shared kitchen is at the far end of the hallway, about 5 rooms away. Which isn't far away, considering the width of each room.

The open cabinet is Robin's personal kitchen storage. The items on the counter belong to Robin or other flat residents. None of is community stuff.
There are four refrigerators, each resident had their own shelf.

The library.

Dark outside. Gosh, is it 4:00 pm already? Here's the bedroom, study, living room, guest room, and office.

The view from the kitchen window. Robin's room view is the same.

Hangin' out at DFW

Just waiting for my flight to board while trying to remember what bus
stations used to look like.

Airport trivia

The Santa Fe airport is the least busy airport of any Capitol city in
the galaxy. I'm just guessing, but having three commercial flights a
day makes it a pretty safe bet. Baggage handlers process up to dozens
of bags a day.

Wow. I've been on the plane one hour and we've already started our
descent. Next stop, London!

The Santa Fe Airport

It's pretty cool how in Santa Fe the airplane pulls up to within a few
feet of the back door. The UFO formations in the photo are common here. Nobody pays
any attention to them any more since that Roswell incident in 1947. We
finally figured out they're just publicity-crazy. Wacky aliens.