17 May, 2007:

We are in Dover....the gateway to London....but I’m not going to London I’m going to Canterbury and for a short walking tour around Dover. I will try to post a few photos from Canterbury which is a very nice place with a very big church and lots of history, but, in truth, I’m starting to get a little too much history, in too short of a time for my own good. I don’t have time, between tours and onboard social obligations, to make detailed notes and much of the stuff is starting to run together. For real information on the area around Canterbury and its history, you can consult any of several very good books on the subject.

Dover, on the other hand, has no giant church, but much of its history is more contemporary......think the 1800’s and also World War II.  

Dover has been a garrison town of the British Army for many years. The tops of the White Cliffs being a fine place to have a fort or observation post. So, a “great shaft” was created in the side of the hills to accommodate an elevator system to move people from the town center up to the top of the cliffs. The elevator system included 3 lifts. In keeping with the times, the lifts were segregated: One lift was for “Officers and their Ladies”. One lift was for “Sergeants and their wives”. And one lift was for “Soldiers and their women”. And none of those groups would ever mix. While this sort of discrimination wouldn’t work in today’s social environment; that was the norm for society in the 1800’s.

Dinner:

The following is an actual exchange of dinner conversation today between me and James Bond:

JB: I had a unique and interesting experience today....it was really funny.

Rick: Tell us about it.

JB: I met this guy in the Explorer’s Lounge. It was hysterical.

Rick: This sounds interesting...what happened?

JB: Well, it was kind of involved, but to make a long story short....he told me a really funny story.

(Long Pause....)

Rick: Uh, well, could you make the short version of the long story a little bit longer?

....I am not making this up.

In a discussion about binoculars....why we started talking about this I’ll never know, but we did.....James Bond says: “I have this pair of miniature Russian binoculars”. To which I respond: “That sounds neat, how big are they?” James Bond makes a little square with his fingers about the size of a matchbox. I say something like: “That’s pretty small, just about the size of a matchbox?” James Bond nods gravely and says “Yes”. I suppose these are the super-secret molecularly miniaturized Soviet spy binoculars that must have come as the spoils of some Cold War encounter with his opposite number on the other side.

James Bond also mentioned that “during the Cold War” he used to travel a lot and he would be booked on these long flights in economy class, but he would routinely upgrade himself to first class...because “what were they going to do....fire me?”....and then he nods again and smiles as if the very thought of someone taking issue over something as small as the cost of an international first class airline ticket humorous.

The SuperGlues went into London for an all day “Tower of London / Shopping” Tour. Once again I zoned out during the first part of the discussion, but I perked up at one point and heard the following:

Mr. SuperGlue: “We went into London and stopped at DeBeers....but we couldn’t find a diamond big enough.....so we went to Tiffany’s and couldn’t find a big enough diamond there either. So we went to Harrod’s and the diamonds weren’t any good, but we did find a $7000 watch.”  

Once again, I AM NOT MAKING ANY OF THIS UP. Your lot in life must be pretty good if neither DeBeers or Tiffany’s has a rock big enough to attract your attention.

......sorry, not much information on today’s activities or port of call, but I am really pressed for time and need to get on with things so I’ll end this now. I hope to catch up in a couple of days when I get a Sea-Day.