Saturday managed to get the chance for a short drip down to the coat of CT. We (that’s me and Ian R) went to Mystic Seaport. The drive was through much woodland that had turned to magnificent shades of orange, red and yellow.
Mystic Seaport is an old port which constructed wooden whaling and fishing boats. They are in the process of renovating an 1841 wooden whaleship the Charles W. Morgan Alas we failed to visit the reconstruction yard. Time being short.
I nearly forgot this. I was sitting in my room at the hotel Tuesday evening, working at my desk, when I noticed the table moving and shaking a bit, and slight vibration in the floor. Went on for several seconds. Yes it was an earth quake, and I now have confirmation in a news paper article.
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/oct/16/nation/la-na-nn-earthquake-rattles-new-england-20121016
A magnitude 4.0 earthquake likened to an off-balance washing machine shook New England as far south as Connecticut on Tuesday evening. No damage or injuries were immediately reported.
The earthquake occurred at 7:12 p.m., the U.S. Geological Survey said. The epicenter was four miles from Hollis Center, which is about 20 miles west of the state’s largest city, Portland. Initially, the USGS put the magnitude at 4.6, but later downgraded it to 4.0.
Either way, New England is not used to the earth shaking.
I am back in America for a two week trip, while our customer completes testing and go live with a new release of Software. I have been here for a few days now. Headed to Heathrow airport on Thursday from Aylesbury Parkway, and arrived here in Connecticut on Thursday in day light. This time I have an all American Car, a two seat Black Mustang. So I am out cruising the highways, living the American dream. I do love accelerating away at the traffic lights, leaving others behind in the rear view mirror. The roar of the exhausts as I take off. At least I am not paying for the (gas) petrol.
On Friday, made it into work, and prepared for the disaster recovery server upgrade, which was starting in the evening. I was not required for the Friday evening work, or Saturday work, this was the server being upgraded. My turn would come on Sunday. I headed into the office on Sunday to perform my tasks, which in the main went well.
So what have I been doing, well visiting the usual eateries, the Tilted Kilt on Thursday evening, the Red Lobster on Friday, and the Tilted Kilt again on Saturday. The bar staff at the Tilted Kilt, in the short skirts and short tops are a definite draw. Last night had a quieter meal at the Wood-N-Tap, which does have a quite lounge bar where you can have a conversation. Alas my conversations are with people on Twitter, so a bar without free internet access is a no no. Wood-N-Tap is cyber wired, so I was not lonely. Odd I was following a link on twitter to the red top newspaper The Sun and it was stopped, not for good taste, but for nudity. Puritanical Americans.
Saturday was going to be a good day weather-wise, though a tad cold in the morning, there was still ice on the car at 10.00 am in the morning. Saturday was a day of learning. Drove first to old Wethersfield, which claims to be the oldest town in the US, and is remarkably well preserved in its original form. Visited their museum and was take around three historic houses by a guide, who had lived in Oxford (UK) back in the seventies. The Webb Deane Stevens Museum taught me about the revolutionary war diplomat, Silas Deane, who went to Paris to get the French on board in the fight for freedom from the British. Typical French joined in, any excuse to bash the Brits, they still are at it now.
In one of the houses, the Webb house, the French commander Rochambeau met Washington to plan battle strategies. The house is now decorated with murals commissioned by Wallace Nutting celebrating that meeting and the victory in York Town.
Old Wethersfield most definitely looks the part of an fairy tale American town. Now its near Halloween, the verges were adorned with pumpkins and figures made out of all types of garbage. The place is also a far cry from the area where I am staying, and is only a few yards off the Silas Deane Highway. Now I know why its called Silas Deane.
I then continued into Harford, was a bit scared, there had been announcements on the radio about traffic being a bear. All to do with a Marathon and Half Marathon being run. Turned out where I was headed, there were no runners, and pretty well everyone else had been scared off. Did get accosted by one lady runner who wanted me to take her photograph. Parked in an empty lot, which had signs that you would be clamped. A passing stranger said, no problem, you can park there during the weekend. It was the city hall car park.
First visit was a traditional old clap board house on Main Street in between the modern concrete buildings. It was the Butler-McCook house. It had been lived in to 200 years by the same family and was now owned by the Connecticut Landmarks. Had yet another personal tour of the house.
Next up was the art museum, another longest continuous serving museum in the USA. The Wadsworth Atheneum had some fabulous Renaissance pictures, and yet again I had a guide to show me around. Not one to one this time, but almost by the end as she lost people through her tour. Some modern art, Picasso and recent stuff like the cube of cocktail sticks, a good meter cube, which holds itself together without glue. Wallace Nutting, from Wethersfield was also a large contributor to the American furniture section.
Finally I had a recommendation to go and see Elizabeth Park, I would expect its fabulous earlier in the year. Its famous for its rose garden. Huge rose garden, but of course at this time of year Rose flowers are rather sparse.
Sunday as I mentioned before was a work day, was in the office by 7.00 am, still pitch black. It was very quiet in the office, I was the only one there. Lights kept going off, unless I moved. I had thought of taking my music player in, but had decided not to. Wish I had now. Worked through to 16.30, and then went out for a meal. Had a lovely succulent gristle and fat free steak. The steak was as thick as wide, and was tender and rare as requested. I have to agree with JCC that these American steaks, which might be fed vast quantities of hormones, do taste pretty damn fine. I did start with some blue finned tuna and salad, panned seared, lovely and red in the middle. One mistake I made, I ordered a starter, the tuna, which came with a salad. Main course invariably come with a salad as well, served before the main. No problem said my waiter, we can change the second salad for chilli, and you can take it home. Good idea, I can microwave it in the office for lunch. Trouble was he did not place it on the table, said I could collect it from the counter when I left. Darn, totally forgot about it.
Another week at the bank has been completed. The highlights of the week were.
The Flybe flight to Edinburgh was cancelled, and we were put on a BA flight, which was meant to leave 15 minutes earlier. Rather a rush to catch the flight. In the end we did not arrive in Edinburgh any earlier. Did have a breakfast though. Other than the breakfast, the BA flight was not fun. Long queues at the Check in, which I had to jump, crowded aircraft, it took a long time to get on and off, and we were parked miles away from the terminal.
Yura was in town on Monday. The result was an expensive meal at Thai Me Up for Ed, Yura and I. The meal was very nice indeed. Yura who is the expert on Thai restaurants in Edinburgh was heard to say the food was very good.
Tuesday I ate at the Petit Paris, having my usual pichet of vin rouge. I ate a prepared crab followed by the fish of the day. Afterwards I had a couple of pints of beer at the Bow Bar on Victoria Street. The Bow Bar has a massive whisky collection. I estimated there were 150 bottles of malt with well over 100 different malts.
Wednesday I took a walk around Arthur’s seat taking a stop at the Sheep’s Heid pub. This pub is meant to be the oldest pub in Scotland, and resides in the ancient village of Duddingston. The walk I did was basically along Queens Drive, which is a road used by joggers and cyclists circumnavigating Holyrood Park. The walk was quite a pretty walk, which takes you past a couple of Lochs.
Thursday, Ed, Mary and I had a few beers after work at the Guildford Arms. When I got back to the hotel it had stopped serving food and did not even do snacks. Not really very happy about the Mount Royal Ramada Jarvis, it has seen better days. It is though on Princes Street and does have some actual Scottish staff. Happy days next week, I will be back in the Apex on Grassmarket.
Friday, I ate a big breakfast to make up for the lack of Supper. Flight left on time and arrived early into a nice warm Birmingham evening. Of course no point landing early, the busses are never ready.