Old Boys and Eton.

Kevin McDonald, brother of Ross and Bruce. yes , the 'other' McDonalds. This was at the 'Boks vs Argentina. The 1st Test.

The mob have arrived for the rugby. Kevin's SAFFA mates and juniors from his firm. 

Things started to get rough with luminous Orange face paint and large water pistols!

Some of the craziness at the pub.

The Quixley's and I at Jung's in Windsor for breakfast.

And who is the manager of Jung's in Windsor? Old Boy Matthew Landers. How is that!

On the left a Brit who spent time in Dubai with South Africans for 5 months. Anyone recognize him?

The beautiful home opposite Gwen's in Winkfield.

Legoland Hotel in Windsor at the theme park.

Changing the Guard at Windsor Palace.

High Street in Eton.

Eton College Chapel.

The college library! Not a small one.

Some of the classroom block at Eton.

A cannon from Sebastopol donated to the school.

A view of a little part of Eton College from some of the sports fields.

Cricket Pavilion and some of the nets.

One of the many Eton buildings in the town.

Another view of the little library!

Major quadrangle at the principle entrance. Admin office on the right at this archway. No entry! Renovations in progress.

Another view of the Chapel and the garden of remembrance

Mark and Rob Robinson in Bishop Stortford where they both live now. So very good to be with them again.
More from London and Old Boy functions to follow. The journey in England continues with many, many photographs to come.

Queen Victoria's Frogmore House and the Queen's 'Farm Stall'.

Some organic vegetables from the Queen's estate in her Farm Stall. Beuatiful Pork Pies and all sorts of pies and other scrumptious foods as well.

Gate House and garden at the entrance to Queen Victoria's Frogmore House. It is open for 2 days in May and 3 in August. I just happened to be there. Yay!

Another shot of the famous flower stands and ahnging baskets of Windsor.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert lie here in this tomb. It is no longer open to the public.

The following photographs are all from the gardens at Frogmore House. They are extensive and full of magnificent trees. What I enjoy is that they continue to plant trees. There are some that are ancient and old growth, specially oaks. Amongst the oaks are trees from the colonies as well as new ones over the years right up to this past Spring.

Frogmore House

The 'Faux ruins' which include a beautiful little Chapel

An example of the magnificent very old English roses in Queen Victoria's garden in front of Frogmore House. The scent is amazing even from this distance.

An example of a capitalin the foyer of Frogmore House. Exquisite detail.

Elaborate curtains in one of the smaller reception rooms.

The Long Room overlooking the lake and magnificent gardens. At this point I was stopped from taking any more interior shots. I was using High Sensitivity with no flash!

The main entrance of Frogmore House.

A group of shots of the House from the gardens.

The rear of the Mauseleum and in the gardens under the tree on the left are the graves of King Edward and his commoner wife, Wallis Simpson. I am happy they were laid to rest with his ancestors.

One of the Great trees planted by Queen Victoria. A Spruce. Look at the size compared to the little child.
I will continue with the next blog shortly. The journey in England continues 1274 pictures later!             

London and SACS OB's at Browns

Ascot station on my way to London for my first visit of this trip.

First view of London as I leave Waterloo Station.

My first 'live' view of the Shard. Remarkable building.

Imperial War Museum. Last seen in 1993.

A car hit by an IED in Iraq. Anyone tell me what make it was?

Buzz Bomb. WW2 Nazi V-1.

Engine of a Nazi V2 from WW2.

I took many of these quotes from the WW1 exhibit while being jostled by too many people in at once. Poinant and so true of so many especially during WW1

Some shells from WW1. They had a devastating effect on troops in trenches and on the PTSD that resulted from the incessant shelling during major battles like the Battle of the Somme in which the British alone fired tens of thousands of shells.

Sudden reality of the men lying about outside the trenches after another abortive attempt at breaking the deadlock. How could the Generals not have cared?

Took them long enough, but I understand why.

Do you blame them for saying this? The generals did not care that they were individual men, just numbers and they decided how many they could kill to achieve their objectives.

Oh boy did the French get this wrong at the 'Peace' Conference at Versailles in 1919.

The last major offensive of the Imperial German Army which turned into a humanitarian disaster for the Germans.

They did not know how vindictive the French would be, not that it was possible to blame the French in 1919 with such destruction of a broad swath of their country. However, the British and Americans and General Smuts did warn the French of the consequences of their vindictiveness and they paid the price in 1940!

Anyone who watches Downton Abby will have a better understanding of this for the British and then for the world in 1935, 1939 and 1941 and of course by 1945.

British WW2 tank. I think it is a Centurian, but I am not sure. No label.

One of my favourite aircraft. A Spuermarine Spitfire with a Rolls Royce Merlinn 12 cylindr engine and the sound it makes is glorious.

The first Atom bomb ignited in anger over Hiroshima. Not that big if you consider its destructiveness.

The only shot I took in the Holocaust exhibit. I should not have gone in again. I get too emotionally involved. This time, two young Germans were standing next to me and they thought Hitler's Nuremburg speech was great and they fist pumped when he said they must 'eliminate' all the Jews. My only response at the time was to become very angry and I walked out. I remained angry until I met up with Grant Ralph at the Tower. He calmed my troubled thoughts. I am so angry at how totally disrespectful and inhuman their response was. I taught so many boys about the inhumanity and barbarism of Hitlers SS and Camp officials and the Einstsgruppen and Mengele et al for so many years and heard dad tell the stories of the survivors from the Camps and those survivors that I met through Facing the past and Ourselves, that I get both immensely angry and emotional when I see the Holocaust in the museums around the world. I fail to understand that we keep on repeating History until I realize that most people either do not get taught History at all or they are given a twisted amd bigoted view of it. So, we just go on repeating History because History can never repaet itself. History is inanimate. People repeat History.

The great Naval guns in front of the IWM.

Up out of the Underground at the Tower of London with the Shard prominent in the background.

Shot by Grant Ralph before we enjoyed a quick lunch together. Will see him again for some quality time.

From the previous photo to this one, the 'river of poppies (blood)' each representing every single British soldier killed in WW1. It is a devastating sight. People stand around silent at the immensity of it. We cannot know what 2.3 million looks like until we see this. It is like saying that the Nazi's executed 6 million Jews and 3.5 million Russian prisoners and expect people to comprehend what that number means. Watch the film 'Paperclips' and you will begin to comprehend the enormity of the number 6 million, or 21 million who died in the Holocaust and combat in WW2.

Trafalgar Square and ominous clouds which deposited rain liberally. Luckily I had my Pick and Pay R9.00 Poncho which kept me dry. 

Every so often a new 'sculpture' appears on this Plinth. Love it.

National Gallery - St Sebastian's execution.

 

One of my favourite paintings by one of my favourite artists. Van Gogh.

Constable. The Hay Wain.

One of Turner's magnificent water colours. Luminescent quality. So many poeple, many who were indoors due to rain, kept bumping me. I gave up and used this anyway.

London Eye for the first time as I crossed the pedestrain bridge to Waterloo Station.

Bust of Neslon Mandela near the London Eye. Very moving tribute below. We are so blessed to have had him, and so unfortunate that the present 'regime' are so cluless about what his legacy was about.

At the end of the day, with my boys at Browns Pub in Windsor. So good to be with them. Thanks Peter. The waiter did not get a 'blur-free' shot with my camera! Face Book shot with Peter's camera is better. But, here for posterity. Kim D'Arcy Masters, Michael Truter, Peter Borcherds and Richard Stegman. Pity that Nick had left earlier. Much more to come from my UK visit. The journey continues.