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There is so much history and scenery in England that it is in many ways the most amazing place I have ever lived.  On the other hand, if you chose to live without a car, then getting anywhere is always difficult, and often impossible.  Whatever the case, one can find places near to home to satisfy the need to explore, and fulfil the need to have a space to love for its aesthetics, its charm, or its tranquillity.   My place was right in the City Centre and luckily enough for me, that has always been a short walk for me.  I have been able to explore it over and over again these past eight years, and yesterday I took my last planned trip there. 

I know I have said many times over the years, but this is my last time to really expound upon it.  Forgive my while I indulge myself.

The Cathedral has stood in some form or another on this site since about 1084, though one predated it which was built in 680.  The current Cathedral Crypt dates back to St. Oswald, and is the oldest remaining visible part of it.  It is noted as the finest Crypt in England, and is one of several unique features of Worcester Cathedral.  Also unique is the Chapter House along the East Cloister.  The Chapter House is a grand room built in the round with a single supporting pillar at its centre.  

The real magic of the crypt is the feeling of how many people must have come there to visit for whatever their reasons over the years, including kings and princes.  As King John is interred directly above the Crypt, it is reasonable to to assume that his choice of Worcester means also that he has been in the Crypt as well. 

King John of course achieved his fame through the tales of Robin Hood, but is most significantly remembered for being forced to sign Magna Carta at Runnymede.  Magna Carta limited the powers of the sovereign and provides that the king is subject to the laws of England, including those of his own creation.  Magna Carta is one of the many sources in English Law with provided inspiration for the Constitution of the United States.  King John, unwittingly through his tyranny became one of the reasons the American government is subject to checks and balances today. 

Such great influences are not limited in Worcester Cathedral to just King John, however.  Near King John lies the bones of Prince Arthur, elder brother of Henry VIII.  Prince Arthur was very young and newly married when he died at Ludlow Castle.  Had the Prince lived to be king, Henry VIII would not have become king, and England would be Catholic today, and the Pope who recently visited would be the head of the church here rather than the Queen, who is the head of the Church of England.  Just how the history of the reformation would be different in England is hard to tell, but perhaps if he had survived, the library at Worcester Cathedral would not contain the skin of protester against the church which had been nailed to the cathedral door.  (But you won’t find that in the Wikipedia article!) 

Elgar’s Enigma Variations were first performed at Worcester Cathedral in 1899, for it is in this city that Elgar spent most of his life.  He was known to ride his bike between Worcester and Hereford, and when listening to Land of Hope and Glory, One can easily imagine how the local countryside, especially when crossing the Malvern Hills, or when stood atop the Cathedral bell tower would have easily inspired his muse. 

The Cathedral stands at the heart of the Faithful City, and almost all roads into the city point toward it as they come.  King Charles was kept in Worcester safe from the Parliamentarians during the English Civil War of 1642 – 1651.  The first major skirmish of the War was at Powick Bridge on the River Teme, where Prince Rupert leading 1,000 Royalist Cavalry defeated Colonel John Brown and his cavalry detachment.  They were a part of two armies both in tens of thousands in size which at the time were separated only by Worcestershire then, 14 September 1642.  It was later on 3 September 1651 that Cromwell defeated the new King of the time and the civil war ended.  This too was at Worcester! 

There are many reasons that the memory of Worcester Cathedral will ring clear in my mind for years to come like the bells would do through my open bedroom window on a Sunday morning in summer.  The edifice stands grand and tall as the heart of the city, rich in history and proud on the banks of the River Severn.  It was to the Bishop of Worcester that Sir William Shakespeare petitioned to marry his beloved Anne Hathaway, and it is here that Kings and Princes lie.  It is here at Worcester and at its Cathedral where history truly first came to alive to me. 

If you are ever in Worcester, entry to the Cathedral is free, but to photograph you must buy a permit from the gift shop (currently £3, and £4 for video or photo with a tripod).  It is best to visit in the summer when viewing is permitted from the top of the tower, but if you chose to go, be prepared for a long, steep, winding climb where the passage narrows to just shoulder width at the top. 

It was my love for this Cathedral that took me there for this last visit of ours, where we walked through the nave, and to the Crypt.  We took in the cloisters and the chapter house as well as the gift shop.  It seems I am unlikely to be able to record the bells before I go, which saddens me.  The Sunday Peal is a work of beauty, and powerful because of the distance from which it can be heard.  As it has survived some 1,000 years, I am sure it will be around whenever we get back to Worcester! 

…What a wonderful trip to London it was!  Kiry was very good on the train there and back, and the purpose of the trip was fully accomplished, which was to register Kiry as a US Citizen born abroad, and to get her SSN and US Passport.  While I would love to say also that we went around to places like Notting Hill and Buckingham Palace, or anything like that, but we didn’t.  It was nice to walk out of Paddington Station and across to the Embassy and then back again a different route all from what I know in my head of London though!  Love the city! 

We are down to two weeks before we go, and the excitement is starting to build around here!  Katrina is getting eager to get out of the country, and Dylan is ready to get started on his new life!  Jordan is hoping that the doctors will clear him for flight on the 29th with the rest of us, and if we are lucky, he will be.  Kiry really doesn’t know what is going to happen, but she has adjusted well to what has happened so far. 

As for me, I have not yet absorbed the idea that we are really going back yet.  I look forward to Nevada, and to making a home there.  There is so much to do!  The house is going to need a lot of work in order to make it as efficient as possible and to make it so that rather then just providing a shelter, it also provides food, and other needs for us.  I would like very much to live green, but I also want to live practically and in a mode of self-reliance.

At this point we have one more step out of the way, and one thing less to worry about.  Now the passport needs to get here on time!  That, and Jordan make the flight, and we are all set and on our way!  Strangely, it feels a lot like it did when we did not know how the Embassy would rule on our sponsorship forms! 

AS you know from my last post, we have got the VISA’s..!!  But then we took off last Friday to get Jordan an MRI on Doctor’s orders, and they found what turned out to be a pretty huge patch of blood on his brain which required immediate surgery!  Ugh!  Can you imagine, “honey, how was your day at work?  We have to rush Jordan up to Birmingham for brain surgery!” 

Jordan was put on priority lists each day, and finally operated on Tuesday afternoon.  A person could be bothered by the delays if not for the fact they were caused by things like babies having emergency surgery to remove brain tumours and the like.  Well, there you go then.  Now it id Friday again and Jordan is finally home.  They want to scan him again on the 24th of September, but he cannot fly with us on the 29th as the results are not even for a week.  The tickets are non-refundable, so I think we will have to look at what options we have there, but we expect he will have to have his VISA extended somehow, and travel out at a later date.  Bummer. 

Meanwhile, I have emptied a house of everything it contained.  I had a load of help from my sister-in-law, and cannot possibly thank her enough for it!  We cleared all of it by working till around three in the morning, then getting up and started again around eight each day, and going again with very little time off for six days in a row.  I started each day tired and ended each even more tired till I was finally so exhausted I could hardly move.  Well, there are a few things left in the house, and a few things left to do, so one more day ought to clear it, if we can get someone with a car to help out.  This would all have been very little if we had a car of our own! 

All in all, this has been one of the hardest weeks to get through in a long time for all of us. 

Now we live at my mother-in-law’s house, and we are still planning to fly on the 29th, albeit without Jordan so he can fully recover first.  We have to see what the Embassy can do to help us extend his VISA.  Trouble is that we have spent so much time and money setting this up and it would be such a waste to not get the stamps in place in the passports in order to complete the immigration! 

For the month ahead, we have a few things to sort out, and we have a time to rest and get ready for the next step in life.  This should be fun! 

On Monday the 9th Kiry, the boys, and I left the house with bags and a large amount of paperwork to get Subway sandwiches and meet Katrina in the city centre.  We caught a train from Worcester Forgate station to London Paddington.  The journey took two and a half hours, and with three kids in tow, it was as much fun as could be expected for two parents who have been going through the VISA process for the past 17 months, and who have poured over paperwork trying to make sure that we got absolutely everything correct to the very best of our ability. 

When we arrived at Paddington Station, the walk to the hotel we had booked was only 2/10ths of a mile out the front door, and to the left on Norfolk Square.  There are many hotels in Norfolk Square, and I can only imagine how similar they may be.  The Hotel Belvedere was not opulent in any way, but what the building lacked in amenities, they staff made up for in courtesy and helpfulness. 

After a brief settling in, we set out on an expedition to see what the walk to the US Embassy was like in route and time to travel.  Of course it required a few unplanned stops, including a Baskin Robins for some Ice Cream. 

As it turned out, the walk was a fairly easy one through Sussex Gardens, down Edgeware Road, past the Odeon and then Marble Arch, and down the East end of Hyde Park till we were at the US Embassy. 

We were stunned along the way when we passed the car dealerships that sell Bentley, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, and Harley Davidson right along side each other.  We were also then surprised at the last approach to the Embassy buy just how many Bentley’s we saw parked on the streets, especially after having just seen one for sale used for £154,000. 

After we meandered back to the room, we all played cards till it was time to fall asleep.

Morning brought breakfast, and a walk to the Embassy again, and of course rain.  By the time we were close to the Embassy we decided that we needed to get better covering on Kirynie.  The rain cover for her pushchair has long been missing, so a couple of cheap umbrella’s would have to suffice.  I got one for Kiry, and one for me, as we were the ones who were going to be waiting outside for the duration of the appointment.  We were at the queue in front of the Embassy by 8:30, and when it was time to leave them, I asked the Information Officer, who was being quite friendly and nice about her job as she sorted people into the final queue, where I could go to stay dry.  She pointed up the road in view and said “There’s a Starbucks just up Audley Street on the left.” 

“Of course,” I replied, and several people behind Katrina laughed. 

So Kiry and I went to Starbuck’s and got our wits about us while I very slowly sipped a hot chocolate. Then we made our way to Selfridge’s, which in the Mayfair district is loaded with Jewellery and Godiva on the ground floor.  Technology was in the basement, and before long, so were we.  Now this is where Kiry gets to have some bragging rights because she watched about 10 – 15 minutes of the original Toy Story on a TV costing £32,995.00 (US $51,882.66 at yesterday’s exchange rate.)  At that price, Toy Story has only looked as good when it was on the cinema screen!

I watched a movie that I could not identify on the screen across from Kiry, in which some huge wave wiped out a large portion of the Earth, and the USS John F. Kennedy (aircraft carrier) flipped over on Danny Glover.  The sound was completely quiet, so I could only imagine Danny saying “I’m getting too old for this shit.”  The John Cusack drove a Bentley out the cargo door of an airplane as it crashed onto a glacier in China, as you do.  (An IMDB search reveals that the film I was watching was 2012.)  We walked on and the next thing to catch my attention was a car door with bullet holes all over it and the glass.  So I spoke to Ben, who sells armoured cars and security gear.  I wonder what they would do for the guys who deliver the £33,000.00 TV’s?  We had a good chat for a while, and Ben and Osam were both nice enough as we chatted about a good many things.  Then I decided I had better go check on our progress, and headed back towards the Embassy. 

It was about North Row where I was called out to by Katrina, and then told that she had the paperwork butchered right in front of her, and after watching it gasping and bleeding on the counter, she then went to pay the fees for the interviews, about $1,200.00, and had her debit card rejected due to what apparently is a policy of HSBC, an otherwise decent bank, to refuse anything charged at the US Embassy.  With special permission she was able to take £900 from the cash machine, then met me, and broke down in tears. 

I told her not to worry as we had totally expected to fail this and have to send in paperwork again later anyhow.  She buckled up and charged back into the Embassy.

I saw a lady putting up her umbrella with a bit of exasperation at the rain as it started to spit down again, and made some comment about it, then found myself talking to her for about 30 – 45 minutes.  As it turns out, she used to import art from Russia before her obviously early retirement, and enjoys her time in Central London now as a divorcé, who is sending a daughter to drama school in New York. 

After the daughter came out and a brief explanation of passing circumstances, I sat next to the statue of Dwight David Eisenhower and enjoyed some time with Kiry.  Before long, Katrina and Jordan and Dylan came out smiling smiles that just got bigger as they approached, so I knew.

I told them that the Godiva chocolates I had bought were for a FAILebration (a play on a type of chocolates sold in the UK called “Celebration” which is essentially a variety box of Cadbury’s), but that they’d have to due for a celebration instead. 

We walked back to Paddington and waited for nearly two hours for the next direct to Worcester Shrub Hill.  When we got home, the phone got busy, and the announcements began. 

It is worth a mention that I have got to thank my grandmother, who has helped us immensely over the past 17 months, and even more when she pulled out all stops in the last week to be sure we had loads of documentation we needed, which included her jumping in her car and driving from southern Idaho to southern Nevada and back over a weekend!  If not for her efforts, we would have absolutely had a FAILebration ceremony outside of the US Embassy yesterday!  I love you grandma, and owe you big time!