back to "the old country"
Agosta, the Pigeon-Chested Man, and Rasha, the Black Dove, by Christian Schad, 1929 / Oh, Jeff...I Love You, Too...But... by Roy Lichtenstein, 1964
My paternal grandparents, both born and raised in Canada, thought of themselves not primarily as Canadian but as British subjects, which is what they were until the Canadian Citizenship Act came into effect in 1947. For them, England was always 'the old country', their country of origin. In later life, they were finally able to visit the old country, and a few years back, I did too. impressions of the old country 1. Full English driving on the left eggs with baked beans black pudding mind the gap 2. London pigeon perched high on a ledge pedestrian crossing no one looks up 3. Waterloo dirty old river rolls into the night too late to see the sunset 4. Tate Modern Agosta, the Pigeon-Chested Man, and Rasha, the Black Dove OH, JEFF... I LOVE YOU, TOO... BUT... bars of light on a pitch black surface 5. Westminster Abbey royals wed are entombed beneath a vaulted sky poets take the corner 6. Buckingham Palace evening shadows fall crowds thin the Queen's Guard doesn't change 7. Dover the white cliffs of Dover snow falls gently through the night Dover's white cliffs 8. Canterbury tyre blows on a kerb no spare in the boot another tale to tell 9. Dorset driving the heath lands three wild horses gallop past they keep to the left 10. Church of St. Mary, Litton, Somerset the door is locked an elderly woman proffers a key ancient gravestones shudder 11. Cheddar descend the gorge cruise through town fancy a nibble 12. Bath cobblestone teems with tourists vapors rise the goddess will be served 13. Oxford trains of schoolboys clad in robes English Language Training up Banbury Road not only spires dream 14. Blenheim Palace where Churchill was born twenty-four pound fifty to enter we settle for the pamphlet 15. Pub 1 having a lovely journey? seeing a bit of the countryside? where in the States are you from? 16. Pub 2 fireplace in the corner locals crowd 'round the bar where it’s warmest
How about the scones and sponge cake ?
Yes - but did you feel anything there apart from wonder at those horses...