Week 180 · Torquay · Dartmouth · Berry Head · Torn Achilles · Wimbledon Queue
The English
The story of this week starts with the end of my last trip back to the USA — after a great time in LA for Alex's graduation I got "stuck" back in Maryland waiting for my work visa. Happy to be stuck for a few extra days — but about one mile into a hike near Camp David I tore my achilles.
Not a complete tear so got patched up with a plaster cast locally and came back to the UK as planned the next day. But slowed me down quite a bit at first — but once I got a walker and an aircast I was good as gold. The UK health care was great on the follow-up — much better and cheaper than the US experience. At some point I will have to develop the US/UK/Korea/Mexico/Thailand "Matrix" of healthcare. Preview — USA is least efficient and most expensive. But before you get too excited, I used the private system in those countries, not the public. So now I get walkers instead of renting mountain bikes and visit the Julie Andrews unit.
Had some work come up which put our schedule a little in disarray so thought: Wimbledon for a half day. Figured no hope at any actual matches but £25 for a grounds pass sounded good. Drove all the way there — parked right next to centre court. There is a line to "The Queue." I knew The Queue was a proper noun and not just a line. But The Queue had an estimated 7,000 people in it and was about a mile from centre court. Bad planning. So it was lunch in the village of Wimbledon.
Sharon came over for the July 4th holiday (not that big a deal in England, surprisingly) and Annelise was here for school, so we had a good weekend visiting South Devon. I had been before but the weather was spectacular — like San Diego spectacular.
The "English Riviera" refers to the southern Devon coast centred on Torquay, Paignton, and Brixham — named for its comparatively mild microclimate created by the Gulf Stream and its south-facing aspect. Torquay is the birthplace of Agatha Christie, the best-selling fiction writer of all time, and the town has leaned into this heritage with Christie-themed trails and a museum. Dartmouth, at the mouth of the River Dart, has been a significant harbour since the Middle Ages — it was from here that English ships departed for the Crusades. Dartmouth Castle was built in the 1380s and is one of the earliest English castles specifically designed for artillery. The Royal Naval College at Dartmouth has trained British naval officers since 1905, including King Charles III and King George VI.
"The weather was spectacular — like San Diego spectacular. And this is how England is supposed to look."