.
.
.
tourist as much as possible in new orleans
,
and bought a bunch of cheap
trash
for my kids.
a most memorable evening was spent at the cafe istanbul with numerous usenix friends, cheering on poet john sinclair
spring training
my children and my parents at the beach
maggie, sheila's father, and our niece grace
sheila's parents and their grandchildren
and
i
had a little time to explore granville island, near downtown vancouver.
later, i found a pleasant jazz club called the glass slipper
,
where i enjoyed the music of monk, ellington,
and mingus
.
at the chateau whistler resort
.
masud
and i felt kind of out of place there.
which is just across the street from the famous stage deli
and
carnegie deli
.
plays every thursday at the fez
.
they are terrific! i also enjoyed the ellington big band at the blue note
.
i spent one night looking for music, atmosphere, and drinks, but could only find two out of the three. i found a seedy place that served but it was rather dingy, and the proprietor kept insisting that i be seated. to be honest, the music wasn't that great there either.
smalls
had good music (harold mabern), and good cheer,
but served only lemonade (!).
the village vanguard was just emptying out when i got there,
and was awash in "afterglow."
i had a drink, but no music.
was chic when i lived out east, for example, i once saw scorcese eat there,
but seems now to have fallen
on hard times. smashing a giant water bug in the run down basement got
me very agitated. but the steak frites are still excellent.
,
so the trip wasn't a total loss.
was via gatwick. i used 40,000 frequent flier miles to
travel in business class.
then i was taken by
a con artist who sold me a used train ticket
from gatwick to victoria station.
fortunately, i didn't get caught, and wised up in a hurry.
my travel agent had booked me at a hotel very conveniently located
next to victoria station.
i crashed immediately. when i awoke, it was dark.
having been warned about english "food" i sought out a grocery and
dined on bread, cheese, and bottled water.
london has the most complicated subway system in the world, but
i was able to figure it out.
well, sort of.
i then took the subway from victoria station
to euston station,
where i caught a train to lancaster. british
rail reminds me of the commuter rail service in new jersey.
i checked in to a hotel next to
lancaster university
and had an interesting meal with friends
nigel
davies
and
adrian
friday.
to visit nigel at his office in
the computer science department of
lancaster university.
i met with several of his students,
presented the talk i was to deliver the next day as the ukuug keynote,
and hooked my laptop to the internet for an email fix.
i bought my son a "lancaster university" tee shirt.
the english
countryside is pleasant, in a muted sort of way. i slept.
in york, i gave my keynote address and enjoyed the remainder of the
presentations. dinner was "a taste of yorkshire" but, strangely, there
was no yorkshire pudding.
i picked up some books for the kids (and one for myself)
and grabbed a ride toward
london with
andrew macpherson
and jane morrison, who help run ukuug.
they dropped me off in a place called stevenage, where i caught a train
to king's cross station.
after wandering around a bit, i returned to the hotel i had stayed at before, but
this time it was considerably more expensive.
first, i checked my mail at cafe internet
.
i bought
some kitsch socks for the girls
,
some food for myself
,
inexpensive or hard-to-find records for myself, sheila, vicki, and warren
,
some medication that you can't get over the counter in the us
,
and trinkets for the kids xmas stockings
.
i saw lots of authentic british things
.
after dark, i recovered my bags and
found my way to bruce howard's flat.
bruce
and yumi fed me, introduced me to their friends,
provided a place to sleep, and generally
helped me attain a positive outlook on life.
and fly home.
last updated 20 november 96
