Alexandre Crawfish

Let's find this guy some water.

Found this - if you could call it that. The only things there were 2 TB's that were strewn on the ground - in pieces. We took both since there was obviously NO CACHE there. I cleaned them up and repackaged them, and will get them into action again.

I was then taken to the Tower of London (photo 45). Right, it’s not a tower but a fort and it used to be a prison. It was fun to see some of the stuff there. I saw the Royal Jewels. I can’t show you photos of them, because they will not allow photos, but if you ever get here, visit them. They make Mardi Gras beads look like nothing.

They had a museum of armor. It seems everyone has some, even the kids (photo 46). I thought this was a bit much, until I saw two guys beating on each other (photo 47). I guess you need the stuff. Not me, of course, I come with built in armor.

England has a queen, and she lives at Buckingham Palace (photo 48). She is guarded by guys who REALLY need haircuts (photo 49). I’m not even sure these guys are alive. They just stand there. They seem to march every now and then, but they are so stiff that they could be robots.

Bill asked me if I wanted to go see Rosetta Stone. I know Angie Stone who had a rap hit a few years ago, and if Rosetta can sing like her, I thought, it would be worth the trip. However, they were talking about a real stone (photo 50) with a bunch of writings on it. I didn’t see the point, but they told me that this was how they learned to read Egyptian. I told them I had seen Cleopatra’s Needle. They said they could show me Cleopatra.

I was taken to another room and shown these photos 1265, 1266). I said this couldn’t be her, because what they showed me was small and the needle was big. They said this was her mummy. See what I mean about crazy. They tell me I’m going to see Cleo and then they showed me her mummy. I got out of there before they dragged out her pappy.

Well, I could not find anywhere to hide, since all the geocaches I was near were nano ones. I decided it was time to go for another swim to someplace else. First I wanted do some shopping. I went to a store called Harrods (photo 53). This is supposed to be England, but again there was more Egyptian stuff (photo 54)

Well, that’s all for now. Swimming down the Thames, past Tower Bridge (photo 55), I’m on the move again and will let you know what happens.

Time to push on. I kept hearing about this great battle called the Battle of Hastings. I went to Hastings, but there was no battle there. As a matter of fact, the Battle of Hastings took place at the town of Battle. I guess it makes more sense to call it the Battle of Hastings, rather than the Battle of Battle. The battle took place in 1066 on this field (photo 22). They said that it was the Norman Invasion, but they kept talking about some guy named William. I never did find out if it was Norm or Bill who had the battle. At any rate, they build an abbey on the site of the battle (photo 23). This is the “old” section, built in 1066. They have a “new” section that was built in the 1200’s. I told you it was crazy here. These folks consider something 800 years old as “new”.

Well, I needed to get back to the water. I went to Dover, which has white cliffs (photo 24). I was about to jump off and swim to France (photo 25) when I met this snail (photo 26) who told me that the French eat folks like us. He had just escaped and was heading for Canterbury. There is a cathedral there (photo27). Some guy named Thomas was killed and buried here (Don’t start with the name, I’m getting used to it. There is no Canter; these folks are Anglican, not Jewish). They sure have a lot of dead folks in England.

Bill told me that we had gone from the Western Hemisphere to the Eastern Hemisphere. I didn’t know what he was talking about. He told me that outside of London is where time starts. He’s crazy. Time doesn’t start, it just goes on.

We went to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich outside of London. He showed me the clock (photo 28) and told me that all the time in the world was measured from here. We must be in trouble, because the clock was an hour slow. He said that was because it was Universal Time. Now I know he’s crazy. Even a poor Cajun knows that it is not the same time everywhere. The clock is crazy, too. It goes from 0 to XXIII. Oh, well.

He showed me the Prime Meridian (photo 29). This is where all Geo Caching is measured from. This I can understand. I had a lot of pictures of me taken right on the line (photos 30, 31, 32).

I found out something interesting. On top of the observatory is a red ball (photo 33). They raise it at just before 1 o’clock each day. Then at 1 o’clock they lower it. In the olden days the captains of ships would look for the ball to set their clocks. I was told that this is where the expression “on the ball” comes from, but they were putting on a poor Cajun. Since I was in England, I checked with Michael Quinion of World Wide Words (http://www.worldwidewords.org/index.htm) and he told me that was not true. As an aside, if you have any interest in the English language, Michael’s books, site and newsletter are highly recommended.

Bill asked me it I would like to see the Cutty Sark. I’m not normally a scotch drinker, but sometimes they put water with it, and you know how a Crawfish loves water. I was disappointed again. It was nothing but another big sailboat (photo 34). Again, it wasn’t even in the water.

The travels of Alexandre Crawfish

Well, I’m back in the United States after many adventures. I ran into this big ocean and swam across it. This guy Bill found me and I decided to hang out with him, even though he is a little crazy. The whole country is crazy. They even drive on the wrong side of the road. Just follow my story and you will see what I mean.

I knew that he had a problem when he kept holding me up and telling me I could see whales. I asked him where, and he said it was right across the Bristol Channel. All I could see was land.

However, he was nice enough to take me to a place called Nether Stowey (photo 1). I would have liked to see the front of Stowey, but he never took me. He did take me to this nice pub called The Ancient Mariner (photos 2, 3). I asked why they called it that, since we were miles away from the ocean, and they told me that some guy named Sam Coleridge lived across the street (photo 4). I went across the street to ask Sam, but no one was home. They must have been pulling a Cajun’s leg, because Sam only lived there from 1797 to 1800 as I found out from a sign (photo 5).

Bill tried to find me a home in Nano-nano St Peters & St Pauls, located at N 51° 08.388 W 003° 09.919. Boy, when this guy says Nano, he means it. There was no room for a traveler. I thought I might hide on the Notice Board (photo 6), but people might just drop me in the mail box. I hung around the church for a while (photo 7) but then it was time to move on.