Author Topic: Your 5 Most Treasured Events  (Read 6028 times)

Graham

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Re: Your 5 Most Treasured Events
« Reply #11 on: December 22, 2006, 02:01:04 PM »
As John rightly points out this could be divided into categories; such as the bragging ones, that usually cost money to achieve, the really personal ones that we can't really share on a public forum, or like the ones that have cost us virtually nothing (financially). They do say the best things in life are free! In this category, the ones that come to mind at this moment, I would put at;-

(1) Hearing my mom calling me by my pet name, "sunshine".
(2) seeing my daughters dancing, during the "Beatles" revival in the 70S, to a Beatles medley, in mini skirt that was also back at that time. That was like a time warp.
(3) Climbing out of the Wye Vally in thick freezing mist, on my bike, into lovely hot sunshine.
(4) Seeing my grand son grow up to become a strong young man of 14, after the doctor's had given him up for dead at birth.
(5) Getting through life, making a success of it and ending up with a wonderful loving family.

Some of my bragging ones would normally cost a lot of money but I managed to get quite a few in at little or no cost;-

(1) The feeling you get when standing in front of 100 000 people on that winners podium, as world champ, with your mom in your arms.
(2) Sailing the Irish Sea solo at the age of 11 (i thinks not possible now with all the regulations and insurance ETC).
(3) Doing a full aerobatic programme in a R.A.F. DH Chipmunk, in glorious sunshine high above the clouds, at the age of 14.
(4) Putting that plane safely on the ground in dense cloud, after clipping the hedge just before the runway.
(5) At the age of 17 winning the first cycle race I took part in, against all comers without any equipment or racing clothes, "YES!" I screamed, I have arrived and never looked back.

These are really the ones that stick out in my mind, at this moment in time, and may not be in the right order. I have climbed mountains, seen ancient monuments and all those things that tourist can experience, a a price. I think that Jacqueline has got it right with her down-to-earth approach.

Graham

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Re: Your 5 Most Treasured Events
« Reply #12 on: December 22, 2006, 02:46:11 PM »
John, as you will know by now, the people of Belgium are wonderful. Both the Flemish and the Walloons, they are so very different but both have their charms. I think that the square you visited is the "Grote Markt", ("Grand Place" en français) in Brussels, with the famous "Rue des Bouchers" (Butchers Street en anglais, Beenhouwersstraat in Dutch) running nearby. But the secret jewel in the European crown is still Ghent.

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_content_subchannel.asp?subchannel_id=49&name=Belgium+Life+in+Belgium

The food in Belgium is second to none, they do even better than the famous French kitchen. Myself, I love to do cooking and try, every day, to get up to Flemish standards, I'm nearly there.

The Flemish people are wonderful with just a tinge of racial discrimination here and there, though they don't show it. Some of the older people are even sorry that the Germans lost the war! They think that they would have been better off under German rule, anyway who knows? That's for a separate discussion.

John_Lerwill

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Re: Your 5 Most Treasured Events
« Reply #13 on: December 22, 2006, 02:51:42 PM »
...I have climbed mountains, seen ancient monuments and all those things that tourist can experience, a a price. I think that Jacqueline has got it right with her down-to-earth approach.

Well, you see Graham, that's how I started this thread - didn't I? Because it is the things in life that are free that are best, or, if not 'free', that are close to nature. Therefore, being up mountains and in deserts (John) and the experiences therein - and anything else - that are free that was the point of this thread. Certainly, in my case (if you were to note) most of the things I quoted cost very little, except the high-speed train ride, which was just quoted as being an example of an exhilirating experience - not in respect of its cost.  ;)

Yes, I've noticed that you've starting being a sour-puss, Graham, not referring to me by name. Well, "sticks and stones" and all that.  ;)

I have hardly ever been a 'tourist'. Most of my experiences have been off-the-beaten-track or off-the-cuff affairs.

It could only be you, Graham, that starts a bragging section!!!  ;D

And (5) Getting through life, making a success of it and ending up with a wonderful loving family. is what most of us could have said, I think. But I was asking for events, not long-term relationships!   ;)
We are all ONE - despite appearances!

John_Lerwill

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Re: Your 5 Most Treasured Events
« Reply #14 on: December 22, 2006, 02:59:01 PM »
John_L, What I did like in Belgium, was the main square ( name escapes me for the moment,) some where near that station, ...

Yes, you're quite right, John, there are pleasant examples of social life in Belgium, and I've had good friends that were Belgian, so I'm certainly not averse to them as a people. What I meant, I suppose, is that I've always felt that from a topological point-of-view it's a grey country, and nothing very much has ever emerged from Belgium by way of ideas - has it? I May be wrong about that... There's fish and chips of course.

And, despite what someone else said, they are thought to be the originators of cricket according to something I read once! But that, apparently, is going back to medieval times.
We are all ONE - despite appearances!

Graham

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Re: Your 5 Most Treasured Events
« Reply #15 on: December 22, 2006, 03:19:15 PM »
Dearest J_L, I did post on your thread, what more do you want of me?

All those things you mention, like mountain climbing normally cost a lot on equipment and preparation, I've tried to recall those that don't cost money or are not to be bought. Your thread does say "most treasured events" well forming a loving family is one of mine, sorry!

And one Flemish invention that springs to mind is the for-runner of plastic, and were would we be without that today! Typing this on a wooden or metal keyboard? Baekeland was from Ghent and invented Bakelite. Plastic: Leo Baekeland
Setting out to make an insulator, he invented the first true plastic ( Bakelite ) and transformed the world.

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blbakerlite.htm

Merry Christmas John Lerwill, there I've said it again.

john2000

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Re: Your 5 Most Treasured Events
« Reply #16 on: December 22, 2006, 03:24:54 PM »
John_L, there are a lot of good things in Belgium, ( the motorway for one , ha, ) and did you know that Belgium is the only country in Europe that has lamps along every motorway and not just in the cities, singers, well there's only one for me, "Brel". ( that I like) and as Graham said, Gent, is a very beautiful city, when I'm there, I always use one hotel, just up from the railway station, ( I find that when I have to meet anyone in a strange city, I say the station, you have a better change in finding them ), the cathedral is a wonder to see, and the old castle on hot days when you come out of the castle you can have a cold beer from the cafe just across the road, from the entrance. if you're by the cathedral its a tourist trap, but you can see some very fine lase work special to Belgium and of course the Bon Bons.Mmm "Lekker"............ ;D
Growing old is mandatory..........Growing up is optional

John_Lerwill

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Re: Your 5 Most Treasured Events
« Reply #17 on: December 22, 2006, 03:38:38 PM »
...All those things you mention, like mountain climbing normally cost a lot on equipment and preparation, I've tried to recall those that don't cost money or are not to be bought. ...

OK, but I'm certainly more interested in the human/nature aspect of events, irrsepective of cost, but if really free so much the better. My impression of John is that he is certainly not a touristy-type, and I certainly am not, though I have been on a couple of such trips. And they were well worth it (specially selected).

But you'll never get me baking myself on a hot beach!  8)

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And one Flemish invention that springs to mind is the for-runner of plastic, and were would we be without that today! Typing this on a wooden or metal keyboard? Baekeland was from Ghent and invented Bakelite. Plastic: Leo Baekeland
Setting out to make an insulator, he invented the first true plastic ( Bakelite ) and transformed the world.

Well, that I didn't know, Graham - thanks for telling me that one. But one invention in alll these years doesn't sound much does it? Have they contributed much to the world's betterment? I'd better be careful what I say, as my Lerwill ancestors seem to have come from medieval Picardy!  :-\
We are all ONE - despite appearances!

John_Lerwill

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Re: Your 5 Most Treasured Events
« Reply #18 on: December 22, 2006, 03:44:25 PM »
John_L, there are a lot of good things in Belgium, ( the motorway for one , ha, ) and did you know that Belgium is the only country in Europe that has lamps along every motorway and not just in the cities...

Very environmentally-conscious, aint' it?  :-\

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singers, well there's only one for me, "Brel". ( that I like) and as Graham said, Gent, is a very beautiful city, when I'm there, I always use one hotel, just up from the railway station, ( I find that when I have to meet anyone in a strange city, I say the station, you have a better change in finding them ), the cathedral is a wonder to see, and the old castle on hot days when you come out of the castle you can have a cold beer from the cafe just across the road, from the entrance. if you're by the cathedral its a tourist trap, but you can see some very fine lase work special to Belgium and of course the Bon Bons.Mmm "Lekker"............ ;D

I have to say that I've not been around in Belgium a lot, and hardly at all in the last 40 years, so I'm mostly only going by impressions. But I do like countries that have interesting terrain, and that's probably why I've usually tried to get through Belgium as quickly as possible...
We are all ONE - despite appearances!

john2000

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Re: Your 5 Most Treasured Events
« Reply #19 on: December 22, 2006, 03:57:07 PM »
on beach in the hot sun, the English look like lobsters running around, but you can get a very good suntan cream, only problem is when you are going out for dinner all dressed up, you have to use washing up liquid to get the bloody stuff off,............. 8)
Growing old is mandatory..........Growing up is optional

Graham

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Re: Your 5 Most Treasured Events
« Reply #20 on: December 22, 2006, 07:30:17 PM »

I have to say that I've not been around in Belgium a lot, and hardly at all in the last 40 years, so I'm mostly only going by impressions. But I do like countries that have interesting terrain, and that's probably why I've usually tried to get through Belgium as quickly as possible...

Well J_L that is your loss, people are far more interesting than terrain, they are alive and talking! This just shows what a contradiction you are, in your last post you said "OK, but I'm certainly more interested in the human/nature aspect of events,"

I don't think that you have been anywhere a lot in 40 years, the world has changed you know, especially in Belgium. Here, and in Holland, there are less cars per head, compared with England, and that allows us to cycle everywhere. Loads of people go shopping on their bikes, that's "environmentally conscious" and they don't get run down by cars in the process. Pedestrians and cyclists, as the weekest road users, have priority over your God, the car. Though we do provide well for the motorist by having well lit roads, that saves lives and cuts down crime. If I were you I would go and live somewhere with a terrain and without people to pollute things like you have in the big smoke, London, where they probably use more electricity, gas and petrol in one day than Belgium does in a whole year!

John_Lerwill

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Re: Your 5 Most Treasured Events
« Reply #21 on: December 22, 2006, 10:24:51 PM »
My, Graham you can get very touchy!

If you were to think about it - and clearly you didn't - you would realise I was talking over a time some 40 years ago about what my attitude was more oriented towards then - rather than now! If I've hardly seen Belgium in 40 years then I must clearly have been talking of a different time, so how can you equate a statement I've made about the present with so far in the past?  ???

Even without going to the lowlands in recent years, I'm perfectly aware of the environmental situation there, but I do not understand why you wish to attack London on that issue. Things have been - and are - moving towards a cleaner environment. 4x4 drivers are being dragged screaming off the roads, and public transport and electrical vehicles are at last begining to make their mark! I go everywhere by public transport unless it's well out of the way - which is very rare.

I've also been very practically interested in environmental issues for 30 years, so - again - your remarks are somewhat misdirected.

Strange that you should state how better it is on the roads in the lowlands - I've been watching film this evening which shows how dangerous it is out there!

It may take some time, but there will be marked improvements in London and the UK. I suppose it's the price we've had to pay for living it up (economically) for so many years.

Ciao.
We are all ONE - despite appearances!


 

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