Living in the Mideast - Part 6


by John Sprague - Date: 2007-01-05 - Word Count: 491 Share This!

Once I returned to Kuwait from Iraq, I had to then go to Kuwait International Airport and board a British Air flight to Heathrow. My sister Jeanie invited me to visit England and stay with her and her family in Loughborough. I had never been over to England before and she had been living there for a number of years. Mostly, she would just come to visit her family in the US about every 4 years and so I did get to see her. I had no idea that it was so beautiful there. I wish I had gone there sooner.

England has an incredible history of its own and some grand old Tudor homes and castles. London is a large bustling city but has a small city feel to it. I could easily live there, I was thinking. It seemed like an American city twenty years ago but with an accent. Just a few miles outside of the city, I was amazed at the farmlands and open fields for miles and miles. The sheep were healthier looking than the ones back in Kuwait. Like Ireland, this place is also very green and the country has thatched roofs in some of the villages, too. There were numerous open fields, valleys and not a lot of trees. I was surprised by that. I guess I had been thinking England was all built up being the mother country! I saw lots of sheep and cattle.

My sister's home is about a three hours drive north of London, in The East Midlands area of Leicestershire. This small city is located near Leicester and Nottingham of Robin Hood fame. It is kind of quiet out there so we headed to London later in the week for a little more excitement. My sister and her husband John and my niece Emily and I stayed in Gant's Hill with friends while there. Also my niece Debra, who had just graduated from Westminster University with a degree in English and Arabic, joined us. I hadn't seen her since she was 8 yrs old. Emily, I had seen about 2 years earlier but she still had grown a lot. Upon seeing London, we took the Original Bus Tour that had the open top double deck and then a boat tour up the Thames River. We saw Buckingham Palace, Madam Tussands Wax Museum, The Tower of London, Big Ben and lots more of the city, over a 3 day period. I would go back again to that great city. I did go back again the next year and did a few different things. It was truly a good vacation this time around and I bonded well with my nieces who I'm proud of. I also enjoyed my time spent with my younger sister and her husband there. After ten days that went way too fast, it was time for me to go back to Kuwait and then journey back up to Iraq.


Related Tags: england, london, kuwait, loughborough

John Sprague is a resident of Bellingham,MA and is presently living and working in the Mideast.

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