Lincoln and Beyond

Before venturing outside of Lincoln, Harriet, Steve and I took advantage of the warm weather and went down to city centre to see the Brayford Wharf, the home of many beautiful swans. I’m sure I have taken hundreds of photos of the swans in all four seasons.

We parked at Lucy Tower car park, recently re-opened after a long renovation. The parking meter ingested our money but did not acknowledge it. So Steve called the number on the meter and someone said they were on their way. A few minutes later the attendant came by and had a serious talk with the meter, and we were on our way to lunch at Zizzi, an Italian restaurant on the Brayford.

LIM (Lincoln Independent Minyan) arranged a meeting at Pat & Peter’s home in Dunston the next day. We swung by Swinderby to collect Yvonne. Harriet was enjoying visiting the small villages dotted around Lincoln.

At the meeting we voted on various decisions, and then Pat & Peter served a lovely lunch. On the way home Yvonne invited us in for a cup of tea, which gave Yvonne an opportunity to share with Harriet some of her extraordinary stories from her childhood.

Bishop Grosseteste University was having a concert on Friday evening, and although none of us knew what to expect, we knew that we would have a good time. Well that was an understatement. It was truly excellent. Being held in the chapel, the acoustics were wonderful.

I wanted to introduce Harriet to our synagogue in Nottingham, Nottingham Liberal Synagogue. This particular Saturday was a bit special in that a Bat Mitzvah was on the agenda. I introduced Harriet to Rabbi Tanya and they chatted for a while. Harriet told her that the main difference between today’s service and one in her home synagogue in Orange County, California was that Harriet’s synagogue doesn’t have a prayer for the Queen and the Royal Family.

We took advantage of being not that far from Costco to do a bit of shopping. The nearest Costco to Nottingham is Leicester, a Costco that we hadn’t been to before.

Harriet met a food demonstrator and they chatted for a long time. Harriet’s husband, Ben, works at Costco in Fountain Valley, California, also as a food demonstrator.

Next stop: London!