Tonight on the way home from work I actually walked through a series of parks like I’d been planning to for a while. I went by Buckingham Palace for the first time, and then Joe and I played chess in a nice grassy area. I won! I should have won much earlier, but I made a sudden overconfident move while transitioning into the endgame which cost me my queen, and thus had to pull back, regroup, and plot for a while before finally emerging victorious.
One of my tasks today was to organize Sadiq’s teeming bookshelf. In the process, I found about five books that deal specifically with my paper topic of Muslim Integration to the UK. I’m pilfering them, along with a few other texts.
I’ve decided that games are one of the best ways to learn important pieces of information. I keep meeting British people, and asking them where they’re from, and they instinctively expect me to not know where Essex, Dover, Leeds, Norwich, etc. are. (Much like I expect them to not know where Indiana is.) I, however, keep surprising them when I know exactly where the cities are. Why? Because of the game Kingmaker. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingmaker_(board_game)) Ronald, Larry, Gail and I played that game enough times when I was young for me, with my strong geographic memory, to have the relative locations of every major city in the UK memorized. It’s an awesome game, reenacting the War of the Roses, in case anyone ever wants to play it. But it’s especially effective for learning British cities.
One quick request – for all of those of you who post anonymously but do not sign initials or a name at the end of your comment, please put some sort of identifying feature! I want to be able to get back to my friends, but if I don’t know who you are, it’s almost impossible!
This blog, by the way, will be on hiatus until Sunday evening, since I’m not taking my computer with me to Edinburgh.
Tonight on the way home from work I actually walked through a series of parks like I’d been planning to for a while. I went by 
2 comments:
I remember walking past Buckingham Palace when I was in London. My dad had us walk over to see Canada's gate/arch of course. He did say that when he lived in London that the guards used to be right next to the gate instead of next to the building so you could see them closer up. He knew so many intricate details of London and loved showing us everything. I loved walking on the street leading to the Palace! It was a beautiful walk! (and the fountain is lovely too.) Congrats on your chess match. Next time you're on IM you'll have to give me updated details on Joe...
Oh and by the way...take care of yourself and don't go without food and almost pass out again! You don't want to emulate me do you?! ;) Have a wonderful time in Edinburgh!
I love Kingmaker! A marvelous game!
I confess that I -still- don't understand the War of the Roses, though. It is one of my gaping holes in British history.
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