Community Requires Cooperation, A Trip to London

London from the Train station on the Thames

This month’s adventures were amazing and educational. My middle daughter (yes, there are three) has lived worldwide. She settled in London 10 years ago. She travels back here to the States to visit, but this was my first trip to visit her and the U.K. I was joyously greeted by my daughter, who was to host me and act as my tour guide extraordinaire. My arrival in London was a week or so after the Coronation of King Charles III and the decorations were still in place. I saw and did almost everything. Palaces, parks, gardens, plays, and concerts. I have tons of pictures and keepsakes of all the events and places.

We took a side trip to the Yorkshire countryside to see the rural area and maybe find a DNA link or 2. We found no link but had fun on the hunt. We met lots of nice people. This is just a beautiful place.

York from the Wall.

Hiking The North English Moors

How does this fit into my Health and Fitness Blog? Every good vacation is going to have lots of activity. The U.K. is no exception. The people are very much Public Transportation oriented. Many people are using it to go everywhere. This also means they are walking, as we were, to each destinations. I averaged over 22,000 steps a day. This is more than double my recommended 10,000 steps per day. The unique thing is that almost everyone is walking. Old people and young people are all walking, a true nation in motion.

Veggie menu even here.

I wanted to eat planted based on this vacation, I thought it would be challenging. It was not. I had a planned exception for a traditional “fish and chips” meal and to try a “pasty”. To my revelation, every Diner, Hangout, and Food stand has a veggie or vegan option or both. The fish and chips were good and pasties come in veggie form everywhere. As we walked to catch a bus (double-decker, of course) in a Jamaican market area, I ask my daughter if we could get a Pasty. She said that those are good and pointed out a shop. A young lady came from the back and I ask if they have vegan or veggie pasties. She said, “Sure mon”, and pointed to a display case with several kinds. I ask which is best, and she pointed again. We bought 2 and ate the goodness on the bus to the inner part of London. Many restaurants specialize in vegetarian food. We ate at an Indian restaurant that was superior to anything that I have had before. They served dahl that had been simmered for 24 hours. That is a delicious and mouth-watering lintel dish. Everywhere had these types of choices. Even in the county, good restaurants had vegan and veggie options. Virgin Atlantic, the airline, had me set up ahead of time with vegan meals also.

Example of Veggie Restaurant

Example of choices at a food stand

Community Requires Cooperation

The English seem to be better at cooperation than we Americans. There are over 14 million people in London and they move and interact with very little conflict. The urban vs. rural issues do exist there, but they seem more committed to the common good than we do. There were transportation strikes while I was in London, and people had “workaround” plans. There were protests about world conditions, and the people were polite in allowing others to exercise free speech. We still have lessons to learn.

My daughter was a kind and generous host. I was able the stay healthy and have the best of vacations. I did return to the desert for a few days. Now I’m headed off to Colorada with my youngest daughter for the balance of my summer break.

Colorado cloud

In the spirit, be healthy,

Coach Brown