England 1996

John’s assistant, Dave (or as he becomes known… “Doive”), picks me up early for a quick tour around historic Stratford-upon-Avon. I get to see Anne Hathaway’s cottage and Mary Arden’s house from the car as we drive past. “Doive” drops me off right at the center of Stratford so that I can do a little sightseeing on my own.

I walk all about the town, taking several rolls of pictures.

Stratford, the birthplace of William Shakespeare, is the “perfect” English town in my opinion. There is so much history that I easily could have spent several days just exploring!

I get to see Shakespeare’s birthplace and museum. It is interesting to see how the actual house construction was done, since, as I find out later, John and Marianne’s home is constructed much the same way! The beams in the infrastructure are actually made from the wood from old sailing ships. After the ships were finished with their sailing days, the wood was re-used in the construction of homes!

While doing some shopping, I find a handmade sweater shop and get an authentic wooly jumper.

Oh… translation time… that’s “wool sweater” in *American* English. You can still smell a bit of the sheep in them!

I fire off a few more pictures and head for the center of town to meet with John. The spiffy new Range Rover with John behind the wheel picks me up by the clock tower in the center of town. That is one nice vehicle! We meet Marianne at a local pub for yet another round of lunch and the local ale!

After that, we return to King’s Court to review plans and preparations for the upcoming evening’s event! John has invited several dozen of his friends and Rover customers for (surprise!) an absolutely wonderful dinner and a presentation by me on life at NASA afterwards.

Julian has made it up from Surrey for the evening, so he and I spend a great deal of time cutting up and enjoying a pair of fine cigars! The food is spectacular, as all of the meals have been, and after a showing (on a HUGE monitor) of “The Dream Is Alive”, an IMAX shuttle movie, I am introduced.

I make a 30 minute presentation on what it is like to work in Mission Control and how Shuttle flights are planned and executed.

Then, the floor is opened to a question and answer session. There are some really good questions asked, and I had a wonderful time answering them all. Julian, of course, asks about “honey buckets” … Git!

Afterwards, John presented me with a collection of Rover medallions in a handsome presentation box. Each of the medallions is representative of a particular Rover car hood (or in England… “bonnet”) ornament! They are quite lovely, and I am very touched!

As the evening wraps up (well after midnight!), we say our good nights to the guests and I head (or rather drag!) back to my room!