In 2010, I was lucky to lead a team of 12 people to England for a Rotary Friendship Exchange. We spent two weeks in the Midlands, first in Peterborough, then in Northampton, and finally in Loughborough/Leicester.

For five nights, Alan and Margaret Bothamley hosted me, my travel partner Alison Dailey and Sam and Stella Hazel. Four strangers in their warm and welcoming home, where we devoured their food, emptied bottles of gin and partied every night, plastering everything with our colloquial American patois.
Their first question? “Are you and Alison a couple?”Continue Reading

When we last left our hapless Aristocrat and his American wife, they were visiting my current hosts in an attempt to greet us Stateside folk. They proceeded to invite us over to their manse for drinks the following evening, something we Americans were gleefully anticipating. After all, this WAS theContinue Reading