23 Magical Music Moments (#3)

12/28/2023

23 Magical Music Moments (#3)

England England England

For the first time ever we were fortunate to make THREE trips to England this year.

In addition to two trips related to our daughter Hannah attending school in Southampton, I was fortunate to attend a work-related conference at Cambridge University with Kim.

The Mathematical Bridge, Queen’s College, Cambridge. The bridge was originally built in 1749, and rebuilt in 1866 and 1905. Although it appears to be an arch, it is composed entirely of straight timbers^[4] built to an unusually sophisticated engineering design, hence the name.

We attended inspirational lectures with leading world class speakers and spent time with colleagues.

The famous Eagle Pub where JAMES WATSON and FRANCIS CRICK, the discoverers of DNA had lunch every day.

We even got to meet someone Kimberly and I both admire, the President of Queen’s College, Dr. Mohamed A. El-Erian. We both enjoy his economic insights as he regularly appears on the CNBC morning show “Squawk Box.”

Dr. Mohamed A. Ek-Etian and Kimberly King
(July 14, 2023)

We also had a moment of excellent thinking in our dorm room accommodation. As you might guess, the rooms have no air conditioning and, while not scorching hot, it was warm. We were provided with a single fan.

See the clip below to see how Kimberly mounted the fan on an upside down rubbish bin positioned at the wide- open screenless window to move some air and save the day and the comment I made to a few friends at the time.

Cambridge University. It is where Sir Isaac Newton solved gravity, Charles Darwin gave the world evolution and DNA was discovered. But it wasn’t until July 9, 2023 that Kimberly King gave Britain modern air conditioning.

One of the things we love about the UK so much is the normalcy of quirkiness. We revel in the inefficiencies in so many aspects of life there and the acceptance by many that it is okay because that is just the way it is. I could go on but it is time for a song to denote how wonderful it was to spend over 3 weeks in the UK with Kimberly this year.

In 1794 Napoleon referred to England as “a nation of shopkeepers.”

In that spirit here is a quintessentially British song from a great album on the excellent COUNTRY MILE RECORDS label. The song is ‘Commercial Street’ from the LP “Lost On Land And Sea” by JON LANGFORD & THE MEN OF GWENT 🇬🇧 🇺🇸