Today was another amazing day. We went to the Imperial War Museum to see the World War I exhibit. I thought about my brother-in-law, Ken. He would be ecstatic. We spent five hours going through the exhibit!!. And what was even more amazing was that everyone else was taking their time just as we were. I did not know that the U. S. got into WWI b/c our military got wind of a scheme by Germany to ally Mexico with a promise of awarding them territory in the U. S. The U. S. later touted the sinking of the Lusitania as the reason but, fact is, the Lusitania was sunk a couple of years before we got into the war. The horrendous conditions under which this war was fought is hard to take in. Also, the figures for the concentration of wealth in Great Britain is staggering. I wish I could remember accurately but it's something like 70$ of the wealth was concentrated in the 1$ of the population. The life expectancy at that time was something like 50 y/o for men and 54 for women. Compulsory education was through 12 y/o at which point most children went to work to help support their families. The number of deaths--to say it is staggering- is even an understatement. It was fascinating to see the development of technology in response to the technology of the other side. I did not know that opposing forces tunneled under the trenches and set explosives. How terrifying. And in one instance the tunnelers from opposing sides ran into each other and fought it out in total darkness. Good lord. And one assignment was to go into the trenches of dead soldiers and knife them to make sure they were dead. The horror of it. The battlefields were so torn by bombs and saturated by rain that they were just irregular mud terrain. Soldiers actually drowned when they fell into water-filled holes. The only thing Ralph and I could figure is that they were so weighted down by their equipment they could not swim up. Poison gas was used and then gas masks of various designs depending on the type of gas were designed and dispersed. They actually carried mice and bird with them whose demise would signal exposure to poison gas. Another feature was the killing by the Germans of civilian populations whom they feared would rise up in opposition to them. This slaughter of innocent civilians was broadcast to the populations of the Allies who were outraged at this transgression. I could go on and on. What a magnificent exhibit. I am so far impressed with how polite the British people are. They are calm and quiet on the whole, too. Children are out and about so I take it school has not started here. Lots of people with dogs. Our greeter tortoiseshell cat was not out and about either this morning or this evening. We spent, incidentally, did I already mention this? five hours at the exhibit. And this is a special exhibit commemorating the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the war. So we did not touch the rest of the museum some of which we passed through that included planes from WWII, etc. We will have to go back. Ken hope you get to come some time. We discovered a very interesting menu at the museum café. I'd been told the cafes at museums are surprisingly good here. However, there were few tables and we were weary of the crowd. We went, on recommendation from a friend, to a taps restaurant in Camden. It was so good. We ate in a back garden space. We had to walk a sizeable distance but it turned out to be worth it. We will soon have to curtail this eating out as it is costly even in the more modest establishments. First we went to a nearby pub whose website we had accessed. Barbeque is all the rage here. Can you believe it? This pub touts it's barbeque. We went in and immediately were arrested by the small amount of available table space. Yikes are we intruding on a local population? Ralph agreed to go survey the patio where there turned out to be throngs of people (a contrast to the small area inside). But no tables available and no evidence of the grill being cranked up. We plan to return on a weekday night. Our only offering will be fish and chips or veggie burger but it's so convenient to our neighborhood that we'd like to become familiar with it. We will endeavor to return to the Imperial War Museum. The exhibition of WWI war paintings was particularly appealing to Ralph who studies Modernism. These artists apparently, from what I read, struggled with their affinity for Modernism and the depiction of war in those terms. The art was staggeringly moving. Fascinating. The gov't commissioned work from artists in order to stir the population. I did not know that artists depicted the war. One amazing thing after another. So far so good. Happy to be here. Grateful to be here. Stupendous.