Valhalla

It was a beautiful day for grave robbing...Actually someone had beaten us to it and had knicked great Auntie Margaret's copper marker. Honestly... some people!

Kelly was in town for a little bit of family history research and a lot of Aretha Franklin (trust me, I've seen the pictures). She whisked me to the verdant hillsides of Westchester in search of her forebearers, or what's left of them anyway. I am quite partial to a bit of cemetery hopping, although usually they're buried under a foot and a half of snow, the cemeteries that is. We also went to Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx and sat on the Beaudine bench in lovely sunshine.

That evening saw a trip to Brooklyn with Dave for Grimaldi's pizza (we had a Frankenstein pie - sausage, capers, extra mozzarella, basil and pepperoni) and an unusual wager. I sometimes forget just how competitive I am. It's frightening!

Another Great British invention

So I learned yesterday that the peace sign, that great symbol of the American anti-war movement and the sixties counterculture, was invented by the Brits! It debuted 50 years ago today - Good Friday 1958 - created by the good ole CND (that's the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament to those of you who aren't familiar with Vanessa Redgrave's career as a political campaigner). Protests supporting nuclear disarmament - it seems like a longer than just fifty years ago. Nowadays, a million people show up in Parliament Sq to say no way are we going to invade Iraq, and the government just does it anyway. I don't go on protests anymore. I stay at home in the warm and watch slickly produced shows about how the government breaks them up. Spooks, anyone?

Big window, little boy Big window, medium-sized boy
Il a grandi!