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The London Frontline Monkey 
Image by Wootang01 9.4.09 The flight arrived on time; and the twelve hours while on board passed quickly and without incident. To be sure, the quality of the Cathay Pacific service was exemplary once again. Heathrow reminds me of Newark International. The décor comes straight out of the sterile 80's and is less an eyesore than an insipid background to the rhythm of human activity, such hustle and bustle, at the fore. There certainly are faces from all races present, creating a rich mosaic of humanity which is refreshing if not completely revitalizing after swimming for so long in a sea of Chinese faces in Hong Kong. Internet access is sealed in England, it seems. Nothing is free; everything is egregiously monetized from the wireless hotspots down to the desktop terminals. I guess Hong Kong has spoiled me with its abundant, free access to the information superhighway. 11.4.09 Despite staying in a room with five other backpackers, I have been sleeping well. The mattress and pillow are firm; my earplugs keep the noise out; and the sleeping quarters are as dark as a cave when the lights are out, and only as bright as, perhaps, a dreary rainy day when on. All in all, St. Paul's is a excellent place to stay for the gregarious, adventurous, and penurious city explorer - couchsurfing may be a tenable alternative; I'll test for next time. Yesterday Connie and I gorged ourselves at the borough market where there were all sorts of delectable, savory victuals. There was definitely a European flavor to the food fair: simmering sausages were to be found everywhere; and much as the meat was plentiful, and genuine, so were the dairy delicacies, in the form of myriad rounds of cheese, stacked high behind checkered tabletops. Of course, we washed these tasty morsels down with copious amounts of alcohol that flowed from cups as though amber waterfalls. For the first time I tried mulled wine, which tasted like warm, rancid fruit punch - the ideal tonic for a drizzling London day, I suppose. We later killed the afternoon at the pub, shooting the breeze while imbibing several diminutive half-pints in the process. Getting smashed at four in the afternoon doesn't seem like such a bad thing anymore, especially when you are having fun in the company of friends; I can more appreciate why the English do it so much! Earlier in the day, we visited the Tate Modern. Its turbine room lived up to its prominent billing what with a giant spider, complete with bulbous egg sac, anchoring the retrospective exhibit. The permanent galleries, too, were a delight upon which to feast one's eyes. Picasso, Warhol and Pollock ruled the chambers of the upper floors with the products of their lithe wrists; and I ended up becoming a huge fan of cubism, while developing a disdain for abstract art and its vacuous images, which, I feel, are devoid of both motivation and emotion. My first trip yesterday morning was to Emirates Stadium, home of the Arsenal Gunners. It towers imperiously over the surrounding neighborhood; yet for all its majesty, the place sure was quiet! Business did pick up later, however, once the armory shop opened, and dozens of fans descended on it like bees to a hive. I, too, swooped in on a gift-buying mission, and wound up purchasing a book for Godfrey, a scarf for a student, and a jersey - on sale, of course - for good measure. I'm sitting in the Westminster Abbey Museum now, resting my weary legs and burdened back. So far, I've been verily impressed with what I've seen, such a confluence of splendor and history before me that it would require days to absorb it all, when regretfully I can spare only a few hours. My favorite part of the abbey is the poets corner where no less a literary luminary than Samuel Johnson rests in peace - his bust confirms his homely presence, which was so vividly captured in his biography. For lunch I had a steak and ale pie, served with mash, taken alongside a Guinness, extra cold - 2 degrees centigrade colder, the bartender explained. It went down well, like all the other delicious meals I've had in England; and no doubt by now I have grown accustomed to inebriation at half past two. Besides, Liverpool were playing inspired football against Blackburn; and my lunch was complete. Having had my fill of football, I decided to skip my ticket scalping endeavor at Stamford Bridge and instead wandered over to the British Museum to inspect their extensive collections. Along the way, my eye caught a theater, its doors wide open and admitting customers. With much rapidity, I subsequently checked the show times, saw that a performance was set to begin, and at last rushed to the box office to purchase a discounted ticket - if you call a 40 pound ticket a deal, that is. That's how I grabbed a seat to watch Hairspray in the West End. The show was worth forty pounds. The music was addictive; and the stage design and effects were not so much kitschy as delightfully stimulating - the pulsating background lights were at once scintillating and penetrating. The actors as well were vivacious, oozing charisma while they danced and delivered lines dripping in humor. Hairspray is a quality production and most definitely recommended. 12.4.09 At breakfast I sat across from a man who asked me to which country Hong Kong had been returned - China or Japan. That was pretty funny. Then he started spitting on my food as he spoke, completely oblivious to my breakfast becoming the receptacle in which the fruit of his inner churl was being placed. I guess I understand the convention nowadays of covering one's mouth whilst speaking and masticating at the same time! We actually conversed on London life in general, and I praised London for its racial integration, the act of which is a prodigious leap of faith for any society, trying to be inclusive, accepting all sorts of people. It wasn't as though the Brits were trying in vain to be all things to all men, using Spanish with the visitors from Spain, German with the Germans and, even, Hindi with the Indians, regardless of whether or not Hindi was their native language; not even considering the absurd idea of encouraging the international adoption of their language; thereby completely keeping English in English hands and allowing its proud polyglots to "practice" their languages. Indeed, the attempt of the Londoners to avail themselves of the rich mosaic of ethnic knowledge, and to seek a common understanding with a ubiquitous English accent is an exemplar, and the bedrock for any world city. I celebrated Jesus' resurrection at the St. Andrew's Street Church in Cambridge. The parishioners of this Baptist church were warm and affable, and I met several of them, including one visiting (Halliday) linguistics scholar from Zhongshan university in Guangzhou, who in fact had visited my tiny City University of Hong Kong in 2003. The service itself was more traditional and the believers fewer in number than the "progressive" services at any of the charismatic, evangelical churches in HK; yet that's what makes this part of the body of Christ unique; besides, the message was as brief as a powerpoint slide, and informative no less; the power word which spoke into my life being a question from John 21:22 - what is that to you? Big trees; exquisite lawns; and old, pointy colleges; that's Cambridge in a nutshell. Sitting here, sipping on a half-pint of Woodforde's Wherry, I've had a leisurely, if not languorous, day so far; my sole duty consisting of walking around while absorbing the verdant environment as though a sponge, camera in tow. I am back at the sublime beer, savoring a pint of Sharp's DoomBar before my fish and chips arrive; the drinking age is 18, but anyone whose visage even hints of youthful brilliance is likely to get carded these days, the bartender told me. The youth drinking culture here is almost as twisted as the university drinking culture in America. My stay in Cambridge, relaxing and desultory as it may be, is about to end after this late lunch. I an not sure if there is anything left to see, save for the American graveyard which rests an impossible two miles away. I have had a wonderful time in this town; and am thankful for the access into its living history - the residents here must demonstrate remarkable patience and tolerance what with so many tourists ambling on the streets, peering - and photographing - into every nook and cranny. 13.4.09 There are no rubbish bins, yet I've seen on the streets many mixed race couples in which the men tend to be white - the women also belonging to a light colored ethnicity, usually some sort of Asian; as well saw some black dudes and Indian dudes with white chicks. People here hold doors, even at the entrance to the toilet. Sometimes it appears as though they are going out on a limb, just waiting for the one who will take the responsibility for the door from them, at which point I rush out to relieve them of such a fortuitous burden. I visited the British Museum this morning. The two hours I spent there did neither myself nor the exhibits any justice because there really is too much to survey, enough captivating stuff to last an entire day, I think. The bottomless well of artifacts from antiquity, drawing from sources as diverse as Korea, and Mesopotamia, is a credit to the British empire, without whose looting most of this amazing booty would be unavailable for our purview; better, I think, for these priceless treasures to be open to all in the grandest supermarket of history than away from human eyes, and worst yet, in the hands of unscrupulous collectors or in the rubbish bin, possibly. Irene and I took in the ballet Giselle at The Royal Opera House in the afternoon. The building is a plush marvel, and a testament to this city's love for the arts. The ballet itself was satisfying, the first half being superior to the second, in which the nimble dancers demonstrated their phenomenal dexterity in, of all places, a graveyard covered in a cloak of smoke and darkness. I admit, their dance of the dead, in such a gloomy necropolis, did strike me as, strange. Two amicable ladies from Kent convinced me to visit their hometown tomorrow, where, they told me, the authentic, "working" Leeds Castle and the mighty interesting home of Charles Darwin await. I'm nursing a pint of Green King Ruddles and wondering about the profusion of British ales and lagers; the British have done a great deed for the world by creating an interminable line of low-alcohol session beers that can be enjoyed at breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner; and their disservice is this: besides this inexhaustible supply of cheap beer ensnaring my inner alcoholic, I feel myself putting on my freshman fifteen, almost ten years after the fact; I am going to have to run a bit harder back in Hong Kong if I want to burn all this malty fuel off. Irene suggested I stop by the National Art Gallery since we were in the area; and it was an hour well spent. The gallery currently presents a special exhibit on Picasso, the non-ticketed section of which features several seductive renderings, including David spying on Bathsheba - repeated in clever variants - and parodies of other masters' works. Furthermore, the main gallery houses two fabulous portraits by Joshua Reynolds, who happens to be favorite of mine, he in life being a close friend of Samuel Johnson - I passed by Boswells, where its namesake first met Johnson, on my way to the opera house. 14.4.09 I prayed last night, and went through my list, lifting everyone on it up to the Lord. That felt good; that God is alive now, and ever present in my life and in the lives of my brothers and sisters. Doubtless, then, I have felt quite wistful, as though a specter in the land of the living, being in a place where religious fervor, it seems, is a thing of the past, a trifling for many, to be hidden away in the opaque corners of centuries-old cathedrals that are more expensive tourist destinations than liberating homes of worship these days. Indeed, I have yet to see anyone pray, outside of the Easter service which I attended in Cambridge - for such an ecstatic moment in verily a grand church, would you believe that it was only attended by at most three dozen spirited ones. The people of England, and Europe in general, have, it is my hope, only locked away the Word, relegating it to the quiet vault of their hearts. May it be taken out in the sudden pause before mealtimes and in the still crisp mornings and cool, silent nights. There is still hope for a revival in this place, for faith to rise like that splendid sun every morning. God would love to rescue them, to deliver them in this day, it is certain. I wonder what Londoners think, if anything at all, about their police state which, like a vine in the shadows, has taken root in all corners of daily life, from the terrorist notifications in the underground, which implore Londoners to report all things suspicious, to the pair of dogs which eagerly stroll through Euston. What makes this all the more incredible is the fact that even the United States, the indomitable nemesis of the fledgling, rebel order, doesn't dare bombard its citizens with such fear mongering these days, especially with Obama in office; maybe we've grown wise in these past few years to the dubious returns of surrendering civil liberties to the state, of having our bags checked everywhere - London Eye; Hairspray; and The Royal Opera House check bags in London while the museums do not; somehow, that doesn't add up for me. I'm in a majestic bookshop on New Street in Birmingham, and certainly to confirm my suspicions, there are just as many books on the death of Christianity in Britain as there are books which attempt to murder Christianity everywhere. I did find, however, a nice biography on John Wesley by Roy Hattersley and The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. I may pick up the former. Lunch with Sally was pleasant and mirthful. We dined at a French restaurant nearby New Street - yes, Birmingham is a cultural capitol! Sally and I both tried their omelette, while her boyfriend had the fish, without chips. Conversation was light, the levity was there and so was our reminiscing about those fleeting moments during our first year in Hong Kong; it is amazing how friendships can resume so suddenly with a smile. On their recommendation, I am on my way to Warwick Castle - they also suggested that I visit Cadbury World, but they cannot take on additional visitors at the moment, the tourist office staff informed me, much to my disappointment! Visiting Warwick Castle really made for a great day out. The castle, parts of which were established by William the Conquerer in 1068, is as much a kitschy tourist trap as a meticulous preservation of history, at times a sillier version of Ocean Park while at others a dignified dedication to a most glorious, inexorably English past. The castle caters to all visitors; and not surprisingly, that which delighted all audiences was a giant trebuchet siege engine, which for the five p.m. performance hurled a fireball high and far into the air - fantastic! Taliban beware! 15.4.09 I'm leaving on a jet plane this evening; don't know when I'll be back in England again. I'll miss this quirky, yet endearing place; and that I shall miss Irene and Tom who so generously welcomed me into their home, fed me, and suffered my use of their toilet and shower goes without saying. I'm grateful for God's many blessings on this trip. On the itinerary today is a trip to John Wesley's home, followed by a visit to the Imperial War Museum. Already this morning I picked up a tube of Oilatum, a week late perhaps, which Teri recommended I use to treat this obstinate, dermal weakness of mine - I'm happy to report that my skin has stopped crying. John Wesley's home is alive and well. Services are still held in the chapel everyday; and its crypt, so far from being a cellar for the dead, is a bright, spacious museum in which all things Wesley are on display - I never realized how much of an iconic figure he became in England; at the height of this idol frenzy, ironic in itself, he must have been as popular as the Beatles were at their apex. The house itself is a multi-story edifice with narrow, precipitous staircases and spacious rooms decorated in an 18th century fashion. I found Samuel Johnson's house within a maze of red brick hidden alongside Fleet Street. To be in the home of the man who wrote the English dictionary, and whose indefatigable love for obscure words became the inspiration for my own lexical obsession, this, by far, is the climax of my visit to England! The best certainly has been saved for last. There are a multitude of portraits hanging around the house like ornaments on a tree. Every likeness has its own story, meticulously retold on the crib sheets in each room. Celebrities abound, including David Garrick and Sir Joshua Reynolds, who painted several of the finer images in the house. I have developed a particular affinity for Oliver Goldsmith, of whom Boswell writes, "His person was short, his countenance coarse and vulgar, his deportment that of a scholar awkwardly affecting the easy gentleman. It appears as though I, too, could use a more flattering description of myself! I regretfully couldn't stop to try the curry in England; I guess the CityU canteen's take on the dish will have to do. I did, however, have the opportune task of flirting with the cute Cathay Pacific counter staff who checked me in. She was gorgeous in red, light powder on her cheeks, with real diamond earrings, she said; and her small, delicate face, commanded by a posh British accent rendered her positively irresistible, electrifying. Not only did she grant me an aisle seat but she had the gumption to return my fawning with zest; she must be a pro at this by now. I saw her again as she was pulling double-duty, collecting tickets prior to boarding. She remembered my quest for curry; and in the fog of infatuation, where nary a man has been made, I fumbled my words like the sloppy kid who has had too much punch. I am just an amateur, alas, an "Oliver Goldsmith" with the ladies - I got no game - booyah! Some final, consequential bits: because of the chavs, Burberry no longer sells those fashionable baseball caps; because of the IRA, rubbish bins are no longer a commodity on the streets of London, and as a result, the streets and the Underground of the city are a soiled mess; and because of other terrorists from distant, more arid lands, going through a Western airport has taken on the tedium of perfunctory procedure that doesn't make me feel any safer from my invisible enemies. At last, I saw so many Indians working at Heathrow that I could have easily mistaken the place for Mumbai. Their presence surprised me because their portion of the general population surely must be less than their portion of Heathrow staff, indicating some mysterious hiring bias. Regardless, they do a superb job with cursory airport checks, and in general are absurdly funny and witty when not tactless. That's all for England!
Saul Bosquez 
Image by familymwr Saul Bosquez, an Army veteran who lost his lower left leg and two right toes to an improvised explosive device while patrolling Iraq on Aug. 1, 2007, works out Feb. 24 with the Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team at Space Coast Stadium in Viera, Fla., spring training home of the Washington Nationals. The squad, which consists of Soldiers and Marines wounded in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, will play 60 to 75 softball games this year against able-bodied teams across America. U.S. Army photo by Tim Hipps, IMCOM Public Affairs Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team feels like ‘America’s Team’ By Tim Hipps IMCOM Public Affairs VIERA, Fla. â€" Army Cpl. Matt Kinsey says he plays for the newest version of “America’s Team†â€" the Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team. “We’ve got the best fans of any team in America,†Kinsey said Feb. 24 after practicing at Space Coast Stadium, spring training home of the Washington Nationals. “Everybody says we’re America’s new favorite team. The support that we get is just unbelievable â€" everywhere we go, we get first-class treatment.†All of the players are Soldiers or Marines who lost limbs while deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. They are the first softball squadron completely assembled with wounded warriors playing on prosthetics or with missing body parts. They plan to play 60 to 75 games this year against able-bodied teams, and they expect to win most of those contests. For these guys, however, every day spent on a diamond is a win-win situation. “The fans thank you for your service and everything, but they are kind of in awe because they are not used to seeing â€" it’s the first time it’s ever been done: guys playing competitive softball on prosthetics,†Kinsey said. “I think they look at us walking in like, “Ah, I don’t know if these guys are really going to be up to snuff.’ “But they find out pretty quick that we can play. As soon as the game is over, I think they are just in awe of how hard we play and the talent level we’re at. We get a really good reception.†The team is the brainchild of David Van Sleet, 56, a former Army specialist who spent the past 32 years working with prosthetics for the Department of Veterans Affairs. “I’ve been involved with softball my whole life, managing, coaching and playing,†Van Sleet said. “I just stopped to do this. I’m the brainchild, the founder and head coach. “I saw some pretty athletic looking guys coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan,†he explained. “And the University of Arizona acquired a Congressional grant that enabled us to bring 20 guys to Tucson in 2011 for a disabled veterans sports camp. I came up with the idea to make it a softball camp. “When we were there, the camaraderie and the skill level that I saw, I was like, ‘Man, we’ve got something here.’ More importantly, the guys told me that we had something there, and they didn’t want it to end. We took it from there, and it’s just exploded.†The team carries13 to 15 players on the roster and takes 11 on each road trip to play against military teams, firemen, policemen, celebrity squads, elite women’s teams and all-comers. They will face a D.C. celebrity team following the Boston Red Sox-Washington Nationals game April 3 at Nationals Park in Washington. They have a game set for Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, N.Y., home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. More extravaganzas are set for Huntsville, Ala., and The Hamptons on Long Island, N.Y. Olympic softball star Jennie Finch has invited them to Louisiana for a “ Battle on the Bayou.†And they will play before the NCAA Women’s Softball Championship finale in Oklahoma City. Kinsey, 26, played baseball for Rockville High School in Indiana and a year of junior college ball for Danville Area Community College in Illinois. He experienced arm problems there and returned home to work on the farm for a couple of years before joining the Army in March of 2006. “I was on my second tour of Afghanistan when I stepped on a land mine on a night patrol and I lost my right foot,†Kinsey recalled of June 2, 2010, the day his life forever changed. “Half of it was missing initially. The explosion blew away from me, so I was very fortunate that happened. When I got to Walter Reed [Army Medical Center], we decided to take the rest of the foot. Now I have a nub. “I had a very quick recovery. I was running by August.†Running again, however, was a learning process. “It’s different at first. I’m not going to lie,†said Kinsey, who shifted his pitching and catching baseball prowess to shortstop for softball. “You basically retrain yourself on how to play and how to move. But as far as getting up and going and planting, I probably have more of an advantage because I create more torque. I have more leg than a lot of the guys.†Saul Bosquez played high school, American Legion and two seasons of junior college baseball at Grand Rapids Community College before joining the Army. He soon deployed as a specialist from Fort Benning, Ga., to Iraq. On Aug. 1, 2007, Bosquez had completed a convoy of Iraqi police checkpoints and was returning to base when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device that broke his left leg in 11 places and collected two of his right toes. Eventually, he became a below the knee amputee. “It was the best thing for me to do,†Bosquez said. “It was a tough decision, being 22 years old, and having to decide where I wanted my leg cut off at. I guess it’s a decision you never think you’re going to have to make.†Bosquez’s first athletic journey outside of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington was to Jim Estes’ Salute Military Golf Association clinic for wounded warriors in Olney, Md. “You can feel sorry for yourself all you want, but it's not going to make your situation any better,†Bosquez said then. “So why not try to do something? “It’s like the easiest thing to do for guys missing legs,†Bosquez recalls of the golf therapy. “It’s not very high-impact, and it gets them back out there competing. Golf is not always against other people, though, it’s a very mental game. I have a newfound respect for golf. I play a lot of golf now.†On a good day, he has a golf handicap of 13, a score most honest hacks would envy. Bosquez, however, was a former football and baseball player who swam and ran track. He still yearned for team competition and was determined to play baseball again â€" or at least softball. “I can do other things, but they don’t have a lot of programs for the things that I want to do,†he said. “I would like to start a baseball program and actually play in a league.†He since has learned how to ski on snow and water â€" something he never attempted on two natural legs. “I had never tried either one until after I lost my leg,†he said. “I picked it up just like that. Anything athletic always has just come pretty naturally to me.†Fast forward four years, and Bosquez is playing in a veritable softball league of his own. Last March, about 20 wounded warriors gathered for the tryout camp at the University of Arizona. They concluded with an intra-squad game in which Bosquez threw out a runner at home plate to preserve the victory. “That was a pretty cool moment,†he said. Kinsey said learning how to achieve daily activities was the hardest part of dealing with his injury. “Being out here on a ball diamond, your mental instincts kick in,†he explained. “I’ve played in thousands of games so it’s more muscle-memory than anything. Everyday things like showering or getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, you have to hop there â€" but you get your own system and learn what works.†Kinsey bats third in the Wounded Warriors’ lineup. “I go deep every now and then if the wind’s not blowing in,†he said with a grin. He still has difficulty fathoming this whole scenario. “If you would have asked me over a year ago when I got hit if I would be playing softball at spring training with the Nationals, let alone being on this team and getting to go to all the places that we’ve been to, I’d tell you that you were full of it,†Kinsey said. “This has been a dream come true, and it’s only getting bigger. We’ve been from the East Coast to the West Coast so far.†Kinsey, a sixth-year Soldier, is stationed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center but is on PCS home leave, awaiting clearance by the medical board. A former quarterback, Kinsey helped coach his high school team for the past eight seasons. Now he’s taking it to the next level. “I’m going to be coaching college football next year at Siena Heights University in Adrian, Michigan, but between doing that, softball is basically is my fulltime job,†he said. “I’m going to be continuing my education up there.†Meantime, Bosquez is basking in the moment of traveling around the country to play softball. “We’ve blown up in the past year,†Bosquez said. “We were in “Sports Illustrated.†We were on “Real Sports with Bryant Gumble†on HBO. We just played a flag football game against retired NFL guys in Indianapolis the week of the Super Bowl, and we won by like 21 points. And we were on like a five-minute segment on SportsCenter with Rick Reilly. “It’s been a pretty big ride.†The Washington Nationals and Louisville Slugger are their primary sponsors, with Boombah providing shoes and Phiten tossing in accessories. Even Jimmy Buffett has boarded the caravan. “This past October we hung out with him in Las Vegas, where the world’s largest margarita was made,†Bosquez said. “Wherever we go, the people who bring us out will take care of us.†All but one of the former baseball players had never played competitive softball, so they are learning the nuances of the game on the fly. “Me and Matt still have the baseball swing and mentality â€" it’s kind of hard to break out of that,†said Bosquez, 27, who received Army retirement papers three years ago. “Pretty much every athletes’ dream of a second chance after they’re done, we got it, and we’re all taking the most from it.†The players hope to spread awareness and inspire others to realize that “just because you’re injured, it’s not over.†“You’re going to have to work for it, but you can do it again,†Bosquez said. “We show that, and hopefully other disabled guys and other amputees will get that. Hopefully, we can inspire them to go out there and try.†“It’s no different than someone who has a nagging injury or something that just can’t heal. You might go out there and trip over your foot or something that you wouldn’t have done before you got hurt â€" just little things like that. But like they say, a day out on the golf course or a day out on the field is better than a day of pretty much anything else, so you can’t complain.†Kinsey concurred. “As long as I can play, I’ll play,†he said. “I’ll play until my legs fall off, or my arm falls off, or whatever.†For his efforts, Van Sleet received the Veterans Administration’s highest award before Congress last year. “I’ve had a pretty good career with the V.A.,†he said. “They took the flag off the Capitol and gave it to me.â€
