I am forever fascinated by the “sacred stones.”  I must own fifteen books on Stonehenge.  I even have a small plastic model of Stonehenge in our office in Saint Paul (which LindaSue just laughs at).  I love the mystique and endless questions about Stonehenge:

• Why did they build it?
• Why did they build it where it is (middle of relatively flat, open land)?
• How did they build it?
• Who were the people that built it?
• How were all the workers organized/directed?
• How was the design communicated along generations of people spanning more than a thousand years (with no written word)?

And on and on.

Sitting at Brit’s Pub in Minneapolis (the most authentic English pub outside of England I know of) one night after Pub Quiz, drinking a pint of Fuller’s London Pride, we started talking about Stonehenge.  I recall saying to my team mates (which included LindaSue) … “There must be a good story there.”  They replied …. “Well, you should write it!”  It took a while, but we ended up doing just that.

As much as I love Stonehenge, I have to recognize there are many people who could not care less about it.  Interesting point … our daughter Katie went to Lancaster University for a semester in college.  She ended up marrying a Brit – Peter.  We have become good friends with Peter’s parents.  They live in Manchester, which is only a few hours away from Stonehenge.  Come to find out, Peter’s Dad (“Big” Pete) had never been to Stonehenge.  He traveled over much of England for his job, but never bothered to stop and see Stonehenge. Indeed, there are people who could not care less about Stonehenge.  “Just a big pile of rocks, isn’t it?”  Fine.  Not everybody is as silly about Stonehenge as I am.

 

I am actually silly about most everything British.  Beer, Big Ben, driving on the wrong side of the road – I even like pub food!  But I am especially fond of British sports cars.  My very first car was a 1960 Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprite.  I later bought a 1973 MGB.  Then came a 1967 Austin-Healey 3000 – gorgeous car with fantastic exhaust sounds.  Later, I had a 1965 MG Midget (tiny little thing).  In 2005, I bought one of the few cars I have ever owned from new – a 2005 Lotus Elise.