Archive for the ‘My life & thoughts’ Category
Nine days in Washington DC and area
December 6th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
If you’re a regular visitor to NightHawk, you may have read recently a series of 10 blog postings on my trip to the USA to celebrate Thanksgiving and to see friends and tourist attractions. I have now knitted these postings into a single narrative and added various hyperlinks. Of course, you might not have read […]
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Delighted to hand over my role at South East Water to Zoe McLeod
December 5th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
For the past five years, I’ve had a consumer champion role at South East Water. For three years, I chaired the Customer Challenge Group which worked with the company on its business plan for the Price Review period 2015-2020. For the next two years, I chaired the Customer Panel which monitored how the company performed […]
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Thanksgiving in the USA (10)
November 28th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
The last day of my trip was a Sunday and Mike treated me to a cooked breakfast before he drove me to Glenmont metro station for my journey to downtown Washington to spend another day on my own before catching my flight home. First, I made my way to the Capital Hilton Hotel where I […]
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Thanksgiving in the USA (9)
November 27th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
On the penultimate day of my trip (Saturday), I went into Washington DC on my own. I started with lunch with a very close and longstanding friend, Larry Cohen, at a Mexican restaurant called “Oyamel” and an ice cream parlour called “Pitango”. I have known Larry for almost 30 years but not seen him since […]
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The resignation and then the death of Fidel Castro – democracy postponed
November 26th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
When I heard of the death of Fidel Castro, I was reminded of my visit to Cuba eight years ago in 2008. Coincidentally, just two weeks before my holiday on the island, Fidel announced his resignation as president and passed the baton to his brother Raul. All the time I was in Cuba, I was […]
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Thanksgiving in the USA (8)
November 26th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Friday saw a return to downtown Washington DC to visit another museum. The Newseum is a private location that charges visitors unlike the Smithsonian museums which are free, but it is an absolutely fascinating place that anyone with an interest in current affairs simply must visit. It opened at its present location on Pennsylvania Avenue […]
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Thanksgiving in the USA (7)
November 25th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Following the family version of Thanksgiving on Sunday, the real Thanksgiving Day was today (Thursday). Around the nation, almost 49 million Americans travelled by road, rail and air to join their families. Mike and Laura were keen that I should have the full, immersive Thanksgiving experience so, like 50 million viewers all around the country, […]
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Thanksgiving in the USA (6)
November 24th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
I have long been fascinated by the American political system (if you Google those three words, my website guide will be referenced in the first page of results) and intrigued by American politics (which is why a visit to the USA within a couple of weeks of Donald Trump’s election as president is so interesting). […]
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Thanksgiving in the USA (5)
November 23rd, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Everyone knows that the American Civil War was a key period of US history that arguably still has resonances today and many Americans – including Mike – are fascinated by the personalities and engagements that made up that titantic struggle. Most non-Americans though would struggle to identify more than one of the civil war battles […]
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Thanksgiving in the USA (4)
November 22nd, 2016 by Roger Darlington
Today (Monday), Mike and Laura had things to do, so I headed off to downtown Washington DC on my own to visit a couple of favourite museums. Laura drove me the 20 minute ride to Glenmont metro station, which is at the end of the red line, and an hour later I was at my […]
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