We are sitting in the park waiting to eat lunch. It is a beautiful day with blue skies and fluffy white clouds at the moment. The weather here can change without a moments notice of course. It i s England after all.

This is a small park with a statue of an Edward in the middle dressed as a roman emperor. A pigeon is perched comfortably on his head.

There are flower beds running across the park with two colors of flowers, blue and yellow. The benches are about a third full as working men start to spill out into it from a from tall old building under repairs.

We are people watching and I am wondering about these old buildings sitting all around me.

I noticed that there is a round blue plaque on two of them less than a hundred feet away. I decided to walk over and see what it said.

I walked across the park as the pigeons watched my with suspicion and envy. They can fly but I am bigger and at the top of the food chain and they know it. Living in London they know from years of experience that they are never too far from being backed in a pie.

When I reached the two narrow brick buildings I read the plaque. “These buildings were the home of the Portuguese Ambassador from 1726 to 1747.

We walked over five miles in London yesterday just looking around at the buildings and lush plants. My wife loves coming to England this time of year with all the flowers in bloom. There is history all around us.

We will be coming back to London for a wedding again in six weeks time.

By the way, I will be adding more commentary and photos to these pages as I remember things and find more pictures.

The Portuguese Ambassador’s home

I just won the Long Beach Searches for The Greatest Storyteller event for March. It is held on the first Monday of each month.

The rules are simple. Tell a true story in 6 minutes and see how the crowd votes. Luckily it isn’t like in Rome a few centuries ago in the Coliseum.

I did get a thumbs up, however.

The video of my six minute fun true story telling event is on Instagram at R.C. Hand.

It involves two young boys on Halloween with no parental supervision. What could possibly go wrong?

This is me in the middle receiving the $100.00 cash award with Marina Williams on my left. Marina Williams is the creator of this event. She is a writer and the wife of Paul Williams, American songwriter and actor.

The finals will be on the first Monday of August at Malainey’s Grill in Long Beach at 7:00 pm. There is a cover charge of $6.00 if you aren’t telling a story.

Please remember that many of my true life stories are on my website along with the first chapters of my many novels.

Thanks as always for coming to see my adventures.