1. UK 1995 Diary
Daddy took me to the airport on 19 June, a Monday, for my PAL flight to London. I
boarded the plane at 6PM, and took the seat near the emergency exit. We had a one-
hour stopover at Frankfurt, and arrived at Gatwick about 9:30 am the next day. After
one hour at the Immigration, I took the monorail, struggling with my big blue
suitcase, to the North Terminal for a British Air flight to Manchester, arriving there
at about noon. Changed
some dollars for pounds and
took a taxi for ten pounds to
Hornby Road, where Joan’s
place is, at the Old Trafford
Town. Joan’s house
accommodated transients and
backpackers for 12 pounds a
UMIST night. Ate pizza and salad for
lunch. Slept the whole day,
and woke up at 10:30 pm, it
10 Hornby
Old was still daylight. So I slept
Trafford again, and woke up at 4:30
town hall am to find that the sun was already up. I took a walk to Manchester United and
waited for the shop to open at 9. Bought t-shirts and baseball caps for Carlos
and Rio. With the two Malaysians who also stayed at Joan’s, we took a taxi for
UMIST, venue of the 2005 UK LA “Under one umbrella” Convention, arriving
there before noon. Met Myriam from Cali,
Columbia and Carolyn from Simmons College,
Boston. After settling down to
my own private room at the
University of Manchester’s
Weston Conference Center Hall,
Myriam and I took an afternoon
walk to the Post Office where I
sent a postcard and walked to the
Piccadilly Plaza. Back to the
Weston Hall, we had an
orientation meeting with Joyce
Weston Hall Wallace, and our trainors-
lecturers (Lucy Tedd, Tony
Thompson, and Ida Flynn).
Univ of Manchester
June 22, Thursday began
with a heavy English
breakfast, and an
introductory lecture by
Lucy on “Computer
Applications in Libraries;
an overview of
Piccadilly
Manchester Town developments.” After her lecture, I Piccadilly
went on a sight-seeing trip by myself to
see the Manchester Central Library, St.
Peter’s Square, and the City Art
Galleries to view the Holocaust exhibit.
I also took photos of Princess Street
(lined with 18th century edifices), where
we would usually start off on our daily
walk to the center of the town. The Princess
evening was capped with a formal reception with the Mayor of Manchester at the Street
Town Hall.
The next day we
listened to Ida’s lecture on the “Internet.” Then after
lunch, I took a long stroll along Market Street,
shopped at Marks & Spencer, and bought kid shoes
for Cybele (which I found out when I got back was
marked “made in the Phils.”). Took photos of
Manchester

2. Manchester Cathedral (another masterpiece of Sir Christopher Wren who built St. Paul in London), and Piccadilly
Gardens, on the way back to Weston Hall for the Exhibitors Reception dinner at Barnes Willis. There I joined a quiz
show with 4 Britons, a Swede, Chuli (from Sri Lanka), Myriam, and two Jamaicans as contestants. I won 3rd prize.
June 24, Saturday was spent at the plenary session, listening to 2 lectures (one
by Phil Sykes on “Convergence” and the other on “Internet Developments”.
At 11am, I rushed to John Rylands Library (Deansgate) before it closes at
1pm. Then I joined a Chetham Library tour given by Michael Powell, the
librarian, who described how books were arranged by size, color, etc..
Chetham’s is the oldest (1421) public library in UK, where books remained
chained to their shelves. Its rare
book collection rivaled those of
Oxford and Cambridge, and it
possessed 13th-14th cent.
Medieval manuscripts. We sat
on 17th century chairs in the
general reading area. Both visits
were powerfully awesome in
grandeur and historicity of the
collections. The only place I
was allowed to take a picture, it
seemed, was the toilet, so I did. In the late afternoon, Myriam and I walked towards Manchester U to visit the
Whitworth Gallery, but it was already closed.
Sunday was spent in the morning attending 2 lectures and after lunch,
Myriam and I took Carolyn for a walking tour of St. Anne’s Church
(1712), where we listened to an organ recital, shopped at Marks &
Spencer (bras, etc) and rested awhile at Piccadilly gardens.
The next day, we listened to Tony’s lecture on “International
Developments on Multimedia” at UMIST library, and had lunch at
Barnes Willis. In the afternoon, we were treated to a visit at John
Rylands and an evening reception tendered by the British Council.
Back in Weston, Masuda showed me his camera (made in the Phils.),
a good one, while mine, a Nikon (made in Japan) was not functioning
well. Inside St. Anne’s
Tuesday, June 27, after breakfast of English toast, sausage, scrambled eggs & bacon,
plum, peach, English coffee, and orange juice, Myriam and I went to Lewis to shop,
where I got a backpacker. At ten, the motorcoach took us to the British Library at
Boston Spa, (a copyright library, where I bought a sweatshirt), and after the library
tour and lecture, we
went to York for an
evening stroll of the
York Minster Cathedral
(one of the world’s
famous cathedrals, built
in 1220 where
Archbishop Walter de
Gray was entombed),
the King’s Manor (now
part of York University,
where Charles I had his

3. headquarters in 1639 and 1642), the art gallery of York
Town, The York Opera House, and the ruins of St.
Mary’s Abbey (which was dissolved in 1539). We were
home by 10pm at dusk, late for dinner, but since it was
St. Mary’s Abbey
summer, it was still light.
The next day, we traveled the whole morning to Oxford
(the land of “dreaming spires”) , arriving at St. Hilda’s
College at 1pm. I had the best room, spacious,
surrounded by glass walls and windows,
overlooking the gardens and the river
Cherwell. The afternoon was spent
touring the Bodleian Library (another
copyright library), Sheldonian Theatre,
and a leisurely stroll along High Street.
Dinner was superb – pink salmon pate,
roast beef, salad, cheese and crackers,
ice cream and coffee. After dinner, we
went punting by the river, with Lucy,
St. Hilda’s Anthony, Collin, Chuli, and Therese
(the Jamaican). For 30 minutes, we
were encircling the river, getting nowhere, creating quite a spectacle. Walked around the
beautiful gardens of St. Hilda’s until dusk at 10:30pm.
June 29 was a cool and
crispy morning. Before
breakfast, I managed to take
an early stroll along High
Street, towards St. Aldates
St., past the Memorial
Garden and back to St.
Hilda’s in time for a
sumptuous breakfast. By
St. Hilda’s 8am, I was walking around
the Botanical garden with
Yati and the Malaysian,
Wan.
Botanical
At 10:30 we Bodleian Library
were at
Blackwells
Bookshop
and had
lunch at
King’s Cross
College with
Chairman
Miles
Blackwell.
Then we
toured the
Ashmolean
Museum (the oldest in Britain and one of the
greatest in the world) at St. Giles St.,
Blackwell’s Bookshop at Broad St., and Christ Church
back to High Street to see the Museum of
Oxford but it

4. Christ Church
was already closed. So I just took photos of ChristChurch
College (above photo), the largest, richest, and most War Memorial
magnificent college in the University, founded by Henry
XVIII in 1546, but originally established by Cardinal
Wolsey in 1525, after he had fallen from power), and its
Cathedral (built 1121 on the site of the Priory of St.
Frideswide, founder of Oxford 727 AD), the beautiful
War Memorial
Gardens along St.
Aldates St., and the
many universities
surrounding the area:
Oxford University
All Souls College
College (the oldest, 1249,
believed to be founded by
King Alfred), the Queen’s Queen’s College
College (1341), Oriel College
(1326), Merton College
Martyrs
memorial
University
(1264), All Souls
College (1438),
Brasenose College
(1509), Trinity College
(1555) and back to St.
Magdalen College,
along High Street, on
the way back to St.
Trinity Hilda’s, stopping by at
College Whittards to shop for
souvenirs.
St. Magdalen
College