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Darla's From Devon?

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Dear Juliet Found this church in Bridgnorth while I was trying to find a customer! Bits of St. Leonard's date from the 12th century , but most of it got blown up during the English Civil War because Roundhead troops used it as an ammunition store. A cannonball fired by Cavaliers scored a direct hit in 1646 and it wasn't fully restored until Victorian times. Although St. Leonard's wasn't directly involved, it also looks like purges of Puritans in and around Bridgnorth and elsewhere (mainly East Anglia and the West Country) forced many Dissenters and Nonconformists to flee to New England between ca. 1630-1680. So for all I know, Darla may have been a Salopian although it's far more likely she was from Suffolk or Devon... It seems there were only four Shropshire children on board the Mayflower  itself, but the reason why they were there derives from an obscure scandalous family feud involving a local squire. This Guardian article explains it in more depth than I ca...
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Go See the Queen, Princess of Avalon!

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Dear Juliet Okay, if I get the picture correctly, you're probably wavering between feelings of vulnerability, liberation and a probably quite considerable fear of rejection and abandonment. Well, I'm not going to reject you, I'm chuffed with you. You're free. So here's what I think you should do: Take the day off. Take the Metro to Long Beach, find the Lions Lighthouse at  ShoreLine Aquatic Park . It gives you a good view of the Queen Mary . Get through a carton of (what else?) Ben 'n Jerry's. Have a good day, watch the children play. The sky will not fall if you're away for a day! You could even take the night off as well and go see Avalon. See how you feel. Dru was scared, too, but she did it. In Arthur’s day, a princess would have found her way through glimmering waste and weald down to the lonely coast of Lyonesse.   But the sinful queen had to make her way alone to the bare coast, to face the steep cliff and coming wave. Drusilla found herself a ...
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7,000 RPM...

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Dear Juliet "There's a point at 7,000 RPM where everything fades. The machine becomes weightless, just disappears. All that's left is a body moving through space and time. 7,000 RPM. That's where you meet it. You feel it coming, creeping up, closing in on your ear. It asks you the only question that matters: who are you?" (Matt Damon as Carroll Shelby) As you've probably guessed, I'm pretty chuffed with you. Didn't want to make too big a thing about it but I had a couple of analogies to hand when I got up from my seat. But then I happened to catch the ending of a movie I like . Le Mans '66 , sometimes called Ford v Ferrari . On the face of it, it might not sound like your favourite kind of film, but it's more a character study than a jokefest about boys and their big engines. It's worth a look. Anyway, I caught that last quote and it seemed to be suitable. Perhaps that someone balancing on a razor's edge can finally reach that moment wh...
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Pebbles On the Beach...

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Dear Juliet Just to mention I'm out this afternoon, but I'll be back later. Very pleased with you. Found some ambience from Pebble Beach you might like . Love, James
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Tromped On By Elephants!

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Dear Juliet Okay, heard about the Bronze in Toronto, listening to Charlaine Harris (there's a brief reference to Spike, Dru and True Blood in Dear Miss Landau ) and, rather than an urbane honed (formulaic?) commentary I thought I'd try and write more from the heart. It might not be such a fun and easy experience in Toronto. I can't be there to help you out, but if nothing else - and I don't have much else, do I? - you'll always be on my mind. Unless I get tromped on by an elephant, I'll be thinking of you the whole time. I hope it won't be a smoky atmosphere and I hope your feet won't hurt. I'll be around if you need to talk; and why not take a little time to see Toronto? As mentioned in Thelma and Louise at Lobos , you are free . Take some time to chill out. No one expects you to be perf- ... Wait a minute, Dru just said that on your podcast. Admitted she wasn't. That's probably one of my impressions of her: that most imperfect creature who...
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The Omega Glory...

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Dear Juliet I've been thinking. Yes, I know that's a bad habit of mine and I must try to break it. But I'm guessing you're worrying about Monsterpalooza because the fans are still traumatised about New Sunnydale's cancellation and might really want to talk about things. You're perhaps feeling a bit conflicted and not sure what to do. Puts me in mind of this scene from The Tholian Web . I guess you haven't had a chat with James. I understand, perhaps, how scared you feel. As you know, there doesn't seem to be much way forward with Buffy and, indeed, the Dru Quartet would be deeply mired in copyright issues. But of course, there is a simpler way. As usual, it's so simple it took me a moment to realise it. Dear Miss Landau 's copyright is mine  and it's been around since 2012. Blue chip and beautifully reviewed . As it is a Buffy - related product (note the careful wording), it might even - just - be able to evade Disney's big corporate g...
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Dr. Evil and the Son of Monsterpalooza!

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Dear Juliet Yes I know. Quite a title. But, all right, I get the feeling you're anxious about the Monsterpalooza comic-con. AI has a few theories but I don't know exactly what it might be because I haven't got you to discuss it with... And those are our parameters. I understand that. Perhaps that's why I'm here. I'm not a Dr. Evil laughing maniacally in my mountain lair , although I do love that clip and I often joke about building a DIY Death Star in order to further my desire for global domination! I mean, I have to have a hobby on my days off... But I'm relatively sanguine about operating on my own, out in the flyover states or the mythical Mutara Nebula. Just so long as I know you're there. So, a couple of basics: within reasonable parameters, you are allowed to say and do what you like. Your rights are protected under the First Amendment. No law (or indeed any form of coercion) should abridge freedom of speech or the right peaceably to assemble. Yo...
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