Jackson's actually British

It didn't take Jackson long to find himself right in the horse's mouth of British culture. Though he was disappointed to learn that jockeys over there aren't as small as they are over here, he was happy to accept an invitation to roll alongside the grand march.



The first hours weren't as grand, though, as Sarah and Jackson were bumped from their first flight and arrived a bit shell shocked. The flight seemed to wear them both down in equal measures, as they arrived looking more alike even than when they left.




Dad was pretty excited to see his boy. Apparently Jackson was so excited that he fell asleep immediately.




Actually, it turned out Jackson was just a little drunk. Upon hitting English soil, he immediately adopted the English way and took to the drink.




Beer is better right from the glass.




Nothing like a good look in the mirror after a few pints to make sure your hat is still on straight.




It turns out Jackson is more of a tourist attraction than a tourist. Although he took in a few sites, he was constantly being stopped (this is true) by other tourists who wanted to take his picture. At one point an entire family of 8 asked if they could pose with him. They snapped a number of shots, which we will never see but are probably being shown in some drawn out slide show in New Delhi right now.




This one was taken by dad, though.




One of our days, Jackson just loaded up his stroller and headed to Hyde Park for a picnic.




He liked the British grass more than the British bangers.




There was a big controversy while we were there about the proposed London olympic symbol for the 2012 games. Jackson and dad came up with their own version in the rose garden.




We've been trying to make Jackson a lefty. It's working quite well. So now we're trying to make Jackson say dada with a posh English accent. It's not working so well.



This is St. James Park. In the background, you can see the "Eye of London," a big ferris wheel by the Thames. This was as close to said "Eye of London" as mom would let us get.




Jackson seemed to agree with mom. So it was 2 to 1, and we stayed in the park.




Jackson tried to convince us that the Union Jack was shortened from its original Union Jackson.


He wore his London shirt and had a stroll.




He's getting very mobile--scooching all across rooms and even up trees.



We stayed near the legendary Borough Market--deemed one of the top 5 farmer's markets in the world by Bon Appetit (if you're into that kind of thing). Mom isn't smiling because her mouth is full of cheese.




Just like his mom (and aunt and grandma) Jackson likes the salt more than the sweet. He could barely stay in his seat when we got to the olives,




let alone this fine selection of dead rabbits...




This sign was some holdover from the old days of segregation in London. They actually had different lines for whites and greens.




By day three, Jackson's pronunciation of cheers was almost perfect,




and he was eating like back in the medieval days when supplies were sometimes short. Even when supplies were long, manners were short.




He took planes and rode in the big black taxis. He rode on both decks of the double deckers. But he liked the train the best.




See what I mean.





For the full hour ride he was like this.




Compare that with this--taken after arriving by Ryan Air to Glasgow. (He actually was fine on the flight, but Ryan Air has a practice of sounding a bull horn whenever their planes land on time. Neither Jackson nor his dad thought that was in good taste.)





This is Glasgow. And this is Jackson's reaction when learning that the Scottish were actually speaking english.





This is the oldest house in Glasgow. It apparently was built when its residents were very young and hadn't really done much growing yet.





Mom thought the Scots spoke funny, too.




After checking Jackson's passport, they made him take a sobreity test.





This is Jackson's Scottish friend Collum. They could be twins, no? Collum was born on the 8th day of July, by the way.





This is just a good picture. Don't waste your time looking for Jackson.






And that's it. Jackson was a brilliant travel companion, and by the end, he new London so well, it was as if he had eaten the map. And he did, actually...eat the map.