Day 23 - back to London

Left our lovely hosts after yet another of those full English breakfasts we are getting all too used to - I suspect we will miss these artery-clogging starts to the day, but our lipid levels will be forever grateful...until we meet some more saturated fats we can't say no to. Part of the grand plan to save a bit of expense on this Tour le Grande was to eat frugally in England and then replenish in the land where the limits of how cholesterol can be prepared at low cost knows no bounds.

Took about an hour and a half to drive 80 miles to the outskirts of London, and then another hour and a half to drive the last 20 miles to Cheryl's - and this on a quiet Sunday morning. Luckily we didn't decide (again, on one of those whims) to call in to Blenheim Palace on the way, not least because it would have delayed our arrival in London, but also because it seemed that there was a steady stream of MG's heading in to the palace - hundreds of them, presumably some sort of car rally, which made sense, given that Oxford is home to the MG (MG stands for Morris Garage, where William Morris first developed his mass-produced and affordable cars. He was later lorded (?), and as Lord Nuffield, contributed financially to the university college bearing his titled name).

Pouring rain virtually the whole way from when we hit the outskirts of Oxford - a stark contrast to the glorious weather yesterday, with the grey clouds just ripping along at a rate of knots. Hope it eases up a bit for a day at the zoo tomorrow.

Arrived at Cheryl's at about one o'clock to be presented with a lovely penne carbonara - le tour gastronomique continues. Isabel spent the afternoon catching up on 4 days of no television, a task she undertook with a dedication bordering on fanaticism, whilst we (but mainly Julianne) caught up with Cheryl and 20 years of 'girl's talk'. Overall, a lovely way to just unwind and relax from the freneticism (I wonder if spell-check will recognise this one - seems not - but I like it, so it stays) of the past three weeks.

Reflection on the past 3 weeks - a wonderful chance to reacquaint ourselves with the places of some very fond memories, to visit some new places to now store into the memory bank, and to give the kids the opportunity to have some experiences which they will have their own memories of [apologies for using a preposition to end that sentence with. And in that last sentence too]. And an opportunity to look back on over a thousand photographs already - the up-side of digital photography, you get to take as many photos as you like; the down-side of digital photography, you get to take as many photos as you like. Now all we have to do is try and work out how to up-load them to this blog. Any hints from anyone out there in the blogosphere?

Oh, and we haven't caused or had an accident in the car, and (hopefully) haven't incurred any traffic infringement notices. And hats off to Julianne for her excellent organisational skills - so far, everything has gone like clock-work and pretty much to plan, but not at the expense of allowing for flexibility when required. And I have every confidence that this flexibility will continue, and even get better - is that what you want me to write dear?

I'm in heaven - Cheryl's toilet seat is the soft-close type referred to on Day 19.