Link

A lovely article about one of the Queen’s Favourites… I love the arcane and little details, and this is something I’ve never seen detailed before…

The Flame Lily Brooch

Note to readers…

I’ll be adding stuff as I think of it, and filling in the gaps… I apologize for the lack of continuity, it’s so not me, but as it turned out it was more important to enjoy the trip while it was happening than to write about it, so it is such as it is… The hallmark of a good trip? I hope so…

Last morning in England…

June 11th, and it’s my last day in England. Sorta sad, but actually more than ready to head home. Woke up pretty early, but was trying to sleep in, as I’m trying to make sure I don’t sleep on the plane and trick my body into skipping jet lag. Yeah, we’ll see how that goes… 😉

Had my last ‘full English’ in the pub dining room; Henry had my place set, my favorite paper just to the right of the tea cup, and tea delivered within a moment of my sitting down.  Then a bunch of re-organizing the packing situation, loaded up the car and headed out. Needed to make a last stop at a Marks and Sparks for Percy Pigs and other goodies, so I set the map for Marlow, about half-way between Watlington and Heathrow. Got a little turned around on the country roads, but finally figured it out.

Marlow’s actually a lovely town, on the river and was still all bunted up. Also was very bustling on a Monday at mid-day, but I lucked into a street spot, and finished up my little errand quickly and was on the road for final portion of my journey. Successfully manouevered getting gas and the car back to Enterprise, hopped the shuttle, checked in for the flight, returned the TEP and whisked through security, all with no issues.

And then, the shopping portion of our journey begins! Heathrow is a ridiculous shoppers mecca, with everything one can imagine available in the area between security and the gates, including a Harrods outpost. I had specifically left myself an extra hour for shopping, and did enjoy myself. Heathrow would be the one airport to definitely schedule yourself some extra time just for the window shopping alone, and I’m not exactly known as a shopper…

But per my mandate not to buy anything that wasn’t essential, I didn’t actually buy anything of note, but it was fun to do a little browsing while waiting for the gate to open.

Long May She Rain!

OK, I admitted defeat and am back at the apartment watching it all on telly, with a nice cup of tea and fire going… It is raining HARD, and it’s cold. And the Queen is still out there, standing and waving for almost 3 hours now. She is one tough gal! Even Kate looks like she’s about to drop… 

I’m uploading my photos of today now, and will post them shortly… 

Keep Calm and Party On

SO I’m just back from church and a local street fair, and headed down to the river for the main event. The streets are full of people, and everyone’s very excited, despite the slightly damp weather. It’s England, they carry on…

My apartment location really couldn’t be better. I’m 2 blocks from the river, so I can pop back to use the loo, stock up, etc. Will add photos as we go…

Update: OMG! TRH The Duke of York and his daughters dropped in on our street party on their way to the river!!