Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

Or hoppy hop.

After enjoying 18 days abroad, it's nice to be back home luxuriating in the comfort of my own little house and bed.

Managed to get through the majority of my travels without any drama, although I did arrive home in a wheelchair. Seems I either "over did" time on my feet, was a victim of bus-tour-itis (almost everyone on the bus tour ended up with badly swollen ankles), or something else attempted to spoil my party time. Will be able to eliminate some possibilities over the next few days as I am scheduled to begin pre-testing for the new drug trial tomorrow - pre-testing includes an echocardiogram, CT scan, and a bone scan as well as copious blood tests. Oh joy.

I will sort out the 700+ photos before giving a detailed account of my travels, but suffice it to say that I managed to do most of what I hoped to do and a whole lot more. Only a couple of disappointments: although I had two nights in Glasgow, the bus tour schedule allowed no time whatsoever to see the city. I was not able to secure tickets to see Kevin Spacey play Richard III at the Old Vic Theatre in London. Was not able to obtain an absinthe spoon while in Paris (or elsewhere). No time to see four Horta buildings in Brussels - although I would only have been able to view the exteriors in any case as they are all private residences.

That said, there were a number of rather remarkable and unexpected treats falling into my ample lap. For example, I found myself sitting in the choir (although not singing, God be praised) at Westminster Abbey during the last Matins the resident choir sang before breaking for summer holidays. If I stretched out my right arm, I could touch the shoulder of one of the boys who had a brief solo. Pity the poor souls who had to content themselves with sitting in flimsy chairs in the wide aisle beside the choir! On another musical note (cue the Elgar) I secured a box seat directly above the string section at Royal Albert Hall on the first night of the Proms. Okay, so there was no bobbing about to the strains of "Land of Hope and Glory", but the 19-yr-old piano soloist dazzled just the same. And while it wasn't on the tour schedule, the bus stopped long enough at Salisbury Cathedral for the group to wander happily through the cathedral and adjoining grounds.

I will give more details of the trip with accompanying photos in my next post.