Oxford, last day. *sniff*
Oct. 19th, 2008 01:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thrihyrneHere I am again at the internet cafe, timed to be able to do my online check-in for my British Airways flight tomorrow and select a window seat. So now that's accomplished, and I'm making my last post from the U.K.
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callumjames, I do wish you'd told me about Magdalen College's 10 o'clock service sooner, or I'd've have gone! Oh well. I have the evening eucharist this evening to look forward to. So! English weather today; cold and grey though the sun has been trying to peek through from time to time. I got up at a reasonable hour, showered, and went to breakfast this morning. I got the English breakfast, but avoided some of the meats. I think I'll just ask for beans on toast and tomatoes tomorrow. It was great to have a hot breakfast, and then I sat in my room and read some of Student of Kyme since I pretty much inhaled The Hienama and finished it yesterday. In other Storm news, I'd written her a follow-up thank you email after my visit, and she replied and was very kind, and also said that she's having a proper read-through of Maelstrom and Mage and Down the Whispering Well (the latter is what the title will be for my book) and that she was really enjoying it! :D :D So that's certainly gratifying.
Once my hair was mostly dry (no hairdryer this trip), I packed up for the day's adventures and went out. I did go down Iffley Road to see if I could find the locks, but to no avail, so I turned around and headed into town again. I walked down to the Thames again and sat for a little while, watching some students crewing (??) and enjoying the water. Then I walked around some different streets, basically waiting for noon so I could go to the Museum of Oxford. It was a good museum, very thorough, covering Oxford's history from prehistoric times to the present. Then I was off to Sainsbury's again for another sandwich to go with the cup of noodles I'd bought yesterday. I really am going to treat myself to an actual hot meal out somewhere, probably in Oxford's centre after the service. After my online time I'll head home for lunch and to rest my feet, which do ache again since I've been walking for about four hours.
I'm coming down with a cold, I'm afraid. I've had a scratchy throat since yesterday, and it's not going away. Given the changeable weather and the stress I put myself through before the trip, frankly I'm surprised that I've not felt poorly before now. Probably because I was visiting with friends who kept me well-fed and in comfortable houses!! I don't feel wretched, thank goodness, but tomorrow is going to be a long, long, long day. I leave here on an 8:20 a.m. coach arriving at Heathrow at 9:40 for a 1 o'clock flight. I'll get to Baltimore around 4:20, and have two hours to go through customs and get to the domestic terminal and check in for a 6:20 flight to Chicago, change planes, and get to Portland at 11:30 p.m. Yuck.
I guess I don't have that much left to report, sadly. I did some writing on my new Wraeththu yesterday and will probably do some this afternoon between now and coming back into town. If I had a companion, I suspect I'd spend more time in town at a cafe or something, but since it is kind of cold and I'm coming down with something, I don't mind spending a couple of hours of downtime at the guesthouse, reading and writing and having lunch. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep tonight since I tend not to sleep well the night before I travel. I really do regret having to leave this country; oddly, perhaps because I was with friends for so long, including an American family with Matt, in some ways I've not felt that I've been out of the country at all. The accents are different, yes, but I don't feel at all like a foreigner. Very strange. I'll never forget when Callum let me print out what I'd written on the Ron/Dean story I started for him last spring, and I was so shocked to realize the paper was A4 size. I looked at him and said, "I'm in England. I forgot." It was as though I'd known him forever and was just visiting someone from out of town, not out of the country!!
With that, I'll close. Please keep me in your thoughts as I make my return journey with the Suitcase of DoomTM and scratchy throat. (((hugs)))
callumjames, I do wish you'd told me about Magdalen College's 10 o'clock service sooner, or I'd've have gone! Oh well. I have the evening eucharist this evening to look forward to. So! English weather today; cold and grey though the sun has been trying to peek through from time to time. I got up at a reasonable hour, showered, and went to breakfast this morning. I got the English breakfast, but avoided some of the meats. I think I'll just ask for beans on toast and tomatoes tomorrow. It was great to have a hot breakfast, and then I sat in my room and read some of Student of Kyme since I pretty much inhaled The Hienama and finished it yesterday. In other Storm news, I'd written her a follow-up thank you email after my visit, and she replied and was very kind, and also said that she's having a proper read-through of Maelstrom and Mage and Down the Whispering Well (the latter is what the title will be for my book) and that she was really enjoying it! :D :D So that's certainly gratifying. Once my hair was mostly dry (no hairdryer this trip), I packed up for the day's adventures and went out. I did go down Iffley Road to see if I could find the locks, but to no avail, so I turned around and headed into town again. I walked down to the Thames again and sat for a little while, watching some students crewing (??) and enjoying the water. Then I walked around some different streets, basically waiting for noon so I could go to the Museum of Oxford. It was a good museum, very thorough, covering Oxford's history from prehistoric times to the present. Then I was off to Sainsbury's again for another sandwich to go with the cup of noodles I'd bought yesterday. I really am going to treat myself to an actual hot meal out somewhere, probably in Oxford's centre after the service. After my online time I'll head home for lunch and to rest my feet, which do ache again since I've been walking for about four hours.
I'm coming down with a cold, I'm afraid. I've had a scratchy throat since yesterday, and it's not going away. Given the changeable weather and the stress I put myself through before the trip, frankly I'm surprised that I've not felt poorly before now. Probably because I was visiting with friends who kept me well-fed and in comfortable houses!! I don't feel wretched, thank goodness, but tomorrow is going to be a long, long, long day. I leave here on an 8:20 a.m. coach arriving at Heathrow at 9:40 for a 1 o'clock flight. I'll get to Baltimore around 4:20, and have two hours to go through customs and get to the domestic terminal and check in for a 6:20 flight to Chicago, change planes, and get to Portland at 11:30 p.m. Yuck.
I guess I don't have that much left to report, sadly. I did some writing on my new Wraeththu yesterday and will probably do some this afternoon between now and coming back into town. If I had a companion, I suspect I'd spend more time in town at a cafe or something, but since it is kind of cold and I'm coming down with something, I don't mind spending a couple of hours of downtime at the guesthouse, reading and writing and having lunch. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep tonight since I tend not to sleep well the night before I travel. I really do regret having to leave this country; oddly, perhaps because I was with friends for so long, including an American family with Matt, in some ways I've not felt that I've been out of the country at all. The accents are different, yes, but I don't feel at all like a foreigner. Very strange. I'll never forget when Callum let me print out what I'd written on the Ron/Dean story I started for him last spring, and I was so shocked to realize the paper was A4 size. I looked at him and said, "I'm in England. I forgot." It was as though I'd known him forever and was just visiting someone from out of town, not out of the country!!
With that, I'll close. Please keep me in your thoughts as I make my return journey with the Suitcase of DoomTM and scratchy throat. (((hugs)))