I'm now in London, back online and enjoying a break with friend Di Mill who flew in from Houston yesterday. It was a beautiful day yesterday, almost a record heat for an October day. I've found the weather quite mild since I've been here.
The past few days have been great. I stayed with Gay Jenkins,(cook extraordinair and my tour organizer) and gave a lecture and class over two days. I have been greeted warmly around Britain and the Romsey Quilters were no exception. I got the opportunity to wander around Romsey and had my second visit to the historic Norman Abbey. It was founded by King Edward the Elder in 907 for his daughter, Princess Aelflaed, a nun at Wilton who became the first Abbess of Romsey. There was an increase in interest in the female monastic life around this time and the King probably wanted to make extra provision for widowed and unmarried ladies of the Royal family.
Some of the houses date back to the 1400's, I'm always in awe of the antiquity of the villages. Di and I arrived at our Hotel the Marriott Maida Vale at the same time... And there was a great deal of laughter and chatter as she recounted her adventures in Houston and I talked about my tour. Di presented me with a colour copy of my forthcoming book and I was excited to see my name in print for the first time. The day was just super... so we decided visit the London Eye
There were 100's of people lining up. It took about half an hour to purchase the tickets and then we had a wait of an hour+ for our turn to go on... the light was fading and I began to worry that it would be dark when we finally got alight however, another half hour line up and a chat with two girls behind us from Adelaide we finally got into the capsule. The view was spectacular as the sun went down behind the houses of Parliament and Big Ben. It was a visual spectacular.
A ride on the underground and we had to make a decision on dinner.... Ok, the local pub and a budget dinner of sausages and mash... It's the first and last time I'll have it, but an experience we should all have at some stage when visiting England.
I was made aware of the dangers of the freeways yesterday. The bus I took to London came to a screaming halt due to a learner driver stopping suddenly for a rabbit on the road. This caused a calamity behind us. We were not privy to what actually occured... but people stopped on the verge and were running back to assist after witnessing the accidents.... the gal in front just took off unaware of the devastation behind her. It must have been quite bad as some 10 minutes later the freeway was closed to allow rescue vehicles pass....
