July 20, 2004 - London

     I got up a bit earlier this morning (4:50) to work in the lounge.  Now that I'm an iota more comfortable with this kind of life, I wandered around the first floor looking for someone who could scare up a pot of tea (don't you know).  There appears to be no one else awake in the building.  Those lazy servants, there's never one around when you need them.  8-)  (At least the fly is back, so I have some company.  His main job seems to be guarding the fruit basket on the desk, and I may appear a threat.  Or maybe he's after the Apple on my computer.)

     Wait a minute, the night man came by and I have a pot of tea on the way.  Life is good.

     After a hearty breakfast, we got an early start from the Manor/Rectory so that we could make a couple of stops on the way and still reach Heathrow before the evening rush hour.  First stop: Burford-on-nothing-as-far-as-I-can-tell.  It's cute.  It's quaint.  I'm afraid it suffered from appearing on our last day of touring, and we have become a little jaded.  I shouldn't say "we," I suppose.  Sheila's enthusiasm  is probably higher than mine for seeing stuff, but she's ready to go home as well.



     Our second stop was Oxford, as in Oxford University.  Since we had been warned that it is impossible to drive and/or park in Oxford, we pulled into a car park beside the highway and took a bus into town.  It was very good advice, and despite my momentum toward Heathrow and home, I was very glad we did this.  We took the Park and Ride bus into the center of town and were let off right at a stop for a City Sightseeing tour.  We jumped aboard, spent an hour zipping around the whole city in a pattern we couldn't possibly follow, hearing a flow of facts, some of which seemed to be in English but mostly in British.  We stopped for a quick lunch and then did a little wandering on our own.  Here are some of the things we saw along the way.  (Nobody know when Oxford University began, by the way, but it was sometime in the 11th century.  Today, it is a collection of colleges.)



     We reached the Heathrow Marriott at around 3:00, checked into the hotel, and returned the car to Hertz. (And I didn't hit anyone, though Sheila almost took out the guy who ssaid we were returning the wrong car.)  I am much more relaxed now and plan a relaxed evening.  Then, we fly to NYC tomorrow.

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