The Remains of the Trip

Way back in December, 2007, Delia at Beginning to Bird tagged me to reveal 7 random things about myself. Gee—haven’t I revealed enough?

Well, I promised to do so upon return from our trip to London. So, I decided as my final post on that trip to do the random things, AND relate them to the trip!

Here goes.

1) On this trip, my husband and I had our first-ever sit on the tarmac experience with a flight. Not that we mind having been missed in this pleasure, to now. When we were set to depart London, the pilot came on the public address system and said—we were set to take off, but there seems to be an equipment problem. (Oh, great! I just HATE equipment problem announcements). After a bit, he came back—seems the pressure in the oxygen tanks for the pilots’ cabin was dropping. . .not good. More time passed, then he came back on and said—we have two options: we can locate a new oxygen tank and install that OR we can locate a different plane and transfer all the passengers. GROAN. Well, the first option was picked; so, after a bit more delay, he came on and said—they replaced the tank, but there is still a leak. It seems to have been a valve somewhere in the system. Eventually, that was fixed, and we FINALLY took off. All told, we sat about 3 hours; then we had to endure the 8 hour flight home.



2) One evening while in London, we decided to go to Trafalgar Square. We had seen on the Internet, that there would be groups caroling in the Square. Sounded like fun. Well, at 5 p.m. (remember it gets dark around 4 p.m. in the winter), we gathered on the Square along with a crowd. And waited. No group. And waited—then after a bit, a rag-tag group of children and young people with a sprinkling of adults trooped out. They were decked out in quasi-Christmas costumes: you know, as shepherds or angels, or wise-men. They began singing. Frankly, they were woeful. But, there is something about Christmas caroling—it was just right for the moment. I love to sing. In fact, we all sang along, and then meandered off.




3) Although I read many blogs by people who are dedicated birders, I am not one myself. However, I was fascinated with the view out of the flat we were staying in. Here it is. PIGEONS. Seemingly hundreds of pigeons. They would swoop in, land, jostle, coo, then take off. Apparently, the occupant of the flat where these pigeons roosted fed them. Big mistake. . . that only draws more pigeons. So, while in London, I bird-watched!



4) It is impossible to pick out what I liked best about our trip—other than seeing our daughter and her fiancé—but one of the serendipitous parts of the visit was that almost anywhere we walked, we could see charming sights. For example, here is a building with a courtyard that we walked through. Isn’t it charming? I like serendipitous sights.








5) One day, we walked past an outdoor bazaar/ market. Now, for his own reasons, my husband LOVES these displays. What struck me was that the market was in the courtyard of St. James Church, Picadilly. Turns out the church was one of those designed by Sir Christopher Wren, and built in 1684. I love finding things historical—a church that is over 400 years old, standing on a site that has undergone many transformations (including being bombed during the Blitz in 1940), and still draws people in simply by being in the world.










6) Two of my favorite things that I love that I try to buy when I visit London: I love marmalade and tea. We went to Fortnum and Mason, where I found both of these items—and received a gentle caution to not buy too much; after all, we had not yet had Christmas. So, on Christmas Day, when I opened one of my gifts, I received a three jar set of marmalades. Yum.



7) My husband and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary on this trip—actually, the day we flew back. So, with London being 5 hours “ahead” of Eastern Standard time, we had our longest anniversary ever! (That was my husband’s idea).

There you have it, 7 random things about me, wrapped up in a final trip "report." And, as for tagging anyone else, I am so far behind in this endeavor, that I will eschew the tagging.