Back to Blighty Part I

I have just returned from an eleven day trip back to the UK. It was a holiday to see my parents and assorted friends. I took full advantage of the opportunity to eat proper fish and chips, black pudding, haggis, marinated herring, and curry.

The journey started well, I arrived at the airport early and was told that my flight was delayed. This may not sound like an ideal beginning, but I was then offered a direct flight from San Francisco to London, rather than the route via Chicago that I had booked. I had no one sat next to me as I traveled business class and was wined and dinned.

Ammonyte met me at the airport and we had a proper English breakfast in Windsor – in an Italian restaurant. Although I lived near Windsor for eight years, I had never visited the monuments to Magna Carta and JFK at Runnymede. Now, returning as a tourist, I did so. The Magna Carta monument was built by the American Bar Association. It is sad to think that it took the Americans to erect a memorial to this pivotal event in British history; sadder still that in both countries governments seem less interested in the concept that they should be bound by the laws of the land.

We drunk coffee in Burnham Beeches, an ancient woodland whose proximity to Pinewood studios has made it a much used location in films. The fine English spring day allowed us to sit outside, albeit in coats.

The day finished with a visit to the quintessential English pub, where several pints of fine ale were consumed. From the pub we moved onto curry, where more alcohol was consumed. I was glad that my flight to Glasgow was not an early one – although BA managed to take this ‘not early’ to extremes by having it leave three hours later than scheduled.

To Be Continued