So we walked around the area for a bit (A LOT, I HURT!) today. Down the Strand, past Buckingham Palace, got to watch a changing of the guard, to Harrod's where we bought food for lunch (I had a chicken and bacon pasty), then over to Wesminister Abbey (WOW! JUST WOW! PARTS OF THE BUILDING OLDER THAN THE NORMAN CONQUEST!!!!), down the Thames, and now back to the flat. I need to rest and wash up before dinner and the play this evening.

Then it's packing and getting ready to get on the tube by myself tomorrow morning to head back to Heathrow, and home.

I will be so glad to be home.

And today was a fine and wonderful day. If anything was threatening to kinda crap on my day, it's my beloved step-mom. I love her to death, but I swear to dog that she's the ugly American I have not been (nor my dad).

I'm glad you had fun Sean. There's so much to see in London, both inside and out, it makes it very hard to choose any one thing. I have to admit, just walking around and gaping at stuff kept me very happy for the two days I was there. That, and a trip to Harrods. Did you know they sell coffins? When they say you can shop from birth to death there, they really mean it. Sorry about the step-mum.

Also, in walking around London, certainly some of the above-ground parts of the tube, and behind our block of flats, I'm beginning to see where the conduit thing in Brazil came from.

BUILDINGS SO OLD, ALL THE PLUMBING IS ON THE OUTSIDE!

yay for Sean having fun!

And last year, in Seattle, Fay told me a story about being younger and reading about an American stripper wearing a pasty and wondering why ... and how she didn't get crumbs all over her chest.

I, of course, can't tell it right, but it had me doubled over laughing in the middle of the street (never tell a funny story while crossing the street).

got to watch a changing of the guard,

I thought that was pretty cool, actually.

over to Wesminister Abbey (WOW! JUST WOW! PARTS OF THE BUILDING OLDER THAN THE NORMAN CONQUEST!!!!)

I meant to recommend that yesterday, so I'm glad you went. It's *amazing.*

I wonder if I'll ever get to London in my lifetime. I'm just happy when I can get out of state.

I second that emotion. Aims, your MIL was being a PITA...maybe not on purpose. Sean, if I traveled with my stepmother one of us would not come back.(I wouldn't care which.) She thinks complaining loudly about the decline in a place makes her sophisticated.

..maybe not on purpose.

There is no doubt that it was not on purpose. She was expressing her want for more grandkids. She just ... well, she doesn't get to do that. Sorry.

I just turned down an interview. It was a job that looked good in the ad, but not so good after I found out more about it during the phone interview. Plus, the person interviewing keeps calling me at the wrong number and emailing me at the wrong address, even though I've given him the right one several times, and then get tells me that he doesn't understand why I'm not getting back to him. And they want me to go to Savannah for a campus interview next week, with me paying my own expenses.