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  • Day 19

    Bath to Home, June 17

    June 17, 2018 in England ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    The day to go home has arrived!

    We're looking forward to sleeping in our own bed tonight even though Arlene is insisting that it will be tomorrow. Something about the Irish that I will never understand.

    Yesterday, we stopped by a food store for a couple of bananas since the B & B did not serve until 0815 and we needed to be out the door by 0700. Taxi was right on time and in less than 10 minutes we were at a very closed train station. Sign said 0745, but they opened early (perhaps just for us?).

    While on the platform waiting for the 0758, it was announced that it was 14 minutes late...a freight train had the lead so we watched it come crawling by carrying new rail for train track repair.

    We arrived at London Paddington a couple of minutes late, but with plenty of time to find the right platform for the train to Heathrow. Got there, found the right elevator to get the kitchen sink up to the security area, went through initial security, checked the bags, got through personal security, the wc's, food, gate entry check, and finally, permission to board!

    Here we sit, waiting, for almost nine hours of confined torture to travel to Atlanta. Quite a change from the carefree walking from village to village and breathing fresh air with an occasional whiff of a farm animal or two (perhaps three or four?).

    As Arlene was creating her "lessons learned", I was creating the trip memories and capturing them in print. Glad many of you were able to share our day by day events and it really is easier than waiting to do it all at once from notes.

    My lessons learned include the following...

    1 Be better prepared; next time I will lift more weights in preparation for hauling the sink up and down many flights of narrow, steep, and curvy stairs.

    2 Let Arlene have both duffles as she has most of the space anyway. I'll just wear my one set of clothes and wash them daily.

    3 Take more dance classes so it will be easier to navigate around the animals and field litter.

    4 Let Arlene do all the talking as my accent just gets in the way.

    5 Practice my voice lessons so I can better imitate the sheep, cows, horses, and dogs that I enjoy talking to.

    On a more serious note, this was one of those precious few times when we were able to slow down and really smell the flowers. We are so busy with our individual projects that we just do not take the time, or have the time to take, for ourselves. We walked hand in hand at times chatting, and other times I led, or Arlene led, and we were both quiet and enjoying the sights, the sounds, and the smells of nature. Great to spend time together enjoying all that nature provides.

    We are in Atlanta. A quiet and easy flight. Just a four hour wait and we will be on the final leg. Should be home in time to get some sleep today.

    We walked over 386,000 steps (me, and Arlene had 389,000...she has shorter legs) since we left home on May 30. Quite a lot and we relished each and every one.

    Life is short, enjoy the journey!
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