Last night Marci and I got back from three weeks in the UK. I’m going to write a few photo-diary posts sharing some of our experiences.
We decided to travel light for this trip – apart from my guitar, we took only hand luggage. Here’s the luggage, ready to go on Sunday afternoon.

And here’s Marci ready to catch the bus from near our place down to the airport.

Our journey consisted of (a) bus to Edmonton International Airport, (b) short hop down to Calgary by little Air Canada hedge hopper, (c) long hop to Heathrow by big Air Canada wide bodied jet, (d) London Underground to King’s Cross Station, (e) train to Peterborough, and (f) train to Oakham, Rutland (the town in central England where my Mum lives). We left our house about 3.15 p.m. Sunday 4th and arrived in Oakham about 4.30 p.m. (9.30 a.m. Edmonton time) on Monday 5th. Mum met us at the station with a taxi, and before long we were drinking tea!
Every time I’ve visited Oakham in the past ten years I’ve enjoyed joining the small group of praying folks who meet every day for Morning Prayer at All Saints’ Church. The group has changed over the years (people have left, others have been added), but I still enjoy the nice anchor it gives to my holiday prayer life. Here’s All Saints:

And here’s the interior of the church, although we actually prayed Morning Prayer in one of the small side chapels..

Most days, after morning Prayer I went to one of the local coffee shops to write for a bit until Marci and my mum joined me. Here they are at Costa on our first morning.

Later on, this very nice establishment became my preferred coffee shop. It’s in the market square, a two minute walk from All Saints’ Church.

Oakham on market day:

My mum lives in a seniors’ apartment building, and on Wednesday evening a few of the folks gathered in the common room for a little gig with the visiting Canadian folk singer. I think there were maybe fifteen people and they gave me a very warm welcome. Here’s the only decent picture of the evening.

On Friday 9th Marci and I made a train trip to Cambridge – not for sightseeing, but to visit with my old friend Jan and her husband Mark. Jan and I met in our first year of high school so we’ve known each other since September of 1970! They live within easy driving distance of Cambridge, so we met at the station and basically spent most of the next few hours in the café at the Botanical Gardens, catching up! Here we are:

And finally, to cap off this first gripping instalment, here are a couple of photos of Oakham that I took from Brooke Hill, looking down on the town and then out toward Oakham Water.


Stay tuned for the next gripping instalment!