I am all packed, ready to go. The taxi's waiting,well, no, just my truck. I'll be in London before I sleep two more times, that is if I can sleep on the flight over, which I hope to. I will, if you would wish it as well, contact you after I arrive. I'm getting together with 4 friends from the Rocky Horror Show with at University of Nottingham on New Years Eve. Beyond that, I'm staying with the director of the aformentioned horror, and she has not let me in on what we will do after new years besides going to some theatre, which she seems to reserve for when I'm around. I am sure that I will become tiresome, and she'll want to shake me like a summer rug.
2003

London, UK

POSTCARD: I arrived in London at 15:00, and checked into the City of London Hostel for five days (for 10 pounds a night), which gives a central location for everything. First, Rebecca and I walked down Fleet Street and saw St. Brides (the inspiration for tiered wedding cakes and the tallest of Wren's churches). A full to bursting moon, and the weather was cool or rather cold. It was a beautiful walk past the area that Dickens wrote about, much changed except for a few landmarks and pubs, all were closed for Boxing Day. We looked for theatres and discount ticket places, but they were closed. CATS was booked until Saturday, so we went to a show called BFG (Big, Friendly Giant). It's a children's play, but with "ripping" comedy and a lead male character that was completely outstanding. 10 pound tickets got us the best seats, because it is not one of the big shows.

Rachel spent another day painting the house, and we moved the Lion and the Witch Wardrobe into the front entry room to be used as a cloakroom. I ordered a pancake lens for our Pentax camera that should be very good in low light.

Rachel painted the house all day, and when I arrived home, she had most of the rooms done. After dinner and an episode of Numbers, we continued working, finishing up in the new pantry. I installed the flooring in the entry room, and when I finished it was beautiful.

We spent most of the day working on our walls, and installed all the cabinets and the counter-top over and under them. Rachel began to paint the walls pea green.

We woke at 9:30 and made 4 quiches for our Christmas brunch. Rachel's family arrived at 11:00. We ate and opened presents. They all left at 15:30, except for Jake and Gayle.  They helped us load the car and store the food we didn't eat. We left for my parents house, arriving at 19:00. When we arrived, the coyotes were going mad outside, and we realized that my family had called them in to scare us. They were hidden out in the dark. I found Andrew, and he went in with us. We went out again with the others to look at the stars for a while. Then we went inside. We stayed until 22:00, when our lack of sleep finally had worn us too thin.

We left for Wabasha at 08:15, stopping in Caledonia to pick up a pan in Rachel's childhood home and a recipe for rice pudding for our evening meal.  We stopped at Target in Winona to get a few last minute presents. We picked up the keys at the Chocolate shop downtown, and headed off for the Captains Quarters room, right next to Slippery's Restaurant, which had just closed down a few days ago. While we decorated the room, we watched Grumpy Old Men on the TV through the PS3 that I brought along. We baked made a ham, rolls, and green been casserole. 

Festivus! We worked on the house all day, and then went to Sarah's house for the best Festivus ever. I won the leg wrestling competition, and also the ugly sweater competition. Mark made ham and turkey. Everything was perfect and very fun. We ended the evening watching Jen and Sarah's home cooking show.

Caroling through the streets of Spring Grove, we nearly followed a caravan of others cars leaving the church and spreading the love. We rode with Sara, and after had a lovely dinner and drinks at Norski's Saloon.