First blog so is kind of a trial run

 here goes - blogging is beginning.

In London and it's great to be with Emma and Sam again. I do declare that I'll never fly via the US again.  I can not be bothered with the nonsense of queueing for security processing even though I'm in transit. Over an hour at San Francisco and then fairly mediocre service on Virgin Atlantic

London has been a mixture of grey drizzle and sunshine and cool temperatures. We've visited the Lowery exhibition at the Tate Britain and a paper art exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery.  The Lowery was interesting but the paper art wasn't at all for me however Barry was thought it was and he wandered around while I sat on the step.

I feel like an experienced traveller around London now, but I'm  always surprised at how long getting about takes even though the subway seems to me to be fast and efficient.  Thankfully there are rather less people in London this time so it's easy and enjoyable to move around the city. 

We've eaten at the usual places - Khans Indian and Bob's burgers, Ruth's famous in the coley household lasagne at Emma and Brit's place, we've laughed a lot. Time is passing too quickly, unlike the hours that crawled by while we waited at San Francisco Airport. Guess it all depends on 'fun'.

And now Barry and I are on a train speeding through the English countryside en route to Leeds.  Looking forward to spending time with the Leeds branch of my family.  The country is very green except for the miles and miles of brown paddocks which have just had the hay cut. Amongst the green and the brown are the English villages and towns with their red-brick houses all the same as each other. Occasionally there is a castle, windmills and a few cows and sheep, nothing that could be called a mountain. It all looks very neat and tidy. I'm not having much luck with taking photos. By the time I get my camera up and ready to take a shot the moment has passed, there are a lot of high hedges along the railway tracks which doesn't help.

Just passed a small lake beside the tracks and all around the edge were people fishing - sitting on stools of some sort, looked like they were about 3 meters apart. It looked very funny - well, I thought so.

Just passed through Doncaster so will be in Leeds in about 30 minutes.

random photos from the train: