Notes from the UK

Today Tina and I are in Glasgow, Scotland. We arrived here via train from Manchester, England yesterday, and will depart for Inverness, Scotland tomorrow. Our adventures thus far have been pretty exciting, leading us on a wandering search for our first hotel in London (we came up directly beneath it and walked in either direction for about half a mile before realizing where it was) through London’s Trafalgar Square packed with tens of thousands of people on New Year’s Eve and a couple of amazing theatrical productions in London’s brilliant Theatre District (Anything Goes and The Lion King).

Whilst in London we also took a few day trips to Bath and Cambridge via train and were unpleasantly surprised to discover that the busiest shopping time of the year in Bath and London is the time between Christmas and New Year’s (that’s when all the sales are in full force, we discovered). Every shop we went into was wall-to-wall people; country kids don’t do so well in a pressured-shopping environment, so we avoided the shops where we could.

In Bath I purchased a new, more sturdy notebook that I hope will be with me for some time. Its binding is solid and has a thin, hard cover around it with a wee pouch built into the inner back cover. There is also a clever elastic band built into the back cover that wraps around the entire thing and keeps it closed. Its dimensions are slightly larger than those to which I am accustomed, but not so big that it doesn’t fit nicely in my front pocket. In short, I am pleased with my purchase.

A good deal of our trip has been very relaxed. We decided early on, wordlessly, that we didn’t want to overtax ourselves by pushing ourselves to do everything there was to do in every place that we have been. This trip is, after all, _our trip_, and in general we feel most comfortable when we don’t feel pressured to do anything in particular. We enjoy the meandering musing of a relaxed journey, and don’t feel as though we need to see anything in particular. We just want to _be_ here, and enjoy ourselves.

And we have.

I’ve used my new notebook to make outlines of the events of each day of our journey. I’ve discovered over time that my memory is arranged such that when prompted by sufficient milestones can recall a great deal of detail. It is in this way that I hope to provide much more detailed accounts of our journey here at such time that I am not limited by an hourly fee for Internet access (I am writing this in an easyInternetCafe in Glasgow). The outlines are rough, but I am confident that they have sufficient detail to jog my memories of (intriguing) minutiae.

This afternoon we will reserve our tickets to Inverness tomorrow, where we will spend the next two days of our journey. Tonight we will either see a film or tour even more of the city centre.

4 comments

  • Tina and Tyler, I enjoy your writings from your honeymoon. Have a wonderful time.
    Butch and family

  • The Moleskin notebooks are the best! Quinn uses this same notebook as his only PIM!…and wallet thanks to that handy pocket.
    [beau tip] Meet some locals; they will often be very excited to show you some local flair that you would otherwise miss as a tourist. 😉
    Enjoy the Trip.

  • Glad to hear from you and Tina. Can’t wait for you to get home though! Just a mom worrying 🙂
    Have fun and I hope Tina is looking into Grandma Freda’s roots while she is there.
    From Tina’s Mom

  • By the time you get this, you will probably be at home. Resting up from your restful vacation. I surely hope that this honeymoon is the best. We’ll see or hear from you guys when you get home.
    Please be careful.
    Jack and Cathy Murphy

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