The final countdown

Well, it's less than a week now before we leave for England. Tick tock, tick tock! All plans are laid. Most importantly, hotel reservations are made!

I'm quite excited about our planned accommodations. Our first three nights in London will be at my long-time London pied-à-terre , the Harlingford Hotel near Russell Square in Bloomsbury, where I first stayed as a college student in 1986. Then in Bath, for the weekend of the Half Marathon, we will be staying at a bed and breakfast called Meadowland, a new destination for me. I found Meadowland after discovering that Haydon House (where I've been staying since 1995) has closed. However, Meadowland is not only in the same neighborhood as Haydon House, it appears (from the website) remarkably similar in style and appearance! Finally, the day after the run, we will take the train to Penzance for three days of R & R by the sea. We're staying at the Abbey Hotel, which I located through Alistair Sawday's Special Places to Stay.

I have my new passport (replaced after my purse was stolen in December), a general idea of what I want to pack, and kitty care lined up for the ones left at home (Rod and my cats, or more precisely, Rod for my cats). The only snag in the preparations is that I have misplaced my camera and my desultory efforts to locate it have so far been to no avail. I keep telling myself, it's got to be somewhere!

Other than that difficulty (and the numerous other little tasks that need to be accomplished), I'm ready!

Snow falling on London

London hasn't seen snow like this since the last scene of Bridget Jones's Diary.



Depending on which news source you read, since Sunday London has seen up to three, six, even eight inches of new snow accumulate. Schools were closed, traffic jammed, and complaints about lack of snowplows ran rampant. (Just like our Seattle snowfall before Christmas!)

But just like here, the unusual volume of snow has also piqued excitement and delight amongst Londoners more accustomed to weather that is grey and damp than white and fluffy. Sledding (sledging) on Primrose Hill, skiing on snow-covered sidewalks, and general winter merriment has ensued.



Here are some snowy London scenes, borrowed from the BBC.

London snow is not unheard of in literature. In addition to the ubiquitous romantic snow scenes in movies like Bridget Jones's Diary, poet Robert Bridges wrote "London Snow" back in 1890, telling of seven inches of new snow blanketing the city.

When men were all asleep the snow came flying,
In large white flakes falling on the city brown,
Stealthily and perpetually settling and loosely lying,
Hushing the latest traffic of the drowsy town;
Deadening, muffling, stifling its murmurs failing;
Lazily and incessantly floating down and down:
Silently sifting and veiling road, roof and railing;
Hiding difference, making unevenness even,
Into angles and crevices softly drifting and sailing.
All night it fell, and when full inches seven
It lay in the depth of its uncompacted lightness,
The clouds blew off from a high and frosty heaven;
And all woke earlier for the unaccustomed brightness
Of the winter dawning, the strange unheavenly glare:
The eye marvelled - marvelled at the dazzling whiteness;
The ear hearkened to the stillness of the solemn air;
No sound of wheel rumbling nor of foot falling,
And the busy morning cries came thin and spare.
Then boys I heard, as they went to school, calling,
They gathered up the crystal manna to freeze
Their tongues with tasting, their hands with snowballing;
Or rioted in a drift, plunging up to the knees;
Or peering up from under the white-mossed wonder!'
'O look at the trees!' they cried, 'O look at the trees!'
With lessened load a few carts creak and blunder,
Following along the white deserted way,
A country company long dispersed asunder:
When now already the sun, in pale display
Standing by Paul's high dome, spread forth below
His sparkling beams, and awoke the stir of the day.
For now doors open, and war is waged with the snow;
And trains of sombre men, past tale of number,
Tread long brown paths, as toward their toil they go:
But even for them awhile no cares encumber
Their minds diverted; the daily word is unspoken,
The daily thoughts of labour and sorrow slumber
At the sight of the beauty that greets them, for the charm they have broken.

Bridges' lines foreshadowed the magical effect of snowfall on adults and children alike, as real life mirrored fiction (and poetry). Alas, no one has been yet been spotted running through the snow in knickers and trainers, or snogging Colin Firth on a snowy street corner!

Exchange rate drama!

Sometime this weekend the dollar-pound exchange rate dropped below $1.50. I know this because, when I was unable to sleep at 2:30 a.m. this morning, I hopped onto the computer and looked it up. $1.49 and decimals. I then sang myself to sleep with lullabies of "the pound is falling, the pound is falling."

When I last checked a bit ago, it was back to $1.50. Still, that's a number that hasn't been seen in years!

I've been debating in recent weeks how low the pound would need to go before it would make sense to take some money to a bank and exchange it (or buy English traveler's checks) in anticipation of next spring's trip. Not enough to fund the whole trip, but enough for cash spending money. Obviously I'd lose some on the exchange, so the deal would need to be pretty good.

Of course, that leads to dilemma number 2. What if the exchange rate is better in the spring? On the other hand, what if it is worse? Like it was in 2007 and 2006? Then I'd be kicking myself.

What will probably happen is that inertia will keep me from even making the decision to exchange or not exchange, and I'll end up just taking my chances in the spring. But I'm sure I'll be debating this question all along the way.

I must leave for England immediately!

The exchange rate has dropped below $1.60. It has not been this low for years! I am ready to travel. Well, I guess I can't go right now. I am just praying it stays low for the trip to Bath in March 2009. This is encouraging enough for me to consider adding on a few days in expensive London. Surely this must be good for the English tourism industry, if a low exchange rate encourages Americans to travel to England again and spend our money there?

Bath, here I come!

I just signed up for the Bath Half Marathon on March 15, 2009. That means a trip to England is back on the agenda for next spring!

Anglo-MANIA

Pictures taken in the QFC parking lot... this person really loves England—and pirates!

The blog is back (maybe)

After finally publishing my final trip pictures last summer, I let the One-Track Road slip into hiatus. That is because it's hard to write about traveling in England when you're not actually in England. (How many times can you complain about the exchange rate?) Instead, I found myself writing more about running. So, eventually, I started a running blog.

But I still think a lot about England. In fact, I think about England a lot when I am running! For months after the trip, I could get through several miles just reliving the story of the trip. Sometimes I alternate with thinking about potential future trips.

Recently, thoughts of England have been on my mind and have even infiltrated my running blog. For example, I recently determined that I must go to London for the 2012 Olympics. Further, I announced that if I ever run the London Marathon, I am going to stay at Brown's Hotel! (Both fantasies are too remote to worry about.)

But one fantasy that is not completely remote is my plan to run in the Bath Half-Marathon next spring. The reason there is no link to that is because the 2009 race information is not available yet. I have been checking almost every day to make sure I don't miss open registration! So until I actually get registered, this too is only a fantasy. But one that just may come true.