Sigh.

My day with Kathryn was delightful. We went to an internet cafe, where I booked seats for Robin and me on today's flight and printed our boarding passes. Then we went to Kathryn's flat for lunch, a good talk, and a browse through family photos.

Kathryn had an errand to run, so we combined business with pleasure by going first to - oh, dear - Stowe-on-Wold (sp?) to pick up a piece of furniture, then off to the Slaughters, about which I had just been listening to a radio show. The Slaughters were very pretty, and I enjoyed rummaging in the Saxon-Norman church in Upper Slaughter. We left there and drove through the beautiful Cotswolds. Kathryn was telling me a story when we drove through Upper and Lower Swell. I commented that Swell was, in fact, swell, and she offered to turn around to get a better look. I decided, though, to save Swell for next year. We passed Blenheim and considered a detour to Churchill's burial site, but time was speeding by, so we headed back to Oxford, where we had a cup of coffee and went to the railway station. I was a little nervous about missing my train. It was going to be dark when I got to Reading, and I was none to confident about being able to find my way from the station to the boat in the dark. So Anyway, we made a quick pit stop at W.H. Smith in the station, and then we said good-bye. I am just so pleased that I finally got to meet Kathryn.
On my arrival in Reading, I visited its much larger W.H. Smith, bought a John Irving novel for my flight home, then found the queue for taxis and made some poor driver take me the four blocks or so to where our boat was moored.

This morning, we caught the bus to Heathrow. Robin is gazing out at planes landing and taking off, while I wander around the airport. We are scheduled to fly out at 1:05 this afternoon - not too long, now.

After we get home, I'll have to read through Robin's log, to reconnect with some of the places we visited. It all becomes a blur after a while.