Across the Isle

Finalising our packing and getting ready for yet another migration we spent a few more hours in the pristine residence of P&P. With sun shining through the blinds the kitchen was toasty warm and the linen was drying nicely on the hoist outside. The weather has been really disappointing in that we'd love to hang it on the Poms that their country is permanently covered in a dull, grey and thus boring cover of cloud however with all this sunshine highlighting the variety of autumn colours currently bursting out of all the trees the place seems to be thriving with life and general painters pallets of joy. P&P drove us to the train station and we said our fond farewell's. And then we shot off through the brilliant sunshine making the green fields and hedgerows glow at a speed which blurred the nearby bushes. At this speed the trip two days earlier would've lasted about 10 minutes. Would've missed spotting the pheasants though. A change of services at Swindon did a great job of re-enforcing the traditional view of the old country by managing to be grey, dull and boring even whilst the sun was shining.

15 minutes rail travel later we embarked in Didcot and being greeted by the sunny smile and disposition of Sarah who bundled us into her jalopy for a fun drive up to Buckingham through quaint towns with many traditional buildings with Maggie roofs. She's dead now so the locals refer to them as chocolate box houses. We stopped at Averby for a shop in a local food festival market thingy they had going in the main square. We collected ingredients to put dinner together as well as lunch in a local supermarket (very civilised).

Little did we know that a strange coloured mango looking fruit labelled "Kim Fruit" was actually a Brazilian/Chinese variety. We would've believed the seller as well but he mentioned on parting that he made the whole thing up on the spot. Pondering what sort of possibilities could create an effective combination between the two cultures (!!?) we headed off though the lush green fields and onto Bucks. With two players in the original household missing (one permanently away on campus and the other at an '80's rockers concert) the Britton's place was still very welcoming and homely.

First thing noticed on the wall was a framed dedication to Nick's attendance at the MCG where we witnessed the greatest capitulation of the Aussie cricketers of all time ( they've done worse since - practice makes perfect heh boys?). Talk about rubbing salt into the wound. At least we can be comfortable in the knowledge that they'll never be able to understand - let alone play the perfect code of football.

Perched high above the green parks below we watched the sky on fire as we relaxed, caught up and had home made burgers constructed from the ingredients previously purchased. Early to bed as we suspect tomorrow could be a big one. Old London town ... Here we come.