"The old river in its broad reach rested unruffled at the decline of day, after ages of good service done to the race that peopled its banks, spread out in the tranquil dignity of a waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth." 27 April 2010 Jean's parents have in their garage an 8 foot long inflatable boat(We'll call her Penelope here). On Penelope's maiden and only voyage some 3 years ago she lost an oar. Looking to procure a replacement Jean's Mum wrote to the manufacturer who kindly sent her another oar straight from China free of charge. As our arrival coincided with a heat wave in Britain (Low 70's in late April) we decided the time was right to take her out for another spin. After re-inflating our charge we carried Penelope down the quarter mile or so to the canal and put in. It was slow going as Penelope was not the swiftest of craft and there were several portages around numerous locks. ...

23 April 2010 Arrived at Heathrow airport, London mid-morning considerably jet-lagged after a sleepless night over the Atlantic. Jean abandoned me at immigration to queue in with EU passport holders as it was a shorter line than the one with the chattel holding non EU documents. I filed in and was soon before a bald, bespectacled, middle-aged immigration official. He scanned over my proffered information card and was immediately querulous as to how I managed to take off from work for 24 days and whether or not I was even employed at all. Not wanting to explain that I had quit my job so my wife and I could backpack around the world I told him that I was on an extended leave of absence. "For how long?" he pressed. "About six months." "Six months here?" "No, we're going to Greece in a few weeks." "We? Who are you traveling with?" "My wife." "Where is she?" "She's a UK national so she went to th...