The Jacksons take London

Well it’s been almost another month since I last updated this blog! We are starting to see the end of this journey of ours in sight... We’ve booked our flight home and will be back on August 15! I will try to fit in a few more blog entries before then though!

My parents were here for two weeks from the end of May to the first week of June. They had a whirlwind vacation and went all over the place – Greenwich (by boat), Bath and (of course, who could forget) the illustrious Grand Union Canal of Uxbridge leading to our local Tesco (grocery store). (I have been talking up this canal walk that Keith and I go on near our flat and all the species of ducks and geese and baby birdies we get to see... it is a very interesting area for nature lovers but there is nothing particularly ‘grand’ about this canal!).
We also spent a lovely two days in Peterborough visiting old friends of my parents who took us driving about the countryside in their vintage cars (a ’49 Triumph and ’71 MG). Peterborough Cathedral is home to the grave of Katherine of Aragon (Henry VIII’s first wife) and was also the original resting place of Mary Queen of Scots before her son James I had her reburied in Westminster Abbey in a grand tomb. We went to the nearby village of Fotheringhay which is the site of Mary Queen of Scots’ execution (as well as a lovely old church) and is also the village where King Richard III was born. Lots of history in this unassuming village! (the pictures here are of Peterborough Cathedral on the left and me standing on the hill where Fotheringhay Castle once stood with the church in the background).

My parents also went to many sights in London they had not had a chance to see before (a sampling: Kew Gardens, Spitalfields, Docklands, Hampstead Heath, Tate Britain) as well as a few old favourite spots. We also went to see the play War Horse– a tearjerker for everyone. All in all it was a lovely holiday and a great way for them to ease their way into their imminent retirement.

In May I joined a couple of university choirs just for the month and had fun at a concert put on at the end of that month, just a few days before my parents came. I got to sing and pick up a viola again after 10 years away from it!

Now Keith is on his final six weeks of school and I am writing my dissertation (5000 words – of 18,000 – done so far...) We are looking forward to coming home again and seeing all our family and friends. And we will be using our last eight weeks to see as much of England as we can!