I am sitting in Washington DC airport waiting for a flight down to Fort Lauderdale.

On Thursday last week I flew to London arriving on Friday and after dinner with my parents drove on Saturday morning 3.5 hours to Dartington Hall in Devon. It is a very beautiful venue for a wedding and the weather was good. I got dressed in a dress for the first time in many years much to my friend Charlie’s surprise and met up with my friends from university at the church for a short sweet service. The church was relatively new (19th century) as it replaced the 16th church but for those in the US that is old. The original pews meant there was no falling asleep as they are so narrow and make sure you sit bolt upright. The reception was in the great hall with a lovely vaulted ceiling I believe originally built in the 14th century. With Christmas decorations the place was magical. Charlie (the bride) and I lived together at university for 3 years. It was fun to catch up with other friends, the meal was delicious and we all managed to keep each other awake until past midnight (we are getting old as it was hard work to stay up that long!).

On Sunday morning I got up early and met the group that had to travel for early breakfast before a 3.5 hour drive back to London. I decided to break up the trip with a few jaunts down memory lane taking the exit off the A303 to Gasper the small hamlet where we had a country house when I was a child. The house is still looking good although it needs a new thatch roof sometime soon. I remember working with the thatchers putting that roof on. My parents did a beautiful job of the restoration of the place it fact it was in a magazine.

I quickly stopped by the house to meet up with my parents for christmas lunch at the Lensbury (their country club) which put me in the christmas spirit and I got my British sunday lunch which is a must when I am home. Back home in time for the street christmas party that my mother started 13 years ago. Most of the kids on the street are all grown up and have left home but the ones that were at the party I hardly recognised and had to stop myself for saying the boring ‘my you have grown’!

Home for a quick 5 hour nap before taking off to the airport for my flight to Washington. Next stop Fort Lauderdale to unload Yeoman before going home on Wednesday for Christmas in San Francisco.

Happy holidays everyone.