Walking

It was a hell of a week, last week. It started last Friday with the trip to Israel, then on Saturday I met the boss. After a stressful and work-filled few days in Israel, we flew to the UK (on one of the worst flight ever). Spent a lot of time with the UK squints, drove west to meet the special Bristol variety of squints, and finally some time after lunch on Friday my week work week was over. To make matters worse, I caught a cold from the sad French Canadian that sat sniveling next to me from Ben Gurion to Heathrow. I collapsed in my bed on Friday night, miserable, with a full head, stuffy nose and streaming eyes. It was raining.

Saturday morning, I awoke not feeling much better but decided I needed to walk off the cold. So early in the morning (7:15 am) I dropped bwo off in Richmond, parked and went walking along the Thames with Roxy. We started at Richmond Bridge (actually I parked on the Twickenham side), walked under Twickenham Bridge, all along the Old Deer Park, past the Mid Surrey Gold Course, alongside Kew Gardens all the way to Kew Bridge. The views along the river were spectacular (see pictures). Just my dog and I and a lot of rowers. On the way back the sky clouded over and a light rain added to the atmosphere. I guess we're in England now.

After that two hour trek, I collapsed on the couch for a nap, with Roxy sleeping at my feet dreaming of romping with her friends back in the old country. Later in the afternoon, I took pity on her and we went for another walk. This time out the house, down Sandy Lane (there is a nice house for sale on Sandy Lane for £1,125,000), down Lock Lane, to the Teddington Lock on the Thames and then in the direction of Kingston, past the footbridge to Twickenham, along Lower Ham Road to the Kingston Rowing Club, before turning back. It started raining quite hard and the dog and I got quite wet. We arrived home out of breath and dripping, quite full of mud. It was awesome.

This morning (Sunday) I want to try make it to Dover. I have never seen the White Cliffs in person, and so have some plans. These rarely work out as we usually give up after about a half hour of driving. But I have hope.