First Days

Greetings friends. It has been a bit of a whirlwind three days getting adjusted to the new life in Britain. Travel went without incident and I even managed to get into London an hour early thanks, I think, to Hurricane Bill giving the plane some extra tailwind. I had a lovely quiet two days with friends Michael and Todd, at their flat just north of Camden Town. Yesterday I made my pilgrimage to Fortnum and Mason's for provisions of tea, snacks, and other things to keep on hand for those quiet cocktails in the room before dinner. Last night, we went to a wonderful new French Bistro near Euston Station called Somers Town Coffeehouse. The food was lovely. I had razor clams and other shellfish gratin followed by roast guinea fowl on boulangere potatoes with a port wine sauce!

It was up early and on to Harlaxton today. It's been a bit rainy and blustery with the remains of the hurricane but we did see some sun too. Harlaxton is every bit as breathtaking as the pictures on the website and I will be adding some in the next few days. For now, I've put a few more pics of my room (my mantle now has pictures of home,my riding helmet and gloves, and fresh roses left by the headmaster and his wife). The other picture is the view from my room out the front of the manor gates. Tomorrow we get down to business with getting ready for the students to arrive and classes to begin on Monday. I'll be telling you more about life here as it unfolds but for now let me say how impressed I am with the way the staff are going out of their way to make us feel welcome. It does begin to feel like home...if a little over the top! :-)