Exeter, Oxford, a few others and then home

Since my last post I have arrived back home in Zim. In between then and now though I visited Exeter with my sister for the day as my brother-in-law was working in Tiverton. Beth and I went on a tour of the underground passages of Exeter which were built in the Middle Ages to bring clean water into the city. I'm afraid I chickened out of the last tunnel that was less than a meter high - I don't think I would have fitted through, my sister did it though. We managed to catch a free tour of Exeter cathedral which was interesting and then unintentionally joined a tour group seeing the entrance to the university dean's residence - we saw the door open and thought it was open to the public - oops (it was an interesting door). The next day I caught the bus to Oxford to see friends. Went to lunch on the same road as the language school where I was supposed to teach. Then went to a well put together exhibition of artefacts and information on Jane Austen at the Bodleian Library. I ended up spending an extra night in Oxford as I was going to Milton Keynes on the Saturday to see other friends and it made sense to not go all the way back to Swindon. Visited a friend's lovely cottage in Moulsoe, just outside of Milton Keynes and I managed to bring some sun. I travelled back to Swindon and then on the Sunday, we went to cousins in Reading and had quite a gathering. My cousin's eldest daughter is about to start junior school and she enthusiastically brought down her entire school wardrobe and modelled her various outfits for us.

My last week was mostly in Swindon. Met up with another cousin who drove through from Crowborough to see my sister and I. I wandered around the Outlet Center in Swindon and tried not to spend too much. I could have gone to the Steam Museum, as Swindon is famous for its railways. On Friday my sister and I went to Marlborough which is not far from Swindon, to see a family friend from Zimbabwe. We were treated to tea at Polly's Tea Rooms. On Saturday, the day I flew home, my sister organised for us to meet up with my cousin Carly and her boyfriend and my friend Suba came too. We went to Cliveden House in Maidenhead. When we drove up we were all ready to pay when the attendant said there was one day a year when entry was free of charge and it just so happened that that was today - score! The gardens were lovely and we had fun getting lost in the maze and walking along the Thames.

We were lucky with the weather at Cliveden as when I got to Heathrow thunderclouds prevented us from taking off for an hour and a half. The guy who sat next to me got on the plane and promptly fell asleep but in the most awkward position - he must really have had neck ache when he woke up. He maintained this position until we had taken off, whereupon when he could, he put the tray table down and doubled up over it, with his hoody pulled over and with his face apparently plastered into the plastic bag of his blanket which he was using as a cushion unopened. I did at the time wonder if he was asphyxiating himself. He did seem to still be breathing though. To make him wake up the air hostess seemed to purposefully say breakfast instead of dinner to him when she asked if he wanted any. He briefly lifted his head, grunted and then went back to sleep. In the morning when we were served breakfast before landing he was still in the same position and the air hostess asked me if he had moved during the night. When I said yes, she said she was relieved as she wondered if we had a corpse. The thought of being squashed in by the window by a dead body had crossed my mind too, but he had moved and did get off the plane when we landed.