9/18/25 Thursday about 10:45pm UK time
OK, it was quite a day. I made it to Dallas and then barely made it to the flight to London. They were already boarding when I got to the gate. The 9 hour 10 minute flight to London was actually pretty good. We have a free middle seat on our row which made for more room. The plane was otherwise very full. I was able to stand around and talk to various strangers which helped pass the time. I read a bit and watched Dune 2 again. But didn’t sleep.
I got to London in plenty of time to make my way from Heathrow over to Euston station to catch the train up to Stokes-on-Trent which is where Les Jones has his offices for Contemporary Collage Magazine. Les, picked me up at the train station then we went over to his office for a couple of hours and I helped out a bit for getting things ready for the conference tomorrow. Then about 3:00 he drove me over to the air B&B he had arranged for me and it is a lovely country place. I hope I will have time to go out and walk around to check out the surroundings. I showered and took a nap till about 6:00pm. Then spent some time with my host getting the internet set up and so forth.
Les picked me up at 7:00pm and 6 of us went out for dinner at a very nice restaurant including Wilf and Molly and two other artists that will be at the conference. I had the classic chicken pot pie that had an amazing tarragon flavor. Then Les and Wilf dropped me off and will pick me up in the morning about 7:15am to go do the final preparations for the conference which will be a one day event. Hopefully to become an annual event.
So here I am giving you the highlights report from the day. I’ll try to get some photos tomorrow if I can remember.
Oh gosh. Tarragon. The one thing only, I think, that I go "ick" on. I just don't like the flavor. At. All. We had dinner at a neighbor's house about two years ago. Neighbor Jim is a wonderful cook and likes that we enjoy all kinds of food. He made something. I remember not what. And there was something in the dish that I did not like. Now, mind you, I had not had tarragon in 40 years. I said to Jim, "is there tarragon in this dish?" to which he replied yes. I had to fess up and tell him I still do not like tarragon. But, Cecil, I do like chicken pot pies, especially the pies they make in the UK.
Take a trip, perhaps, to Liverpool and ask people what 28IF means. Be safe out there, Cecil!