A Memorable Day...

A Memorable Day...

When my kids were little, we loved reading Lillian & Russell Hoban's 'Frances' books. One of my favorites was "A Birthday for Frances" in which Francis has trouble with Gloria getting all the attention on her birthday and quietly sings to herself:

Happy Birthday to me
That's how it should be.
Happy Birthday to Francis (squeezing the Chompo Bar real hard)
Happy Birthday to me.

That song went through my mind today as I celebrated my 52nd birthday. Here are some of the high points...

• Waking at 35,000' somewhere west of Ireland with just the thinnest band of light on the horizon (OK - this was after only a few hours of mostly interrupted sleep)
• Standing for an hour in a customs queue
• Catching the Underground into downtown London
  
• Covent Garden
  
• Trafalger Square
  
• Big Ben
  
• The Thames
  
• Westminster Abbey
  
• St. Michaels
  
• St Paul's
  
• Book shopping on Charing Cross Rd.
  
• Buckingham Palace (They're changing the guard at Buckingham Palace/Christopher Robin went down with Alice./Alice is marrying one of the guards/"A soldier's life is terribly hard,"/Says Alice...). I waited and waited, but the Queen didn't come out to meet me.
  
• Driving a rental car ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE ROAD. (The gps navigation system really helps.)

I decided early on that I don't have time to do much, so I stayed out of the galleries and I didn't buy any tours. I just walked and rode the tube. It was a great day. Next time I want to see some shows and hear some music.

Tomorrow morning I make an important presentation, and then in the afternoon drive 4 or 5 hours south and west to Plymouth.

In the meantime I'm exhausted, and tomorrow is another big day.