Last day in Stratters

Mutterings continued.

Penultimate (sort of) day in the UK. I'm sitting in the Stratford Library using one of their very fast, very new computers. The last time we visited here the library was very small and had one computer, which was booked out for days. The place has become a Tardis - deceptively small on the outside and huge on the inside.

And net use is free.

Yesterday I visited Warwick Castle, once ancestral home to the Earl of Warwick; the latest incumbent sold it to the Madame Taussaud's groups in 1979 and it's now a theme park, of sorts, with lots of rather good wax models.

I thought I would be brave and take the Ramparts Walk, 503 steps ending in a fabulous view of Warwickshire. I didn't count on Guy's Tower, a winding, very narrow, very dark stone staircase that seemed to go up forever. Half way up I became very claustrophobic and had to walk back down. This isn't easy, given it's One Way traffic only and other people had to climb down to let me through. I didn't run screaming but I got close.

Tomorrow I take the car back to Hertz at the Stratford train station ( a day early), get on the 11.48 to London and then the Heathrow Express to Terminal 1 to have my ticket changed. I've booked a room in one of the hotels close to to the airport - unfortunately the only one close to Terminal 4, from where I depart, is charging £195 a night. That's nigh on $600!

I'll be up at 3am, hoping to get a cab at 3.30am to get me to Terminal 4 in time to book in at 4.30. My flight is at 6.20am and they like you there at least 2 hours prior. Arrive in Paris at 8.30am and fly out again at 2.30pm. A 19 hour flight I'm not looking forward to. Still, it beats 13 to Singapore, 6 hours in Singers and then 5 to Perth as in the old days.