We're back

We're back in San Diego now after a long, long couple of days of travel. I had a wonderful time. The best thing of all for me was that we were living just a few minutes walk from where I was working. Gone was mostly wasted time driving to work and gained was the chance to come home and have lunch with my family.

Nina and I spent a lot of time at the zoo in Bristol and really enjoyed it. They have a wonderful lemur collection; Lorien showed one video from when we were in "Meet the Lemurs". You and the lemurs are in the same enclosed area - sometimes they want to hurry down the path and you kind of have to get out of their way. We also got to hear them talking to each other, which was a real treat. I think Nina will also remember hearing the mama lion roar - she was pretty scared.

Bath is nearby and a lovely place. I read that some development is endangering its World Heritage Site status but it is a wonderful place to walk around. I reread "Persuasion" before and during our trip and was really happy to get to see bath. I wanted to go to Lyme as well but it would have been an extended train ride and there wasn't a good time to do it.

Nina and I also visited the SS Great Britian. This is a 17th century steamship. I think it might have been the first one built entirely of iron (or else some other first) and it also was the first instance of an improved propeller design. They've got it setup in drydock so you can walk underneath and look at the hull. I don't think Nina enjoyed it as much as I did and the engines were incredibly loud, but it was really interesting to see the different classes of travel and read some stories about its trips.

Work went well and I'm pleased to have had a chance to work on some things I probably wouldn't have done if I'd stayed here.

Still, it's good to be back.