A weekend can change your life

It started out extraordinary.

First Class. The only way to travel. (This is me writing, by the way. Ain't no rest for the wicked.)

Our journey began on Hull Trains coach L. We had first class seats. This is the first time I actually sat down in a first class seat on a train. Before our sit-downs landed on the (velvety, extra lumbar support) seat, we were offered free coffee or tea. I was gobsmacked, and I didn't even know what to say. Thus began our Trip to London for the Weekend.

We saw the sights. These were chosen by me, as part of my 29th Birthday Gift from my beloved, who was funding this entire trip. So these sights were literary sights. Everything could be brought back to an author of some sort. Everything. Hence:

Good Ol' Bill Shakes's Globe Theatre. Poetry in itself.

A picture on the window over Charles Dickens's back garden.

One of the staircases in Charles Dickens's house. He didn't need a Stairmaster. The guy got exercise.

The famous Whitechapel pub where all of Jack the Ripper's murder victims frequented. (Charles Dickens and Lewis Carol were suspects.) 

Literary worlds collide! Prepare for trivia! This is a street in Whitechapel. It is narrow and cobblestoned, and so, English and adorable. One of Jack the Ripper's victims frequented this street. A century later, J.K. Rowling puts Harry Potter in here, in the film adaptation of her book. This was Knockturn Alley.

Just walked into Highgate Cemetery proper, at the start of the east cemetery (£10 per person tour). This? The setting for Audrey Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry, where a place is as much a character as Robert or Elspeth. It was surreal seeing these things that inspired Niffenegger so much...

Just one of many winding paths throughout the vast acreage.

The Thomas Sayers tomb. His dog, Lion, ever faithful.

(And this is me, counting down and always hoping. London 2012 Olympics? Is that what this is for? Oh!)



Apparently I was doing something right, because one of my life's biggest wishes came true. My beloved popped The Question! Down on one knee! And the answer: a resounding yes!

I just can't believe it.

And it ended extraordinary.

Enjoy your weekend, Constant Reader. I know I will.