We arrived in London not well rested, but at least having been ableto sleep a bit on the plane. Virgin Air has a choice of about 15 movies and a bunch of TV shows. They don’t edit the movies, either. A really good one I saw was Down in the Valley.

We took the Heathrow Express to Paddington, a wonderful, clean train, a bit pricey, even for second class at about $24 each, but arrived easily. Could have taken the tube for about $6, but it would have taken anhour, and this took 15 minutes.

We were easily able to rcollect our tickets from the vending machine, which we had purchased in the US a month ago. At this point, I realized that I did not get the Royal Oak pass into the papers I brought. The Royal Oak is a US card that gets you into all the National Trust properties, and I paid $80 for it before we left home. That’s a major disappointment. I wandered out of the station and found a Mailboxes Etc., where they told me that getting it here right away by UPS would cost about $60!! Not worth it, obviously. I’ve decided to call Lynda & Mishelle tonight and see if they can go find the thing and just mail it to us in the Cotswolds, but now I can’t find the mailing address of our hotel there. I’ve been too cheap to hook up to the internet for $2 for 12 minutes, since I think our hotel tonight has free service.

I love the signs here. On the long trip to Penzance there are many stops. In the station we just passed the sign says, “Alight here for bus connections.” The word alight seems to me such a delicate word, like something a butterfly would do, not a beleagured tourist with a backpack the size and shape of a laundry basket and a suitcase suitable for a small body.

We arrived at Penzance sometime after 8:30. It was a brisk walk to our hotel which is a charming B&B with a lovely hostess. Someone who actually likes her job, unlike so many we’ve dealt with recently. Sleep becons.