Yes--I'm finally back after disappearing from the technological world for two days.  It almost killed me not to be able to send off my daily logs!  I made it safely to Richard and Jeanette's, though, and now I have access to the internet again.  Hurrah!

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I woke up Monday morning with one major goal in mind: Packing!  It took me awhile to stuff everything into my suitcases, and the process required quite a bit of grunting and groaning.  When I finally emerged from the battle, dishevelled but victorious, I realized that I wasn't feeling very well.  My stomach and throat hurt and I was very tired.  "Great!"  I thought.  "Sick just in time for my wonderful day with Kristine and my move to Richard and Jeanette's house!"  Kristine and I had arranged to meet at the Florence Nightingale Museum at 1:00, though, and I felt obligated to go. 

Florence Nightingale is a fascinating woman; she was deeply religious and very driven.  Because she was so troubled by the suffering in the world, she made incredible advances in the field of health care and established many practices that are still used today.  It all goes to show just how much of a difference one dedicated person can make in this world.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to explore and internalize the museum in the way I would have liked to because, by this time, I was feeling quite ill.   Kristine and I took pictures of each other wearing silly Victorian hats in the costume section of the museum, but after that, I thought I'd better go back to the apartment and lie down.

Kristine came with me, and we both checked our e-mail and napped for awhile.  I awoke from my nap feeling much less tired and hardly sick at all.  I was so glad!  By this point, it was time to head to Richard and Jeanette's (we had to be there between 6:30 and 6:50).   I'm so glad that Kristine offered to help me move my luggage; I never would've made it without her!   We left around 5:30, wrestling my bags through the small hallways of the Wigram House and into the tiny elevator.  And that was only the beginning of our adventure!  On my way out, I saw Nick and Uven and was able to say goodbye to them.

Kristine and I had some trouble just getting my two rolling suitcases, my hiking backpack, and my computer bag to Victoria station.  I don't know how on earth I was able to wrestle those things through the airport on my own!  Then, when we reached Victoria, our weary eyes met a lovely sight:  Two descending flights of stairs!  Kristine tried picking up her suitcase and carrying it down, but I just let mine thump-THUMP behind me.  :-)  Several gentleman (or maybe not!) passed by and didn't even offer to help us, even though we were obviously struggling.  Humph.

After that, we got to figure out how to purchase the proper tickets and how to wrestle our things through the platforms and onto a tube train.  Then we had the pleasure of switching lines halfway through.  :-)  It actually wasn't so bad, and Kristine and I were able to giggle about the whole thing.  Nothing seems quite so horrible when you have someone to share it with!  We finally arrived at the Woodford station just before seven.  I bolted to the nearest telephone booth and called Richard's house, but nobody answered.  And wouldn't you know it?  The telephone ate my fifty pence!  So I inserted some more money and called his cell number.  This time Richard answered, but I was only able to talk to him for a minute or two before the phone cut me off.  These British pay phones are money-eating machines!  So I dutifully fed more money into the phone and was finally able to have a complete conversation.

Well, I soon discovered that we were in a bit of a bad way.  Richard was at home, but he was locked out of the house and he didn't have a car key.  :-)  He ended up walking down to the station and hiring a cab to take us back to the house.  Once we arrived, we only had to wait a few minutes before Nicky came walking up the drive with house keys.  Whew! 

I thanked Richard for his hospitality and let him know that I would be coming back the next day.  It was at this point that I remembered that Kristine and I had ordered Tuesday tickets to "Jane Eyre."  (I'd really been wanting to see the show, but tickets were always around 40 pounds.  This weekend, though, they had a huge sale and were selling tickets online for 10 pounds a piece with no booking fee.  Kristine and I had hoped to be able to see a show together before she left, so--viola!  This was perfect.)  Anyway, I realized that I wouldn't be getting back to the Woodford station until about 11:00 the next night.  Eek!  Richard made me promise to ride near the front of the train with plenty of people and then to hire a cab to bring me the rest of the way to their house.  I agreed.  It feels nice to have someone looking out for me again!

After that, Kristine and I headed back on the train.  She wanted to go to family home evening (a late game night in Hyde Park), but I figured that I'd better get to bed early if I wanted to stay healthy.  So we said goodbye, and I stopped at Sainsbury's on the way home for some quick dinner.  Egg rolls were on sale (a pound for six), so that's what I ate!  After dinner, I spent some time writing my testimony in the Russian Book of Mormon I'd picked up for Maria.  I went down to her room twice to give it to her, but she wasn't home either time.  I finally left the book in front of her door in the hopes that she would find it when she came in for the night.  Then I hopped in the shower and hit the sack.