As my head sunk into the delicious depths of my pillow last night, I thought, "Hurrah!  Something actually happened today!  Now I can write a real, true travel log without feeling guilty about wasting people's time."   So here's the real, true travel log:

Day 46 dawned bright and. . .uh. . .rainy, as usual (and yes, it is possible to have a bright and rainy day!).  Luckily, by the time I'd flopped out of bed, sauntered downstairs for a breakfast of dinner left-overs, and pulled myself together for the day, the rain had stopped and the weather was doing a very good imitation of a Utah summer.  So what did I do?  I decided to go for a little walk around Woodford!  Actually, the walk did have a purpose--I needed to find an ATM machine and withdraw some cash.  So off I went down the sunny, yellow-brick road.  (Wait. . .somehow, that turned out all wrong. Woodford doesn't have any yellow brick, so my "Wizard of Oz" reference was very clumsy.  Plus, I just realized that I wasn't actually referencing "The Wizard of Oz" at all!  Tack ". . .deep in Bear Country" at the end of my sentence, and you'll see what I mean.  Sorry, Stan and Jen Bernstein!)

ANYWAY, I had cooped myself up in the house for three days, so the crisp air was invigorating. I admired all of the darling little houses in the neighborhood as I walked along and even discovered a blue plaque (meaning that some important person once lived in the blue plaqued house!). The trek to the ATM at the train station and back only took about forty minutes, but I enjoyed it very much.

After that, my day became a bit more mundane.  I buckled down and spent several hours writing my Scholar Report for the London Bridge Rotary Scholarship.  I actually ended up having quite a bit of fun with the thing, and I'm afraid that the result was rather unconventional.  :-)  Then, I answered e-mails, made some arrangements with the University of Sussex (concerning housing, etc.), and watched a couple of the "Special Features" on the "Pirates of the Caribbean" DVD.  I'm not sure if I actually want to see the movie, but I love learning about the workings behind films!  Plus, Johnny Depp intrigues me.

At about 7:30, I loaded myself with bowls of salad and plates of gourmet desserts, and walked with the Saltzmans to a friend's house for dinner.  Jeanette had told me that the affair would be "casual," so I went in jeans, and I was quite unprepared for the poshness of the family and the exotic nature of the dinner!  The family was very, very sweet, and guess what?  They have four daughters just like the Saltzmans!  Poor Richard was vastly outnumbered.  :-)  The girls were friendly and bubbly, and the whole thing felt like a gigantic slumber party.

We began with drinks, moved on to a green salad with mangos and strawberries, and then delved into a main course consisting of lentils and goats cheese, freshly-cooked beef stroganoff, and a seafood mixture containing shellfish, calamari, shrimp, and rice.  I tried it all! After the main course, a huge fruit mixture was produced, including a South African fruit called lychee which tasted sort of pear-ish/peach-ish.  (The family is originally from South Africa, and all the girls speak Afrikaans.  One of the girls, in fact, just got back from a year-long stay in South Africa.)  Then came the desserts:  Ice-cream, fudge brownies, and a light pudding-and-whipped-cream mixture, provided by Jeanette, Chef Extrordinaire.  Delicious!

We didn't return home until about 11:30, and by that point, I was too tired to do much besides get ready for bed and chat with Kati on MSN about my delightful experience.  Really, I feel quite cultured!