Columbia, Missouri

I'm writing in the office of my brother, Noah, who is a professor of English at the university here. Noah is in the corner doing last minute preparation for his lecture on William Blake, and Susanna is sitting next to me admiring the speed of Noah's ethernet connection.

This brief Diary entry marks (nearly) the halfway point of our honeymoon travels around the USA, which have been wonderful thus far. We started as tourists in NY. Then six days in southern Maryland with my mother enjoying the stunning Chesapeake Bay wildlife and unseasonably warm weather. Now, some time with Noah and Elizabeth in Columbia, which seems a quiet and peaceful place. After that, we go even further off the beaten track, to my sister's place in Moorhead, Minnesota, the place of my childhood. It's important to me to show this place to Zan, even though the site of my childhood home is now a parking lot. After that, we'll fly to San Francisco, spend a few days as tourists there, and drive (slowly) up the Pacific Coast Highway to Vancouver. On 31 March, we fly back to London, arriving there on 1 April, my 36th birthday.

Then it's back to work and to "normal" life.