Fang and I are leaving in a few hours for a week in London. We are carting along a laptop, an adapter and complete trust that the gods of technology will ensure that I will be able to contribute some bits and pieces to this blog while across the Atlantic. We're seeing friends in Wales, family in south London and we're scattering some of my mother's ashes in the famous Greenwich Park (the epicenter of Greenwich Mean Time and near where my mother was born). She always loved this park more than anywhere else, so we're smuggling a small container of her to ensure some of her always remains there.

Going to London is a familiar journey, one that I've made many times in my life. The endless cups of tea, the chips and peas that dot every dinner plate, the pubs and the pints of lager and lime, McVittie's biscuits and the classic English breakfast with mushrooms and eggs and thick slabs of bacon represent pure comfort. There will be a shopping spree at Harrod's and a visit to the Top Shop (at the recommendation of Double D). There will be a drunken family reunion at my aunt's house in Clapham. There will be some horse racing in Chester with our friend Wardy. And if I'm really lucky, there will be a strip search by the zealous security agents at Heathrow Airport.

I'm off like a prom dress! See you on the other side.