Returned from England.

Well, all good things come to an end, and I have returned from a gloriously sunny and sweet working vacation in London town. I spent six nights in England, including one in Reading with some dear friends and their two utterly adorable children. The conference was fascinating, and I met some very cool health services researchers doing fascinating work, including the inestimable Dr. Trish Greenhalgh, who is doing wonderful things making sure that evidence-based medicine doesn’t jump the shark.

I also go a lot of wandering in. The only thing more difficult than figuring out the London streets is figuring out the London Underground. So I walked everywhere and got good and lost several times and saw some simply wonderful stuff. Like Big Ben.

And Westminster Abbey.

And London from St. Paul’s Stone Gallery.

And Trafalgar Square.

And the lovely countryside near Reading:

Which is complete with hedgerows.

And the Millennium Eye.

I was also fitted for a shirt – in a lovely pale blue Prince of Wales check – at Henry Poole & Co, the anchor of Savile Row. A once-in-a-lifetime treat, and a spectacular one. I went to an AA meeting which was exactly like AA meetings at home except for the accent. A wonderful working vacation.