sent from: London, UK. destination: Encino, California, USA

A pretty good week, intense, the wheels are turning. We rode from Central London to Clapham one evening, a very nice ride. The biggest hazards this week were the sudden families and children who filled London streets during this half term week. Day trips, museums, shopping, theatre, every intersection and crosswalk had an inter-generational group looking to the heavens in awe as a phalanx of London bike commuters bore down on them, bells dinging and horns honking. They would stand terrified, before scurrying off. I will not miss them. Now we are on a train into the Suffolk countryside to spend the weekend. .. and here we are in a place where villages with names like Broadeninglemham and Scribble and Yoxingtonham are overrun with wild pheasants, rabbits and sheep. We’re in a stately home from the early 1800s with separate staff quarters (incl. staircase, etc). Of course our bedroom is in the staff quarters. The easiest reference point is Downton Abbey, a show missing a “w”. We’ve taken over the whole place, between family and friends; children appear en masse – a shrieking horde who will either torture or massage you and disappear down another corridor. Its a perfect place for a themed dress up Murder Mystery.