This morning we packed and dragged our suitcases uphill to Waverley station to catch a train to London. The trip was very pleasant and we were able to do a bit of blogging and take in some of the English countryside which is mostly green with hills and farms and stuff. Once in London we successfully navigated the tube and caught the last train of the day to Milton Keynes to meet up with Alex and Sina, family friends from Zimbabwe, who I hadn't seen for nine years or so. We had a most excellent dinner and catch up with everyone and we were lucky enough to meet Mia, Mark and Rachel's little girl.

The next morning was our chance for a bit of sight-seeing. Alex was an excellent tour guide who showed us all around Milton Keynes and the surrounding villages. Milton Keynes is a relatively new development and everything is very well planned, with an efficient grid of roads (labelled either with V for vertical or H for horizontal), separate pedestrian/cycle routes, lots of trees and three man-made lakes for recreation.

Outside Milton Keynes, we drove through Stony Stratford, whose claim to fame is the origin of the phrase c*** and bull story" named after two pubs, the c*** and the Bull, between which tales were said to be told and exaggerated. Sounds like a c*** and bull story in itself!

Milton Keynes has an enormous mall and we got the day's exercise by taking a walk through it (and getting a bit lost!). We saw the concrete cows which are apparently a must-see for all visitors to Milton Keynes. We'll let you decide for yourself from our photos :) Nearby is an indoor ski field and a giant wind tunnel for indoor sky diving (mall diving?) at the lovely price of about £25 per minute.

Sadly it was time to leave as we had a train to catch to Halstead, but we had a lovely time in the metropolis of MK.

- Brett