Grabbing the Reins

I'm keeping a mental list of "what I'll miss" about London. It is such a lengthy treatise that I'm surely squeezing out (admittedly already limited) space for learning a foreign language and helping with homework. So I'll have to bore you with it in its entirety soon.  Meanwhile, though one of the things I'll miss about London is the horses.

Yes, I hear you. I suspect there are a few horsies in Nashville, but I'm not thinking about that yet (until next week when we're touring our new environs for a few days!).

It came as a delightful surprise to be surrounded by equine life in a major city. We have the great fortune of being across the park from the horse ring and trail, seeing the Household Calvary in formation many mornings and random fancy carriages trotting about. Then there are mounted police.

The horses have never become routine and we're always shouting "HORSES!" when we see them in any sort of procession -- urging each other to the windows to catch a glimpse. I love to see the ponies from Hyde Park Stables crossing Bayswater Road. Doing so on foot can cause my heart to quicken, so I'm in awe of riders who stride across 4 lanes of traffic on horseback.

And Biggest Brother's Year 6 PE has included learning to ride. Didn't see that coming either.

Stay tuned for The List. It is going to be awful. Blubbery, weepy, hideously sentimental. I'm going to miss the throaty rumble of cabs, the keening of bus brakes, cheese. Oh how I will miss the cheese and the glorious wonders of European dairy. I will miss it all. Full stop.

The re-entry begins, friends.