Well after a long journey I have arrived. The flight from Detroit to Heathrow was long but pleasant enough. I sat next to a professor of psychology from Ann Arbor who researches various psychological aspects of addiction by studying those behaviors in rats. Which sounds quite fascinating to me. He was a pleasant enough seat mate. Upon arrival in London I took an express train to Paddington Station so that I could get on one of the main rail lines to my first destination. People at the airport and express trains were quite short and grumpy (especially the immigration officer who questioned me very thoroughly on the details of my travel arrangements and my purposes for coming to the UK). After boarding the train and leaving London people were much more polite and laid back.

When i arrived at Newton Abbey train station (a 2½ hour rail trip most of which I slept through), I called Brian on a pay phone to come and collect me. I had a nice lunch with him and his wife Sigrid at the Redcliff Study Centre (which is also their home). We discussed the syllabus of my course and set out a tentative schedule, at least for the next four days—after that we will reconvene to see what direction to go in at the point. Brian said he could be quite flexible based on what I wanted to see and study while here. He gave me a book of Hardy's poems with a few highlighted readings as an introduction to his poetry as well as preparation for some of the biographical sights we will be visiting. He also gave me Thomas Hardy: A Life in Pictures by Jo Draper to familiarize myself more thoroughly with the details of his life and some pertinent background information. We decided to meet back up at 11:00 am on Wednesday to do a short day of instruction before heading out on the road Thursday.

Brian then took me to Annie White's home where I will be staying for the remainder of my time in Southern England. Annie's daughter, Fiona, is also staying at the house on holiday from her home in New Zealand. They are both very pleasant and engaging (we are all three in the field of education so have some things in common, although Annie is retired). I took a long nap soon after arriving at the house as I had hardly slept since leaving home Monday afternoon. After dinner Fiona and i walked down some very narrow and very winding streets to the middle of town to check the hours for the library (which unfortunately may be my only outlet for an internet connection while here) and so that I could get an idea of how to get around as I will be walking everywhere when not traveling to other parts of Hardy country with Brian. We also took a walk on the beach. Teignmouth is a quaint little coastal town with red sandy beaches and cliffs that are quite beautiful. The weather here is very refreshing: warm with an almost constant cool breeze blowing off the ocean.