England, Thursday Apr 22 (day 16 of our trip)

Today was very free—no plans at all. I had to pry Ben away from his book and internet to go do something fun. Although I admit, I adore bookworm-Ben. I was craving Nando's chicken one last time before we left, so we headed to the restaurant. We looked at the menu though, and it would be 10 pounds just for a chicken wrap! That's like $30 for lunch. We laughed later, because the prices are exactly the same as the first time we went to Nando's, but 1-this is lunch not dinner so it should be cheaper, and 2-we're no longer in vacation mode!

So we walked down the street to a Greek place. We had planned to stop there anyway because they have fresh Turkish delight, and that was one of the things I wanted to try before I left. In fact, I kept telling people we hadn't left yet because I hadn't had Turkish delight, as if it was my choice to be stuck here. Sometimes it's nice to have the illusion of control. But anyway, the Greek place actually had some really reasonably priced items. We chose a chicken and beef pita, a cucumber salad, and Turkish delight, then packed it all up for a picnic.

Next, we headed towards the stream that we had punted on, seemingly ages ago. While trying to get to the little knoll, we almost entered the Oxford Botanic Gardens—which cost 2.50 each. Fortunately, we found an entrance to the trail right next to that and were glad we didn't enter since it was just patches of dirt this time of year. We headed down the path, and found a nice spot to eat. Almost immediately, ducks started approaching, hoping for food. They were not shy at all, and waddled within 2 feet of us! I was surprised that Ben keep his cool since he's afraid of birds, but we just kept a close eye on them, throwing a little pita in the opposite direction when they got too close. One particular brown duck came over and kind of hung out beside me for awhile, like "I don't want to rush you, but if at any point you find you can't finish your sandwich why, I'm here for you." I gave her a little treat for being cute.

After eating, we relocated to the other side of the trail to warm up in the sun—I swear the temperature drops 20 degrees in the shade! Ben read Harry Potter while I re-read the first True Blood book on my phone. Cole even joined us, followed by Emily, and they studied Economics. It was quite nice.

Then, we headed towards Cornmarket street (I named it walking-only street, if you've seen my map) because I was dying to get the next Harry Potter books. We ended up buying the next 2 just to be prepared, got some Starbucks, and headed home.

For dinner, we lazily ordered Indian. We watched a little Community with Cole, then American Family while we ate (didn't really get into the show, but we'll keep trying).

That evening, my friend Kadence was kind enough to throw me some actual work creating charts. I did a half-ass job (didn't have the right fonts or colors), but I think I helped her out at least a little. I also called in on a Culture Club call through Skype, simply because it had a job number that I could log time to. The meeting was about celebrating birthdays in the office. It was a good idea, but it was funny because I found out that in Sacramento and Boise they give you a t-shirt every year you're with the company! I've never even seen these shirts! I didn't bother our team though—we have a monthly cake for birthday people and call it good.

We did some more reading, and headed to bed!