Taking the waters in Bath

rain, cool, temps 14

Most of today here in Bath was unexpectedly beautiful - mainly sunny and mild. But the rain moved in and now it's neither sunny nor mild.

Tons of people writing in about the newsletter give-away - which is a maple leaf pin I bought at in Ottawa at the Parliament Buildings - it's a collectors item because it's made from the copper roof that had been on the buildings from 1918 to 1996. Such fun to hear from so many people. Michael will do the draw in about a week.

Spent the day out in this gorgeous city. Met Teresa and Nancy (the copy editors for my books) for lunch at the Pump Room. Tasted some of the healing bath Roman waters. They're naturally warm - and naturally a little stinky. Someone had written to warn us - but we drank it anyway.

Not really all that bad!

The lunch itself was sublime. Love Teresa - and really, really liked Nancy. So grateful for the work she does on the manuscript to polish and make it better. And she's a wonderful, fun, nice, kind and smart person. So it was a real pleasure.

Then they took us all over Bath, into little shops and back alleys we'd never go into. Teresa wrote a book on Georgette Heyers Regency period in Bath - so she's a real expert. I'll tell you, she had us powering along - even holding up the umbrella with shouted instructions to keep up. Which we ignored.

Love the British papers. They're all agog here about Lord Snowdon and the affairs he had while married to Princess Margaret - one affair produced a daughter who has just been revealed. But an article we read yesterday was talking about Snowdon's background and said he came by this gallivanting honestly. His mother's name was Anne, and she was known as Tugboat Annie, because she went from Peer to Peer.

How can you not love a nation that does that?

Must run - dinner calls - and a hot bath.