2. The merry wives (and husbands) of Windsor.

Despite a delay leaving Jersey for air traffic flow purposes (read French air traffic control strikes), we managed to catch up on most of the time and by mid morning were checking into our hotel at Heathrow.

Our plan for the rest of the day was to visit Windsor which, although only a few miles away, required several changes of train to get there. This rather tortuous journey was not helped at one station where despite the departures board and station announcer informing us that the next train was the one we needed, it never arrived. Perhaps it pulled into platform 9 3/4 instead.

Anyway the services on the route were fairly frequent and after catching the next train, we made in into Windsor in time for lunch. Unfortunately Liz and Phil weren't at home for a drop in sandwich, so we had to make do with a burger and chips at Cafe Rouge instead.

It was also rather warm and therefore not really conducive to too much sightseeing, other than a brief look at the castle, a walk alongside the picturesque riverside and a view along the famous Long Walk. 

We headed for a local bar in time to buy a refreshing beer and settled down to watch England play Sweden in the World Cup quarter final match. It was a great atmosphere, soon made even better by two English goals, let alone the copious amounts of alcohol being swilled down by the increasingly vocal audience. When the match ended with the right result, an enthusiastic rendition of the National Anthem was sung and of course the pub now contained many merry wives (and husbands) of Windsor.

We are now back at the hotel and an early night is called for as we have a long flight tomorrow.