Widespread October

Took the train down to Charlton tonight:

(The Valley, Charlton, London SE7)

From the outset, the hosts controlled the possession and tempo of the match, but had only a perfect through ball from Danny Murphy to Dennis Rohmmedal that ended up clanging off the post to show for it. Finally after committing a series of fouls in the midfield, Collins John made Fulham pay in the 28th minute by bashing home a Steed Malbranque free kick.

Fulham came out completely flat in the second half, with Charlton creating several opportunities right off the bat. The best, which saw Danny Murphy slide out of deep midfield into the penalty area unmarked, resulted in the equalizer. From there out, though, the match got sloppier, and the crowd increasingly impatient with the officiating and the home team's effort. Neither side really looked like winning it, and it ended 1-1 -- better for Fulham than Charlton, but not good enough for either.

My host in London, Melissa, is part of a group that once a month takes a hike from a book of country walks near London, and I was fortunate enough to be here on the day in October they were scheduled to go.

The destination was Surrey Hills, a rural area southwest of London, and again I lucked out with the weather -- an absolutely magnificent clear October day.

We started out from Effingham Station through very gently rolling countryside, where the public footpaths and bridleways cut mostly through pasture for horses and sheep:

At around 12:30, we stopped for lunch at an Edwardian manor house that has a sort of historical menu of things its owners would have served a century ago to their guests.

(Polesten Lacey from a distance, after lunch)

After the leisurely hour or so break, the path headed upwards into the hills, past a number of picturesque houses, including this one:

Finally, we came out of the woods into the open ridge, with magnificent views of the Surrey Hills:

From there, the route gradually descended back down into the town of Dorking, and past this church:

Arriving at the train station, we watched the train to London pull out as we crossed the walkway over the tracks, leaving us with an hour wait until the arrival of the next one. Fortunately, one in our group was prescient enough to bring along a map that marked the location of various pubs, so the end of the ten-mile day was rewarded with a hand-pulled draught of Old Speckled Hen.

Farewell to Italy, then, with these pictures from Trieste:

The Piazza d'Unita d'Italia

The Grand Canal

Statue of Irish novelist and famous Trieste resident James Joyce

The plaque reads "Ma la mia anima... é in Trieste" -- "But my spirit... it's in Trieste."

Ok, so multiple planes, trains, and automobiles later, I made it back to London. I mention this for only two reasons: 1) to work in a Jam reference; 2) I think my mother was frantically teaching herself Italian last week so she could start calling hospitals when I didn't get in touch for a few days.

I visited Trieste again today, though for a shorter time. With a little time on my hands, I ran across the Aquarium, so I popped in for a quick visit. It's not the world's most exciting Aquarium, or its largest or most well-kept, but the exhibits on Adriatic sea life were interesting, as was the pair of penguins they have in a pitifully small habitat in the middle of the building, within touching distance if you're disinclined to read the signs about touching them. No flash photography, either, so no interesting pictures of them.

I'm going to take one last day in and around Cividale tomorrow, and then head to Treviso for my flight back to London Friday -- expect an update possibly Friday night, but more likely Saturday.