The Plan

Tomorrow morning I will visit my local shoe repair shop where I will have a set of keys cut.

At some point in the day, I will board a train to Victoria accompanied by a small suitcase and my folding, folded A-Bike. En route I will flick through the Times and attempt to beat the recommended time for the Killer Sudoku puzzle.

On arrival at Victoria I will cross the station concourse and deposit my suitcase at left luggage.

Having unfolded my bike I will pedal across St James park in a Piccaddilly kind of a direction. There, possible uses of the next two or three hours include a Waterstone's visit, a meeting with Tim for a cup of coffee and a visit to a mole clinic. (You can aparently visit such a place and for £45 have a particular mole investigated; this is what I feel needs to be done as I am left unconvinced by my GP's appraisal of the itchy red mole at the top of my right arm).

At some point I will swing my leg over the saddle of my light weight transport and head to Chelsea where I will take in the ambiance before meeting Mig for dinner at 7pm (venue yet to be agreed). After dinner, (although he does not know the first bit yet) Mig will drive me to Victoria where I will collect my suitcase and from there to Langley near Slough, where my new keys will hopefully facilitate entry to Gemma's parents' house. The following morning at about 7.30 I will be magicked to Heathrow's 4th terminal by a local taxi driver (probably originating from the Indian Sub-Continent) where I will meet Guy and Julian.

After the minimum of hassle we will board a large aeroplane whose destination is New York. Whilst skimming through the air high above the Altantic we will be hatching a mini plan which will include bars, shops and museums for the nearly three days we will be in the place that is so good they named it twice. A taxi will take us from JFK to the Bentley Hotel on East 62nd Street (whose Expedia room rate halved after the recent 'increased security at airports' unpleasantness).

(The next bit of the plan will be filled in in due course)

On Saturday morning I will rise early and get myself to Penn Station where I will climb aboard Baltimore bound train. Once in Baltimore, I will have brunch with Neil and Holly and their two children Elizabeth and Ian before jumping on the a return train for the two and a half hour trip back to Manhattan.

After an anticipated saturnalian Saturday night I will part company with Julian and Guy, head back to the airport and sit down in a plane bound for Vancouver.

Several hours after reaching Canada, I will be joined by Gemma, my brother, his girlfriend Claire, and my Mum.

Two weeks in Vancouver, Jasper, Banff and surrounding areas including a train from Vancouver to Banff through the Rockies and an intimate experience with a glacier.

September 24th, fly from Vancouver to Heathrow.