We have arrived.  Everybody got here intact, and we have already had a busy day of it.

      Things started well at both airports, Dulles and Charlotte, when everybody arrived on time and breezed through security.  Alarmed by stories of lengthy waits in the security lines, we were almost four hours early for our flights.  But apparently everybody traveling on the Fourth of July weekend left on Friday, rather than Saturday.  The flight from Dulles arrived in London half an hour early, in fact, but the early arrival did us little good when we faced a gigantic queue of tourists at Immigration Control.  The Charlotte flight arrived on time, and by the time the Charlotte group reached the room with the mobs of people, we had been waiting for almost an hour and were very close to the front of the line.  Quick thinking by my trusty assistant, John C., resulted in his spotting us, walking through the fast-pass lane, and asking an official if he could join the rest of his group at the front of the line.  Above is a photograph at Heathrow of the victorious group posing after we had cleared customs.

     But note that we were missing Jackson and George, who had come to England a couple of days early.  We rendezvoused with them at Brasenose, and everybody posed for the photograph below just outside our rooms on the 11th Staircase:

     For the rest of the day we have tried to get acquainted with Brasenose and Oxford, and we have not allowed any cabin-squatting or nap periods.  In our worst decision of the day we stood in line for another hour to tour Christ Church College only to find ourselves crammed into spaces too small for the massive groups of Italian tourists who seemed determined to photograph everything in sight.  

    Tonight we are having a welcome banquet in the dining hall after we already enjoyed a fine lunch.  The group is tired after a very long day without sleep, but we're all in good spirits and are ready to get down to absorbing English culture.  Special thanks to George Williams for showing me how to download photographs from my phone, and thanks to Jake Cooper for showing me how to read my email on my iPad.  Below:  Some of the sardines in the Christ Church dining hall and then a break for a cold drink at Caffe Nero.  Canny readers will note that the energy level during the drink break was low.