Oasis had it well covered. We're coming home, right? So it's good. But we've been here a year, and we've made some special friends, and we've had a great time, so saying goodbye is harder than I thought. Tonight I had a small gathering of just 6 special friends. 3 couldn't make it which was sad. They were my pals from the triathlon club, but they have been such a fundamental part of my life over the last year it was tough to say goodbye. They gave me a framed picture of some photos from Santa Cruz tri, the ride with "Fast Freddie" Rodriguez, and rides into Marin County with the Bay Club team. I was close to losing the British upper lip, but it's OK, I held it! One or two others didn't, but I retained dignity. My special guest for the evening was the guy who picked me off the fence after my accident. It was great to see him interact with my friends, and answer the unspoken questions about the accident and my recovery.
This has been a tremendous year, and I will write more detail, but in summary it's changed Jo and I and opened us up. I'm really looking forward to coming home, but I am going to miss San Francisco and my friends here. This morning we had a champagne brunch on the California Hornblower cruise which was great, but the pianist did "I left my heart in San Francisco" at the end. So cheesy, but as I gazed out across the city that has been home for the past year I was close to losing it.
I looked across at Jo and she was obviously feeling the same, so we didn't connect, just kept ourown thoughts. British steel retains its integrity. but it was close!
