I have opened a present, received in September, sent by a friend in Oregon; sensibly he used the services of Venetia Vyvyan, across the river, not the pond, in Barnes but I wanted to save it for Christmas.
I love a long train journey. My longest, so far, was Barons Court to Shanghai in 2013; starting on the Piccadilly Line in London and ending on the maglev train (268 mph) to Shanghai airport.
There are few people who live their lives to the full and write about it. There are more than a few that have done either the former or the latter but not both.