April 24, 2012 It's a bit of a sad day when you only first realize it's your birthday until someone else wishes you to have a happy one. I honestly forgot until Michelle wished me a happy birthday on the way down the lift to the lobby of the hotel for breakfast. I should interject now, simply because all of this is being written in a sort of stream of consciousness that showering that morning was an absolute joy as was putting on fresh clothes. After breakfast, we loaded up the bus to head to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard. We were split into our Londoners groups again, but again Matt had an errand to perform, so Michelle and I were split up again. We stayed for most of the ceremony and were quite surprised when the military band, red coats, bear hats and all started playing several songs from the American songbook like, My Way and New York, New York. We didn't realize just how warm and welcoming the British really are. We left a little early from the changing of the guard to avoid the crowds. We made our way to Victoria Station which is nearby and then found a nice pub to enjoy lunch. I ordered fish and chips which were delicious.  After meeting back up at the coach, we drove off to Milton Keyes, a suburban-type city that was built in the 1960's. Michelle and I, and nearly everyone on the bus napped during the drive. It was a little strange to see because almost everything you see in England is so very old and all of the was quite new. We rehearsed in the Church of the Cornerstone, ate dinner and gave our concert. Before the concert, I was invited along with Dr. Staheli to meet the Lord Mayor of Milton Keyes. (You can always spot the Lord Mayor of any British city because they are always finely dressed and wear a big gold chain and pendant around their shoulders. He seemed a very jovial man to me and I was pleased to meet him.  The concert we gave came off very well. The audience seemed so receptive. There really was a great spirit there. I thought we sang extraordinarily well. So much polish returned so many pieces that we haven't spent a lot of time with lately.  I want to take a moment to talk about some of the stresses I'm dealing with, but that I think I'm dealing with rather well. There are several things that are normally handled by the tour manager. Since our tour manager this year is the head of Performing Arts Manager and has been at that job for the past 31 years, you'd really expect him to know his stuff. Strangely, many things seem to be forgotten and many of the responsibilities of the tour manager are sort of falling into my lap. I'm ok with it. It is a little stressful at times, but really only because we haven't settled into a grove yet in which everyone knows exactly what to do. So I imagine those stresses will continue to ease, at least I hope so. I'm lucky to have Michelle to keep me in a good place. Oh those sorry saps who have to tour without their spouse and those sorrier saps who don't even know what it's like to have a spouse in the first place.