We are back in England and have caught the train from Manchester to Thornaby for time with the my parents. So far we’ve visited Whitby for Fish and Chips, driving over the Yorkshire moors. Whitby is very picturesque with the remains of an 11th Century Abbey silhouetted on the headline. It was destroyed by Henry VIII in the reformation and then shelled in the First world war by 2 German battleships aiming for the coast guard station on the headland.

Seeing the Union Jack at half-mast does impact my heart – I had a moment when I realized the Queen’s head would no longer be on the British Stamps. It’s in little things that I notice the loss of the Queen, which is not something I expected.