By Graham K. Rogers

I am on vacation in the UK for the first time in several years, catching up with family, some friends and England itself. How this country has changed: and I am not just referring to recent political events. The journey started at Suvarnabhumi Airport, had a delay of several hours at Dubai and I landed in London about 3 hours late.

As part of my trip, I decided this time to rent a decent car. As I wanted an automatic, the choice was initially limited, but the Mercédès-Benz C class offered was sort of within my budget. Of course when I collected it, I was given a 220d E-class: somewhat larger; but an amazing performance from a diesel-powered car.

On the first full day I went with mother and stepfather to a nearby woodland area where herons nest every year (not currently), although I did see one heron fly by as we were having lunch.

After the meal we went for a short walk in the woods and I took some photographs of the area.

At the edge of the woods, I took some looking over the fields towards the railway. One shot has a high-speed Virgin train on its way north.

Making our way back to the car, there were some examples of wild plants, like the crab apple (a wild apple) and a lone hollyhock.

See also:

UK Vacation Images (5) - Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway

UK Vacation Images (4) - Rural London, Landscape Views and Old Technology

UK Vacation Images (3) - Beds/Bucks Countryside and Country People, Plus Electric Charging

UK Vacation Images (2) - House Beautiful and The Flying Pig

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs. He is now continuing that in the Bangkok Post supplement, Life. He can be followed on Twitter (@extensions_th)