Tuesday 27th January 2026, 12 noon (day 5,269)
A first-ever visit to Kew, and yes, it counted as work — as the nation’s premier botanical gardens this was a crucial node in the networks of information, learning and capital which formed the basis of the British Empire from the 18th century on, and to which St Helena and Ascension Island were intimately linked. Ahead, one of the entrances to the Temperate House, which at one point was the largest glasshouse in the world, and is still the largest surviving Victorian one.
Being 42 