London

Julia and Sharon watching the buskers

Southfields Underground

NZ War Memorial

London

Getting to Edinburgh airport proved to be more difficult than we thought. We got on the motorway and to the off-ramp but were in the wrong lane and couldn’t get across in time to get on the right road. We rescued the situation but used up about 15-20 minutes that we didn’t have. When we got to the airport we missed the turn off to the rental return place and had to go around again wasting another 5 minutes. It all added up to us arriving at the ticket counter to find they had filled the plane! We were given 2 options, they could ask the passengers to volunteer to give up their seats and they would pay them 100 pounds each or they would put us on the next flight and pay us $100 each. As we were a bit frazzled by this stage we opted to get the next flight and take their money. The next flight was at 3PM so we had a couple of hours to relax and have some lunch.

The flight was good and we got excellent views over London as we approached Heathrow. Getting on to the underground was a breeze and we followed Honor’s instructions, changing at Earl’s Court, District Line to Southfields, cross the road, down the street and we were there.

Honor, Robert, Lucy and Anna were very welcoming. We had met Honor when she came to NZ during the summer, accompanying her mother. Honor made us a very welcome cup of tea and then we had to dash. 

We had arranged to have dinner with Amanda and David at their apartment and so we had to get into Waterloo where David would pick us up. Robert took us to Wimbledon overground station and we went passed the tennis complex – it is huge and they are building a new stadium.

David picked us up and whisked us to Canary Wharf and his very nice apartment. Amanda, Paula and Simon were already there and it was great to see them again. Amanda had cooked a beautiful meal and we enjoyed the familiar and friendly banter. London’s loss will be Wellington’s gain and I imagine Paula and Simon will miss them when they leave. We ended the evening with a game of cricket – nothing was broken!

Sunday

Up early, lovely breakfast, underground to Victoria Station, train to Chichester to met by Rosemary and Chris. Seemed a bit odd for them to be meeting us, going to their Chichester apartment and having coffee with them there. It was great to catch up. Into a cab to Pagham to the Kemps where we met the in-laws again, Tom, Katie, Duncan and of course little Eliza (3 weeks). I think I got 2 holds and Julia might have had 3. It was really good re-acquainting with the Kemps and their wider family after 2 years when we attended Tom and Katies wedding. All too soon we were back to Chichester and on the train back to London.

 

Monday

We had arranged to meet our friend Susanne at South Kensington tube at 9.30. Susanne is a nurse who is back working in London for her second time. She loves London and her job at the Royal Brompton. She took us around Chelsea, Hyde Park where we saw the new NZ War Memorial, through narrow, pretty, expensive mews. It was a lovely morning and Susanne went off home to get ready for work.

Julia and I then got on the tube to Covent Garden where we were to meet Julia’s niece Sharon who has been working there for about 10 years. She is gorgeous and we love her. We had lunch in a open air restaurant in Covent Garden and talked and talked. We then walked through the very touristy area, saw and heard the opera buskers who were good and then Sharon lead Julia astray and took her shopping. She is very easily lead. Julia now has a couple of new items of clothing!

We said our good-byes and we were on the tube back to Southfield. I really wanted to get to spend time with Robert and Honor as they were so kind but also because I would like to get to know them better. Honor cooked a lovely meal and her niece Anna also arrived for dinner. We had a lovely evening and I hope I have convinced them to come to NZ for a holiday soon.