Day 418 (Monday)
Last night we had the first red moon of the summer and it was stunning.
What a day! We had a very early start and had to drop the keys of our home at the estate agent and I have to admit I shed a few tears when we shut the door. I know it’s only 12 days but it’s the imposition of the whole thing that gets to me. It was extremely hot this morning so we were rather frazzled and sweaty by the time we got to the train station. We got to the airport early so there was quite a lot of hanging around. Nice is extending the tramline to the airport and it was exciting to see that they are planting flowers next to the tramlines so it must be arriving soon.
Our flight was slightly delayed – good old Easyjet and the queue for passport control was incredible. As we were boarding an Englishman managed to push in front of me (that would never happen on a French bus stop) and when I handed in my boarding card the lady told me that I had to put my case in the hold for free! Firstly why did she say ‘for free’? as if I would pay for it and secondly, why me? If that git hadn’t pushed in I could have taken my case on board. When we boarded the plane there was an American young woman in my seat. We always have to aisle seats so that we can still talk but we can both walk around without disturbing anyone. This woman said that she wanted to sit with her friends so I told her that we had booked these seats and I wanted to sit with my husband. She huffed and puffed and finally moved and her two friends talked very loudly about people moving seats. If you want to sit with your friends book the right bloody seat! They were also American and they talked incessantly for the next hour and a half – I mean incessantly, they did not come up for breath for the whole flight. When we got to London we flew over it a number of times before we finally landed. Luckily we didn’t have to wait too long for my case and we were soon at Gatwick station waiting for the train.
It has been really hot in London for ages but it was quite chilly and grey today. When we got to London Bridge I didn’t recognise the station. They have been rebuilding it for the last few years and I used to use this station nearly every day but it now looks totally different.
We caught the tube to Stratford and I have to say I haven’t missed the tube for a second! Huw had planned all the shopping we needed to do so when we arrived at Stratford he was very disappointed to see that the big shopping centre was closed. It turned out that the water mains had broken and flooded the whole shopping centre. They hoped it would be open again in the morning.
The hotel that Huw usually stays in when he’s in London is very nice and clean and it’s a lot cheaper than the Ibis.
I had arranged to meet a friend for an hour or so before meeting the others in London Bridge but because of the delays I missed her. We caught the tube back into the centre and got a bag of chips in our old local chippie Johnnie’s and he was very happy to see Huw. We walked to our old park Potter’s Field and thoroughly enjoyed a bag of chips with a sausage. I’m happy to say that the grey clouds cleared and it turned out to be a lovely afternoon and evening.
We had a walk around all our old haunts as we lived in this area for many years; this was our first flat
which overlooked this lovely fountain.
One night in January many years ago I heard some noise coming from the square and when I had a look I saw a naked man trying to hump one of the bronze ladies and his friend was taking photos. He must have sensed that he was being watched and he looked up and quickly covered his bits and ran off. It still makes me laugh out loud when I think about it – he was wet and naked in January in London!
This square has always been lovely but really underused and we knew they had planned some changes but we were quite horrified to see what they have put in the middle of it – how ugly is that?
and the mighty Tower Bridge – not a bad spot eh?
We had arranged to meet some friends in the George, a very old, wonderful pub on Borough High Street and James and Lucy were already there and they’d managed to get a table. Soon the others arrived and we had a great night – lots and lots of laughter and lewd jokes from James and Giles.
From left to right: Sue, James, Kay, Lucy, me and Giles.
By the time we got back to the hotel I had walked 11.6 kms.
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