Back in the UK

The flight from Boston to Heathrow went well and we arrived in London early on Sunday 9th October. We picked up a hire car and made our way to Claire and Mike's place in Aborfield, Berkshire. Claire was my very first UK friend and we shared a flat for a year when we both worked at Wymondham College, Norfolk, way back in 2002.

It was lovely to meet Jess, Claire and Mike's 5-month old bundle of joy. She really is a sweetie. I don't think Will and I look too bad considering the pics were taken after a trans-Atlantic flight and a couple of days with practically no sleep! Will is still sporting his Californian tan in the pic below... I reckon mine has pretty much disappeared already.

Nicola, my other UK bestie also drove in from London to catch up with us so it was great seeing her as well. She was also teaching at Wymondham College when I started there.

Dylan the greyhound used to be 'top dog' in the household, so to speak, but has understandably slipped down the order a bit with the new arrival. We made sure he wasn't feeling too neglected and lacking in attention.

On Tuesday we drove up to Standlake, Oxfordshire to stay a couple of nights with Will's mum. It is always lovely returning to our UK 'home'. Will's dad passed away last December so this was the first time I'd stayed in the house without him there which felt a little strange.

Will spent Wednesday at Reading University (where he worked immediately prior to moving to NZ). I went in with him and had a good day wandering around Reading. It was nice revisiting the old stomping ground.

On Thursday Will headed to Bristol for a few days to catch up with colleagues and friends. I decided to head into London and spend a few bonus days with Nicola. Her house is about 20 minutes walk from Greenwich Park which I always enjoy exploring.

This guy was keeping the kids entertained at one of the park entrances.

I love the Old Royal Naval College, it is made up of gorgeous buildings.

After 6 months in the United States it felt a bit odd wandering around central London and being surrounded by so much 'old stuff'.

On Friday night I met up with Geoff, my old badminton mixed doubles partner who has been living in the UK the last couple of years.  He is going to come back to NZ for the World Masters Games which are being held in Auckland next April, so I'll look forward to playing with him again then. It was excellent catching up over dinner and a couple of beers.

On Sunday Nicola dropped me off at Blackheath Station in the morning and I caught a train from there to Gravesend, Kent. Here I met up with Stuart who taught maths at QMC with me last year. It was great being met by his familiar smiling face at the train station.

We went out for a nice brunch, then he gave me a tour of Gravesend (which didn't take very long, he's the first to admit is is hardly a bustling metropolis!). He did drive me past the house he has just bought which is very cool. One of the town's tourist attractions is the statue of Pocahontas, who is actually buried in Gravesend.

Stuart dropped me back at the train station and I took a train back into central London. From there I tried to get a train back to Wokingham, Berkshire where Will was planning on meeting me. However, due to engineering works the service I'd usually take wasn't running and I had to spend twice as long on a replacement bus service. It ended up being quicker for me to get off at Ascot, and Will picked me up from there.

We headed back to Claire and Mike's and had a couple of hours to chill out before our next social engagement. That evening we had dinner with Ben (who Will used to work with at Reading) and his wife Anna, plus their two kids who had obviously got a LOT bigger since we last saw them two years ago! After another very enjoyable evening we stayed the night with Claire and Mike, then drove back to Will's mum on Monday, not before some more quality Jess time!  Here are a couple more pics, she is just too cute. I never used to find any babies cute, I must be mellowing in my old age...

 

 

So, that finished our first action-packed week (and a bit) back in the UK.