Back to Kent. We called in to IKEA at Thurrock on the way back. I have to say it was such a disappointment. Not IKEA itself but the fact that I could not buy anything :-(
We left with 3 CD cases and me planning my next trip and how much of a container I would need to purchase to return my goods to NZ. I drooled all the way round. With a big sigh we (I) left, moving on then to Canterbury where the girls shopped with Eric while I went to elderly relative (Auntie Mary) and met up with cousins Pauline and Mary (coincidentally Mary was over from Canada with her husband Bud). Another auntie, Bernie, was there as she had come down from Coventry for a family reunion organised by Pauline on behalf of Mary and I.
When we got to Mark and Caths we found Lucy with a full length leg plaster on.
Poor girl broke her leg at school when she slipped playing tennis. This is someone who played football for Charlton Athletic until they were relegated, lost a portion of their funding and ditched their girls football. Mark and Cathy had toyed with the idea of emigrating to NZ and visited us a year or so after we moved out here. Cathy got home in the early evening and we had a relaxing evening catching up. Discussing people we used to know I asked about Debbie, a staff nurse from HDU who had lived round the corner. Apparently she was still there so the next morning I popped round with a note to put through her door asking if they wanted to join us for a BBQ that evening. While there, talking to her Mom, Debbie actually dropped in between stops at work. Debbie has done well and is now a nurse consultant for ICU in South East Kent covering several hospitals. Quick chat and we planned to catch up later.
It’s now Thursday 12 July and we went to see my elderly and recently poorly uncle Bertie (whom I am very fond of) and his wife Jean in Seasalter. I was surprised to see how like my grandmother Uncle Bertie looked now he was so thin. Although quite frail he was much better than I expected after months of illness.
From here it was off to Ramsgate to meet up with my only sister Sharron and 2 of her 3 children. Emma was sleeping from her night shift. Devon is plodding through college trying to get into nursing. She has to take a long route and I admire her for her determination and perseverance. Ryan was looking very tanned having just got back from Morocco with his Dad, Alan, and partner, Debbie. He is all set to join the air-force and very focused on his long term plans. He may yet end up in NZ as Alan and Debbie, we are told, are considering moving out here in a few years time. We were very late getting back to Mark and Cath’s and I felt guilty that we were not there to help more with the BBQ they had organised. Gavin and Liz joined us. They are long time friends of M+C and we know them also as Eric and Gavin were in the police together. Neither of them have changed, Gavin is one of life’s great characters and again it was so good to catch up, and sad that it was for such a brief time. Sadly we departed the next day (Lucy’s birthday). The 3 girls are such a credit to Mark and Cathy and we really enjoyed seeing them all.
Next stop was Claire’s. We popped in to the church where Eric and I were married and the girls were christened before leaving Whitstable,
...and then deciding to take a short cut across country I managed to get us lost. The result was we arrived an hour late!!! Claire took me to a gorgeous pub in the middle of nowhere (I always wonder how these places survive) where we had a great lunch (with a huge dog lying on the floor under the table next to us) and some precious ‘girlie’ time.
Whilst Claire was spoiling me, Eric and the girls went to Folkestone so Eric could have his whelks by the harbour. Just to make him feel at home a seagull s**t on him!! A sort of ‘welcome home’ I feel. In case you don’t know seagulls plague the residents of Folkestone and Dover where we used to live! Back to Helen and Paul’s where Helen did some lamb kebab-y things for supper. Paul, who plays tenor sax, was out at his first ‘paid’ gig – and little apprehensive about it. He later said that it went well.
Saturday we dropped a pressie in for Claire (her birthday) then went over to Vanessa and her new man Mike, (well new since we left the UK) for a pub lunch. A wonderfully British affair, little Kentish village and a cosy country pub where everyone knows everyone. It turned out to be all very unreal. Vanessa used to be married to Mark (pay attention this is confusing). Also, when I was working my other HV assistant, Sharon, (Vanessa also being one) loathed her first husband and referred to him only as ‘ the a**ehole’. Well Mark was there with new girlfriend (previous girlfriend of Mike!!) and Sharon was there with her ex whom she has since re-married!!!! It was quite a strange day. We felt like we were stepping into peoples lives whom we hardly recognised, the relationships and dynamics were all so different. For the evening we went to Ann and Bob, whom we met through Mark and Vanessa but they all estranged from each other now. Ann and Bob must be the most travelled people we know heading off for foreign parts 4 – 6 times a year. They have a trip to NZ planned for a few years time. We BBQ’d but moved indoors for dessert as it was a tad cool. We had noticed lots of scaffolding as we drove around Folkestone and guessed it was the earthquake that we had heard reported in NZ even. It was apparent that Ann and Bob lived in one of the worse affected areas as it was up around every few houses, including there’s. If I remember correctly (I really should have written this much sooner!) they were in San Fransisco when they it happened, which is a bit ironic don’t you think?
The following day we headed up to Shropshire popping in on Elly on the way for breakfast. Elly is one of my oldest friends and looked absolutely gorgeous.
She has always taken pride I her appearance, so unlike me, and is about 3 stone lighter since I last saw her on account of becoming a fitness fanatic. Well maybe fanatic is not the right word but she takes it very seriously. As I have mentioned in the past, it started off getting fit to walk some of the Great Wall of China for the MacMillan Trust and has just continued. I am obviously doing something wrong as where other people run 10 miles I am thrilled when I can manage 1km! Anyway, Elly did a wonderful breakfast and we tried to cram 5 years into 2 and a half hours. One of my big regrets of the holiday is that I didn’t manage some girlie time with Elly. Next time! We then travelled to Shrewsbury where we saw the 9pm showing of the Harry Potter movie then went to Trish and Simons. They were in Italy with Alex and Dave so we had the house to ourselves, or so we thought. Now this place is a barn conversion in a tiny settlement on the edge of a village a mile down a single track lane with a few similar houses around. A little remote. We thought that maybe Sarah was home from the backpack on the kitchen floor. Alice went upstairs and frightened the living daylights out of Sarah as she emerged from her bedroom, half asleep, to investigate the noises. She did not know we had arranged to stay that night!! Once recovered, Sarah saw us settled and we all went to bed. Up early the next morning to get to Weaverham to spend as long with Eric’s parents as we could. We had a lovely day with them. Eric got some, much needed, casting (trout) lessons from his Dad in the garden and we went for a lovely canal walk. Dinner was followed by copious amounts of whiskey for Eric and John and I had great difficulty prising Eric away. I was in a real dilemma, torn between the needs of 2 exhausted children for sleep and not wanting to deprive Eric and his parents of precious time together.
The next morning we tried to book Eurostar tickets for the following day, but on finding out it was going to cost GBP530 we decided not to go. That’s about NZ$1,300 and 2 of us can go to Auz for that. Instead we booked theatre tickets for Fame in London after getting hold of Katie and arranging for her to come with us. We then hit the road once again for Kent. We got an Indian takeaway that evening for us, Helen, Paul, Adam and Katie. We were a bit disappointed with it but it was still better than any we have had in NZ. Another pleasant evening with the Major’s.
After breakfast the next day we headed for London and went to the Natural History Museum. I have to confess to being a bit disappointed. Although smaller I think I prefer Te Papa in Wellington. One cannot, however, fail to be impressed by the building itself which is nothing short of magnificent.
Of course because the Glasgow airport bombing had occurred security was very tight and we were searched before entering public buildings quite often.
We then met up with Katie and her man Woody for pizzas. In the restaurant I noticed Alice disappear to the loo a few times. She then said she had bad abdominal pain before heading off again. She was in agony shortly afterwards with pain quite high up so not appendicitis. She was pale sweaty and nauseous. With only 15 minutes from curtain up I prized myself away from her to hand tickets over to the others and explain what was going on. Woody was to stay with us (we had not got him a ticket as he was meant to be in Birmingham). The waitress offered to call an ambulance. Alice’s pain, though severe was intermittent. After a while I managed to persuade her to walk up to the theatre with a promise that if she got the pain back again I would call a cab and take her to ED. Woody walked with us and she was fine! We went in about 10 minutes late and she stayed fine thereafter. The only explanation I can come up with is that she took Brufen on an empty stomach about an hour earlier (unbeknown to me). Anyway we watched the show, which we thoroughly enjoyed (well apart from Eric who predictably, could say nothing more than it was “OK”). Not the best West End production I have ever seen but a thoroughly enjoyable way to pass an evening. My only criticism is that the vocal skills of the lead male were disappointing. Sounded good but you could not decipher the words, rather important in a musical I think. The dancing was, of course, fabulous.
We got the tube to St Pauls and then walked over the Millenium bridge (one of the things I wanted to do during our trip)
Another later night. Next day was my HDU reunion. Jan whom I worked with for many year had been busy tracking people down and even put an ad in the local paper. She had suggested Cullins Yard by Dover harbour, which was perfect. There were about 12 of us in all, including the, afore mentioned, Debbie, and people I had not seen for nearly 10 years. This included Linda who came home early from France where she lives part of the year and co-incidentally, knows my cousin (also Linda) whom I have never met but now lives in Australia. Both Lindas husbands were in the dental corp of the army together. Anyway we had a great time with teenage children joining us after school and ‘lunch’ finished around 6pm! Thank you Jan, and all the girls that came. I had a lovely time. It was such a shock when a few said they had to go back to work for the afternoon. Work had become a very remote concept at this stage pf our trip!!
Into our final week and it was Alice’s birthday, now Friday. We picked up Lucy from Claire’s and took them into Ashford shopping. Had Chinese for lunch then I popped back to collect Chloe and Kayleigh. Kayleighs family where moving that day so all was a bit hectic there. We then went 10 pin bowling and they had a good time I think.
Back to Claire’s for a cup of tea and then home to Helen and Paul’s to catch up with Katie-Ann and for pizza’s.
In the evening Alice went to school disco with Chloe but I don’t think she particularly enjoyed that feeling a bit fish out of water-ish.
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