Monday 18 July

We had a lovely 3 days with Brenda and Fred. Very restful and not too much tearing around.
In usual fashion Brenda and Fred had decided to kill the fatted calf and invite the family to lunch on Sunday. Fortunately most of my cousins couldn’t come (if they had there would have been no room), but B & F’s daughter Bridget, husband Greg and their children came, son Ken and his wife and daughter, and cousin Dennis all arrived to a sumptuous (good word!!) lunch. The food seem to just materialise – cold turkey, salads, sausage rolls (superior ones made by Brenda) etc. then fresh fruit, the best scones I have ever tasted, jam and cream etc. etc. It was really good to catch up with all the family again.
After they had all left we settled down to watch the end of the British open which we had been watching off and on. The weather was absolutely appalling for the Open and not much better where we were. Talk about an English summer. Fortunately we have both experienced beautiful weather here in the UK before on previous trips, and a few perfect days since we have been here.
After another walk around the town we came back to a light supper and a prolonged game of Sequence. Unfortunately Paul and Fred came out on top.
After that we packed our bags up ready for a quick get-away in the morning. We had had the fear of god put into us with descriptions of the terrible traffic we would encounter in the morning. Rather stupidly we (I) had arranged to return the car to Heathrow by 10 am this morning, so it was a 7 am start from Baldock. We really didn’t experience anything too horrendous, other than thru our own stupidity (my navigating and roadworks etc) and made it to the Depot at Heathrow before 10 am – after going right to the terminals 1, 2 and 3, and then around 4 until we could get out of the complex again!!!
No trouble then to get the shuttle to the airport (terminal 5 is the best bet – new building, superior services, nice coffee bar etc.) and got our Oyster card ready for our 4 days in London. It took a while and we had to change tubes once, but the Bayswater station is just around the corner from our hotel. We are extremely pleased with the hotel and location. It is in Kensington Gardens square, surrounded by very grand terrace houses all converted into apartments or hotels. Just off the main street which has a million restaurants of every ethnic persuasion. We had Chinese for lunch and are thinking of having Italian tonight. We found a little restaurant around the corner in a quiet location (next to the barber Paul got his hair cut in ) so will probably go there.
After the hair cut we wandered down to Kensington gardens for a stroll when the heavens opened with torrential rain, thunder etc. Just awful. Anyway we didn’t get wet but decided to come back to the room, catch up with this and have a wine. Early to bed tonight I think.
We think we will do the hop on hop off bus tomorrow and tomorrow night we are going to a show, so have to sus out how to get there.
All for now, Love to all