Odyssey Number Four Begins; Here We Go Again……

As we wander and as we beam, we find a world not previously seen……..

 

As our plane crossed the English Channel and over southern England, we had no idea of what was below. The clouds were thick with no gaps, no cracks, no breaks, just thick grubby white fluff. So as we came into land we finally saw what was under the clouds. It was England and it was raining. It was also rather cold, but it was lovely to see a bit of sunshine later in the day. It was also lovely to see Eileen sitting in Lynda and Mark’s garden when we arrived at East Grinstead. She may have been rather a slimy green on the outside, but inside she was ready for us to move in, no dust or damp and everything in place. It wasn’t so lovely when she wouldn’t do more than splutter, as Rodney tried to get her started.  But Lynda’s jump leads, Neil’s car and Rodney revving, got her going and the boys went off for a drive around Sussex.

The next day, Neil drove us over to Royal Tunbridge Wells in his car and we discovered that it really is a very upmarket place. As we came down the staircase of the car park, a tramp was busily chatting on his mobile phone. Posh place, innit?  Our lunch was eaten in the poshest Wetherspoons in England; it’s an old converted Opera House and definitely worth a visit if you’re ever in the area. On returning to the car park we couldn’t find the car; none of us had made a note of where we left it and we were probably not concentrating due to chuckling about the posh tramp. We finally realised we weren’t even in the right car park and then, on finding the right car park, we couldn’t find the correct level; between us it really was a comedy of errors. Posh tramps can be such a distraction.

 

 

From East Grinstead we covered a fair bit of southern England visiting family and friends in Polegate, Horsham, Hertford, Baldock, Watton-At-Stone, Harpenden, Haddenham, St Ives, Kettering, Nailsworth, Compton Martin and Padstow. In the first six days we had slept in five different beds and not one of those nights was in Eileen. “It’s funny what you think about in the night” – a quote from Auntie Sylvia (97).  What I find funnier is waking up in the night and having no idea where you are, or where the bathroom might be!  Rodney was jetlagged for ages and changing the clocks to British summertime after five days in England definitely didn’t help his body clock.

 

 

Travelling around England we were very well fed with lots of fabulous meals cooked for us by family and friends; thank you to everyone who kept us so very well stuffed.  As for Eileen, you would think she would be fully stuffed after three years of us adding bits and pieces on and in her, but we still managed to add more. A new door-catch, a replacement bathroom fly screen, two new stools, a smaller steamer and a bright yellow egg box.

Rodney enjoyed his Hertford Grammar School Old Boys annual dinner catching up with a lot of old friends.  This year’s guest speaker was a former head boy Michael Dobbs (Lord Dobbs of Wylie) who is now an author of many novels, including ‘House of Cards’ which was made into a TV drama back in the eighties and has just been updated with another TV series starring Kevin Spacey.  He was also a Chief of Staff to Margaret Thatcher that is, until a difference of opinion caused his departure. Prior to the Old Boys dinner, he had generously completed a 180-mile charity walk to raise money on behalf of an ex-pupil’s son who had broken his neck whilst playing rugby.  Apparently the meal in the evening was very tasty and Rodney managed to wash it down with a few good pints, in between all the talking.

Michael Dobbs completing his charity walk

 

The weather for the first two weeks couldn’t have been much colder and when it was windy it made my bones ache.  Feeling the sunshine actually warm our faces on Easter Monday, felt like a real treat and then it started to warm up…….a bit, before it turned cold again, then another warm day on Thursday and then cold again on Friday, by which time we were ready to find a warmer country. So after nineteen days in England, we boarded the ferry to Santander in Northern Spain on Sunday April 12th.  Here we go again……..

Adventure awaits. Never stop exploring.