Ok so I'm still miles behind and playing catch up
On the Monday (20 July) we had a bit of a nostalgic trip around London, visiting many of our old haunts such as Richmond, East Twickenham, Teddington and Bushy Park. It was great to reminisce and see the changes that had been made over the past 25 years.
The day started with a train to Richmond which is a stunning little village right on the Thames. This is where we had worked on the Captain Webb, a cruising hotel (converted Dutch barge), in '86/87. The village looked very similar to how we remembered it with its narrow streets, village green and suitably supported by an abundance of pubs (of course).
A short walk across Richmond bridge leads to East Twickenham, which is the place we first stayed when we arrived in England. We wandered round to the house where we first lived, to find that Dave, the owner (and partner of one of Cindy's cousins) was home. It was so nice to catch up with Dave and remember our time living there.
After that it was a walk back along Duck Lane and back across the bridge to meet up with Cindy's cousin Mary for a coffee and catch up, which was followed up with a 10 minute bus trip to Teddington, another place where we lived, in time for a pub lunch and a couple of refreshing ales.
Jack decided to meet us there - he walked all the way from Richmond to Teddington along the river and then to the pub. He completely underestimated the distance and arrived feeling pretty knackered!
Following lunch we visited our old flat in Coleshill Rd and followed that up with a walk through Bushy Park to do some deer spotting.
By this stage it was getting a bit late and the girls were having a night out at the Lord of the Dance. So it was a quick race home to get showered and ready for the evening out. Unfortunately when the girls did finally get to the theatre they found, much to their disappointment, that the show was cancelled.
While the girls were at the theatre (or so we thought), Jack and I met Michael in High St Kensington for a pint at the Churchill Arms pub. It's a brilliant, quirky pub where Winston Churchill made his war time speeches - all sorts of garden paraphernalia hanging from the ceiling, with strong connection to Ireland adorning the walls. Once we found out about the show we took the tube into town to meet up with them at Wahaca, at Mexican restaurant - excellent food at pretty good prices!
After dinner it was back to the B&B for some much needed sleep
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