What a strange week this has been. Starting on Monday Maggi and I took the train to meet Adam and Islay at Kings Cross only to discover or rather be reminded that they disembarked at Euston.
We walked down the road in a rush and waited for them at the gate. They arrived cheerful as ever even though they had woken at 5 am. Adam carried two bags and he asked me if I minded taking one from I said no but soon found out that the rucksack weighed a ton. Adam went off to his meetings and Islay, Maggi and I made our way towards Covent Garden.
After half-hour I was exhausted and said I needed to go home. I left them and headed home. When arrived back my legs felt extremely weak and I put the case down with a great sense of relief.
The ladies returned around 5 and Adam walked in at 7.
The next day Adam worked from home. In the morning Maggi and I took Islay out to Amersham in the rain just to have something to do.
I played bridge in the afternoon.
Adam and Islay left while I was at the club. In the evening I set off for Heathrow Terminal 5 to pick up Alex, Sadie and Carrie as they returned from our place in France. I didn’t return with them until 9 pm. By the time we sat down to eat we were all starving and the food disappeared very quickly.
So Adam and Alex didn’t get a chance to meet.
In the morning Alex and the girls needed to be at the airport by 8am so it was an early rise to drive them back to Terminal 5. Big hugs all round and then they disappear again. It is all very disappointing not having our children and grandchildren near us.
After coming back from the airport I felt a bit rough. I went for a short walk and then spent the rest of the day in bed, coughing and spluttering.
I stayed in all day Thursday feeling fairly rough. Friday morning continued in the same fashion. I felt better after lunch and went out for a relaxing walk.
In the evening we drove over to Mark’s house for their summer party. The usual suspects appeared, Matt, Helen, Debbie, Neil, Suzanne, Miles. We arrived at 7 pm and left around 10:30 at the same time as Helen and Matt. The heavy drinkers stayed on. Fiona had made a set of salads and followed it with a bought sort of cheesecake which was extremely sweet. I drank beer for most of the evening. At one point I tasted the wine, but decided against drinking any more. I’ve found Mark more acerbic every time I’ve met him recently. There are small jibes that I don’t really understand. We’ll see how that develops over time.
Saturday came and Maggi set off by train to Nottingham to meet up with her old college friends. I pottered around the house and then set off for Arsenal. Steve had kindly arranged for me to have one of his 3 tickets for the match against Nottingham Forest.
We met up at 11:45 for a 12:30 kickoff, which I thought was miles too early. We sat in the ground watching the team warm up when they announced a 30 minute delay. Apparently the new all iPhone/Android ticket system had been overloaded and 35,000 were left outside unable to access the stadium.
I was relieved that we had arrived early. Everyone made it into the ground and Arsenal took a 2-0 lead into the halftime interval which included a brilliant goal from Saka and another by Nketiah.
In the second half the Arsenal’s tempo dropped a little and Forest managed to score a breakaway goal in the 83rd minute. From then on it all became quite nervous, but the Gunners managed to hold out and register their first win of the season.
After the match Steve and his son Mark walked up the Holloway Road to their favourite after match eaterie, Crystal. I’m not sure why they are so fond of it. I had a lamb Shish with hummus. The bill came to £15 each.
After thanking Steve for arranging the ticket I walked back to the car and returned. In the evening I watched the final two episodes of Hijack starring Idris Elba. Not a spectacular series but pretty good. Certainly worth watching till the end, although of course you know that the plane will land safely.
Ended the day with Match of the Day.
My final day this started just before 9am I awoke alone in the house. No Yogurt in the fridge so breakfast consisted of 2 slices of toast with honey. We bought honey last week at the market In Ruislip and I tasted it for the first time. It tasted reasonably ok but nothing to become excited about.
After completing various chores around the house. I drove over to Sainsbury’s to pick up a couple of bottles of wine and then set off for Flintham where Maggi stayed on Saturday night. She had arranged with her old college friend, Ingrid to spend a few days in Dent. Ingrid and hubby, Hedge, have a second home in the Cumbrian village.
The journey up to Flintham consisted of stop starts all the way north from Hemel to Northampton. The only bright point on the journey happened when I called Adam. We were able to chat for 30 minutes or so about life’s trivia.
Eventually I arrived at Ingrid’s place and had a spot of lunch. Almost immediately afterwards I went to the flat next door and fell asleep for almost 3 hours. When I appeared back on the scene it was in the middle of Ingrid making dinner.
My memory of Ingrid goes back to our college days when she was a slim girl. She has changed dramatically. I would describe her as being on the verge of obese. I noticed in the course of the evening that she nibbled at everything that passed by. Whatever her size she has been very friendly and welcoming. We had a supper of a pasta and meat dish with a red curry sauce. To conclude we ate some homemade ice cream.
It wasn’t too long before we tucked ourselves up in bed.