Picked up Alex from Heathrow in the morning and brought her home. She was in a buoyant mood with her new job as Gates chief comms officer. Left them to play bridge with Clive, Richard and Helen. Clive showed his racist tendencies when talking about the cricketer Raisiq.
Scooted off to town and bumped into Maggi and Alex on Marylebone Hight Street as I was heading to the Coachmaker’s Arms where we were meant to meet. Had a nice meal at Blandford Comptoir.
Friday 19th Alex set off for town to have lunch with Brian while I went for a walk with Charlie Fenton. We walked from his house to Northwood via Haste Hill and Ruislip Woods. Always nice to chat to Charlie who is so very positive about everything.
I came back and published the Merry Hill ramble that I walked with Ian on Tuesday. Following my blog work I set off to Tremona. I picked Mum up at 4 pm and drove over to Cassio Park where we met up with Alex. She had particularly requested to see mum. I sat in the back of the car while Alex sat in the front so she could have as much contact with mum as possible.
We left Mum and returned home. Shortly afterwards I headed up the motorway to pick up Adam, Finn and Keir from Luton Airport. They were all in good mood as we drove back.
A nice meal with everyone, but it all seemed a bit late to be eating.
In the morning I drove Alex to Paddington Station, for her to head to Bristol, while Adam and clan I continued on to the Emirates Tour. We were given headphones and a soundtrack to accompany us on the route. We entered via the shop and passed into the car park area which is usually jammed with luxury cars on match days. Up into the directors box and VIP lounge where a pair of seats costs £30,000 per season. Here we had our picture taken with our back to the pitch.
We then descended into a couple of rooms where there were replicas of trophies won by Arsenal which you could stand behind. Next stop the dressing rooms. The home room was much more luxurious than the away teams. Finally we entered the press area, with a platform for press conferences and a separate large room containing places for the journalists to file their stories and sit around.
When we came out of the tour we were offered various photos for £45 which seemed extortionate. The tickets also allowed us to enter the Arsenal Museum which we did.
Drove down to the south bank where we met Maggi at Wagamama’s. Lunch and home in time to see Arsenal lose 4-0 to Liverpool.
Sunday hopped into the car and drove over to the RAF Museum in Hendon. Spent a good 90 minutes touring the place. The kids enjoyed it as there are lots of interactive things to play with as you go round. From there drove into Hampstead where we eat at an Italian restaurant and I had linguine while everyone else had pizza. Home and then a drive to the airport where I left them for their flight home.
