Thursday

Another early start again just after 5 am. Perhaps I am still on Sofia time which would have been 7am. Still I managed to spend time messing around on face book email etc so that it was after 9 before I finished breakfast.

I caught the tube to Charing Cross and then after a few false starts found the correct platform for the train to Tunbridge Wells. We seemed to sit on the bridge across the Thames for some time, once we left the station before actually getting on with the journey.

I hadn't been able to get through to my friends but left a message on their phoine and sent an email saying I'd be there between 10-30 and 11. It was closer to the latter when we finally arrived and John was juts walking through the station door as I left the platform. They hadn't realised there was a message - something to do with BT message bank, but had checked his email and rushed down, just in time. Of course it was a challenge for us to recognise each other since it had been 27 years since we were last together. He and Flo were in fact the ones who took us to the airport in Holland when we left Shell all those years ago.

I had a very pleasant and relaxing day, with no need to worry about time, crowds tickets and so forth. They retired some 15 years ago after 30 years roaming the globe with Shell and said it was strange having to live in their own country after such a long time. They have a 2 storey house in the countryside some 10 minutes or so from the station. There is a huge garden - 2 acres in all and John likes to grow different trees on it, including the Blue Cedar after which the house is named. They also have 2 German Shepherds and a Burmese cat, who were all quite affectionate. There is a vast amount of lawn so he has a ride on mower.

Their youngest and my eldest were only 3 when we left so there was a bit of catching up to do.

Flo had been dropping there daughter off at Seven Oaks and after she came back we headed to the village pub for a very nice meal.

After that I got the tour of the yard, showed some of my pics from facebook and had afternoon tea. John  also showed me his workshop. He had been a keen woodworker in Perth and is now into wood carving, mostly caricatures and uses wood from his own trees.

It was about 6 when I left and we got to the station just before the train pulled in. We bid each other a quick good bye then I jumped on the train, which sat at the station for another 15 minutes. At least the way I travelled was against the flow so there was plenty of room both ways. I managed to find discarded newspapers and read them and did the crosswords to fill in my time.

Once back in London I went for a walk, since the shops were open  till 8 or 9 on Thursdays. I walked to Leicester Square, then Picadilly Circus, Up Regent street for a bit then across to Carnaby Street. From there I cut through Marks and Spencers to Oxford street and down to Tottenham Court Road. Those shops had already shut by then so I caught the tube back to Holborn. I had dinner at an Indian Restaurant between the station and the hotel.

What is revealing about this is that the distances around London are not that great and although you can catch the tuibe all over the place, some times it is just as quick and easy to walk.






I fell asleep watching TV, the first time I have turned it on since I left Perth.