We touched down on the evening of Wednesday 24th
February. The departure from Singapore has been delayed for about 1 hour, due
to a tropical rain storm. This made us late in arriving at Heathrow. We left
the airport on a shuttle which met us minutes after leaving ‘Arrivals’. We had
been delayed in arrivals due to the non-appearance of our luggage. It turned
out that we had been standing at the wrong carousel.
The cold of this country met us as we disembarked at our
Hotel. The lobby is on the ground floor, pretty much exposed to the elements,
but once in the lift we were soon in our comfortable room and asleep. The alarm
was awake much later than we were and so we had time to go down to breakfast,
which was a full buffet which even had ‘Linda McCartney’ sausages. I also had
the proper ones with meat in.
It was a sunny morning when we left the hotel and sat, still
tired, in the expectation of a coach that would whisk us back home. The
announcer called us to the gate. Here we found a very indignant coach driver
who was refusing to put so many cases on his coach. It turned out that, just in the same way as
we had departed Nottingham three months earlier, we were once more faced with a coach that had broken down. After
getting through the gate our surly driver looked at my case and said, ‘I’m not
putting those on with handles up’. As I put down the handles I said that I would gladly oblige if I was asked politely. Eventually the coach station staff persuaded
him to drive. He sat in his seat, but another passenger said, ‘Get on with it
then’. This resulted in another walk out. Eventually we were off; going through
Hemel Hempstead, making three stops in Luton before arriving at Milton Keynes.
As the outward journey so on this. Off we got, but this time I refused to leave
the barrier until the coach came. Last time we nearly missed the bus because we
were told to go into the coach station.
With more pleasantness the next driver took us directly to
Nottingham. Having got off the bus (not disembarked) and feeling tired. Instead
of taking the bus that would drop us off nearer home we got on the i4. Unbelievably
the hour delay was going to help us. At the next stop our next door neighbour,
Francis, got on. He was carrying a portfolio case and it turned out that he had
been a week early for a meeting and was on his way home. He said that his car was parked near the Savoy cinema and that if we got off there he would pick us up.
Hurriedly he repacked his car, got our luggage in and soon we were in. Thanks
to Joni the house was warm and there was food.
The next few days were spent in painfully getting over jet
lag and stocking up with food.
While we were in New Zealand our friend Paul had told me
about a local railway model show. We did not get to church, but Paul and I got
to the show while our wives wandered around the garden centre.
The refurbishment of the study got underway. One week the
furniture was ripped out and taken off to the skip. Then the carpet and
underlay came up and the work of applying white emulsion and white gloss went
on until finally it was time to order the carpet. The computer desk had already
been ordered and stored in the garage.
During this time we had got back to dancing. I did one of my
once in three weeks spell onstage.
Joe and Julia announced their engagement.
The weather continued to be cold and our UK trips out waited
until 16th March. By this time the rain had not happened for over a
week. Via McArthur Glen we headed for Hardwick Hall. It was a cold, but sunny
day. The coffee stop proved pricey and this led to the purchase of a flask. The
intention is to take our own drinks from now on. The hall gardens were pretty
bare except for the bright colour of the crocuses and the hellebores. Snowdrops were being
grown in compost hanging from the trees and a collection of deck chairs graced
the lawn. There were no takers for the seating.
Across from the entrance to the gardens is the start
of a walk. Once around the corner the vista opens up and 5 lakes in steps down
the hill could be seen. From the top we could see what appeared to be ants
dashing around. The phenomenon turned out to be members of an orienteering club
going about their business.
Another project I have been engaged in was jigsaw
puzzle. Paul had given up on it, but I had to try. The last part turned out to
be impossible. The puzzle is now in recycling.
This week the outing was strange. Once more we had
to go up to MacArthur Glenn to return our purchase of the previous week. We then
had to head back south again has we had a lunch appointment. First we arrived
at the woods around Beauvale Priory. It was a winter time walk with little sign
of spring life.
In need of a toilet we set off for the IKEA retail park. Irene
was not best pleased with public toilets on offer. In the car we used our
flasks before setting off for the Erewash trail. To be honest we were just
killing time. Finally, we set off for Kimberley.
Before we left for New Zealand the ladies of the
post-natal yoga group had given us a voucher for Tea-For-Two at the ‘Mad
Hatters’ café in Kimberly. The tea shop was on a narrow street off the main
street. Most likely it would have been a ‘Greasy Spoon’, but the owner had
turned it into Mad Hatter themed tea room. The pictures tell the rest.
Good Friday morning was shopping for our family
party and I continued work on the study. Then we went for a service on the town
square followed by more hot cross buns than I could eat. It was the warmest and
sunniest day since we returned home.
Today my study is complete and I am sitting down to
write.
Happy Easter.
