Rule Brittania

Arriving in England at 11am after a very smooth flight over Hudson Bay, Iqualuit, Greenland, Iceland and then onto Heathrow, we found ourselves very jetlagged. Although we popped our Melatonin...they did not work. Thankfully British Airways has a fantastic entertainment system and we watched a lot of tv.....a highlight was watching the "best exotic marigold hotel" a great movie and to make it even more real, we bumped into Bill Knightly today on Regent Street. Sorry no pix.

Auntie Bedge

We have spent a great 7 days here in England, visiting with relatives including my 84 year old "Auntie Bedge", my dad's sister. It was great reliving old memories from that side of the family and confirming lies and other stories...ha ha.....

England is an enigma for me.....the people all seem to be very happy and are all active and moving around and yet the cost of living here is astronomical.....Breakfast at this rather shoddy hotel we are staying at is $16.00 each, gasoline is almost twice the cost than in Vancouver, simple chocolate bars etc are around $5 each and more........But to more upbeat items......Pubs are very much alive and kicking here and Lois and I just came back from one up the road where we had a pleasant pint and a great Vindaloo. Today, we mastered the underground and hotel bus systems and made the trek into London to see the sights....the weather co-operated and we did not get rained on......much. We took the tube to Picadilly and then walked all over that part of London, across the river to the south bank and then back over to see the H of P , Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace ( the queen was NOT at home....and I phoned ahead) and then onto the insanity of regent street and the "exclusive stores". We looked for a tablet, but they were all at least 100 pounds more than what they are in Canada....another disappointment. But here are a few pix of where we were today;

Lois at Picadilly

Keeping an EYE on Derrick

waiting for 12 noon to strike

Hmmmm No one home.....where is tea?

 

 

 

But earlier in the week, we were exploring the region around Southampton, Gosport and Portsmouth and thanks to our great cousins, Pat and Dave Carter, we saw a lot and had a great time. They gave us the run of the house and drove us all over the place for which we were most grateful...Even picking us up from the hotel on day two in England. On Tuesday evening, we went over to their daughter Debbie's house and had a fun evening with hubby Steve and daughter Samantha....who had joined us earlier at Grandma and Grandads house. On the last day we had with them we went into Portsmouth and had a walk around. I went to the hospital where my mum died a few years ago while she was on a trip to England. The hospital is now closed, but I gave a few thanks to the staff who looked after her in those final few difficult days.

From there, we took the train up to London.

 

So tonight, we are spending a quiet evening in front of the telly doing some goggleboxing and watching Coronation Street and other intellectual pursuits. Our plane for Dar Es Salaam leaves Heathrow tomorrow in the early evening, so we will repack our bags in the morning, go down for our last "Full English" and then grab a nap before we encounter our second 9 hour overnight flight in a week. So until we hit Tanzania, thanks for tuning in and here are a few more pix of our trip so far.

 

Debbie...listening to Steve .....or not

Lois and Pat taking in the sailboats

Lymington on a sunny day