Forest Row
Tues 27th May
I finally saw Judith in the morning, as she had got in late the night before. It was good to see her and I could express my gratitude for letting me stay in her house once again.
I am going to write just a summary of my first 2 months in England, as nothing really ‘exciting’ happens..!! Of course it’s tremendous fun seeing all my family and friends, but life goes on in the same pattern.
Life in Forest Row consists of seeing friends either at the Club or the Swan, although I took Judith once to the Chequers to see how it’s changing under Fabio’s (Claudio’s son) management. One visit to the Brambletye just highlighted how much its gone downhill.
I collected my bike from the Club where it was stored, but never used it, and won’t use it all as I love my Bus pass so much !! I need to get rid of it before I go on my travels.
I popped down to Eastbourne in the first week of June. I saw Mum…obviously…and I checked on the condition of my Indian wall hanging which is my favourite possession ever…bought in Rajasthan in 1983. I got some practice at getting the bus between Eastbourne and Hampden Park.
I went to Eastbourne again for my Birthday. Mum was pleased we didn’t go to the Rodmill…my original plan…but Alan had suggested the Harvesters at Sovereign Harbour. There was a Schooner moored there and attracting lots of attention. The waterways and all the yachts moored there made for a nice setting for my birthday meal. We all had combinations of a seafood platter of various sizes. John had the largest, which was a surprise; I certainly couldn’t have eaten all of it. We got a lift back to Hampden Park while Mike had to walk all the way back to his house.
In mid June I had a blood test at the Health centre; I was hoping to include a PSA test to check for any cancer. No action was required on any of the results apart from a slightly high cholesterol reading.
I was back in Forest Row from towards end of June until end of July apart from a couple of days. I was on cat/house sitting duty from 4th July when Judith went to her house in Bouzies, returning on 5th August.
On the 4th July I went to London…Victoria…to meet the Smut Hour Crew…i.e. Terry, Sheila and Dawn. We had a good catch-up over lunch. There were a couple of abortive trips to Uckfield and Haywards Heath for Natwest & HSBC branches which either didn’t exist or were closed because it was a Saturday.
About that time I went to NatWest in Crawley to discuss the fraudulent £55 charge on my account in April. We decided on blocking/closing my debit card because it had probably been cloned. But the really good outcome, after a call to account enquiries, was that the bank reimbursed me the money a week later.
There was a zoom call with Justin from Alexandre Boyes to discuss any Ashdown Court issues, primarily the repairs to the lift to meet safety regulations. He seems to have a very positive approach to managing the property.
On July 12th, Jennie kindly made the long trip from the north of London to Grinstead to meet me. We had been communicating since last year and getting on really well and it was great to meet her in the flesh. The connection was that she was born in Moshi and she visited East Africa from Auckland just over a year ago. I met her at the station and showed her around Forest Row, including the Club. We continued to have a good rapport.
July 17th Roger and Julian made the effort to come down to Forest Row. We spent a couple of hours at the Swan having lunch and a good chat. I had a nice chicken curry, although it was fairly bland in terms spices/herbs/chilli.
On the evening of the 21st Mark Walker came for a visit. It was great to see him as we won’t be meeting up in East Africa next year. He stayed 3 nights and got a good introduction to Forest Row. It was an opportunity for me to show off my culinary skills !! He left early on the 24th and I popped down to Eastbourne on the same day, for just a day. The main reason was to collect a letter from HSBC.
So, I spent the rest of the month in Forest Row before heading to Germany on Aug 1st. Oh, and during my whole time at Judith’s I accompanied Sienna and her dog Spirit on walks. There were visits to the Club, and Swan happy hour, and meeting Phil (Hartfield rd), and many trips to EG making full use of my Bus pass.