I don’t normally write much about the UK segment of my travels….maybe because I don’t get to go on a boda boda !! Maybe if I asked brother Alan nicely ! Anyway, I was due to arrive on the Saturday the day of a train strike. To cut a long story short, I had been discussing with old friend Phil my options. It turned out that all the coaches from Heathrow were full up, but as Phil was working until the afternoon, he offered to drive up from Eastbourne to collect me. Nice weather, nice drive and he took me all the way to Eastbourne. I needed to go to Eastbourne anyway.
I met up with Alan after midday for a drink. In the meantime I had a small window of opportunity to visit Angela . I walked up to Old Town via the Crown and had a good visit with Angela; she explained to me that when I meet a nice lady at a bar and her ‘cousin’ comes and goes….then that guy us her pimp !! I couldn’t convince Angela that she was wrong, but she kept saying..No, the lady was a prostitute and that was her pimp. I was conned out of a bit of money by the Kenyan lady….so, Angela was right. I was worried when Angela said that her front door would be open and I should just walk in…. She seemed okay but her cancer had spread to lymph nodes, bones, kidney & liver. Glad I made the effort to see her, as she passed away about a week ago…exactly a month after I saw her.
The Eastbourne buses seemed to have a strange Saturday timetable and I ended up walking all the way back to Hampden Park; was getting tired towards the end. On Sunday I went to see Mum. She was on good form. I then walked in the early afternoon to the Crown to meet up with Alan & Karen. On Monday I did the train to Haywards Heath and bus to Forest Row routine. Fortunate in only waiting a few minutes for the bus…otherwise it’s an hourly service.
I only had the 10th to 12th in Forest Row. Stayed at Judith’s again…her garden was lovely and the weather was fantastic. I think I cooked one Thai curry. Met up for a walk with Sienna and had dinner at her place. Only had a few days to meet friends; of course by going to the village club I could meet quite a few people in one go!! Met Tinker…Judith’s new cat. Went into East Grinstead a couple of times for food shopping and buying essentials like suntan lotion.
And that was it. Judith dropped me off at the station in the early afternoon Thurs 13th. I broke my journey at Clapham Junction and had a couple of drinks and a chat with Chantal. And continued to Heathrow to catch my 10p.m. flight to New Zealand. A long queue. Took ages to check in. When I was about to go through security I realised I didn’t have my wallet. Assuming I’d left it in the pub in Clapham, I phoned Chantal to ask her to check for me. But she very clearly remembered me putting it in the top pocket of my rucksack. That pocket is just zipped. Because Chantal was so adamant that’s what I did, I didn’t panic and hoped the wallet would still be there when I had to collect the rucksack at Auckland Airport. Well, I was very fortunate and the wallet was still in the pocket and nothing was missing. So , I was on my way on Etihad. I found the seats to be a bit uncomfortable but the food was great and knew I just had to switch my brain off and endure the long journey.