A successful little trip

We drove down to London yesterday on a visit to John’s Uni friends. Nige and Ann offered to put us up overnight, which we gratefully accepted, and John went out with all the men with whom he was at Leeds University. He had an amazing evening and thoroughly enjoyed himself. Gosh, I was so pleased for him, and he was pleased for himself, too.

We had both been a little anxious about the event, what with one thing and another. Not least the travelling to and from the restaurant – going on the Tube; walking up/down hills (maybe) or even walking a distance on the flat; getting tired (perhaps) halfway through the evening and spoiling the fun …… and so on.

But, it all turned out well. The only fly in the ointment was the circuitous route the SatNav took us to get to Nige and Ann’s house, which took us along Tottenham Court Road and into the ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) with a fee to pay. Ah, well, we really didn’t mind. We were keen to get there and it shaved a good fifteen minutes off the journey.

Ann took Nige and John in the car to the Tube, on which John managed to get a seat, it wasn’t too crowded and half the people were wearing masks. On arrival at the other end, Nige was very good in establishing which way the pub was so that John didn’t have walk too much out of the way. And they all managed to get to the restaurant in one piece, where they picked up the pace on passing bottle after bottle of wine along the table, apparently.

John was delighted to see old friends, some of whom he hasn’t seen for a good few years, and thrilled to catch up with all their news. It sounds like it was a wonderful evening.

I had a brilliant evening, too. Ann and I had a ‘girls night in’ with some super food that Ann cooked, a bottle of Prosecco and lots of chat over a wide range of topics, including politics (which I never normally touch on) and books, which was manna to my soul. Oh, heaven.

This morning, we lazed in bed for a while before trotting downstairs just after ten o’clock, where we found Ann in the kitchen with a full English breakfast on the go. Marvellous. Luxury. Just what the doctor ordered.

I had suggested that we would probably leave around midday. However, we were chatting so much that it was almost one o’clock before we waved our goodbyes. We had had a really lovely time.

On our way home, we called in on Christiana, Mike and Alexander for an hour. That was lovely, too. In fact, it was just right. Alexander was down for his nap(!) so we had adult conversation for much of our visit, and then, because Alexander hadn’t actually gone to sleep, he came down and we had a fifteen-minute window of cuteness as he showed us his most charming behaviour.

He made us laugh with his conversation and, in particular, when he picked up one of the remote controls, that he knew he wasn’t really supposed to have, and let out a little excited, ‘ooooOOOOooooOOOOoooo’, his eyes shining brightly with anticipation.

We are glad we went.

We had a good journey home, despite the snail’s pace on the M25, and were home in good time. John snoozed all the way back, ostensibly listening to his book on Audible, but which he will have to re-listen to, as he missed most of it.

The cats greeted us when got in, having been ably looked after by Jack overnight, in our absence. What a good thing it is to have a young man who is happy to feed and pet our cats while we are away. Blessings – this being one of them – for which we are very grateful.

44,242 people tested positive for COVID today, which brings the cases to a 13% rise over the last week. Well, the schools are back aren’t they? And the people most affected now? 5-9 year olds…… Heaven help us.

157 people died with the virus today, which brings the total for the last week down by nearly 5% which may be encouraging.

827 people were admitted to hospitals today, which again brings the total for the last week down by 4.5%. Hope on the horizon?

In hospitals 48 people died in the previous 48 hours. Again, not quite so many as last week.

Take care everyone. May blessings find you in unexpected ways and lift your spirits and feed your souls. God bless.