London

I love Paris, and I also love London. I guess perhaps I shouldn't, as it's where Sophie died, but in fact she loved London too. Having had what was basically a British 'old fashioned' education, I suppose I have a sense of identity with the place, and really relish the opportunity, for example, to stand on Westminster Bridge and feel a sonnet coming on. :-) (I have a feeling of deja vu saying that - have I written it before?? Gosh, my memory is a worry.)
Anyway, back a bit. Louise and I caught a bus in Menton early in the morning of April 27th. It was the official bus to Nice airport which we thought was going via the autoroute. In fact it wasn't, and wended its way round the coast. This was really quite a bonus and we got to see several other towns and villages we hadn't seen before. Some of the scenery was quite spectacular. We arrived at the airport and checking in at EasyJet wasn't in fact spectacular. Disorganised springs to mind. But it's worth a bit of mild inconvenience for the lower prices. (And it was much better than Ryan Air on my return to Poitiers.) We chatted in the queue to an English woman who has lived in a village near St Tropez for 20 years. (And Vanessa Redgrave lives in the same village.)She flies back to England about every 6 weeks to see family and says she always flies EasyJet. Worth knowing. Louise was flying back home to Brussels so we said our au revoirs again and went off in different directions.
I had no trouble getting a seat on the plane under the no assigned seating system. (I found when I flew back to Poitiers that I was in the priority queue and got to board the plane first. I must have paid extra for that privilege and I certainly hadn't meant to!)
Anyway, I arrived at Stanstead airport and it was just so good to see Karen again. She is such a lovely friend. We have known each other for many years, but loosely for much of that time. However, when I went to the UK 12 years ago Sophie and I visited Karen, and after that Sophie and Karen stayed in touch. Then when Sophie died, I could write a whole book on how helpful and kind Karen was to us. So that's a bit of background. She and Kevin have lived in Brentwood, Essex for 20 years now.
On Tuesday Karen and I went into London and had a wee wander round. We went first of all to The Plumbers Arms, where my friend Anne used to be the manager, and where Pat and I stayed on our big trip 12 years ago and where John and the boys and I stayed when Sophie died. Lots of memories.

I then went to the afternoon performance of The Jersey Boys - the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. It was really good! (Do you know that I once won a Four Seasons LP in a radio competition? And indeed 3 other LPs and a parcel of sponsors' fine products. I had to write a slogan about Janola. Should you wish to hear this very fine slogan let me know. :-))
Wednesday the 29th was a special day. It was very warm and sunny and Karen and I set off to meet Mike, a good old Stoke, Nelson boy who went right through school with Sophie, from Stoke Kindergarten to the end of Nayland College. We met him at the Leytonstone Tube Station and walked round to the house where Sophie died in a fire 11years ago. It might sound like a bit of a strange thing to do, but it felt right. We took some flowers and left them on the porch with a note for the occupants explaining why, and hoping that they would take the flowers inside and enjoy them.
We just stood there for a wee while and chatted and reflected on things and took some photos. It was certainly sad, but just something I wanted to do. I won't need to go again. And having Mike and Karen there too made it just right.

Afterwards we went to a nice little cafe and had lunch, then wandered though an old church and its peaceful churchyard.
It was just lovely. I am so grateful to Karen and Mike.
So that was that. The rest of my time there is a bit jumbled in my mind. We went and visited Karen's sister and her husband who were staying in Karen's father's house about half an hour away. They had flown over from Australia and had both become quite ill. With swine flu at its peak there was a bit of anxiety! We went into London again and walked round some more and visted part of the National Gallery. We met Mayson and his partner Mandy for a meal on the Friday night and had a great time.
Mayson is an old family friend, who also happened to go to school with Sophie. But more than anything he is just part of the large extended 'family' group of friends we were lucky enough to be part of in Nelson when the kids were growing up. Karen and I walked round the Brentwood shops, and we sat in Kevin and Karen's lovely garden in the sun. We also went to a big pinic area nearby one evening and took a bottle of wine to enjoy. We talked a lot and then some more. I have probably missed out some things, but in fact it was the people that really counted. Karen invited me back before my return home, and I'm going to go again towards the end of July. I'm looking forward to it.