Our flight from Boston was rather tedious, as the plane was full of small children who cried a lot and were quite distressed, as were their parents. It was impossible to sleep, so we arrived at Dublin airport at 5am, feeling somewhat jaded. Dublin airport was huge and absolutely teeming with people, literally thousands. We had a breakfast of sorts before finding the right gate to board the flight to Heathrow, where we arrived just after 8am and took a bus to Woking.
The weather was wet and rather cold, making us nostalgic for the warm sun of America.
After a couple of days getting organised and catching up with Judy's friends and family, we had a most interesting evening, visiting the London Wetlands Centre. Judy's daughter, Jacky had booked us onto a Bat Watching Tour. We had dinner at the restaurant, before taking a stroll along the paths and boardwalks loooking at an interesting number of waterfowl species as we waited for nightfall.
The Bat Tour began with a talk and video presentation on the seven species of bat which live in the area and then several of us were issued with electronic bat detectors. By tuning into the particular frequency of each bat species, we could pick up their calls and hope for a brief sighting as they swooped by. It was a lovely evening and we picked up several different bat calls while walking around in the dark. It was almost 11pm by the time we left for the half-hour drive back to Judy's. The website is http://www.wwt.org.uk/centre/119/london_wetland_centre.html?gclid=CLrgsLPa-JsCFUQA4wod7Arw-A
On Friday 24th, Judy and I took the train up to London to meet a group of people at the Royal Albert Hall for lunch and a free jazz and blues concert.
We walked off lunch with a stroll around Hyde Park and visited the Princess Dianna Memorial Fountain. Even though neither of us had much time for the princess, it was interesting to see the fountain. Then it was back to the Albert Hall for a very informative guided tour with a rather theatrical docent.
On Saturday my friend Sally (from NZ but now living here) and her husband Clive, took me to their lovely home in Farley Green, for lunch and a walk around the area. It is so pretty there, just the sort of place that we, New Zealanders dream about, with quaint cottages, leafy lanes and green fields with horses and cattle.
In the late afternoon, Jacky hosted a "Welcome Home" BBQ for us and also Mike and his daughter, Emma, who had followed us over from Boston.
Sunday was another BBQ occasion at Mandy's (another of Judy's daughters) to celebrate Desmond's 89th birthday. Desmond is the person who first introduced me to Judy and is an old friend of Heather, my former nextdoor neighbour in Titirangi, Auckland.
So we are now just getting ourselves organised, ready to take off on the UK leg of our big adventure on Thursday.
