Salut à tous. I’ve been back a few days from my 9-day trip to the UK, so I’d best get on and blog about it I suppose! I left early on Tues 11th, catching a 7.30 train from Angoulême to Lille. That time of morning, there was no traffic on the road, so we made it to the station in an hour flat – something of a record. This meant I was there a half hour early – and my train was 20 mins late, so I had a bit of a wait, but was soon on the road. Armed with ipod and book, the first leg went fine and was uneventful. I had a brief wait for the next train – time enough for a sarnie and a beer – then hopped on the Eurostar, which from Lille, takes a mere hour and a half to reach St Pancras. From there, I connected to the National Rail and got a return to Bedford to begin the family part of my trip.
Luckily, my bestest mucker Anna had that afternoon off work and was in the area, so she agreed to come and collect me. I got in earlier than planned and decided I’d find myself a nearby bar and grab a beer as I waited. A few minutes stroll through Bedford town centre however soon convinced me that this was a stupid plan and, fearing somewhat for my safety, I beat a retreat to the station car park to wait for my lift. I’ve lived in some of the roughest areas of London and not felt half as nervous as I did on that stroll! Not a nice place…
Anna soon got me and took me to her home town, where we homed in on her local and had a good catch up over an unspecified number of pints. To my bemusement, the pub (as well as about half of the rest of the country as I since found out) was festooned with wall-to-wall union jack bunting. I had thought that my strategic timing (post Jubilee, pre-Olympics) would have spared me the worst of the royalist propaganda nonsense but I was very wrong indeed. Anna threatened to take a picture of me under some, but this did not go down too well. She by the way recently became Auntie Anna: her sister, Alexis just gave birth to a baby boy, called Asa. Her other sister, Gemma is also due to give birth any day – so congrats to them both! After the beers, I caught a bus to Olney in time for a lovely dinner, a few glasses of wine and a relatively early night.
Mum and Dad both had to work the week I was over, although Mum did take off Thurs and Fri afternoons, and Dad was back for lunch every day, so I managed to get to spend a decent amount of time with them all the same. In between times, I had work to be getting on with. I had gotten the go-ahead from a potential client (a referral from a previous customer) so got to work on a couple design ideas for him. That evening, both parents got busy in the kitchen preparing a Jamie Oliver dish a-piece. Mum made the main, a blend of cauliflower cheese and macaroni cheese, which was delicious. Dad did the dessert: a calorie-tastic dish of orange chocolate over sliced pears and served on a meringue base, topped with toasted hazelnuts. So rich, but so good! With everyone having some work on the next morning, it was again a relatively early night for all.
The next day after working in the morning, I strolled round to see Nan in the afternoon and chatted for an hour or so before joining Mum at home for a bit of a chillout before the evening’s guests arrived. Mum normally goes to keep fit on a Thurs, leaving dad to fend for himself for dinner. This has led to a new weekly tradition of Dad whipping up dinner and inviting Dave, and sometimes also uncle Barry over. This week, Mum skipped the keep fit as she had hurt her back, so we were 5 at the table. Dad made another Jamie dish: chicken satay skewers served with noodles. They were excellent, as was the dessert (also a Jamie): slices of pineapples, blueberries and strawberries served with a mixture of crushed mint and sugar. Sounds a bit odd, but the flavours went amazingly well together. It was great to see Barry again, although he was at a bit of a low ebb as, like so many people, he’s finding it hard to get work. Dave was also in good form. As I write this, he will have just completed day 1 of his week long, 550 mile cycle ride from Le Mans to Olney (for charity). He’s been training for months and months, and it has taken over his life somewhat, so I’m sure he’ll be glad when it’s all over.
I did very little the following morning, apart from enjoy some of the unexpected and very welcome sunshine. Mum had the afternoon off work again and after lunch, we went to Northampton for a bit of a browse. She also treated me to a pair of shorts and some sunglasses, ticking the ‘S’ items off my shopping list – thanks mum! That evening we ordered a curry from a place just down the road. It was all fine, but I’ve been spoilt by the delivery service out here in the Dordogne, which I have to say, is in another league. It being Friday, we stayed up a bit later and had a few more drinks before all turning in.
The next day I packed and by 2.30, was on a train back to St Pancras for the London part of my stay. I thought Buckinghamshire had gone a little too far with the bunting, but London was to show me that I hadnt seen anything yet – it was everywhere. Our ex-neighbour, Iain was once again my kind host, so I made my way to his place in Dalston. This took just under an hour all told – significantly longer than the train journey from Bedford. How London is going to cope during the Olympics remains to be seen, but I for one am glad I wont be finding out first-hand. I crashed 2 parties during my stay, and that evening was the first: a house party hosted by 2 friends of Iain’s, James and Lucca. They are a couple and have a sumptuous flat in Paddington, complete with large balcony. That evening, it was also complete with hand-picked waiters, serving an endless supply of champagne. I was also extremely pleased to catch up with our friends, Matt J and Roger, who were also there. Swilling fizz with rich Londoners and eating canapés served by cute Polish men is a far-cry from my typical saturday these days, and most enjoyable it was too, so thanks to the boys for inviting me!
I had a bit of a fuzzy head upon waking (can’t imagine why) so I spent it all at Iain’s doing some work on Dad’s site. Iain made us toad in the hole for lunch which, Iain being Iain, was of course highly delicious. That evening, we had a few glasses of wine followed by a well-needed early night. The next day I ticked the ‘M’s off my shopping list – mayonnaise and marijuana. My UK shopping lists are normally fairly eccentric, as you might have noticed – but I don’t normally shop by letter of the alphabet, honest. With sore feet, I returned to Iain’s to drop off my purchases. A few hours later, I was off out again, this time to meet my good friend Fran for a bite and a pub-crawl around Shoreditch. It was great to see her as ever. It’s her final week of a year-long maternity leave and she’s quite desperate to return to work by all accounts. Having a wee one at home, she called it a night around 10:30, so I was home and tucked up in bed nice and early.
The next day was fairly sunny, so I gave the shorts an outing and walked to Islington and then the City for shopping part 2. Espadrilles, I have found, are a poor choice of footwear if worn for any length of time in an urban environment, so after my shoppng I caved in and bused back to Dalston to get ready for my second bout of party-crashing. This was for a friend of ours Called David P who was having a double celebration: it was his birthday and also leaving party. He is off to Beijing for 6 months for work (law). He was mostly excited, but somewhat nervous too. The event was at Tom’s Terrace, a swanky outdoor bar located in Somerset House, overlooking the Thames. The only thing more impressive than the setting was the cost of a round. By now, my funds were taking a hammering! I caught up with David, Gavin, and also Kevin (who I invited along to come and crash my crashing). After a few rounds, I bused back to Dalston, full of beer and light of coin.
My last full day was, by UK standards, a hot one. It was around 22 degrees and sunny. With no particular plan in mind, I headed to Islington Green and sat in the sunshine with my book, watching the world go by. That evening, I met David C for drinks at a bar on Upper street. He seemed in good form and I encouraged him to think about a trip out to see us again. Iain joined us around 10 or so. He is having a busy spell at work, meaning I saw v little of him while I was over, so it was good to grab a few drinks. That night, the rain started and was still pounding down when I woke up the next morning – a sure sign it was time to leave. Given I am here writing this, and not detained anywhere at HM’s pleasure, you’ve probably guessed that I made it though security fine with my ‘M’ purchases. From then on, it was an uneventful journey all the way back to Angoulême.
Since my return, the weather has ranged from ok to quite lovely, so I’ve had a nice welcome home after a great holiday. We’ve even had some social events too, would you believe. However, this entry is far too long, so I will leave Matt to recount all in his next post.