London here we come - Take 1

 Hello we have arrived…..finally!

After a very long and bumpy flight we landed in Dubai (36 degrees at 5am) to chaos.  Just after we landed the auxiliary power on the plane died and all lights, fans and air-conditioning went out. They managed to jump start that and then started unloading passengers to the bus. We had to be shuttled from the tarmac to the terminal and just missed the first bus that arrived.  However, we boarded the second bus only to have that break down on the tarmac after about 50m. So, we sat on the bus for 10 mins and waited for them to send a replacement bus.  Once we finally arrived in the terminal, it was a race through security again (with different rules for different lines and nobody really knowing what is happening) and headed straight for the gate via a quick loo stop. For those previous followers of our blogs, you might remember that Claire had a run in with security on a previous trip to Dubai, they thought she had a gun but obviously there was a large misunderstanding and she lived to tell the tale. Also thankfully we did that loo stop, because once we got on the plane we then sat on the tarmac again for another hour before we departed. Bloody hell it was nice to leave Dubai.

We finally arrived in London and that all went very smoothly. We were picked up and got to spend the next 48 hours with family which was awesome.

The weather in London was a lovely 27 degrees and a nice change from home.  We arrived at Julie and Paul's place and settled in, met our new roommate Roxy (17yo cat who is absolutely gorgeous), showered and went for a small walk around the park to keep us going.  It was lovely to see so many people out any enjoying their communities’ facilities.  We of course said hello to every dog we passed.

We got to catch up with cousins Dan, Holly (Julie & Paul’s daughter) and her husband George for dinner which was great to catch up sitting outside in the warmth.

The next day (Saturday) we went and had a cup of tea (and a Tim Tam) with Holly (and see the beautiful house that her and George moved into two weeks ago) and met her dog Rambo (English bulldog), who is just as ball obsessed as Poppy. 

After we played ball with Rambo for a bit we drove to a local winery (Denbies) and went for about walk through the vineyard for just under an hour, through the woods and around some local houses and back to the vineyard carpark.  The weather was beautiful, not too hot and a bit of cloud cover. 

After Denbies we dropped cousin Dan back at the train station and went home for some lunch. After lunch we drove to Richmond, parked near Ham House (a 17th century house set in formal gardens, set on the banks of the Thames south of Richmond) and walked along the Thames into Richmond (for those that have watched Ted Lasso (tv program) this was filmed around this area).  It’s a very quaint area, very popular area for pubs and families walking along the Thames where you can go for boat rides etc. While in Richmond we had a walk around, bought some toothpaste because Claire forgot to pack that, stopped and had a pint and then walked back to the car.

After Richmond we headed home via Thames Ditton (where Julie and Paul used to live) and saw Hampton Court Palace from the bench that Claires grandparents used to go and sit on by the river when they used to come and visit Julie and Paul. Last year when cousin Dan returned from his trip to Oz, he brought with him some of grandma and grandads ashes. These were then scattered by the UK rellies near grandma and grandad’s bench.  We unfortunately couldn’t have a seat and have a photo as some local schoolboys (BMX bandits) had left all their bikes and gear there while they were happily splashing and swimming in the Thames (better them than us).  We than drove home and had a lovely dinner (our last meal with Julie & Paul).  Then headed to bed as we had an early wake up the next morning for our flight to Dublin.

Jetlag hasn’t been too bad so far.  Nothing to complain about anyway.

Thank you to Paul and Julie for welcoming us into your home, your hospitality and playing taxi driver to us (sorry for the VERY early morning drop off the Heathrow this morning).

Another post inbound very shortly.