The Last Do
Our time is England is running short and we will be sad to leave. On our penultimate day we had our last family do, lunch at “The Spreadeagle” in Tunbridge Wells for Ron’s Mum and her four children (Ron, Bernard, Mo and David) and their respective partners. It is a rare occasion when we are all together. The last time was 2002 for her 80th birthday, and before that Derricks funeral in 1994, and before that 1985, so it was a bit special.

Ron, Mo, Kathleen, Bernard and David

Mo, Pauline, Kathleen, Kim, Ron at The Spread Eagle

It was a great lunch, where Kathleen made a little speech to say how happy she was with us all etc etc. We retired to her lounge room to watch the Wimbledon men’s final and chat and drink some more.

Everyone outside The Spread Eagle

Kim showing off her pole dancing moves

Bernard and Pauline took us home to Martlesham Heath as they had kindly offered to take us to Heathrow. We had a walk planned for the next day but it was cold and wet and we didn’t feel up to it, depression slowly sinking in with the realisation of our imminent return and the hard work to follow.

Pauline and Kathleen

The next day, after a lunch in a cute restaurant we headed off to Heathrow. We had it all on this trip, slight rain, heavy rain, hail and brilliant sunshine. Bernard’s satellite navigation saved the day as we were able to track all the traffic stuff ups on the journey and reroute as necessary. There is a whole language associated with the Sat Nav, slow moving and queuing have quite different meanings that shouldn’t be overlooked. Queuing meaning that no one is moving and may not move for a few hours. The Sat Nav listed at least 6 or 7 areas of concern just in our journey to Heathrow.

If you lived here permanently you would need a Sat Nav. I have noticed an English tradition that crosses all age groups and classes. If you are about to embark on a journey the first question is “Which way are you going to go?” and then a discussion that goes something like this, Well the M3 might be shorter but on a Friday afternoon you’d be better to take the A12 then the A14 the link up with the M1 … this goes on for quite some time and no one ever seems to look at a map. Astonishing. At the end of the journey there can also be some post trip evaluation such “well it was lucky we didn’t go clockwise around the M25 and took the A21 instead of the A22 …” and we think we have traffic problems in BB or from Brisbane to Gold Coast. We Aussies have no idea of what real traffic is.

We boarded our plane and then sat on the tarmac for 2 hours before we left. The erratic weather had caused delays. Luckily the in-flight entertainment was switched on and I watched “The Other Boleyn” about Anne’s sister Mary. We finally took off at midnight and as the plane wasn’t full we had managed to claim 3 seats each which is a rare treat now on planes.