Ray and I were up early (7:30 a.m.) to catch the train into London and then to take the District Line to Wimbledon to see my cousin Ian. Because it was the weekend, however, the tube stopped at Southfields and we had to take a railway replacement bus to Wimbledon. Ian is my mother’s brother’s son. The plan was that my other two cousins, Kathleen from Jersey, and Susan from Livingstone New Town n Scotland would also join us. Very unfortunately, poor Kathleen took a nasty fall on the way to the tube and ended up spending most of the day in St. Mary’s Hospital where it was confirmed that she had badly fractured her right wrist and needed surgery to insert a metal plate and a pin. In the end, the surgery was done the following day, and she was packed off to her hotel with drugs to kill the pan. How sad it was that she had travelled so far for the reunion and we were then unable to see her and Susan.
I think Ian has visited just about every country in the world and we had a pleasant time chatting with him, hearing his travel tales and looking at his photos. We also had a lovely walk through Wimbledon Village and Wimbledon Common before catching the bus/tube combination to Covant Garden to meet Robin, Babs, and Hary. Ray and I met Robin on our South American trip and she visited us in Toronto with Bas and Hary in September 2008. They are al fabulous people with a great appetite for life, a warm and kind personality, and a fun loving spirit. It was terrific to see them again. We had dinner in Drury Lane at Sarastro, named after a character in Mozart’s Magic Flute. The restaurant was unique with flamboyant art work, gilt furniture and wall mounted opera boxes set to a background of opera music….and the food was delicious. After a raucous dinner, we walked through Leicester Square amid the crowds of theatre goers, pub crawlers and fun seekers all enjoying the opportunity to be out in the streets on a warm spring evening. We walked up Piccadilly and had a final coffee and tea (Robin and Babs also had scones, cream, and strawberry jam!!). Then Ray and I caught the tube back to Paddington, the train back to Reading and home just after midnight.
The really exciting news is that Robin is engaged to Arun, and they are hoping to get married in September. Their marriage also means that there is a chance we may meet up with Robin and Babs in Delhi as Robin is flying out to India a week after we fly to Mumbai to buy the saris for the wedding.
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