First Day in England

Jan 27

John woke several times in the night, probably due to his schedule being a little off kilter as a result of the long flight and the six-hour time difference. However, his being able to lie down on the plane greatly eased his usual discomfort from long flights.

The Comfort Hotel was good and very reasonable. His travel agent had gotten him a good deal at 49 pounds which was really great. Their posted rates started at 129 pounds.

John got up and had a traditional English breakfast: scrambled eggs, back bacon, fried tomatoes, mushrooms, and hash browns. Ok, well the hash browns were not really tradtional. He also had tea, orange juice, yogurt and pineapple. A little after 8 am the phone rang and it was Valerie calling from Les' home. She had stayed with Les and they would be coming to pick John up about 11am. He brushed his teeth and packed for the next leg of his trip. He thought he would have a little lie down.

He suddenly awoke from his snooze at 10:30. So he put on his clothes once more and went to the reception and paid his bill, happy to be ready ahead of time. He put on his iPod and was about to start listening when he saw a Mercedes Benz drive up and saw Valerie get out. After a hello hug with Val, and a good handshake with Les, he put his stuff in the 'boot' and they set off. Valerie wanted John to sit in the front so he did. The three had a great conversation on the 90 minute drive to Val's home and Les said that was making super excellent time. Les had just come out of hospital after having pneumonia so it was really good of him to make the drive.

The house in Kent has a name relating to its origins rather than a street number and indeed all the houses but one have names instead of numbers. That is sooo English! It is a lovely house in whch Val lives with Sandra, Alan, Amy and Jack. It is an old house that has been totally removated inside and out and decorated with real panache. The colours, styles and themes of the decor all work well with each other. John also got to meet Rufus and Lara (two huge Irish wolfhounds) and Charlie (a sweet female Staffordshire terrier) along with their three cats, Pebbles, Abby, and TC (for top cat) two of whom came by for a pat. Pebbles is very shy.

Val and John talked for a while and Val showed John the room he will be staying in. It is her room and John protested, not wanting her to be put out of her own bed. But Valerie insisted that she could sleep in Amy's room, so John acceded with real appreciation. Shortly after, Alan came home with groceries. John had not met Alan or Jack before (because Alan was not yet on the scene so long ago and Jack because he hadn't been born yet). Alan is a fine cook and he had been out to get groceries to make supper - an Oriental dish of duck breast, rice and wokked veggies in a delicious homemade sweet and sour sauce. John, Alan, Sandra and Val had a very interesting talk and they found not only that they had a lot in common but that they all had the same sense of humour. Alan and Sandra are very successful businesspeople, running a taxi enterprise with some 85 employees. Amy works as a paralegal and Jack works with Alan.

Alan then cooked supper with no help from John, Val, and Sandra who stood in the kitchen talking. Jack's girlfriend, Samantha, came over and dinner was set for seven places. The meal itself was absolutely scrumptious, cooked to perfection. John was so full at the end that he had to turn down dessert, a first for him.

After dinner, John and Alan took the dogs for a walk along a footpath near the sea, before heading down close to the beach itself slightly before 9pm and in the dark. The particular smell of the ocean here reminded John of the seaside of his childhood. The salt spray, the seaweed, whatever it was, took John back to the happy times he had spent at the seaside with his Mum and Dad and he took a second to think of them. The wind was cold but the hat loaned to John made him quite warm.

The dogs ran and ran and obviously had a great time. Alan takes them out twice a day. As they returned it started to rain and Amy and Sandra came out to wipe the dogs' muddy paws.

The it was time for a little TV before turning in. John felt so much at home he easily drifted off to sleep.

TRB