Going home!

29 September Tue

With our flight that night, a visit to the Kew gardens seems a bit of a stretch. We bussed to Regent’s Park after a good rest on soft beds in Studios2Let.

Regent’s Park, as H described, is huge. We heard fellow countrymen doing their morning job – bearing Raffles and SMU Ts. It was amusing to hear.

We moved slow mo, dawdling at the café over expensive English breakfast. Then it was slow mo towards Euston. Somehow, drawn by the knowledge that H will be somewhere near UCL’s quad, we moved towards it.

UCL was teeming with young people, mostly Asians. Our little Hopey may be among them, we thought.

Enough of people gawking, we decided to check out the Grant Museum. We were 15 minutes too early and made for British Museum instead.

I have raved about the Islamic civilization collection before. It was the nearest to where we were and there were many seats in that section anyway. We took turns resting – I was sure the guards eyed us most suspiciously. When the crowd overwhelmed at the museum shop, we headed back to the hotel. It was bye for real.

Pat got me a new luggage the previous night ( from a tourist shop!! ) so we had to push 2 bags to Russell Square where we hopped on Picadilly Line to Heathrow. I have misread the departure time and was ahead by 50 minutes. That was 2 hr 50 mins in all. Oh right - better than 50 minutes short.

But no worries! Exra time was for queuing – for tax refunds, for immigration, for security checks. We ate at EAT! No good – expensive, dry sandwiches we pay for less at Pret ( OK, now I am a Pret convert, mostly because of the cost )

SQ 319 departed almost promptly. Goodbye London. Goodbye Hopey. Goodbye clean, cool air. It is back to home, where haze filled air at PSI 200 will welcome us.

Four Seasons London Chinatown

28 September Mon

Lai Leng called on Sunday for a last meal before we leave on Tuesday. We headed out to Leicester Square and Shaftesbury where I did some last minute shopping at Nesbits. Our appointment at noon was as planned and true to LL’s wishes, we ate at the famous Four Seasons Restaurant.

The duck was tender and skin crispy and well roasted. The rest of the food was – meh. The item that got me mad was that we were charged £10 for rice for 4 persons! Never again!

Rev Kingston and LL have bought a travelcard that combined train and tube. So off we go , to Borough market.  2 pm on a Monday is definitely a wrong time to find anything worth buying so we ended at Pret A Manger for a long coffee break.

We went separate ways, us to Oxford St for more shopping and the  Kingstons to Westfield. LL had wished to join us but Rev K decided it is too risky business bringing her to Oxford. Besides he was tired out and a 60 min train out to Westfield sounds comfortable as they are bound to get a seat. They had bought a travelcard for nonpeak hours and 4 pm being the start of the peak hour would mean a potential fine. We enjoyed Rev K’s  calculation of the probability getting caught traveling at peak hour and potential financial damage at Oxford St. It was hilarious and I am sure to miss his sense of humor.

One last meal

We embraced Oxford St for the last time before meeting H at La Strada at Market Place at 7pm. H finished her first lessons early and had similarly gone window shopping at Oxford. We were surprised to see her new fashion style, a short skirt with leggings and ankle boots and her ubiquitous overcoat. Hmm, that is improvement for a start!

There were lots to say. Our last meal before we see each other again in 9 months. We walked her back, got a little lost around her hall and deposited her for the last time there.

It’s now just the 2 of us, for real. Tomorrow we return, leaving a treasure we nurtured for 19 years. For in London, we leave behind the best of the 2 of us, so that the little one can be someone great and someone useful for God.

Cotswolds to Oxford

27 Sept Sun

So much for Cotswold – it is time to say goodbye to the big and comfy hotel room! We departed early, not after a sumptuous breakfast provided at the Inn.

Bye! Cotswold !

As decided the night before, I proposed going south so as to climb onto A40. This is the fastest route to Oxford, where Pat wants to get his hands on more Oxford Rowing Club T shirt.

( Misadventure - but heading to Oxford anyhow )

Somehow, we missed a turn and go stuck on A242, in a good way. For the last time in England, we passed through fields and country side instead of the highway. Oxford was waking up and we managed to park near University Press at Great Clarendon St.

Hello again! Oxford !

Here we come, again! 

This is how one looks after studying here for a couple of years!

Oxford looked different from our approach and we made 2 leisurely rounds around the Radcliff. What overwhelmed us was the number of tourists, Singaporeans and Asians. Clearly this is a place that everyone aspires to be.

After lunch at Pret a Manger, we made the final trip back to London. Now nearing 2pm, the roads leading into London was sluggish. We chugged along A40 until we reached Ramsay Hall.  It was a hurried good bye as we hurried off the double yellow line lane at Maple St.

Just enough

At Pat’s suggestion, we drove over to Studios2Let @ Cartwright Gardens where I booked a room for 2 nights. There we parked our Fiat and comfortably pushed our luggage to our room on the ground floor. While it was a shock to see our Fiat from the bedroom, the ease moving our luggage from street level to the room override everything. That is give and take for us.

For once we are spared from climbing up the stairs so we walked to the nearby Brunswick Mall where we stocked up on Biscoff and foodstuff, all bound for home. Near evening, we reluctantly ‘surrendered’ our car to Sixt at St Pancras, now almost empty tank.

Nowhere near dinner time but without having to meet Hopey at Ramsay, we roamed Kings Cross and its area, reminiscing the time we ate at Crystal kebabs a previous trip. It was nostalgia!

We had Indian thali meal at Euro Tandoori, why Euro , it beats me! Food was not great and I left my displeasure at Tripadvisor.

Despite the tiring drive, it was a good day. We managed to go Oxford for our T-shirts, drive around UCL and feed our shopping urges.