Day 26: Homeward bound

Today was supposed to be warmer and sunny. There wasn't a lot of evidence of that this morning, although the temperature did, I think, get to 15C.

We had breakfast, packed and met up on the outdoor area of the bar.  Sue managed to get us all free coffees. She did some sketching, I did some stitching and Alf kept us entertained, although not, this time, with his mouth organ.

Yesterday I forgot to mention that Turks, the company that run the ferry service, have a boat called Jeff, that they use mostly for events, that was a Dunkirk vessel. According to the young ticket collector on our journey yesterday, Jeff made three trips to Dunkirk, carrying 100 men each time (licensed, apparently, for 20). We looked for Jeff near Hampton Court, where our informant said it would be moored, but didn't find it.

Sue and Alf left around 1pm to catch their trains home. It was Sue's idea to take a selfie. I'm not very good at taking selfies (and no, I do not want a selfie stick!).

 This was my least un-favourite of the 4 we took.

For some inexplicable reason, Sue and Alf preferred this one.


After they left, I checked out, 1.00pm being the latest I had been able to negotiate as the hotel is fully booked tonight. I then repaired to the dining room to have some lunch, watch the river, and read.





There were some curious inflatables with outboards - rubber duckies I guess, battling the current.







I sat in the reception area to stitch and read until my car and driver arrived at 3.45. I had moved my pick-up forward an hour from 4.45 because I couldn't extend the room. As it turned out, the driver had been an hour earlier still but hadn't come in.
I was annoyed about that, until I got to Heathrow at 4.15, walked past the outdoor "passenger smoking area" to discover that the Qantas book-in counters did not open until 5.15.
There was not a single seat in the booking area, so I became second in the queue, sat on my suitcase and read my book until 5.15. It didn't do my suitcase a whole lot of good, but it survived.

The passage through customs, immigration and security was efficient and fairly quick, in spite of my artificial knee.

So here I am, at 7.15pm, in the fairly empty Qantas Lounge, topping up the charge on my phone, writing my last blog from Blighty for this trip and ready to stitch and read until my plane leaves, hopefully on time, at 9.15pm. I am ignoring most of the food and drink, but have just accepted a tiny plate of calamari.

My final post will be from home - just to round off the trip. It has been terrific. I always doubt my ability to manage on my own and surround myself with support. It has paid off, and I've had a deeply satisfying month. Thank you so much to all the friends and family who contributed and made it so.

Day23: Stumpwork Violet Day 2

This morning the sun came out. I was almost beguiled into going out without my puffy jacket. Fortunately I came to my senses, wore the jacket and took my umbrella.


Helen had offered to escort some of us into the classroom at 9.15 instead of 9.45.  Seven of the ten of us took up the offer.







I had almost finished the in-fill embroidery on the 5 petals, so set about finishing the button hole edges.

Most of my fellow students worked on the single leaf. We needed to have either the violet petals or the leaf finished by lunchtime so we could 'plunge' something after lunch.











I managed to finish the petals so could cut them out ready to plunge. In the meantime we learned how to attach the silk-wrapped purl.
The last half an hour was spent plunging the petals, one at a time, and securing them on the back. There was a huge sense of satisfaction from all of us. 

Helen was a very relaxed and adaptable teacher who spent a lot of time monitoring our individual work and offering suggestions. There was also a lot of sharing.

I am further advanced than I feared I might be. I have still to finish the leaf, to add two more stems of silk-wrapped purl, and finish the shaded violet. All manageable.



I had only stopped for about 20 minutes for lunch today to have a coffee  so I only snapped a few photos- glimpses through doors or as I passed through entrance halls on the way out.

It was beginning to rain, so the last view from the last courtyard is a bit gloomy.

I was hurrying, because Sue and Alf had arrived. Of course, my room key didn't work and I had to waste time getting it reprogrammed before meeting them.











That was soon forgotten, as we met and caught up, yakking and laughing until dinner, then continuing to yak and laugh as the river flowed, birds came and went and the sun eventually went down.





















I learned that what I said yesterday was a duck, is in fact a coot. Not an old coot, or a bandicoot (the only kind I knew until today) but a coot. Another 'duck' is in fact a moorhen, and yet another a crested grebe. 











It is lovely to have others to share a meal in the presence of this lovely, inspiring, dynamic river. No wonder it was personified as Old Father Thames.

Today is (was in Australia) Fionn's birthday. I hope he is now having sweet dreams on the other side of the world.

Day 21: to Hampton Court

Last night Eddie and Mark stayed up late to watch their golfer play - and win in a playoff. Our breakfast this morning was therefore a slow and mellow affair. I was up, packed and breakfasting by about 9. We had about an hour of conversation and companionship before Paul, my driver, arrived around 10.20 am and I was off. We'd had a lovely time - so impossible to be sad on parting.

It was a miserable day- steady rain all the way.

Traffic was pretty good, considering. I was impressed with Paul's SatNav, which gave him timely and accurate information about breakdowns, road-works and blockages.

Paul had watched the last few holes of the golf last night and had also been to Cardiff to watch the Joshua-Parker boxing match that Eddie and Mark watched on Saturday night. Thanks to them, I could keep up a conversation with no knowledge whatever!


It was only in the last mile and a half that we were reduced to a bumper-to-bumper crawl because of road works near Hampton Court. That mile and a half took about 20 minutes, delivering us to The Mitre about 12.40pm.

It took a few minutes for the hotel to sort out my booking and ascertain that my room had, in fact, been serviced and I could move in. The recently-appointed Manager, a Scot, generously carried my luggage up the 4 steps and took me to my room, which is next to the first room I had in this hotel, opening on to the internal courtyard.


It's a pleasant outlook, even if it is hardly the weather for sitting outside!

The room is large, light and comfortable.















I repaired to the Bar for soup - and a couple of accompaniments, before checking out the Gardinarium a couple of doors down the road. There are couple of things worth returning to check out.

I had a bit of trouble remaining awake for the remainder of the afternoon but had a shower, washed my hair and made a coffee with the room's Nespresso machine.

I was keen to eat in the hotel tonight and check out the river. It was running high.










The restaurant that had been busy at lunch was deserted.

The waiter was apologetic. I had, it seems, had the last glass of Pinot Grigio in the hotel with my lunch.  The wild mushroom tortellini I chose was now ravioli. A combination of new management and a wedding over the weekend made for disruption. Both the Petit Ballon Blanc and the ravioli were good.

The swans appeared and made their way, seemingly effortlessly, against the swift current.

Even in the grey sky, the sunset was worth seeing.



 

Back in my room, I have been writing this to the accompaniment of  Painting the Holy Land with Lachlan Goudie on BBC4. There are lovely detailed shots of art works.







I have, over the last few days, made a bit of progress on my zenbroidery.  Tomorrow I need to be up and over at Hampton Court by 9.30am for the first day of my class at the RSN.