September 2023: the UK

                                         

                                        

We caught the overcrowded bus from Whitby to Scarborough (after a last minute realisation that Uber doesn't operate in Whitby), and then a taxi from Scarborough station to the rental car place.  Our drive to Ripon took us via the infamous York ring road, where as usual the traffic was backed up.  The next day was full of partying at the Storehouse, next to the King Billy pub - Peter's family in the afternoon and friends in the evening.  It was the first time in years that all 6 siblings were in the same place at the same time.  Heaps of other relatives swelled the numbers - a great opportunity for a big family get-together.

      

The next few days were spent catching up.  Peter came to Stamford Bridge with me to see Hag and Paul and Dennis, and he returned to Ripon while I stayed longer.  Far too much Yorkshire food and booze was consumed and thoroughly enjoyed over this time.  My friend Jane drove down from Edinburgh and we had morning tea at Betty's (as we did 4 years ago) and caught up with her daughter Jessica via FaceTime in York Castle gardens (ditto).  When Peter picked me up we managed to squeeze in morning tea with friend and previous neighbour in Stockton-on-the-Forest Hilary, mum of Sam's old school friend Callum.  Another Stockton friend, Jane, was unable to meet as she had Covid.    

The rental vehicle was returned to its Scarborough home, and we caught the National Express coach to Birmingham via Leeds.  There are other ways to spend 7 hours on your 30th wedding anniversary, but at least we've knocked this one off the bucket list!  We stayed with mum in Birmingham, catching up with Kaja and Marcus and families whilst we were there.  As requested, half of Nick's ashes were buried in Leasowes Park during a small ceremony where Nikki read a beautiful poem that was written by one of Nick's relatives (Anne Le Marquand Hartigan: To Keep the Light Burning: Reflections in Times of Loss).  The park wardens had also bought a tree, a disease-resistent elm that hosts the protected species White-Letter hairstreak butterfly.  They planted it in the park, just yards from Mum and Nick's home, once the ashes were buried. The remainder of Nick's ashes will travel with us to New Zealand, where they will be scattered into the sea off the Kaikoura coast.   

                                  

            

We picked up another car rental in Birmingham, and travelled down to Somerset with Marcus and Nikki.  En route we called by my cousin Nicola and husband Garry in Midsomer Norton.  Their son Joe is currently in Australia, so we'll see if we can catch up with him one day.  We all stayed with Auntie Sally, who'd invited some of the family round for a barbecue. There we caught up with cousins Sam and Ben (and Ben's family Ada, Bel and Scarlett), Uncle Peter and cousin Emma (and her kids Fay and Thomas).  It's been donkeys years since I've properly caught up with this branch of my family, and very lovely it was too.  The next day we travelled to Bath with Sally to see Uncle Pat and Auntie Pearl in Radstock, and drop Marcus and Nikki off at Bath station.  We drove through Martock on our way back to Sally's, passing Butter Pool where my god-mother Jane grew up, and the house where my dad was born and lived (in the photo).  

 

  

                                              

From Somerset we headed to London, passing alongside Stonehenge and stopping for lunch and catch up at my god-mother Jayne's in Basingstoke.  I'd last seen Jayne 4 years ago when I was in England.  She's still busy with teaching art and her own beautiful pastel artwork.  We dropped off the car at Heathrow (phew - I'm not used to London driving these days) and took the new Elizabeth line to Tooting where Patsy met us at the station.  Some of Pats' family were around too - David, Jenny, Amy and Hannah.  We took a walk to Battersea Power Station, now a shopping centre, through Battersea Park on a gorgeous late-summer London day.  Patsy later dropped us off at Rachel's place (and Geoff and Sam) in South Bank.  Rachel's still recovering from a recent hip replacement but managed to hobble around.  We played Cards Against Humanity one evening, and it turns out that I have somewhat of a talent for it.  Probably just my beginner's luck, or possibly the happy outcome of the intense whisky drinking by the other players, but I'm thinking we'll be putting this game on the Quiz Night agenda when we get back to NZ.

Goodbye England, great to have seen you and yours again!  And hello Singapore - looking forward to exploring.