Friday, 29 August 2025 – Cooler with quite a lot of rain, but fortunately not when we met in the street at 5.30. A goodly crowd: Mark, John, Joe, Sam, Ciara, Des, Chris, Matt. And us of course. Des got us fish and chips. Feeling quite a lot better, though still not very hungry. Earlier we had our hair cut, I had a bath and Dot did lots of ironing. David asked for flight details, which I sent him, and I ordered a plughole cleaner, which is supposed to come within two days (took three).
Saturday – More rain, but not too much. Still a bit cool and felt a bit dodgy until I took paracetamol in the afternoon. Then much better. Managed to do most of my packing with help from Dot and her tissue paper. She did a lot of hers too. David kindly FaceTimed late morning to check we had everything we would need. Had a light lunch but a pie for dinner, which I enjoyed. Des came round to check the meters and the flowers, just as Norwich were beating Blackburn 2-0 away. Both goals by Sargent. Sadly Spurs lost at home to Bournemouth. We listened to a very long sermon by Lou Engle on fasting and revival, especially among young people, on recommendation of Kim. His delivery was odd, but I couldn’t argue with what he said. Bit of an endurance course, but easier than fasting.
Sunday – Not feeling so great at first, but took paracetamol and improved. Weather windy but quite warm. Had another go at the creeper and got enough down to be unworried about it creeping too far. Watched some football, then booked a cottage in Ballater for next June. Bit precipitate, but Dot was keen. Judy came round with news of prayer for us at church. Dot did a lot more packing, and I checked trains and hotel for tomorrow, as well as flight documents. Did some more packing and got medicines together. Managed to eat a reasonable meal – egg, fried potatoes and mushroom. Watched some TV of course; especially good was Ben Fogle’s documentary on Skye and neighbouring small islands. Quite moving.
Monday – Showers. Not cold. Spent the morning preparing for departure and trying to make sure we didn’t forget anything. Went over to station to check which trains stopped at Stratford, but it was too long in advance. Checked timetables and thought it didn’t matter, but it did. So after putting the bins out, parking the car in the drive and eating a bit of food, we got the 2.30 to Liverpool Street, which didn’t stop at Stratford; so had to walk quite a long way at Liverpool Street to reach the Queen Elizabeth Line.
However, that worked quite well, except that after Paddington it was very crowded: I had to stand most of the way, though Dot got a seat after a while. Another longish walk from the Terminal 4 station to our hotel. We got there just before 6pm, which was not bad. I was pretty flaked out, so after a hot drink Dot went for a recce, as we couldn’t get the WiFi to work. Eventually things worked out and we had quite a nice but very expensive meal in the bar. Spoke to a couple of Australian ladies. Got into bed early and watched a programme on the Piper Alpha explosion. Oh, and our delivery hadarrived just before we left.
Tuesday – Cooler. Terrible night: hardly slept. In lobby by 8 and caught shuttle to Terminal 2. Quite crowded, but got a seat. Usual confusion at airport but managed to get rid of bags with self-attached tickets. Also managed to obtain boarding passes from another machine and get through security, which wasn’t too bad. Got a light breakfast at Prêt à Manger and then took the long walk to Boarding Gate 43, picking up some water on the way. Skies pretty grey. Took a long time to board, possibly because someone was being chucked off, but seats ok – above wing, but window and aisle.
Departure very late, but caught up and arrived roughly on time. Felt quite ill during journey and slept a bit. Dot watched two films: Dune and the sequel. At Toronto there was the usual confusion, with hundreds of people deployed to tell you what do and then why it was wrong. Eventually defeated the machines and found ourselves at baggage reclaim. Although it wasn’t raining, (the excuse last time) this took a very, very long time. The simple act of exiting the baggage hall was again ridiculously complicated and time/consuming, but at least David and Chrissy were there waiting for us. Lovely to see them. By now it was rush hour, and the drive home took a long time too. Too tired to unpack, but we had a lovely meal of chicken and rice before collapsing in bed. Good night’s sleep.
Wednesday – Sunny and warm. Woke up in stages. Dot got me a cup of tea and we had showers. While Dot was having hers Chrissy took me to buy bread. Felt better during the day. We went for a walk with David and Chrissy and I managed to breach 4000. In the evening had fish, which was really nice. Read quite a bit of my Science of Heaven book, which is really interesting, both factually and spiritually. Jackson is here most of the time, and Nova returned for the meal today. Both seem on good form. In the evening watched Grosse Pointe Blank, which was very well done. Relaxing day.