back from the edge

Christmas Greetings 2011

Christmas Greetings!  Retirement is keeping us busy, and of course, I’m scrambling to get this together and in the mail.  Here are the highlights of our year, at least those that I can remember. 

January

Mike fractures his wrist running up the basement stairs to answer the phone.  A week later, we head to Florida for sun and golf.  Mike is determined not to let his cast get in the way. 

February

Enjoying the Florida sunshine and lots of golf.  Mike’s cast is deteriorating, and he eventually rips it off.  Our friend Lorraine has bought a fabulous condo on a short sale, so we start to look around.  Just looking turns into just buying and we suddenly have ourselves a great condo at a bargain basement price.

March

We return home and I fly off to the annual FAWCO Conference.  I get to spend the weekend in London, staying with friends Nancy and Todd, and spending time in Christopher’s world.  I even get to see where he works on the trading floor at Goldman Sachs.  The FAWCO Conference is in Marrakech, and I have been invited to speak about Tabitha’s Wells for Clean Water Project.  FAWCO’s goal is to fundraise $80,000 over a two-year period.  It’s off to a great start and my presentation was well received, no pun intended!  Marrakech was exciting too, especially the bazaar.   I return to London for a few more days of catching up with friends….Anne Cockburn down in The Forest, golf with Mary Waymire, and enjoying the hospitality of Denise and Bob Hetherington.  And one more visit with Christopher. 

April

It’s back to Florida to get the keys to our new condo.  We closed in March and now we have to sort out what else is needed to create our home away from home.  We bought it furnished, and beautifully at that.  This unit was never lived in and obviously didn’t turn out to be the great investment the owners had planned on.   Their loss is certainly our gain – a popular theme of Canadians getting great bargains this year.  Appliances that are 7 years ld have never been used.  We need to kit out the kitchen, as wells as sheets and towels.  I feel like an expat again, trying to figure out the best places to shop for all the things we need.  It turns out that April at home is cold and wet, so our timing couldn’t have been better.

May

Golf season begins on the calendar, but Mother Nature has other plans.  Rain and cold continue through May.    I gear up for the 4^th Annual Tabitha Golf Tournament.  Mike is spending way too much time on too many committees with the Niagara Health System.  It’s turning into a full time job with no pay and lots of stress.  He finally resigns and breathes a huge sigh of relief.  Within a couple of weeks his atrial fibrillation clears up and he feels like a new man.  As for the NHS, they have a huge outbreak of C. Diff and all hell breaks loose in the press.  Timing appears to be everything!

June

We are shocked by the news that Mike’s big brother Rick has an inoperable brain tumour.  Mike is very close to his brother and is taking this news very hard. 

Irene and Jairo, my Brazilian penpal and her husband come to visit Niagara-on-the-Lake. The weather still hasn’t warmed up, and Jairo is freezing the entire time.  Shortly after they depart, it’s the Tabitha golf tournament.  The weather has done a complete turnabout, and we’ve got the hottest day of the year so far.  I’m worried people are going to overheat! 

July

The first Henry family golf weekend is held in Niagara-on-the-Lake.  After weeks of chemo and radiation therapy, Rick and Shirley, and two of their sons and partners come down.  Rick is strong enough to ride in the cart with Mike and enjoys being out on the golf course for a change.  Shirley appreciates having a break from the endless round of doctors and hospitals and worry.

Kendryth and Andrew have a lovely, intimate wedding in our garden.  Just 12 people and two babies attend the ceremony, and we have a celebratory lunch at the golf club.  To top it off, we get to babysit Vaughan while they go to Niagara Falls for their wedding night.  Vaughan, Grandma and Grandpa have a terrific time. 

August

It’s the club championship and Mike and I are both participating.  Our club pro decided to change the format this year.  Two days of regular play, followed by a final day of match play to determine the winner in each flight.  Can’t say that it went down well with the membership, but that’s not our issue here.  Mike won the C Flight championship, and I ended up in the final match for Ladies Club Champion.  Never in a million years did I think that I would be golfing well enough to reach this level.  I was up against my good friend Martha, who has been golfing since she could walk.  Here’s another shock.  Martha pulled out into the lead fairly quickly, but by the 9^th hole, I started to close the gap and then tie things up after 18 holes.  I blew a couple of chances to finish it, and we had to continue on until a winner was declared.  It took Martha 20 holes to win, and I was happy that I put up a good match and didn’t embarrass myself.  There’s always next year. 

September

Arden calls with news of her engagement to Tom.  They plan to get married when she’s finished exams in the spring.  The date has been set for April 28^th in Gananoque.  Arden has started her 2^nd year of Law at Queens. 

October

Back to Florida for the month to continue outfitting our condo.  We’ve now got all the furniture sorted, bedding, the kitchen is coming together, and we’re looking forward to heading back down in January.

November

Long time in the planning, I set off for Laos and Cambodia where a group of us will build homes for 18 very poor families.  It’s a great trip with a great group of friends, from all over the world as well as right here in Niagara-on-the-Lake.  Tragically, Mike’s brother passes away. 

December

This brings me up to today, and they hope of getting my cards in the mail very soon.

We are looking forward to spending the winter in Florida, after Christmas celebrations here.  Arden and Tom’s wedding will be a bigger event with more family and friends gathered to celebrate.  My mother will be turning 90 in April.  We are also looking forward to having the kids come down to Florida for their holidays this winter. 

There are lots more photos that we’d love to share with you posted on this site.   You can see our condo and other trip related pics.  I also have a blog from my house-building trip posted at http://tabithahousebuilding2011.blogspot.com/

Even more fun that writing this letter is reading everyone else’s news as the cards come in.  Keep those cards and letters coming.

Cheers,

Yolanda and Mike

 

Christmas Greetings 2010

 In some ways this past year seems uneventful…most likely due to lack of travel imposed on us by Mike’s stroke.   In other ways, we kept terribly busy with all our outside interests and volunteer work, along with our final, major, main floor renovation.  It was the kids that had and are having all the adventures!

 To backtrack a little for those who don’t know, Mike suffered a stroke on Christmas Eve.  Fortunately for all of us, the ambulance arrived quickly, the clot-busting drug was administered once he arrived in the Emergency Room, and a few hours later, he was back to his old self, albeit confined to Intensive Care for the night, and the hospital for a long weekend.  The turkey was put on hold (actually it never emerged from the freezer).

 Our winter in Florida was immediately cancelled, and renovations were moved up.  (Not exactly a low stress option, but the contractor wanted to get started).  In the midst of all this, Mike had a lot of tests and saw a lot of doctors.  The long and short of it is that he’s on a few more medications to control his atrial fibrillation and we’ve all but ceased to eat red meat, or any other meat product.  (According to world-renowned stroke specialist, David Spence, that’s anything that has eyes, a face or a mother).  My repertoire of tasty vegetarian dishes has grown immensely.

 Thanks to friends Pat and Mic, we were able to escape the first week of demolition by going to the Olympics.  They had acquired extra tickets for Ice Dancing and there was no way I wanted to miss that.  So, thanks to another friend, Robin, we found accommodation with her neighbour, cleared the travel with our Doc, resurrected our Calgary ’88 3M Olympic ski jackets and off we went to the party of all parties. 

 Spring approached and so did the end of our renovations.  Mike says that my kitchen is my Porsche - appliances that work, loads of counter space and cupboards galore. I agree, and I love working in it.  Mike didn’t fair too badly either with a new TV & stereo set up in the family room.  To finish it off, the kids got him an iPod for his birthday, which neither of us has really mastered yet, although I did transfer our entire CD collection to the iMac/iPod.

 As stress levels subsided Kendryth announced that she was pregnant.  Through many ups and downs during her pregnancy, she managed to hold onto the baby for 32 weeks.  September 15^th, Vaughan William Richardson made his wee appearance into the world, all 2 lbs 15 oz. of him. We fell in love immediately.  Vaughan spent the first 5 weeks as guest of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and since then has been thriving at home with Mom and Dad in London, Ontario.  They’ve taken to parenthood well, although would love to be getting more sleep.  All in good time…maybe 20 years from now!  We’ve taken to grandparenthood too…although initially I wasn’t so sure about being called Grandma.  I also discovered that a whole new world of shopping comes with the title, much to Grandpa’s dismay.

 Christopher finished school for good at the end of April and promptly booked a trek in Nepal to Everest Base Camp.  He returned with 18 days worth of dirty, stinky laundry in time to attend his Commencement, repack and head to South America for a further 4 weeks of adventure.  His future boss at Goldman Sachs told him to make the most of his break because it would be a long time before he had another one.  The prediction held and Christopher has been working long hours since setting foot in the GS offices on Fleet Street in London (UK).  They are kindly letting him come home for Christmas for which Mum and Dad are so very grateful.

 Just as we thought we were done with school expenses, Arden decided to get serious about a career, and was accepted into Law School at Queens University.  Initially nervous about what she’d got herself into, she’s taking it all in stride and enjoying it.  During the summer, she joined Christopher for part of his South American travels – an interesting sibling experience with conflicting stories of adventure. 

 Mike and I spent much of our summer on the golf course.  It paid off with lower handicaps and I won Golfer of the Year for the ladies league. It had nothing to do with the fact that I was the games captain and kept the tally.  Really.    We’ve also kept way too busy with volunteer commitments.  We can hardly find the time to clean the house and tend to chores.   

 From our home to yours, we wish you peace, joy and good health this year and always.

 Grandma Yolanda and Grandpa Mike

 

 

   

Day 6 Grouse Mountain

Vancouver has had its quota of sunshine and now we're back to rain and cloud and fog.  Lucky for us, this is our last day.  Knowing that the weather would only get worse, I hightailed it up to Grouse Mountain for a quick look at Vancouver from above.  It's a shame I didn't do this earlier in the week when the sky was blue, but at least I finally got up to the top and can tick that off my list.  

NBC Today is broadcasting from the top.  The set was still there and miles of cable and stacks of equipment.  And hanging about was Dancing with the Stars contestant Louis Vito.  I recognized him immediately, but no way could I remember his name.  If I had, I might have asked for a photo.  I thought it would be really tactless to do so without having a clue to his name.  Opportunity missed.  Darn.  I should have Googled him on my Blackberry, but I only thought of that now.

Our Olympic adventure is nearing it's end.  Tonight we dine with Robin, Rodney and their visiting cousins from the UK.  I can't believe we had the luck to make this trip.  Tomorrow it's back to snow and renovation. May the memories last.

Day 5 The Olympic Superstore and the GOLD MEDAL

When Punky got hungry at 4:45 this morning, he was determined to get one of us up to feed him.  First a few meows, then some louder meows, and finally scratching and throwing himself at the bedroom door.  He knew we were in there, and darn it, he was going to have breakfast.  His buddy Mike staggered out of bed and threw food into the bowls.  We must remember to leave more food in their bowls before going to bed tonight.

Since we had a early morning, Mike suggested heading into downtown Vancouver to beat the crowds at the Olympic Superstore.  News reports of stock running out were indeed true.  No more mitts in adult sizes and hoodies too were all sold out.  We did not beat the crowds, but the queue snaking around the corner moved along.  Treating this as our morning event, MIke followed me around the store, making sure I didn't touch anything disgusting or tacky.  I wouldn't dare want to be disqualified and sent home. The checkout queue was nearly as long, but at least it was indoors.  Visa or cash only.

Coca-Cola is building a huge wall of pins and I just happened to have some old 3M Seoul pins in my pocket from 1988.  In return for sticking one of my pins on the wall, I got a Coke pin in return.  What started out as a collection of 3M Olympic pins at the Calgary Olympics in 1988 has blossomed into a very large collection of pins from our travels around the world which hangs in Christopher's room. I say it's his collection, but he's not quite as caught up in all that as I am.

Mic and Pat came by to pick us up for the Ice Dance Final.  THANK YOU FOR THE TICKETS!  What a night of competition.  The first 18 pairs came and went.  We all anticipated the final flight and what could happen.  You never know in figure skating.  So many times our skaters choke when the pressure gets so high.  Not tonight though.  They oozed confidence and the chemistry between Tessa and Scott makes you believe.  It was a priviledge to be part of history...not only the first Canadian pair to win a GOLD, but the first North American skaters, and the youngest too.  They have a wonderful future ahead of them, and I can't wait to watch it unfurl.  Just like the Canadian flag.  Did you hear everyone singing O Canada???

Day 4 Ice Dancing begins

Public transit is included with your event ticket.  Our first time heading to Pacific Coliseum met with a minor snag...a man had fallen into the subway.  It appeared that it wasn't intentional and that he had broken his wrist.  It also appeared that it would be a while before he'd be pulled out and the trains would resume running.  Above ground we found the #10 Hastings bus which got us there, slowly but surely, and through some neighbourhoods I'd rather not be walking through.  As you'd expect, people are gathering from all over, so there's lots to talk about on the journey, providing they speak english.

Hearing about the long queues through security, we arrived well in advance of the start time.  Not much of a delay unless you were wearing that sent the scanners beeping.  And it seemed even the smallest bit of metal did.  Skating fans are hardly hooligans, so I don't know what they thought would be coming into the venue.

The seats are filled with enthusiastic skating fans. Flags are flying, mostly Canadian, but also many American and Russian and a smattering of Japanese, French and Hungarian.  We had great seats...not too high up, but high enough to see the full skating surface.  At the price, I thought they might have included a back stage pass!    23 pairs of ice dancers, 2.30 minutes per performance, another 2.30 minutes for the recap and commercials.  Time seemed to just fly by!  And then the final flight of dancers, including the Russians in their controversial aboriginal outfits.  I actually liked the look - it stood out well against the white of the ice.  But not so good on the technique, allowing the Americans and Canadians to place ahead.  

Wow, what a night at the Pacific Coliseum.   

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir brought the house down with their flawless flamenco original dance.  Can't wait for tomorrow night's final!

If only the Canadian Hockey team could have done the same.  

Day 3 Capilano

The Capilano Suspension Bridge is the oldest tourist attraction in Vancouver, and just a 1.2 km walk for us, gently uphill.  It was originally built in 1889 by George Grant Mackay, a Scottish civil engineer and the man responsible for Stanley Park.  George's original bridge has been replaced (thank goodness), as bouncing along 450 of suspended bridge, 230 feet above the Capilano River takes a bit of nerve.  

Once across the bridge, there are board walks along the cliff edge as well as 100 feet above the forest floor...the Treetops Adventure.  Most impressive to me were the massive Coast Douglas Firs.  "Old Doug" is reported to be 350 years old and 200 feet high.  It will continue to grow to 300 feet and live to 1000 if left alone.  It's the second tallest conifer in the world, after the giant Redwoods further south.  Sadly for the Douglas Fir, it is also one of the world's best timber producers and yields more timber than another other tree in North America.   Okay everyone, recycle!!!

Other amazingly tall trees that are in the neighbourhood are the Western Red Cedars and Western Hemlock. They grow nearly as high, but don't have the deep root system to withstand so many years of weather as the firs. 

We finished our little nature adventure back in Edgemont Village, enjoying a latte in the sunshine.  Then back to catch more Olympics on TV and gear up for tomorrow's event: Ice Dancing Original Program.  We'll be somewhere in the crowd!

 

Day 2 in Vancouver

Vancouver greeted us in all its sunny glory.  Getting from the airport to our accommodation in North Vancouver went smoothly and Robin, our Personal Olympic Hostess with the mostest, greeted us with a basket of Olympic gifts.  Crocuses and snowdrops are blooming and fruit trees are just about to burst open.  With sunny weather in the forecast for the duration of our stay, we just might witness spring busting out here. 

We got rather close to not making it at all when Mike developed atrial fibrillation again last week.  It’s been 5 years, almost to the month when he had that first big attack in the UK.   Gradually the severity lessened and the doctor gave him the thumbs up to go as long as he was careful not to over do it.  We are doing the games in slow motion.  Robin reminds me that this is the west coast and life is very laid back, so we'll fit right in.

 

While Mike napped Robin took me to Edgemont Village.  It reminds me of Esher (sigh), with a high street lined with all the shops you need.  Walking distance away.  In Esher though, you don't have "Is that a bear making those rustling noises?" in the back of your mind as you walk through a park.  Robin assured me that bear sightings are rare and usually only early in the morning when people are out walking their dogs. 

 

What a nail biter of a hockey game!  The Canadians need to get their act together on the ice.  Individually they may be great hockey players, but as a team, there's much work to be done.  Hopefully they got the message from the Swiss.

 

As for the Men's Figure Skating...I'm on the there's more to it than just the jumps page.  I'll say no more.  Congrats to Evan!

Downtown Vancouver

With directions in hand, Mike and I found the nearest bus stop and started our little adventure of finding our way to downtown Vancouver.  The bus took us down to Lonsdale Quay, where we caught the Sea Bus across the Burard Inlet to downtown.  Then the Canada Line one stop and bingo, we were right in the thick of the masses.  A sea of red and white humanity has taken over the city centre.  Nearly 50% of the people were wearing Team Canada Hockey jerseys.  We felt left out, but heck, we were wearing our red and white ski jackets from the 1988 games in Calgary.  Special, eh?

 The Bay has an enormous Olympic Superstore, with not just Canada stuff, but also Russian, American, and maybe other countries team uniforms. The line up to get into the store snaked its way down the entire block and then some.  I couldn't imagine Mike waiting in line to go shopping, even on a good day, so we went for plan B, which was no plan, and continued wandering with the crowds.  Eventually we found our way to the tourist information centre where having stood in line for half an hour, any events that might have had tickets were now sold out.  Onto the infamous Olympic cauldron on the waterfront behind chain link.  Pretty tacky. 

That was the limit of Mike's energy so back home we headed, stopping to pick up some yummy Indian takeout for dinner.  Then relaxing (or zzzzing) on the couch watching the coverage and hanging out with our Punky and Chocolate.

Olympics or Bust Feb 18, 2010

 

There’s nothing like a flight to Vancouver to make you appreciate how big Canada is.  The little airplane icon seems to crawl across the screen at a snail’s pace while a winter white landscape of lakes and forests slowly turns into neat squares of farmland as we cross into Manitoba.  Snow and cold below that they could certainly use at Cypress Mountain right now. 

 

Through a series of events not even our wildest dreams could conjure up we are off to the Olympics with tickets to Ice Dancing.  It doesn’t get any better than that. 

 

Event 1:  Relaxing after a wonderful Christmas Eve meal, Mike has a stroke.  Not one of those little TIA’s but the real thing.  He can’t talk, he can’t feel his right arm and he can’t see out of his right eye.  It took me two seconds to yell for Christopher to call for an ambulance. Unfortunately Christopher didn’t know which country he was in so dialing 991 did get him anywhere.  

 

The Paramedics arrived after what seemed like an eternity, assessed Mike and took him, along with Christopher to the Greater Niagara General Hospital.  Their ER deals with strokes, and it wasn’t long before Mike had a CT Scan and was hooked up to the clot-busting drug, tPA.  Shortly after midnight, now Christmas Day, Mike was back to normal and ferried to the ICU for observation overnight.    Christopher and I drove home in shock and wonderment of the events of the past three hours.  Thank you Santa.

 

Event 2: No wintering in Florida for us this year.  So we pressed on with various medical appointments to get to the root of the stroke:  blood clots caused by atrial fibrillation.   We also pressed on with preparations for our major main floor renovation. 

 

We had underestimated the amount of prep work needed to get this reno off the ground, so in a way we were relieved that there was now no rush to put things in place before heading south for an April 1 start.  A secondary benefit was being able to watch the Canadian coverage of the Olympic games.  (Maybe that should be a primary).  Third, my shoulders are getting a rest from golf, although Mike would much rather be south on a golf course, even if Florida is having a relatively cold winter. 

 

Event 3:  January 17^th a call came from Mic and Pat Mayr who have spare tickets for the Ice Dancing.  Mic figured that since we weren’t in Florida, we’d be up for a trip to Vancouver.  Accommodation and medical coverage were the two things to clear up before we could accept this wonderful offer.  My friend Robin in Vancouver already had houseguests but arranged for us to stay at her next door neighbour’s home.  The insurance company said no worries traveling within Canada for Mike as he’d be covered by OHIP in BC.  There were seats available on flights.  BINGO!!! We hit the jackpot.  Peel me off the ceiling!  We’re going to the Olympics…again. 

22 years ago, with a 6-week-old Christopher along, we were at the Calgary games courtesy of 3M, a worldwide sponsor that year.  I dug out the ski jackets 3M issued to all of its guests.  I’ve not been able to part with them, and never imagined that we’d be wearing them to another Winter Games.  (Minus the baby, who is off to Mexico with classmates for spring break). 

 

We’ve just passed Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.   I wonder how the contractor is getting along back home?  Demolition begins today.

December 2009

Here we are already into December and I still haven’t finished this letter and my cards.  Not the usual efficient me.  But, I do have a good reason.  It’s been a busy Tabitha Craft Sale season, and I’ve been going full out for the past couple of weeks, driving to sales all over this part of Ontario.  It takes up a lot of time, but I enjoy promoting the beautiful silk products, talking about the work of Tabitha in Cambodia and meeting lots of new people.   Once I put the leftover stock away for another year, I can start thinking about next year’s golf tournament.  June 9^th for anyone interested in playing!

Our project this year was the renovation of our en-suite and completion of painting upstairs. The two upstairs bathroom projects have been a good training ground in preparation for the BIG PROJECT of renovating the entire main floor. We’d like to start it in April, and want to have all the decisions made and contractor in place before we head to Florida in January. I will be getting as close to my dream kitchen as this house will allow!  And yes, we’ve brought in experts, not leaving it up to us to figure out and mess up.

Officially Snowbirds, we will once again be south bound in January, escaping another potentially nasty winter. We’ll be renting the same house again in Florida on the Gulf Coast just north of Fort Myers. Last year as returnees, we were welcomed into the golfer’s social circle.  The extra two months of golf help take our game to a new level of frustration and deplete our stock of water balls. 

The highlight of our year was a cruise that took us out of a cold, wet summer and into the warm and sunny Baltic.  The Emerald Princess sailed from Copenhagen to Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallinn, Gdansk, Oslo and back to Copenhagen again.  We loved each and every city and are hard pressed to say if one is better than another.  They all had something unique to offer and if you’d like to wade through our pictures, click here.

We also spent a few days in London checking up on Christopher, catching up with friends, and enjoying just being in London.  I miss having such a great city on my doorstep.

Mike is now Chair of the Standing Committee for the NOTL Cottage Hospital and a full fledged Board Member of the Niagara Health System.  It keeps him far busier than imagined, reading reports, emails and press releases, attending regular meetings and keeping abreast of the HINI flu situation.  Fortunately it hasn’t cut into his golf and bridge time, yet.

I’ve spread myself around several other volunteer organizations not having the sense to say NO. This fall I became 1^st VP with FAUSA, a group of repatriating Americans and 1 token Canadian (www.fausa.org), Newsletter Editor for the Niagara-on-the-Lake Newcomers Club and will be 18 Hole Ladies Captain for the next season.  That should be enough to distract me from most household chores.  The local Rotary Club tried to recruit me, but their meetings conflict with the ladies golf league, so I did in fact get to say NO for a change.

One of the benefits of the FAUSA Board is going to meetings in interesting places twice a year.   Our fall annual meeting was in Durango, Colorado.  Quite out of the way, but worth the journey for the scenery along with good camaraderie.  In March I’ll be in Boston helping with another meeting.   Mike has opted to stay in warm and sunny Florida and keep working on his swing.

Kendryth’s teaching career got off to a great start with a job in the United Arab Emirates.  She loved her grade 4 and 5 students, loved teaching and also loved the warm weather.  Unfortunately it all came to a sudden end when a nasty kidney stone forced her to return home for treatment at the end of September.  She still has other kidney stones that could cause her future problems, so she made the difficult decision not to return to her job.  She’s now back in London, Ontario, trying to find work, pick up some French courses, and applying for her Ontario Teaching Certificate.  Oh, and maybe getting her driver’s license one of these days.

Arden continues working as Member Services Coordinator with the Downtown Kingston Business Improvement Association. But looking for more out of life, she’s applied to Law School.  Now she waits until spring to find out if she made it.  Arden and Tom continue to share a house in Gananoque along with Tom’s two children, Gabrielle, 9, and Wesley, 6. 

Christopher’s internship with Goldman Sachs culminated in a job offer so he’ll be heading back to London, England next summer after he graduates with his Business degree.  In the meantime he’s enjoying a more relaxing academic pace, getting excellent grades, and taking time to socialize (or should I say, give his liver a good workout).

My mother celebrated her 87^th Birthday with her new friends.  She continues to be the senior version of the energizer bunny as long as she doesn’t overdo it. 

We look forward to hearing from you or reading your news.  

Hugs and best wishes for a great Christmas!

London Layover

The first item on our agenda was finding Christopher’s flat, which turned out to be just two blocks from our hotel.  We arrived in London ahead of schedule, so of course, we had to wait for Christopher to get up before we could head over. 

His second flat is on the corner of Shaftsbury and New Oxford Street, just blocks from the British Museum to the north, Covent Garden to the south, and the theatre district to the west.  Surrounded by pubs, theatres, and restaurants, there’s a real buzz in the air.  “Hairspray” is playing across the street, and fans gather daily outside the stage door looking for autographs.  

After climbing 5 or 6 flights of stairs to the flat (gasp) Christopher gave us a tour, including the rooftop which they access through a set of stairs going up through a skylight.  From there you can hear the sounds of the city from the road below.  I guess it’s a nice spot on a sunny day, but not for those who don’t enjoy heights.  We met Adrian and Stefan, (and Stephan's girlfriend Lucille), two of his roommates from France.  Sebastian, (Polish) wasn’t around.  He’s really enjoyed living here and has made good, lasting friendships with the guys.

Christopher then took us on his daily walk to the office on Fleet Street and gave us a tour of the trading floor and the floor on which he works.  The office buildings are completely unmarked.  The trading floor is huge and he said there are several throughout the buildings that Goldman Sachs occupies.  Work on the trading floor begins at 6:45 am and continues until 6 pm when trading shuts down.  Christopher’s hours have been longer these days as he’s both working and networking as his term comes to an end.  His last day of work is the 28th of August.

From the office on Fleet Street we walked down Blackfriars across the Thames and along the embankment.  It was an unusually warm and sunny Saturday afternoon and loads of people were out.  Our final destination was the Baltic Restaurant on Blackfriars.   Christopher walked by this restaurant every day for 6 months and never noticed it was there.  We had some good Polish cooking for dinner and waddled out and back to the hotel.  

Sunday was a quiet day.  We had hoped to meet up with friends Sue and David for lunch, but they fell well behind schedule and we had to settle with a brief chat on the hotel steps.  So much for the best laid plans.  What luck to discover a southern Indian restaurant right across the street.  We haven’t had Masala Dosa since Singapore, so over we went to indulge in some great Indian for lunch.  Then it was back to the room where the boys snoozed off and on while watching old movies and I uploaded trip pictures.  

We finally pulled ourselves together and sent Christopher home to pack.  We had ample baggage allowance and were taking two bags back with us.  I suspect they are full of dirty laundry.  At least I have a month to sort them out.

It was a challenge trying to find things to do in London that we haven’t done before.  We had hoped to see a play but the timing didn’t work out, and when I looked at what was playing, we’d already seen a lot of it.   Mike had been to Buckingham Palace for a reception with the Queen but never done the tour of The Palace.  So Monday morning, off we went, brolly in hand, to visit the State Rooms while Liz and Phil are off on their summer holidays.  Always impressive to see such wealth, and far more cozy than the uninhabited rooms of the palaces we visited on our Baltic tour.  Cozy of course, is relative.  Maybe it was the carpeting on the floors that made them seem less hollow.  And not as crowded as the flow of visitors is restricted.  

Since the last time I did the tour they’ve added a café to improve their takings, so we could truly say that we had lunch at Buckingham Palace.  After lunch we walked over to Harrods, which was packed as usual with tourists.  We made a brief stop in the golf department so I could get my souvenir:  10 ball markers for £1.  The best deal in town.

We finished the morning off with a walk through Hyde Park.  A trip down memory lane for Mike as he often walked there on his lunch hour.  

The bigger trip down memory lane was in the afternoon when we headed to Waterloo Station to catch a train to Esher.  Waterloo had been renovated at some point during the last three years and looked so much more open and bright, with ticket turnstiles at the gates.  There was still a 17:02 to Esher and we remembered to get into the first car.  Mike worked on a Sudoku puzzle while I stared out the window.  He instinctively got up just as we were about to reach Esher.  A bit scary to still be able to do that after 3 years away.  

Not much had changed in Esher since we left.  Surprisingly the kitchen reno shops still had the same displays in their windows...times are indeed tough in stockbroker land.  The Thatched House across the street from Yew Tree Cottage is for sale for £1.8 million or renting at £5,500/month.  We knew that the accountant who owned it went bankrupt while we were there, but the house must have been in his wife’s name.  The road looked pretty much the same and I noticed that there were still nasturtiums in the little garden around the lamppost...my legacy.  

We were meeting two couples at the Prince of Wales Pub for dinner, so we continued on past Moore Place, now less purple and boarded up.  The owners never managed to make anything of it, and not taking Gordon Ramsay’s advice on how to run it was a big mistake.  The golf course behind is still a viable enterprise.  We followed the path cutting through to the West End and noticed that the bramble berries are just starting to ripen.  Still a bit sour but coming along.  

At the pub, now under new management, we met up with Nancy and Todd Fredin and Mary and John Waymire for dinner.  Both now empty nesters but still planning to be in the area for some time.  It was great to see them and catch up on their news.  

Nancy suggested we take in the Henry VIII exhibit at the British Library.  This year is the 500th anniversary of his birth, so Tuesday morning we headed off to the newly built library to learn more about Henry VIII than it was possible to absorb in one go.   In the afternoon we walked to the Museum of London, one of the rare other spots we had not visited before and wouldn’t really recommend although it was free.  Topped up with more information than our old brains could handle, it was time for a nap before Christopher got off work to join us for a farewell dinner.

It’s Wednesday and we’re on our way home.  Mike is somewhere well ahead of me on the BA flight, and I on a late departing Air Canada.  I have no complaints as I’ve been bumped up to Business Class!  I thought it worth asking upon check-in but was assigned seat 47G, way at the back of the bus.  At least it was an aisle seat.  But when I got to the gate, they reassigned my seat and only after a while did I clue into the fact that I was indeed at the front of the bus and about to fly home in style.  The beverage cart is now here and I shall have a glass of Bordeaux and sign off to watch a few movies.