Day 43 - Linslade - London

Up early to finish packing my bag and a then breakfast and a read of the paper filled in the morning until Doreen took me back to the train station for my trip back to London. I thanked Doreen so much for putting me up for the few nights and for running me around whilst I was there. I do not know when I will be able to get back to England so it was good to be able to catch up with relatives and have some relaxing time between all my other travels.

I said goodbye to Doreen and had about ten minutes to wait for my train so I got a drink and a snack from the kiosk and waited till the train came in. I am luckier that Sunday as I only need to get two trains today to get back to Morden and then a bus trip back to Stewart and Jeanette’s.

I rang Stewart to see what he was doing and he was busy until late with work so I told him I would go back to North Cheam and sit in the local pub for some lunch and use their free Wi-Fi and he said he would ring me when he was free.

The train is a quick commuter train that does not stop at any stations between Leighton Buzzard and Euston, which is the end of the line for that train. From there I was able to go down underground to the Tube and Euston is also on the Tube Northern Line near the centre of London whilst Morden which is the last stop at the southern end of the line.

I only had to wait a few minutes and I was on a train about 1.30pm and as the train went through various stops near the city the train filled right up to overflowing. Luckily we then got south of the city the people were getting off regularly and by the time we got to Morden there were only a handful of people left to get off as it terminated.

I walked up through the ticket barrier and out onto the street and walked over towards the bus stop but stopped at the local Irish Pub called The Ganley. I got a drink and sat and watched some football repeat as I drank it. There were some Carlings coasters on the bar so I grabbed a few of them to go with my collection.

From there I caught the Bus back to the end of Stewart’s street so I could actually go to the home and get rid of my bag before going to the pub as I did not want to be carrying the bags with me all afternoon. Walked up to the house got in without setting off the Alarm this time and deposited all my bags.

I then went back down to the main road and jumped on the next bus that came along. This was my next mistake. I thought that all buses that came along the road in this direction went up to the shopping centre about a mile up the road, seams though that they don’t. I got the bus that turns left half way along the road and heads in a completely different direction. I knew roughly where I was going so I stayed on the bus until I saw a train station and I knew that there would be a bus stop heading back in the direction I came from so I got off and crossed the road and waited for a bus to come. It was about 10 minutes and soon I was back to where I started and got on the correct bus this time.

I travelled up to the shopping centre and went firstly to Sainsbury’s and checked out their beer section and picked up a couple of cans of Guinness. Then I checked out their Pringles and picked up 5 tubes that I did not have. I paid for them and then walked up to the local pub to have a quick drink and some lunch before crossing the road and going to the newsagent to top up the Oyster card for Stewart and Jeanette. I then caught a bus back to Stewart’s and walked back to the house again not setting off the alarm.

I then checked some emails and looked at the television. After a while I started to pack my bags for tomorrow’s flight to Singapore. I weighed things as I was putting them into my case and had to rearrange a few things around so I did not have too much in the main case. Once sorted it meant that I will be able get everything home without having to send a parcel of leftover clothing.

Later in the early evening Stewart arrived home and we walked around to the local shops to get some dinner at a Chinese restaurant. The food was quite good and we both ate our fair share of different foods.

Following dinner we walked back and picked the car up and drove to Morden Station as we had to pick up Jeanette who had been at a work function in the city and was coming home on the Tube. We did not have long to wait and were soon home again. As it had been a long day I soon was off to bed and did not take any time at all to fall asleep.

Day 42 - Linslade

I had a slow start to the day with a lazy morning reading the papers. Today both Doreen and I were to go to another of my Father’s cousin’s home for lunch. Claude and Diane live in the next village to Doreen which is called Wing. This will be the fourth time I have been to their home as I visited them on each of my previous trips to England.

We left for their home at 11.30 am and it only takes fifteen minutes to get there. It was good to see them both again, Claude has retired since I had been there last and we talked about the holidays they had been on this year. They book a home in the country for a week and travel with their two daughters and their husbands and grand children. We looked at some photos and the area they stayed in looked very picturesque with a lovely stream and some fields nearby.

On my last visit three years ago Claude showed me his tractor which he has rebuilt and used to display at fairs and village shows. Well this year he won the best tractor in the show and was presented with a large trophy that he keeps for the year and also a trophy that he gets to keep.

Diane then presented us with a baked dinner of chicken and vegetables that was delicious. We also had some desert and then sat back in the lounge and talked about our families and also about a letter we both received from a firm called Frazer & Frazer who look for people who are descendants of people who have passed away and not left a will.

It seems one of my Grandmother’s cousins in England, Ivy Piper died in 2007 and she left an estate but did not have any direct descendants. Frazer & Frazer are looking for all descendants of her by going back up to her parent’s brothers and sisters and then coming back down the line to find their next generation of living descendants.

In Claude’s case it is the generation before mine but from my Grandmother’s family all her children have passed away and the grandchildren are the descendants. So both Claude, myself and my siblings as well as a lot of other cousins are in for a windfall. We do not know much about Ivy and it will be interesting in the near future how much money might be coming although we expect it will not be a great amount cause there will be quite a few people involved.

We had to leave Claude and Diane just on four o’clock to return to Doreen’s as her other son Paul was coming to visit to see me whilst I was staying there. We had met on my previous trip and Paul had given me a tour of some of the surrounding area back then and was keen to catch up on my travels and we talked for quite awhile until he had to leave to travel home.

Afterwards we had a light supper after the big lunch we had been given and then watched some more television before bedtime and I also had to pack my bag ready to leave for London tomorrow.

Day 41 – Linslade

This morning was a slow start catching up on emails etc, before Stephen came around to pick me up at 11am. He had arranged to have the day off work and to drive me around sightseeing for a few hours. We drove into Leighton Buzzard and went through to a village called Aldbury. The village is only small with a grass common and small lake in the centre of it. Next to the lake is an old set of stocks that were used in the old days of the town. I was also told there was a dunking chair there also for dunking witches.

The buildings in the village are beautiful, old style brickwork and timber beams and old slate roofs. We went into a pub called The Greyhound for a look and a cool drink and Stephen asked the barmaid if they had any different styles of coasters as well of the ones on the bar and he mentioned I was over visiting from Australia and I collect them. She replied that she is from Adelaide in South Australia and that she was on a working holiday. She had only been in the village for two weeks.

As she went to get me some coasters we looked around the pub a bit and it is a really old pub and I read that it was used in the movie Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason. I was able to get 6 different coasters from the Barmaid and after thanking her we left to move on to our next stop.

The roads surrounding the village are all narrow and winding and quite often you have to pull up to let other cars pass by you. Also today there seems to be a lot of people bicycling around as well which added to the slow trip. We headed through a few other villages and then stopped in the city of St Albans.

St Albans is a city that can be traced back to before Roman Times and was called Verulam by its original Celtic inhabitants. It became a major city in the Roman occupation when it was renamed Verulamium and was the second largest Roman city behind London. The roman ruins date back to approx. 275AD and are on the outskirts of the current city.

Stephen and I walked around the city including some narrow lane ways with buildings dating back to the 1500’s and visited the St Albans Cathedral and I took some photos of the exterior of the building. We then walked back up into the city area and stopped at a pub for some lunch before driving around some more of the city and then out into the countryside again.

We drove up to the highest point in the county and looked out over the countryside and a lot of the local villages. There were people flying in hang gliders from this point as well. We then went back to the house and I thanked Stephen for taking the time to show me some more of the local area and taking me to some places that I had not been to before.

Back at Doreen’s home we had a drink and then Stephen had to go. During the late afternoon I was able to catch up on some writing and sorting out my luggage. Doreen has given me some items to take home for my mother and I needed to safely pack them into my bags.

Doreen then made some dinner and we sat and ate before watching some television till about 10pm.  By this time I was getting tired and I was off to bed for the night.