UK – London

2019 DECEMBER 18 —

I’m back in London for Christmas, again. I landed on 18 December. The Uber driver decided to take the scenic route to Len’s – it took over 3 hours to get there. It usually takes just over an hour. Once ‘home’ Freya ecstatic to see me. Julian was over at a friend’s house. He got tired of waiting for me to arrive. He IS growing up! But not too much. They were thrilled at the balloon animals, hats and swords I made for them that night.

The next day was quiet. I took the little kids to school. The big kids had to go work. I did a bit of shopping, but was back in time to pick the little kids up from school. Julian brought home a project he made on China. I sure don’t remember studying China when I was in Grade 3, and certainly did not make anything like this.

The Friday morning I was on the Eurostar to Bruges, Belgium to spend the weekend with my girlfriend. That trip is in a separate blog. I came back ‘home’ Sunday night.

Monday was spent playing with the kids. The parents still had to work. We went to Abbot’s Park in the afternoon. That evening, Michaela, Sara and I went out to a Sushi Restaurant for dinner. They surprised me with tickets to the Tina Turner Musical. We had a fantastic time. Before the play started the audience was told not to sing along or get up and dance. The performance was spectacular. The girl playing Tina did a bang up job. Although the songs were all familiar, they were sung to a different tempo, that went with the story line more. However, at the very end, when Tina finally makes it big, the concert started. We had contained ourselves all through the show. But when she motioned for everyone to get up, all that pent up energy let loose. We all jumped up like springs – singing, dancing, moving and grooving. Thank you girls, for the wonderful evening.

Tuesday was Christmas Eve. Both kids made Christmas cards for me. (Unless you are a Grandma, you have NO idea how precious that is!) We took the kids to Henry Reynolds Park in the afternoon so they could burn off some energy. On the way home we stopped at Tesco for some last minute items. We had a lovely fish casserole for dinner. After dinner, the kids were allowed to open 2 gifts from under the tree.

They went to bed without too much fuss, knowing that Santa was coming that night. Auntie Sara had the play-by-play on her ‘Track Santa” app. Every few minutes they were asking where he was and how many hours until he arrived in London. I have to remember that app for future use. It is brilliant!!

Fortunately, they did not get up at 5:00am. But when they did get up, Woo-Hoo, it was game on! They dove right in, having scoped out which gifts had their names on them from the night before. But the new gifts stopped them in their tracks! The SANTA gifts!! There was wrapping paper all over the living room. There were boxes ripped open and literally tossed sideways. Shrieks of joy and “Look at this!” filled the room. Oh how I love it! It brings me back to when my children were that age. But this was different. This time I soaked it up, committing every shriek and look of joy to a special place knowing how quickly they will grow up and out of this awe and wonder stage. Julian crawled right under the tree, with only his bum sticking out, digging for more gifts.

Freya loved her “Elsa” blanket that I had made for her. It was sparkly and had hair that she could play with. Oh, and it was warm too. Julian was ecstatic to get his JellyBelly dispensing machine – with a few cinnamon hearts thrown in. He fell in love with Grandpa Ed’s cinnamon hearts from the last visit. Other popular gifts were Elsa & Jasmine dress-up costumes for Freya. Julian got more Lego (he just NEVER tires of it) and a Labo.

Len got me a book of 33 walking tours around London. Perfect for my next visit.

That evening we had roast ham, that Len had baking on low from the night before. After dinner, a bunch of friends and neighbors stopped in for drinks and snacks. A friend of Len’s, Shane, brought a game for Julian called “Pull my Finger”. It was a silly monkey with his over-sized finger pointing out. When you pulled his finger, his rubbery bum swelled up until the inevitable fart. There was a spinner that told you the number of pulls (maximum 4), reverse the order, or the mystery mark where the spinner can pick who they want to pull and the number of pulls (max 4). Everyone had a blast with it, kids and adults alike. Of course the kids wanted to touch the bulbous bum. Someone said “Don’t touch the bum! And that is a lesson for life!” LOL The game was taken to a new level. The loser not only suffered the disgrace of the fart, there were new challenges set out. The loser has to put on a crown and run around the dining room yelling “I’m a fairy princess”. The loser had to eat stinky cheese. The loser had to eat a brussel sprout. The perfect drinking game!

Len brought out a bottle of “Bellemore” red wine. It is a legitimate wine from the Bellevue Estate in South Africa.

The 26^th and 27th were quiet. The kids played with their new toys and the adults chilled.

On Saturday the 28^th I went to the National Gallery. I come to London often enough that I decided to explore the separate galleries at a more leisurely pace. However, there was a Christmas Market in Trafalgar Square, so the museum was very crowded. So much for my leisurely visit. No worries. It is still a good idea and I plan to implement it going forward. I did get to interact with a clown, though. He was pleasantly surprised to have a willing volunteer, and I was happy to release MeMe for a short time.

On Sunday the 29^th, I had a ticket to see “Come From Away”. Before heading to the Phoenix Theatre, I wandered around Oxford street taking in the Christmas lights and decorations. After the performance, I returned to Oxford Street to see the lights in the dark.

“Come From Away” is a musical based on the true story of how Gander, Newfoundland took care of, clothed and housed 7000 stranded passengers on Sept. 11, 2001 for one week. Heartwarming stories of how cultural differences melted into life-long friendships. It was brilliantly done. There were not a lot of props, mostly just chairs moved around to depict Tim Horton’s, the airplane, a bar, a community hall, etc. The actors played numerous parts, changing jackets or adding a hat for the different characters. There were a couple of Canadian humour moments, that had only me laughing. When the airplanes landed there were people running about asking “Does anyone speak Spanish? Does anyone speak Hindi? Does anyone speak Newfie?” Only a Canadian would get that!LOL As well as the comment about going to Tim’s to catch up on the gossip. I think people in the audience did not believe the “Screeched In” scene. The kitchen party was spot on, with the music and dancing. Well done! I would recommend this musical to everyone. Made me proud to be Canadian, as well.

On Monday we took the kids to Hollow Pond. They whinged about it and wanted to go to Abbot’s Park, but Len insisted on Hollow Pond. He said they always want to go to Abbot’s Park, but they get bored there. On the way t o the Pond we stopped at the Horsey Tree – a giant oak with a drooping branch that the kids get on and bounce like they are riding a horse.

At Hollow Pond they found sticks and feathers and stones. Imagination ran wild at the discovery of a small opening under a tree. Sometimes they feed the ducks. On this day they threw rocks toward the ducks, fooling them into thinking it was bread so the ducks would come closer. Daddy was right. Hollow Pond stimulated the imagination so much more than a swing or merry-go-round.

That evening I was to meet Sara at the Bucket Restaurant. When I Googled the address I found that it was literally around the corner from Melissa & Bart. We had met on the Galapagos tour in 2014. I called them up and asked if I could stop by. They were happy to see me again. I didn’t stay long, just enough time to get caught up. Then I met Sara for dinner, where we enjoyed oyster happy hour followed by a full meal. It was nice to have one on one time with her. She was staying at Len’s place over Christmas, as well; but every time we tried to have a conversation the kids would be all over us or otherwise not letting us chat.

New Year’s Eve saw more friends come by. Len bought fireworks and set them off early in the backyard, much to the children’s delight. Everyone was gone by 10:00pm. With the kids off to bed, we also called it a night. The sound of midnight fireworks woke us up, but none of us got up to have a look. Geez, we must be getting old!

New Year’s Day had us visit Hollow Pond again. It also saw me packing up my stuff. I departed on January 2, 2020.

The trip home was a gong show. Everything was fine until I got to Calgary and my transfer flight to Edmonton. It was delayed and then canceled completely. The airline put me up in a hotel. I got a really good night’s sleep and was back at the airport for my 8:00am flight. It was delayed 3 more times before I finally got a plane, with 4 other people, to Edmonton. I think at that point they just had to get us back to Edmonton, despite only 5 passengers. They should have put us on a bus the night before. Oh well. 17 hours after my scheduled arrival time, I was in Edmonton again.