Meeting George at Heathrow worked as planned. As we emerged from the baggage retrieval and customs hall into the bright light of T2 Arrivals, there he was at a Caffe Nero table. Hugs and congratulations all round. Meanwhile our daughter was sending us excited welcome messages. We took the X26 bus from Heathrow to Teddington, tried and failed to check in at the Travelodge where they don't tolerate early arrivals, although at least they were willing to stow our luggage in the office while we went out again. Breakfast at the Caffe Caffe on Broad Street is always a good option in such circumstances, and then we were able to meet Emma who slipped out of NPL between meetings to greet us by the bus stop and lend us her house keys. More hugs.
"It's been a long time since we the last time all four of us were together," I said.
"And we haven't changed a bit!" added George, ironically.
(Am writing this three days later on the Cardiff train, currently pausing for 10 minutes while they find the driver, who is on another platform, apparently.)
The rest of the first day was then spent either trying to snatch a few moments of sleep or eating small, light meals, or walking for miles to stay awake. On Friday we did better, crossing the Thames footbridge at Teddington Locks and walking a short way along the Thames Path that follows the river (very full at this time of year) downstream. Occasional beams of sunshine brightened up the views. Emma escaped work for the afternoon this time, and joined us for lunch where everyone except me talked about Bayesian distributions, George describing his problems with "curvelets" and the Lutz-Kelker bias in the measurement of distances between stars. Not following a word of this, I just sat back observing the family interactions. The two men were argumentative, my daughter saying she could see both sides. Later in the afternoon, while George was cooking a gong bao ji ding (without the proper ingredients), Chris and Emma brought the boys home from school. Chris succumbed to a feverish cold that evening and had a rough night. He is still not better.
(The train is taking us on a picturesque detour via Stroud, the sun coming out again.)
...
I abandoned this post for lack of time to complete it. See the rest of our journey log here.
blending an assortment of thoughts and experiences for my friends, relations and kindred spirit
By Alison Hobbs, blending a mixture of thoughts and experiences for friends, relations and kindred spirits.
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