Are we not blessed

We are happy to tell you that we are both safely home after our lovely holiday with Julian and Ruth in Vaucluse, Provence.
It was sad to leave you, Ruth and Julian. as you had made our holiday so welcoming and we were too overcome to prolong our farewell.
Thank you Ruth for helping Mum with her hairdresser, her podiatrist and for arranging for her to have a facial. I realy appreciated your support in her attempts to gain weight, which, I am sorry to say, have not improved her body weight appreciably, perhaps just a bit!

Thank you to Julian for driving us to Avignon to catch the TVD train and for accompanying us to Paris to ease our cross over from Gare de Lyon to Gare du Nord, made even more exciting as you took us out to lunch in that beautiful restaurant opposite the station. Mum still cannot stop talking about the atmosphere, the service, the food and the shear opulence of a Saturday lunchtime in central Gay Paree. ( I had my longed for Boullaibaise fish stew am Mum had some lovely salmon. – Julian had a steak tartare.?

Mum is sorry she could not bid you a fonder farewell Julian, as she was afraid she would embarras you with her tears etc, It was sad to see you waving to us as we disappeared into the crowds catching the Eurostar, but many people were only too happy to help a couple of oldies to get on to the train and to help us to settle down with our luggage stored. In particular a young bronzed Iranian (we think) who lifted our luggage with ease and stowed away stuff into the overhead racks. I noticed that his itinerary was for him to catch the 8.30 plane to New York. I hope he made it OK.

Steve had arranged for Mum to be collected by wheelchair and the Railway man wheeled her quickly out of sight, leaving me to grab a luggage trolley and to follow as quickly as I could. (Should have been me in the wheelchair!! ), but it was a service greatly appreciated and enabled Mum to see Steve, who, actually was not on his own as Cathy was with him, waving madly when she saw us. What a lovely surprise. It seams that she was in the middle of cleaning and clearing out the drosss from out of her flat in Moodkee Streett, soon to be helped by Steve, when he turned up from Kings Sutton, driving my Renault and he said get your coat on as we are going to meet Mum and Dad at Waterloo. She quickly got ready and it was an added bonus to see her as well as Steve.
We were soon on our way over Waterloo bridge, which was crowded with people returning from the Lord Mayor’s Show, Parade. The sky was full of exploding fireworks and the streets were full of cars and buses, as we made our way through Notting Hill and on to the A 40, heading westwards. It soon became necessary to break our journey and we were dying for a nice, hot cup of tea, so Steve pulled in to an American-styled diner, which he knew and we settled down for half an hour, enjoying a quick cuppa and a sandwich for Steve and Cathy. On to the M 40 and we were soon heading off junction 6 towards Bledlow, as we had told the girls we would be along shortly, to pay them a visit. We arrived just after 7, and they had a lovely log fire burning away and they all made us welcome. We were all impressed with the lovely little cottage where they live (Harry Enfield lives next door ). Pete. Jan and the girls made us very welcome and we all enjoyed a rest and a chat.
9pm and we were off home to K/S, where we had another cuppa, before Cathy and Steve moved on to Moodkee Street, where I am sure they must be very tired after all that driving etc.
it was so great to see you all and we are sooo proud of you all.