Letter 1 - So where should I begin?!

So where should I begin?! Time flies when you’re having fun! I have been away for almost a week already. I am currently staying with my great aunt and uncle, Derek and Helen, in Wimborne. I got up early yesterday morning and left Louise’s flat at 8:30am to catch a train at 10am. Lots of time to get there... Well... I caught the bus (with all my luggage – yes, for 2 nights – we all know I can’t travel light) and was making progress towards Waterloo despite rush hour traffic. Then all of a sudden the bus announced it was no longer ending at Waterloo. I thought this might mean it would go past Waterloo and terminate further on. Next thing the bus stops and the announcement said the bus terminates here, please get off and don’t forget your luggage! Luckily the woman who was sitting in front of me said she’d help me get to the station as she worked in a building nearby. It would be about a 15 minute walk. We walked towards Waterloo, got to a bridge started crossing the Thames and found the pavement on our side of the bridge was blocked to pedestrians, so we had to walk down about 2 stories to the street below and then back up again to the other side of the bridge. All with my (now much heavier) luggage, and the sun shining brightly too. Luckily the rest of the walk was simple and there were signs to follow. Happily I got to the station with half an hour to spare and was relieved to finally get onto the train.


I have been staying with my cousin Louise in London. We visited Hampton Court and Kingston on Saturday. On Sunday we went to the V & A Museum to see a quilt exhibition - which was amazing with quilts dating from 1700 to 2010 – as well as an exhibition on Grace Kelly and the Gilbert Collection, a collection which includes micro mosaics (so micro you can’t always tell that an item is a mosaic with the naked eye!) - click here


My time has been so full! Hardly time to download photos, let alone look at any. I have also been to Harrods (with Louise) where we had the best hot chocolate EVER, like drinking a bar of chocolate mixed with cream. I enjoyed some time shopping on Oxford and Regent Street. I loved looking at all the new toys in Hamleys. It’s amazing what’s available these days. The store was even more festive as this year Hamleys celebrates 250 magical years. I think that would be a fun place to work – there were many demonstrations by 20-somthings with groups of children looking up in wonderment at the latest rainbow sponge painting kit; walking, barking, jumping/360 flip dogs/cats/penguins; magic tricks etc. I still cannot work out how the magic tricks worked! The first with a pack of cards. When the 8 of diamonds was put on the top of the pack EVERY card became the 8 of diamonds. The pack was cut numerous times and they were all red diamond 8s. Then the top card was changed and the whole pack of cards became normal again – 52 different cards! There was also a trick with disappearing and reappearing coins that was just MAGIC.


Tomorrow morning I get the train back to London. It has been wonderful to see Derek and Helen again, we’ve had great chats and it’s been interesting hearing about this side of the family. Again, I cannot believe how time has flown. Tomorrow afternoon I’m seeing Alice again – she’s organised me a ticket on her Big Bus tour. We were planning on watching the soccer world cup opening ceremony and first match in a pub tomorrow evening. This however will not be happening as I was dismayed to discover the SA game is in the afternoon! We’ll still be going to a pub.


I almost forgot, I also visited Wimbledon! I’ll have to write about that another time....


xxx