In London - 8 May 2008

Heathrow in the early morning is a really easy airport to negotiate and customs and baggage collection were very quick.  I had such a lot of luggage.  As well as my large case, my cabin bag, my lap top, my handbag and my mallet, I’d also brought a back pack for Suzi who’d left New Zealand on her OE with just one huge pack for her travels around Asia and Europe before she arrived in London.  She was getting a little short of clothes!!

Negotiating on and off subways and Sky Trains at JFK had been quite hard – mostly because there was such a crush of people - but it was all really easy at Heathrow in the early morning, and I made my way from the carousel down to the Heathrow connection to Paddington Station.  There are two choices here.  Heathrow Express costs over 17 pounds but Heathrow Connect only costs about 9 pounds.  The difference is, of course, that one train doesn’t stop, and the other does, so if you’re not in a hurry, catch the Connect – they both go to the same place after all!

Greater London has a population of between 12 and 14 million people.  So you can imagine by complete astonishment when I spied my cousin walking past where I was waiting for my daughter.  We’d been emailing each other the day before, but she had no idea when I was arriving, or where.  Huge coincidence!

I only spent a day in London but Kate (my eldest daughter) managed to fit in great things for me.  She took me for a quick visit to the shops before I lay down briefly once back in her apartment - and fell fast asleep!  I woke in time to spend special time with my two beautiful granddaughters, followed by a lovely dinner with Julie and Suzi, my other two daughters whom she’d invited round for dinner, and Bret when he came home from work.  A very brief visit but jam packed with happiness.  So full, in fact, that I forgot to get out my camera!