Last Sunday, the 16th, we all packed into cars and went to Ingatestone, where Lee & Alison now live with their children. There was a Horticultural Fair on for most of the afternoon, so we got to see a marching band, dog shows (not competitions, more like demonstrations of skills), kids races (Jonathan competed in the boys 6-7 years and was in the top third of finishers), etc. Kayleigh got to have an ice cream, which she just loves, and I managed to give my right foot a really good scrape on an old metal tent peg holding up the main tent. My feet would not qualify for any modeling jobs right now, that’s for sure.
Upon leaving the fair, we all descended upon Ashcroft, the house that Lee & Alison purchased and are nearly completely redoing; they still have six months left to go of construction work. While it will be beautiful and spacious when complete, I have to admit it would get on my nerves after a while, having the work take so long. It is also jaw-dropping to me (and to a lot of other people) how expensive the housing is getting here in England. A couple of days ago I read in The Daily Telegraph that after the last rise in house prices (six thousand pounds last month), the average house price in England is now ten times that of the average annual salary. TEN TIMES! Which explains why so many people are still living with their parents—no one can afford to buy a house. Parents are having to loan their kids money, banks are offering 40, 50, and even 60-year mortgages—it’s crazy.
Monday we headed up to London again, perhaps a little misguidedly as Jonathan was pretty tired just by the time we arrived there. Also it was hot. The average temperature for July is about 70, and the last few days it’s been more than twenty degrees above that. With no air conditioning in buildings or the trains, it can get pretty uncomfortable. Luckily there is still a cool breeze, and at night it’s lovely, and of course it’s much better in the countryside than in the big city, but it’s still hot. I was very pleased on Sunday to find that the last car Joy & Brian bought actually has air conditioning in it—yippee!
Anyway, in London we arrived outside Westminster Station just in time to hear Big Ben chime 11 a.m., always a beautiful sound. It was nice to see the Houses of Parliament; I think it’s one of the most beautiful buildings I’ve ever seen. We went across Westminster Bridge and headed into the London Aquarium, where Kayleigh was delighted with all the fish and so was Jonathan. (Our friend Keaton caught up with us halfway through it and spent the rest of the afternoon with us.)
We walked by Westminster Abbey on our way to lunch but didn’t go in since we were all tired, and neither Dale nor I thought Jonathan would be up to walking around the whole thing. Another trip for that, I guess. After lunch we went back to the Westminster Pier and Keaton treated us to a river cruise down to Tower Bridge. We didn’t visit it or anything as we were running into the rush hour on the trains to get home, so we just headed on home.
Tuesday was spent just hanging around the house, although Dale & Jonathan did go over to Lake Meadows to kick the ball around in the evening. We all needed a rest day. Kayleigh spent lots of time helping Grandad water the flowers and cooing admirably at the bees in the hives in the side garden. I went up to town w/Kayleigh in the stroller and took a leisurely trip through the grocery store. I don’t like this trend of finding the same brands in other countries that I have at home—I don’t want to see Nivea and L’Oreal in the chemist’s, I want to see local things that I can’t get at home. Call me old-fashioned.
Today the four of us went to see where Glen’s new job is, and we were most impressed. He now runs the snooker club in Madison Heights, the Leisure Center in Maldon. Normally you have to be a member to get in, but he had arranged for us to come in and for Jonathan and Kayleigh to play in the Monkey Puzzle for a while. That was hands down the coolest thing I have seen for kids to play on! It was hard to pull Jonathan off of it. Dale did have to get rescue Kayleigh from the biggest slide—she’d dived into it before I could say “boo” and then got stuck in one of the turns. I could hear her wailing echoing through the slide; Jonathan stayed with her until Dale got there. I was waiting for them at the bottom of the slide, and she was clamped onto Dale’s chest like a little burr, and she didn’t let go of it for about ten minutes. Interesting to see something get the measure of Kayleigh for a change!
We also walked about five minutes down the road to Promenade Park on the seaside. It didn’t look like much since it was low tide and about all we could see was deep mud, but I thought it was beautiful. There were lots of boats, some old Thames river barges over 100 years old. Lots of seagulls and a flock of swans. The breeze coming off the ocean was cool, and the whole atmosphere was great. I miss the beach.
Tomorrow is Jonathan’s birthday. Seven years old, my goodness. Hopefully he’ll have a nice day.
Posted by elizabeth at July 19, 2006 04:28 PM