Sunday 6th April: Sunday Roast Dinner at the Fensom's, Bushey

Today is a "family" day as we are planning a trip to the North of London to have a Sunday roast with Evie's old friend Angie and her family, Jeremy and his wife Grace plus their two adult children.  Of note is that Jeremy grew up with Sharmaine for the first few years of their lives and continue as far flung friends. We took a stroll along Praed Street which passes in front of Paddington station, looking for souvenirs; every other shop there seems to be selling them. I am in great need of another carry-on rolling suitcase.  I've decided that the backpack has got to go for the return trip; it is just too awkward.  We found a shop that was selling suitcases with four wheels and after bargaining with him, the shopkeeper came down from L40 to L32, so it was a sale.  (I have no symbol on the keyboard for the pound sign, so the L will have to suffice.  Right now an English pound is worth about $1.60)

I bought a nice "delivery" bag in another shop, green leather with a shoulder strap, and several zippered pockets; only L25!. It is my only personal purchase of the trip, other than a souvenir "Big Ben" tower to compliment my Eiffel Tower from Paris trip over a decade ago.

We set off for our lunch engagement from Paddington via the Bakerloo line to Baker Street and then changed for the Jubilee line. We rode all the way to the very end of the line to Stanmore to an area called Bushey. This NE suburb of London is quite a ways out and is beyond our Oyster pass range but the additional charge was only L1.10 each. We arrived early before Jeremy was due to pick us up; Stanmore Station is nearly a century old, looks like an old railway station, as I suppose it should, with some history on the walls about the local community of Stanmore.

Stanmore Tube Station

The stairs at the end of the line.

Note the stairs that greeted us as we arrived at the station.  This is but one example of why you must be able to walk without problems if you are going to visit London and use public transportation.  LOTS OF STAIRS!

After a short wait, Jeremy arrived with his mom Angie and off we went to his house.  He had invited us for a traditionally English Sunday roast dinner and I was really looking forward to a typical English experience!  The house was cozy and comfortable and everyone there made us feel quite at home.  We  chatted like mad while they prepared the dinner; one thing at a time with lots of everything. When it came together it was glorious: roasted chicken that was crispy, potatoes, peas, carrots, brussel sprouts, parsnips, turnips (very tasty when cooked well to make them nice and soft), Yorkshire pudding (really a bready shell that you pour gravy on), a gallon of gravy and even more things that I've forgotten.  It was bigger than a typical Thanksgiving dinner here in the US! Their daughter Cloe was there and son Daniel showed up a little later, both lovely kids.

Afterwards, Evie called Sharmaine and put her on "Tango" so it was like a video phone, and she was so pleased to talk with Angie and Jeremy, who she had spent much of her early childhood years with since they were neighbors over 40 years ago!  They all talked for quite awhile while I lounged in front of the TV and watched the end of a LeMans race since there was no baseball anywhere; I adjusted though and endured a rather standard race to the end.

Following this, there was a big annual event televised; the annual University Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge rowing teams.  This takes place right on the Thames through London and is a big event in the UK; this race got off to a good even start, both boats in a dead heat, until about 5 minutes in one of the Cambridge team's oars got caught up with an Oxford oar, and it nearly threw the oarsman out of the boat.  This small error was enough to decide the race as the Cambridge guys were never able to make up the lost time. Later it was revealed that the oar rigging was damaged in the "collision" and they were never able to get the speed back up.  So, for the last 12 minutes or so, Oxford pulled farther and farther ahead and all the drama of the race was completely gone.  

After all that excitement, we took some photos for posterity, had some freshly baked desserts, a delicious coffee-walnut cake that Angie baked herself and then said our goodbyes. We were driven to the station by Jeremy and Angie who both swore that they would visit us in California some time soon.  I told Jeremy I'd take him to a baseball game for an authentic American experience and then to San Francisco, where he could do some wind surfing, his latest passion.

Evie and Angie (front) with Jeremy, Grace and Cloe

So, off we went, down those multitude of yellow stairs and onto a waiting train back to London and our hotel!