Braintree to London, England

Saturday, June 28

Because we were breaking our journey to London with a visit to more relatives, this time in Enfield, and because we had to return our car to Heathrow by 1.00 pm, we were up bright and early and on the road by 9.00 am.

Sat Nav did a great job in guiding us to our destination in Enfield but the only problem was, there wasn't any parking available in the very narrow street that already had cars parked on both sides. The couple we were visiting are more of Noelle's mum's relatives and in their 80's so we didn't want to be late - we know when they say 10.00 am they don't mean 10.02 am! We saw a number of spots but they were only for one hour. After circling around for awhile (with Noelle in a mild panic) we finally located a parking spot in the next street and by the time we knocked on Alan & Sylvia's front door, we were LATE!

After lengthy discussion, it was decided that we should have a cuppa in the back garden. Alan & Sylvia disappeared inside and, after what seemed an age, emerged with our "black" teas with milk in them and a packet of biscuits. They were in such a tizz. In typical London style, it was not long before it began to rain and we had to hastily retreat indoors. More drama as lounge chairs had to be cleared and rearranged. It really was quite comical.

Alan is the relative who has done all the Family Tree research on Noelle's mum's family and can trace it back into the 1700's. We chatted about that work and Alan also recalled the time Noelle's dad visited his parents and him when he was only 6 and Noelle's dad was stationed in the UK as an RAF pilot during WW2. Thankfully, Alan & Sylvia have done quite a lot of travelling so that became the topic of conversation and before we knew it, it was time to leave.

We wove through streets in Enfield but as soon as we reached the main road to Heathrow, traffic had come to a stand still. It was raining and a police car and an ambulance with sirens blaring, wove their way through the lanes of near stationary vehicles but we couldn't see where the hold up was. Sat Nav was showing 25 miles to go with an ETA of 12.57 pm and our car was due back by 1.00 pm. As time wore on and the distance we had covered was in yards rather than miles, we knew we were in trouble. We contacted Avis who were very understanding - thankfully - because we didn't arrive at their Heathrow depot until 2.37 pm! It was quite an exhausting trip stop-starting all the way plus we were anxious about how late we were. Avis were great about it all.

We then caught the Heathrow Express to London Paddington Station, hailed a cab to our apartment and collapsed in a heap. A cuppa revived us along with the knowledge we were in London - yes!! We settled in, did some chores then had a nice dinner out before a relatively early night. There are so many things we want to see and do while in London and we want to get an early start tomorrow morning.

Visiting with Alan & Sylvia

 

 

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