Sunday 19th December - You've surprised me London

It's been a whole year since that day. Anyone who's read this blog before knows it's had its dark times. I don't want to go down that path again but I mention it because I'm amazed at how everything can change so drastically within one year.

But anyway, let me tell you about the day I spent with my family.

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As I write this I'm nomming on a piece of my gran's birthday cake and sipping tea from a mug with my name on it.

This morning my family and I braved the London underground and the cold weather. We had attempted to make it to the other side (the east) of London the day before, but due to some unknown white substance most of the tube lines were experiencing 'severe delays'.

After checking TFL we set off. Although it was not rush hour the tube was still as horrible as I remember it. The smell, the nasty plastic flooring and those glass-like panes that have had numerous people lean their greasy heads on them (you can see if you look carefully; perhaps now you'll think twice before resting your head on one). I tried to drown out talk of Coronation Street by reading Kierkegaard, but even the parable of the king and the maiden wasn't enough to block out the screeches of 'So who's the other person who's died?!'


Anyway, two hours later and we had arrived in East London. Trudging through the slush we made it to my gran's. Before going inside I thought it be my duty as granddaughter to clear her path. So I made good use of my mum's boots and scraped it clean. (I had borrowed her boots because I had underestimated the weather down here and had no other footwear apart from slipper boots. Not the same really are they?)

Settling down for lunch we unveiled her birthday cake. Lighting the candle and to the wonderful sound of an out-of-tune 'Happy Birthday' she blew it out, and cut us all slices.


I was surprised to say the least that we did not argue as much as I thought we would.


There were a lot of laughs as we took some photos in the back garden; my gran only wearing slippers and my brother squealing as I told him there were snails on the floor (he was going to make a snow angel). All in all we had a good time.


We watched Annie and The Mummy before dropping gran off to a friend's party. Well, we were supposed to be dropping her off, but against our wishes she dragged us in to say 'hello'. As expected, we exchanged more words than that two-syllabled greeting and even had a few photos taken with people we didn't know.

It wasn't all bad though. I met a friend I had not seen for nearly five years. We used to be the best of friends when we were younger but as it goes with most relationships, things change and people migrate to Scotland. It was nice to see her; I had occasionally seen updates on facebook about how things were going - she was engaged and had a son - but it's always strange to see someone in person after so long.

We finally managed to pry ourselves away, only to leave to the sounds of 'Oh why are you going?', 'It's still early!'. One guy even serenaded us goodbye....

Anywho, I've bored you. I'll try and find something less banal to post for you next time.

2 comments:

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  2. Good writing Rach, at least you made me laugh. I am trying to visualize Keiran's squels. Can't believe grandma went out with just her slippers on! How brave.

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