My Friday Smiles 2025# Week 45

Well I am back this week. I am still plagued with a bad cough, but I feel much better than I did last week.

My post today is mainly about the weekend I had in London a fortnight ago as I wasn't up to writing about it last week.

We caught the train up to London on Friday morning. We managed to get a train that went all the way from Gobowen (the nearest station to Oswestry) to Birmingham New Street. There we had to change and take the five minute walk to Birmingham Moor street to get a second train to Marylebone Station, and another short walk to  Baker Street. Then the underground took us to our son's place in Sydenham. Our son Jim actually came to meet us at Marylebone as there were cancellations on some lines and he wasn't sure we would find the best way on to him. It sounds a bit of a mission, and although it is not a huge distance it does seem to take up a whole day, but we had good seats on all the trains, (they need to be forward facing for me!), so we were quite comfortable.

We spent Friday evening with the family and Saturday morning. But Saturday evening we went to a lovely wedding celebration party by Crystal palace. These two dear friends were married with a small group of family members to support them, last month, so this was a party for all the friends and wider family. 

There were well over a hundred of us there  and it was lovely to sit and chat with friends old and new. We knew David and Darren from my church in Spain, but they came back to UK over a year ago and happen to live very close to our son. My special friend Margie and her husband, who also returned to UK a year ago, were there, and Dawn who still lives in Spain came with her daughter, so we were able to have a good catch up and it was lovely to see them all again.

Sunday again was a family day for us and we went out for a lovely meal at a nearby cafe/restaurant that has quite a special menu.

It was my birthday on Friday, and for my present Chris had booked two tickets to see Les Misérables at the Sondheim Theatre on the Monday evening. He was not interested in going himself so my daughter-in-law Jo came with me. And it was all I hoped for. The theatre was beautiful. We had seats in the front row of the upper circle so it was a long way down to the ground floor seating. We made sure to arrive early so it looked quite empty when I took this, but every seat was filled by the time the show started.

This rather beautiful ceiling and chandelier were immediately above us, and from our elevated position we could easily see the whole stage.

I love all the music. The songs are familiar to me because when I was in the choir in Spain, we sang a long medley encompassing most of them, which took up half the programme for a concert. I wanted to sing along with them on Monday night, but I managed not to spoil it for those sitting around me!

At the end of the show we took photos from the front of the theatre. It always amazes me how busy the street of London are at any time of night. This was getting on for midnight and it was quite wet, but the trafiic never stops and the pavements are crowded.

We decided to go home by bus as there is one that goes from there all the way to the stop outside our son's house. So we strolled along to the stop and on the way we passed the M&M shop. I couldn't resist going in and had to take a photo of this rainbow array of M&Ms. Who knew there were so many colours made, and different flavours too.

Anyway we got on the bus and settled down as we knew it would be almost an hour's journey. But on the way there was a problem with the side door and wheelchair ramp, and we ended up having to all get off and wait for a replacement bus to come along. But we made it home in the end, and I had a goody bag of programme, T-shirt and fridge magnet to remember my special evening out.

We travelled home of Tuesday and I knew by then that I was not 100% and I ended up spending a few days in bed, or huddled in my red furry 'oodie' in a chair, while Chris did the shopping and laundrette run. Now he has the cold, and I am a bit better, so I am back shopping and I did the laundrette run today. It will be good when the kitchen is done and I have a washing machine again, but we are managing without so far.

This is half term week for the children but I haven't encouraged visiting by any of the children as I don't want to share my cold with them. But on Sunday our son Jonathan came around with his hedge trimmer and did a great job cutting the shrub that grows all over the back gate, and also the holly hedges on either side of the front garden. 

Yesterday our son Mike came round and took all the bags of trimings away to the tip. We do have a garden waste bin now but it only gets emptied once a fortnight so it would take ages to off-load all the bags we have, so taking several to the tip was a great help. 

Mike was going to visit sooner. He works in a school so has half term off too, but on the day we returned from London, his own son who is 18, (maybe 19 now!), was taken to hospital with appendicitus. He had an operation the next day so Mike's half term was taken up with driving to and fro between his Home and Shrewsbury hospital. But Finlay is back home now and he is making a good recovery. The NHS gets a lot of flack these days but Mike and Fin couldn't say enough about the fast and efficient treatment he had.

I have managed to come up here to do a little bit of crafting the last couple of days and have been busy cutting out, frames, robins and holly, ready to assemble a run of a dozen Christmas cards tomorrow. I am usually making a few all through the year, but of course this year that hasn't happened, so I am making a batch of just a couple of designs, so that I have enough for immediate friends and family at least.

And that is my fortnight catch-up. I hope things will all be back on track by next week.