Farewells and other bits

Our farewell dinner with Ian’s family was held at a local Vietnamese Restaurant. We have been warmly enveloped by the Denny family and we were looking forward to getting together with them again. There were Ian’s parents Barry & Christine, his two brothers Matt and Mike, and his cousin Julie & Brian. They are all so easy going and fun to get along with, we were assured of a great evening.

Back row: Matt, Ian, Antony, Alex, Mike

Front row: Chris, Bernice, Julie, Barry, Brian, Roy

Let’s just say that the food was great, the drinks flowed and the Sambucca shots that seemed to keep coming at the end of the evening made for a fun end to the night!

Matt channeling his inner Vietnamese.

They all decided that Christmas 2019 would definitely be celebrated in New Zealand with all wanting to experience a totally different type of climate for the festive season. They are all saving madly in anticipation of their big adventure to the antipodes.

We didn’t always go out together as a family, Ants and Alex met up in town on a few occasions and then we would get some random collection of photos to let us know they were having a good time.

these two out for cocktails and silly indoor golf!

or I get random photos of…guess what we are having for dinner?

And it’s not all gourmet food…..check out this one that Antony and Ian sent to us when they were left home alone after having been at the football all day!

who knew that there was such a thing as “chicken dinosaurs”? Let’s just say that boys will be boys and will do anything to get a reaction out of Mum!

A lot of cooking was done at home over the time we spent in London with Alex doing a bit of baking as well. One day she decided to make Neenish Tarts, just like Grandma used to make. For those of you who don’t know what these are they are a sweet pastry base with a creamy lemony filling and iced with half chocolate and half white icing. They are an antipodean delight and one of my favourites. I can attest that Alex’s version were fabulous and every bit as good as her Grandmas.

Alex channeling her inner grandma!

We also went along to watch Alex play netball on numerous occasions, wrapping up against the biting cold and at times it was not at all pleasant and I hankered for NZ summer weather…..but now we are back and in the searing heat wave and humidity we are experiencing I can now confess that I am hankering for those chilly days where we can rug up against the cold, enjoy a hot toddy or two and cheer from the side lines. Her team mates made us feel very welcome and we even enjoyed the odd night out with them too. Oh and yes, you guessed it, I didn’t take one picture at the netball!

Our last few days were all a bit of a whirl, with us all pretending that our departure date was not imminent.

Then comes those dreaded goodbyes, they don’t come any easier and even though we have plans for future meet ups to look forward to, it does not make it any the less emotional. All in all, we have all had a great time creating lots of wonderful memories.

Catching up and a show or two

Yes, I know, we have been slack since we have been home but there has been lots to do. I am now trying to catch up on a number of blog posts to get us up to date so be prepared to be inundated over the next week or so.

Our final week in London, and where has the time flown? which means we need to get into gear and tick off a few things which includes going to see a couple more shows. Our first choice was to see the Book of Mormon, we managed to get matinee tickets during the week and as Ian & Alex had already seen the show it was just Roy, Antony and I that headed off into Piccadilly Circus for the afternoons performance.

The Book of Mormon is a musical comedy about two young Mormon missionaries who travel to Uganda to preach the Mormon religion. The play satirises various Mormon/religious beliefs and practices, it’s irreverent, rude and at times bordering on crude, funny, thought provoking, and all in all a damn good show.

The show was written by the creators of SouthPark with the music and lyrics by the writer of Avenue Q – which we saw here in London on our last visit. It was a fantastic cast as well with some amazing performances.

Afterwards, we met Alex from work for a cocktail before we found somewhere to go for dinner. Antony impressed with my selfie-taking skills NOT!

After dinner on our way to the train station we passed a theatre with searchlights casting their beams along the front of the high rise buildings, security people were everywhere, and an air of something happening, what was going on we wondered?

It’s the premiere of The Post, a movie starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, apparently they were in there somewhere but I was told by my children to stop staring and move on!

A couple of days later we were off into town again to another show, this time The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie.

The sign outside the theatre

commemorative plaque – note the date….my birthday!!! Although the year is a little out, the play started long before I was a twinkle!

It was a good play, looking a little dated perhaps these days but a typical Agatha Christie whodunnit. Of course, as requested by the cast at the end of the show, we shall not divulge the culprit!

That brought to an end the shows on this visit to London.