October 4th London

Sunday turned out to be a day of mixed fortunes for us.  We had planned to go to Ruislip to view a new 3 piece suite which the brochure details said would fit perfectly in our small lounge (our existing set up has served us well but is definitely coming to the end of its days).  I had topped up our Oyster cards and off we set in time to arrive before the store opening.  We arrived in good time, found our destination and decided to look at a few more shops before the opening.  Unfortunately when we got back to the shop, there was notice saying they would not be open today because of staff illness.  We had wasted our time & money making the journey.  We returned on the tube and got off at Green Park to walk through the parks on the way back to Waterloo, so all was not wasted.


In the afternoon we had arranged to meet our friends Ruth and Ian, who duly arrived off the clipper ferry from Greenwich.  A nice reunion and then a walk along the south bank to St. Katherine's dock where we saw the Gloriana, had some refreshment, a good chinwag and the lift bridge rise to allow boats into 

The Gloriana

Christine,Ian & Ruth

the dock.

The dock bridge opening



A real treat was to follow for us.  Ian and Ruth had arranged that all of us would take the river boat to Greenwich to meet their son, Matthew, his wife Ursula and their two week old son Elijah.  It was really good for us to meet them and catch up with all the news.  We had a meal together and eventually we took the river boat back to the Eye and Waterloo where we were staying.  The ending of the day was much better than the beginning.  We packed most of our belongings ready for moving on in the morning.