Our train trip to Braintree (the closest station to Halstead) was a little stressful as we didn't realise that every weekend in London is tube maintenance weekend and some of the lines on our route were closed. Thankfully, the tube system is quite interconnected and we found our way around the closures without drama.

We were met at Braintree (hee hee - I still think that name's funny) by Stu and Phil, my mother's cousin and uncle. Ten minutes later we were home where the rest of the family were waiting, including Angela and her family from the coast somewhere. We worked out that it was 24 years since I last saw Angela and Aunty Ros and they all agree I've grown a bit since then :) We had a fantastic dinner that night and chatted lots.

The next morning began with something the English famously do better than the Europeans: breakfast. We had bacon, eggs, sausages, tomato and toast, washed down with some excellent coffee. We waddled into Halstead to have a look around and work off some of the breakfast. Despite being autumn, there were lots of flowers everywhere and it was very pretty. Apparently there is a competition between the villages to see who can put on the best flower display around the town, and Halstead won it this year. We had a coffee in town before heading home, eating lunch and packing up. We didn't take the train today as Phil kindly dropped us off in London at Stu's flat.

In London, we walked around Stu's suburb, Stoke Newington and picked up a few groceries. That night we had dinner at a Turkish restaurant and noted that it was another thing the English (particularly Londoners) do better than the Europeans: have foreign food. As an aside, although Italian, French, etc food is really good in its country of origin, it's hard to find anything else on the menu when you're there. Needlessly to say, we were well fed and we all resolved to do a bit of walking the next day :)

- Brett