Tuesday 16th May

Arrived, on the Eurostar, in St Pancras but couldn't work out how to get to Bethnal Green until a friendly information man told us to take the tube to Liverpool St & catch a bus which dropped us very near St Peter's vicarage. There we sat in the garden of the church & were regaled by Graham, who gardens there. Adam then arrived & served us tea in the garden whilst waiting for Heather, Dick's cousin. It was great to see them again & to catch up with Alistair, their son, who was on study leave for his "A" levels.

Later we took the dog for a walk in Victoria Park & after dinner, we sat talking about the family & our travels until quite late.

Wednesday 17th May

Woke up to find it quite grey & threatening. We had planned to go to Hampton Court but modified our plans, walking to Hoxton to top up the Oyster cards & then down to Spitalfields Market, towards the City. After we returned to St Peter's as Bethia, their daughter at Exeter University, was up for an interview in London & we wanted to see her. Having greeted her we returned to Christ Church, Spitalfields, as we had been told of the memorials there to people who, in the 19th century, had tried to convert the local Jews to Christianity.

We took a 26 bus towards Waterloo & after a very slow progress, we walked along the South Bank in search of lunch before crossing the foot bridge across the river.

In the evening we had a great meal, at a local cafe, with the family.

Thursday 18th May

Heather dropped us at Bethnal Green Station & we moved on to Queensway where we walked to our hotel on Bayswater Road & met Dick's cousins, Christine & Michael,. After a coffee we crossed the road into Kensington Gardens, where we wandered in search of the statue of Peter Pan, next to the Serpentine. Michael took us for a meal at a local cafe & we spent time hearing about his early life in London including being bombed out in 1944. We hadn't met Christine before although she was at another cousin's wedding in the mid 1960s & it was great to hear about her family.

We had an early night after we saw them off on the tube.

Friday 19th May

After an English breakfast at a Moroccan cafe we crossed the park to return the vicarage keys, which d*** had in his pocket, to Ellie who works in the Cromwell Road, opposite the Natural History Museum.

Next we went to the Victoria & Albert Museum where we had a guided tour by a Japanese lady. We saw some interesting exhibits but the tour was very slow. After a coffee to recuperate we headed off to Swiss Cottage to look for Dick's grandfather's old shops. We eventually found 31 Winchester Road which is now an Ironmongers & we bought something as a memento. Then we caught a couple of trains to Hampstead Heath & walked up to the ponds before returning the long way round & catching a bus to Tottenham Court Road & another along Oxford St. Ate at an Indian restaurant in Queensway before returning to the hotel.

Saturday 20th May

After a disappointing breakfast, Jane's choice of restaurant, we finished packing before the taxi arrived to take us to Heathrow where we arrived very early, so had a long wait for our plane etc. Started away on time but the pilot aborted the take off as a light showed a door wasn't closed properly & we then sat for nearly 90 minutes waiting for the brakes to cool & a time slot to take off again.

Arrived late in Dubai & were whisked off to catch our Perth plane only for it to be delayed in take off again by 45 minutes. We seem to have had a jinx!! Fortunately the plane wasn't full so we had 3 seats to share.

Landed in Perth only a few minutes late & were met by Anna.