Sunday in Hornchurch

Naturally I spent Sunday morning still recovering from the stress of Saturday afternoon shopping. My friend had invited us to dinner and we were picked up by her friend as she was busy preparing the Sunday dinner. It was armistice Sunday and although I usually go to London in November, I was a bit later this year so was actually there on the day.

My friend had a DVD of the landings in Italy from the Second World War, so my dad was particularly interested. The first scenes were of the arrival of the allied troops in Sicily. This always particularly fascinated my dad. I think one of my dad's favourite subjects on educating his daughter was to tell her about Chicago in the 20's and prohibition. I was probably one of the only girls in my class at school that knew the history of Chicago at this time. Thinking about it, I think the only films I saw at the cinema with my dad alone were The Valachi Papers and the St. Valentine's Day Murders - my mum didn't want to come. Anyhow dad had never forgotton that the allies were only allowed into Sicily because Lucky Luciano had put a good word in with the Mafia to let them in. Whether that was really true I don't know, but from somewhere he got the story. Anyhow after watching the landings in Sicily, the film went on to show the landings on the South West coast. This was my dad's thing, as he landed in Salerno on the amphibia craft. I didn't see my dad in the film, but he was probably unlucky not to be filmed when he landed. In any case the 3 golden oldies were very interested in the film and in the meanwhile I could have a nice conversation with my friend.

At one point we disappeared to the computer as I had about 300 mails to delete on my Yahoo mailbox from a cat organisation that are always writing mails which I don't read. I am also administrator on a cat site in America, so I had a look in to see how we were all getting on. I then had to catch up on Mr. Mad's cat stories which are really quite suspenseful and usually appear at least once a day, and last but not least, have a look to see if my blogs still existed. Well, the do at Multiply, but with Yahoodido you never know.

At some time we had had our food and it was evening, so a light tea was served. My friend's dog was happy to see so many visitors and he was spoilt thoroughly. We left during the evening and I had made arrangements to go out for the day on Monday with my friend. She is now a senior citizen and has time on her hands. My dad and his girlfriend were at the senior citizens club on Monday playing Bingo, so it was no problem.

I hadn't been feeling 100% before I went to England and although I was ok, I was suffering from my Meniere and my blood pressure wasn't exactly as high as it should be. The result was that when my friend picked me up on Monday morning with the idea to go to Rye on the English South Coast, we only managed part of the way on the motorway and had to cut the journey short. The next biggest town was Tunbridge Wells, so we spent a few hours in this town. I managed to recover ok after getting into the fresh air and found it to be a very pretty town. There are a few sites on the Internet about the town, but one part is quite Georgian style called The Pantiles.

They also seemed to have had quite a celebration on Armistice Day and had a very nice memorial in the centre of the town where many wreaths had been laid. I find it wonderful that the memories of the last World War are still upheld in England, especially as in Switzerland very little is done in this respect. They were probably too busy guarding their own boarders. I know my father-in-law spent 5 years on the Swiss boarders. I actually took two photos of the war memorial and had to piece them together, not perfect, but more or less ok.

I was surprised that the town had a rather large and modern shopping area. As it was Monday, it was fairly normal, and I made the most of the occasion to buy some more books to take back with me. Here is another photo of a small street in Tundbridge Wells. It is one of those places that I had often passed through on various journeys to the coast when I lived in England, but never actually stopped there.

One of the reasons why we were in this part of the country (Kent) was that going towards West of Tunbridge Wells we arrived at Uckfield. Not exactly the most romantic part of East Sussex but where the agents for the company I work for in Switzerland were situated. I did mention that I might pay a quick visit, but could not say when. However, we travelled the 10 miles across country and I eventually did make my visit. Although I had met two of their people personally when they once visited our company in Switzerland I only knew the others by telephone. I was giving a very friendly welcome, lots of hugs and lovely to see you, and after speaking to the people for the last 20 years I actually met them in person. Naturally lots of photos taken, but they remain in my private collection.

Eventually we made our way back to the Far Eastern part of London, Ford country. I was actually happy to get back to my dad, as on the way home I again felt out of sorts. In any case I had a nice day. Telling of my experiences on my London holiday, I feel like Jimmy Stewart in the film Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation .

And what did I do on Tuesday - it was my last day. To be continued.

Saturday Afternoon Shopping

Now where was I. Ah, yes, an afternoon shopping trip to Romford. Armed with my one day bus ticket I was ready for all. After living in a small Swiss village for the last ten years, my days of shopping trips were restricted to our local market town of Solothurn. We have one department store and two big supermarkets. Otherwise shopping is restricted to small shops with cafés in between to relax and talk with friends or neighbours you may meet. Now and again at holiday time I might go to Bern or Zürich, but here again no big stress really as these places are usually populated a lot by tourists who are not really there for the shopping experience, but more to look around and take photos.

We boarded the bus quite safely in Dagenham Heathway and I was glad that dad can't really manage to go upstairs any more, as I don't think I could either. We just left the stair climbing to the younger generation. There do not seem to be any bus conductors any more - probably an extinct animal, and the driver does everything. I did miss the friendly voice of the conductor saying yes love, thanks love, and keeping an eye on things. Of course over the years on my visits to London I did notice that things are no longer "wot they used to be" - a shame really. My dad knew where to get out of the bus. This was not such an easy choice. As he said "our best bet (betting again?) is to wait till the bus goes round the back of the shopping centre. Then we don't have so far to walk". This proved to be a wise decision and we descended the bus in one piece and entered the chapel of shopping.

Unfortunately it was Saturday afternoon - I would have preferred Monday really. It seemed that complete Romford and Dagenham and all the areas in between had decided to go shopping. I was really only there for the "fun" and the only items on my shopping list were books. Waterstones always seem to profit from my visits to London. It suited my dad as well, as the shop is equipped with comfortable red leather armchairs for shoppers to relax in. My dad found himself a nice comfortable chair and I began my quest. Waterstones always have "3 for 2" which I find quite rewarding, although this time I found 5 books that suited my taste as the second "3 for 2" was not available. The next thing on the list was a new Andy Capp for Mr. Swiss. He liked the one I brought last year from British Home Stores and said he wouldn't mind a similar one in other colours. Luckily the cap department was near to the entrance, so we again managed to save some walking.

I then made my first mistake. I was looking for a neck scarf for myself to suit my blue coat, and made the suggestion to go to Debenhams - a very large department store. Dad said ok and led the way. On the way I decided to take a few interesting photos and guess what - I lost dad. He walked on and I didn't. As I didn't really have a clue in which direction Debenhams was, I had to search for about 5 minutes. 5 minutes is not really a long time, but it seems to be eternal when you are trapped with a few thousand Saturday afternoon shoppers all going in different directions. However all's well that ends well and I found the right exit towards Debenhams where my dad was standing in front of the entrance looking for his 60 year old daughter. We reunited and entered the shop (with a few thousand other shoppers). Now to be quite honest I am just not used to this sort of thing any more. Accessories seemed to be on the ground floor, or was it the first floor. Debenhams is the name of the shop, but the new fashion in England is to have shops within a shop. This means there must have been at least 20 shops in Debenhams distributed all over the place each selling their own selection.

Of course, what would a shopping trip be without calling in on Marks and Spencers. We had to go hunting for some food for the evening meal. This was not easy, at least not for me. Dad is happy with his cut white bread but I had a problem. Being diabetic (as some of us are in age) I was used to eating more whole wheat stuff and I do like a crusty bread. It seems that the crusty bread is no longer in existence in England, or at least at Marks and Spencers, and to save time and energy, it is all ready cut. Please understand, I am just not used to English bread any more. I eventually settled for a rather soft, blotting paper lookalike bread, but it was dark and the carbohydrate content matched to my needs. I was also looking for a particular type of tea for a colleague in Switzerland, when dad said they don't have tea in M & S, which seemed strange to me. A couple of days later I did buy the tea in M & S, and realised my dad just didn't buy tea in that shop, so for him they didn't sell it.

I was somehow longing for my quiet little country town somewhere in the depths of Switzerland and decided to call it a day. I think my dad was not so unhappy about that, so we made our way back to the bus stop for the home journey (tired but happy?). Luckily the bus was not very full so we had enough room to relax. We got home and Mr. Swiss called to see how I had spent the day. I told him we had been shopping and he seemed to have the feeling that I had thoroughly enjoyed myself as women "like that sort of thing". I spent the evening watching tv and falling asleep in the armchair. As my dad usually falls asleep in the armchair in the evening, this didn't bother him that we didn't exactly have a lively conversation.

The next day on Sunday we had our traditional invitation to my friend's house for Sunday lunch. This was always a nice occasion. My dad aged 92, his girlfriend aged 93 and my friend's mother aged 90 would also be there - is it the Dagenham-Romford air that keeps them all so healthy and fit? - I am sure it can't be the shopping trips they make and the bus journeys to get there.

Back Home again

I’m back, but still recovering from the „holiday“. At the moment I am in between washing, ironing, working on my photos and generally catching up on life. Thank goodness I still have a week’s holiday.

My flight to London passed well, although I had an hour’s delay as the flight coming in was delayed an hour. I spent the time at the airport buying gifts for my English family and friends in the duty free. I didn’t have time during the week before. On top of this I had to choose the day where there were gales reported on the English coast bringing high waves with threats of the Thames being flooded. As Dagenham, where I was going, is not far from the Thames I was wondering if I would have to swim to my dad’s house. I was lucky as the gales managed to go past the English coast and everything was under control. I was also lucky that my one time school friend (who is still my friend after nearly 50 years and godmother to my youngest) was waiting for me at the airport with the car. Dagenham being only 20 minutes from the airport I should have been quickly at my dad’s house, but unfortunately it was rush hour traffic so it took almost an hour. London doesn’t change much really.

I soon packed my case out, distributed my gifts and sat down to an English cuppa – the first one after a year. I never really liked tea when I lived in England, but somehow I now enjoy it when I am in England. I found my dad now has a few more tv programmes, something called freeview, but although the quantity is more, the quality doesn’t seem to be. I also started reading “The Sun” newspaper again. Not that it’s the ongoing winner for the Pulitzer prize amongst journalism, but my dad likes it for the racing results. For his 92 years he is keeping fine and so is his girlfriend who lives opposite, although she is a little bit older – 93 years old. Dad said that he can’t walk so fast any more when we go out, but I reassured him that I was slowing down as well with my 60 years.

So how do I feel after living in Switzerland for the past 40 years. To be quite honest, like a fish out of water. I have problems with the English money – we had pounds, shillings and pence when I lived there. Although it is all decimal system now I should have been able to manage ok as we, on the continent, have only decimal system. Unfortunately the English only use decimals for money, everything else seems to have remained in Imperial.

What is the second thing you do when going away (the second thing, as the first thing was drink a cup of tea) is to phone up Mr. Swiss and tell him I arrived ok. He gave me the latest news on the cats and the weather in Switzerland – it had started snowing a little bit, and how he managed at the supermarket buying food, so everything was under control. He gave me best wishes from the girl who works in the butchers department at the supermarket – she asked me to bring her a packet of Assam tea back from Marks and Spencers. So after settling in I spent my first night in England after a year’s absence, with the background noise of police cars cruising through the area on emergencies. They sound quite different to Swiss police cars and seem to have a lot more emergencies. There seemed to be only one cat living in the street where my dad lived, and many dogs, so I was awakened the next morning by a dog barking at the cat that was sitting on the shed in the dog’s garden.

As it was Saturday dad had to make his weekly pilgrimage to Joe Coral the local betting shop. We decided to walk, although he often takes the local bus. London transport is free for senior citizens from nine 0’clock in the morning. On the way to the betting shop I was busy taking photos of the local colour. I saw a red London pillar box and decided this would be a good subject. These always have the monarchs abbreviation engraved on them, usually ER for Elizabeth Regina. The one down the street where we were had the emblem G R on it (King George?) which showed that it was an antique. We arrived at the betting shop safely and my dad carefully filled out his bet. Not just a bet, but a combined bet, win or third place etc. etc. something like quantum mathematics (I am sure if my dad had had the chance when a young man, Stephen Hawkins would have had a rival - my dad with the Andy Capp).

After completing the important business we went on to buy a day ticket on for the bus as an excursion to Romford shopping market was planned for the afternoon.

I think this will do for a beginning to blogging. I am a bit out of practice so have to tackle this blog thing a bit slowly at the moment.