Catching up with old friends

I went for my first run of the holiday this morning and it felt great to be out doing some exercise. Our hotel was not far from the Thames so I made my way there and went for a run along the edge of the Thames. It was very cold and the sky was only just getting light when I set off at 7:30am but it was a clear sky and on my return there was a beautiful orange glow to the sky. Breakfast was included in our stay so we decided to have breakfast in the hotel – it was a fairly basic affair: cereal, toast and scrambled eggs but no bacon!! But as it wasn’t

costing us anything we weren’t complaining.

After breakfast, Ian and Lauren headed off at 9:30am to go and collect the hire car from near Waterloo station. While they were gone Brianna and I finished packing up then went out for the obligatory tourist photo near the red telephone box and to get some car snacks and water for the drive to Brighton. Ian and Lauren were back soon after 11am and we proceeded to do Tetris in order to fit 4 suitcases plus day packs and bodies into a Holden Astra! We managed to get it all in – luckily there was only 4 of us as we needed to have one suitcase in the middle of the back seat – and then we were off.

The fine weather continued as we headed off out of London. We decided to avoid the motorway as we wanted to see more of the country roads but realised that was not such a good idea as the traffic was very slow going as we got closer to Gatwick. By 1:30pm we were ready for a break so stopped at The Farmhouse Pub near Horely for lunch. Had a delicious lunch in this very English style pub – dogs were actually allowed inside and there were a few of them sitting very well behaved near their owners tables. Back on the road again we decided to get to Brighton by the quickest route so

went back on the motorway for a short distance which was actually very quick going. Once we had passed Gatwick the traffic flowed very smoothly and we were in Brighton by 4pm.
It was so good to see Susan and Chris and their children again and we soon settled in for a drink and a chat with them. Some of the extended family were already in residence or staying nearby ready for Christmas so it was 20 of us who sat down for a variety of curry for dinner. Once the younger children were in bed we were able to get the lounge room set up for Santa including footprints in flour (resembling snow) along with food for Santa and the reindeers. A huge amount of presents then proceeded to be laid out – I was feeling very pleased to not have needed to do the usual present buying and wrapping that proceeds the lead up to Christmas. Headed to bed about 11pm after a lovely evening with everyone. Susan and Chris had done a wonderful job of fitting everyone in to their house with extra mattresses in all of the rooms and their kids all sharing together. Us Daniels were all in Tegwen’s room – Ian and I in the double bed and the girls sharing a double mattress on the floor. The good thing about living in a 1930's house is the bedrooms are all huge so there was plenty of room for us all.