478: 6 different beds in 7 nights!

A lot, even for me. Tuesday – Golspie, Wednesday – Inverness, Thursday & Friday – Ramsey, Saturday – Dartford, Sunday – Gatwick, Monday – Salou. And RELAX.

It was all part of the grand plan to get back to Spain, and some winter sun. On the way I visited my sister and her boyfriend, and enjoyed coffee and cake in Welling with a cousin I hadn't seen for a couple of years. Ron knocked up a lovely dinner in his wok. Spicy chicken & prawns. Hazel seems to have (finally) landed on her feet as her boyfriend does (almost) all of the cooking.

On Sunday I met No.1 daughter in the Union Jack club in Waterloo. We had a great walk and talk along the South Bank, past the National Theatre, the Tate Modern, the Globe Theatre and the Golden Hind and then went for a wander around Borough Market. A lovely place for what is now called 'street food' and for spices and cheeses and all sorts of things. We had lunch in a Spanish restaurant on the edge of the market and a gimmick was for the waitress to come and mix up my 'huevos rotos'. Of course, Morag (aka Mo) took the opportunity to ask if I was now of an age to need all my food chopped up! Thanks Morag. Back to the UJC for dessert and then we went our separate ways, Mo back to Oxfordshire and me on to Gatwick. 'Adventures' for both of us: she missed the train to Didcot that she wanted and I took a train to Clapham Junction to be told I would be better going back to Waterloo and travelling via London Bridge. Oh well, we both got where we needed to be, albeit a little later than planned.

UJC is a great place to meet because there is every chance of meeting people you served with. And so it transpired on this occasion. It was good to see Rob, whom I hadn't seen for more than 15 years. The last time (and the first time) we served together was on a very short Russian language refresher course in Moscow. Rob reminded me that we stayed in the Marco Polo hotel. Those were the days, when the MOD paid for the trips. When I was paying for my own accommodation I would stay in Izmailovskiy where the complex of hotels, built for the Olympics in 1980, was known locally as АБВГДка. I managed to politely decline the 'special offers' made to me in the late evening phone calls.  

A couple of pictures from my day in London, including the 'huevos rotos' (literally broken eggs).

 Happy Chinese New Year (year of the tiger).