Late that evening my sister Ruth and her husband Gordon arrived from Exeter. It was good to catch up with them. We chatted for sometime before we had to go to bed. As we were extremely tired from our long drive.
Sat 4th JuneAfter breakfast Ruth, Gordon, Warren and I went down to Worthing. My sandal had broken so I needed to find a boot maker (cobbler as they say in UK).
Jennie and Trevor needed to spend sometime in the garden clearing and weeding etc so we left them be.
We parked the car some distance from Worthing as parking is a real problem, and walked to the shops and found the cobbler. We had coffee outside in the shade as it was quite hot and the breeze was lovely. From there we walked around everywhere, then over to the Worthing pier. The breeze was warm and the sun was hot which was such a contrast to what we had got used to, so kept walking in the shade where we could. It seems so much hotter here even at only 25 deg. We walked back to the car and Gordon drove us to their old home in Storrington. We parked the car behind their old place and walked through the woods towards their place and the town. It was quite hot as we climbed the hill. I facetiously asked if the get any snakes here not expecting the answer to be a yes. Later on the way back to the car Gordon took a photo of an adder on the path in front of him!!
We wandered around the lovely village and found a very unique little laneway which took us through to some quaint little shops which were very market style. .It was fun spending time looking through all these shops. Then Gordon drove us around to see Trevor’s old school in Steyning which was not far away.
That night we had pheasant, chicken, venison sausages and haggis for dinner!! Ruth had brought it from Exeter so we enjoyed having that with roast vegetables. Then Jennie had prepared a wonderful trifle so we certainly ate well. We had missed out on the haggis in Scotland so it was good to taste it at last. Not bad.
Sun 5th JuneWe were up early today as we need to leave by 7.30am. Gordon drove Ruth, Warren and I up to London. We parked to car at Wimbledon where Ross, my nephew lives. It was so good to see both Ross and his sister Lara again. Tamzin, Lara’s daughter was there too. It has been 6 years since we have seen Lara and she was looking great. She was so friendly and talkative and quite a different girl to when we last saw her. She really has blossomed from what she once was. A miracle to see her alive and so well. Tamzin was lovely and quite chuffed to see her ‘Mummies auntie”.
We visited for some time, then all walked to the station where we caught the train to Waterloo. We parted company here with Ross, Lara, and Tamzin. Would you believe it, but the tube wasn’t running through all the networks, so again we had to change trains twice to get to Knightsbridge. The last time that happened was in July 2006 when they were closed because of the bombings. We have yet to have a straight journey to where we want to go!
We walked along past Harrods and arrived at Holy Trinity Church in Brompton. where we were going to worship. This is where The Alpha Course was first implemented and where Nicky Gumbold preaches. This week there was an international conference for Alpha so the church was packed out with people from all over the world. There were dozens of International bishops too. I noticed they had earphones for translation as well. We had trouble finding seats so went up into the balcony section. Church was only just starting so we hadn’t missed anything. It had taken us longer to get here because of the train changes.
We were amazed at the way Alpha has gone all over the world. They had representatives from so many nations telling what God had done in their country using Alpha as a tool to win people for Christ. It was so encouraging. It is being used in prisons, military bases, schools and universities as well as other places. The stories were very inspiring.
Unfortunately Nicky Gumbold wasn’t preaching although he did introduce all these reps to us. The guy who preached was very good anyway and we were impressed with him too.
After church we walked out into the rain again!! This time we walked along the road towards a place where Ruth and Gordon usually eat but it was closed much to our disappointment.
We finally found a place to eat and then walked back to the tube station to reverse the travel back home.
By the time we arrived back at Jennie and Trevor’s home we were exhausted. Trevor was meant to be playing in his band at a songs of praise at the Preston Green. He soon received a phone call cancelling the event because of the rain. Other years the weather has been so good they hadn’t arranged a “Plan B” We all had intended to go along so now we had a free evening for a quiet dinner and chat.
I hit the bed early tonight as I was so tired and Monday was to be a quiet day too.
Mon 6th JuneToday we all slept in. Warren and I heard voices so left our room to find they had visitors so we joined in for a cuppa. These were the folks who had given Trevor the best places to go in Ireland.
Later we had a lovely (winter) walk along the beach front. The temperature had dropped considerably from 2 days ago. Coats back on again. Ruth and Gordon left around 4.30 and we relaxed doing our thingfor a while.
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