The Day After...recovery...hangover...and a nice day. July 1st & July 2nd - the day after the day after.
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12th day
Windsor, Hurstpierpoint, Banstead & Kingston
Sunday July 1st
Before I continue onto THIS day, there are some photos I didn't put on here from yesterday - so, as a starter, here they are - some
befores and afters:
So, Tracy and I yesterday planned to go to Mass at St. George's in the morning. RIIIIIIIIIIGHT! That didn't happen! Instead, it took me
several hours to even make it out of bed. Me being a complete light-weight, had just had "4 glasses of champagne, 7 glasses of red
wine, 2 pints, 4 coronas, and copious amounts of water at the Wren." Not a good combo...BUT - around 11:30am both Tracy and I
were up...and awake, and decided to take a walk into Windsor and Eton, prior to meeting all the chaps from last night, for Lunch.
We took a walk into Eton first. I showed Tracy Eton College, and some of the grounds.
Upon our walk back, I showed here where I used to live in Eton when I went to school
here. She was in awe of mostly everything by now! The good thing about this walk was
that is sobered us up - the sun was out - it was a nice breezy day...lots of people around...
Sunday.... wonderful outside! On our walk, we came across some interesting
signs.... some to do with Porn...or Horny Eton Boys....but, here they are on my blog.
After taking photos, and a loverly walk,
we made our way into Windsor to meet
the lads at "La Taverna" - a Greek
Restaurant just off the River. We did
some shopping while trying to find the restaurant...took us a while...and when we
eventually found it, it was Closed. Not only that - there were no other people waiting -
and we had no phone numbers of anyone, except Donan. I called up Donan, who told us
that he had left early that AM for a Christening. He gave us the telephone numbers for one of the other chaps, whom I called, but
only got the voice mail. OH WELL! It was fine - Tracy and I made our way into Windsor, found a pub - and had a nice Roast lunch -
Lamb....rather good actually!
After lunch, I put in another call to Leo Townsend, and his Girlfriend Rachel - to at least see if they were still in Windsor, and wanted
to meet up for a final goodbye. THEY WERE still around - which was great - only 2 minutes from our location. We joined them...ever
so briefly - and had some ice cream with them, before finally agreeing to meet up later in the week, and then parting ways. It was
nice to say goodbye...
Tracy and I made our way to the station, and jumped on the train bound for Heathrow Airport. We were going there to pick up the
new rental. It took us over an hour to go 10 miles to the airport to pick up a car...outrageous! We rented a supposedly small car, but
they gave us a large people carrier - Large - a lot bigger than I paid for...for the same price....annoying, cause it is also a gas-guggler!
With the new car, we drove off towards my old school, Hurstpierpoint College, so I could
show Tracy my old school - and also meet up with Richard Simms, whom I initially met in
Portsmouth - he and I both went to Hurst, and I thought it would be nice to do one last
rampage. It just so happens that Richard (Sumo) didn't turn up (Either!!! - Obviously, today
was a day of failed meetings!!). We waited
until about 7:30pm, before heading off back
to Kingston. Tracy was quite impressed with the
whole school. The cloisters for hallways, the open
courtyard, the chapel, the cricket pitch, the Army
Training grounds, the individual houses, music
department and Happy-Potter-esk Dining Hall - complete with rafters and all.
The school looks quite spectacular too.
We took a quick detour on the way back to Kingston, stopping off at my old house, where
we lived prior to my coming to the US and my parents moving off to the states. Shown is
an outside picture of it. It was nice to see,
nice for Tracy to see, and brought back some
good memories of living there. Upon returning
to Kingston, Tracy, Scott (my brother) and I all
had dinner and went off to bed. All in all, a very
uneventful day - but, still a relaxing complete one.
13th day
Norwich...again
Monday July 2nd
Tracy slept till about 11:30am - which was fine, cause it gave me a chance to catch up on this blog - I was several days behind, and
had so much to write about. We had quite a leisurely morning at home in Kingston
prior to leaving for Norwich at 12pm. This time, it didn't take me only 2 hours to get
there; instead, we arrived in Norwich at around 3:30pm. Here, we shopped a bit,
went to the bank...looked around...and then I sang Evensong.
Evensong this time round, was actually quite nice. Tracy gave the evensong at
9/10 rating - better than Westminster Abbey and Windsor, but still under St. Paul's
Cathedral. I agreed. It was Men an Boy's - new music - a nice sight-read - even
the responses. Again, I can't remember what we sang, but it was a lot of fun to
be singing with them again. My favourite parts from the service:
A blind man doing the reading...on brail...it took him 20 minutes to do the first reading.
The Second reading - all about sex and rubbing...we heard "and two women
were grinding in the desert"....hmm....two women grinding....! hahaha
After Evensong, Tracy and I headed over to the pub for a couple of drinks with
the Lay Clerks. Again - fun...we left there around 8pm, and headed over to meet
Jonathan. Jonathan, upon our arrival said "you could have called to say you
would be late" - fair enough, as we were 1 hour late. Jonathan and Tracy hit
it off immediately. Johnny, who often craved for someone new to tell all his
depressing adventures, launched into a
schitzo-manic-depressive-bi-polar-OCD-conversation with Tracy...I sat to
the side...and let nature take its course.
We went to dinner at a Carvery - which was over priced, and to very good.
The service was terrible (being that there was none!), the bread was stale,
the Carvery had only one meat - ham - as they had run out of the rest - it
took them 20 minutes to bring us water - and another 20 minutes to bring us the check/bill. Thoroughly unacceptable. What was
more unacceptable, was that dinner for three people, with terrible service and bad food, cost over 35 pounds sterling - a whacking
$75. OUT-BLOODY-RAGEOUS!!!!
All of dinner, Jonathan talked to Tracy, about his depressing life, about death, and about sex. We got home around 10pm - and he
continued to talk for another 2 hours, while I did my blog...
By the time we went to bed...Tracy said (when we were alone), "Please hold me (she was shaking) - I don't think I can handle
anything more depressing". Understandable - Johnny is a crazy one! We went to bed at 1am!
