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Published: September 4th 2022
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Roger in Lingfield Was A Sweetheart!
he loved to sleep in his bowl that he fit perfectly Lingfield – Reading (Aug 3 – Aug 11)
The trip from Airbnb’s Liverpool to Lingfield was not a long travel day as we left the Liverpool train station at 12:47 and arrived at train station at Lingfield by 4:41 PM. The trip did entail 2 train trips and a subway trip in between the two. Fortunately, the train and subway stations almost blend together making for a pretty seamless transfer. Harriet very kindly picked us up at the Lingfield train station even though we could have walked, it definitely made it easier with the luggage we had brought with us (way too much!) It is always nice to have a chance to meet the people that we are going to house and cat sit for. They have had cat sitters before and it showed as they provided us with lots of details about their home as well as Roger, their very lovely cat. The home was a very comfortable one and with Roger enjoying sleeping in “his bowl” or coming over to us for a pet and cuddle next to us, it turned out to be a nice arrangement.
Unfortunately, the very next day I
No Matter How Many Trains We Take
I still stay glued to looking out the window woke up with a terrible sinus infection with the corresponding headache that seems to come with it so decided to take it easy and enjoy our time with Roger and try to get some rest to get over this sinus infection. Fortunately, there was a pharmacy within walking distance so went and got some over-the-counter tablets which definitely helped some, but not completely.
There were definitely two problems with the timing of this. First, we decided not to explore the area and just get some rest and concentrate on feeling better. We were disappointed to not be able to explore a new area. Bob was now feeling better as his neck and shoulder were doing OK, but I was dragging. The second and worse problem with this timing was that we had previously made arrangements to get together with some friends of ours. We knew we had a few days between our commitments to cat/house sit and thought it would be a perfect time to catch up with two sets of friends. The first were a couple that we had met when we were in St. Katherine’s Dock in London, Wendy and Peter. When we were in London earlier,
they were not available, but during this time they would be around. The other couple were ones that we did see when we first got to the UK, Sandra and John, but we were planning on going back to see them for a couple of days to have another visit. The first time was at John’s birthday party with lots of people around so they had asked us to come back to spend more time with them. We were definitely looking forward to it. After a couple of days, I definitely wasn’t improving that much and I had so much drainage that I was coughing as well. I sure didn’t want anyone else to get sick so with regret we called off the visits to both couples. It was definitely a disappointment to us, but decided it was the best for all involved.
On our last night in Lingfield we did decide to go out to the local Indian restaurant which we enjoyed, but with that the only 2 places we saw were the drug store and the Indian restaurant. Disappointing, but guess it was time for a rest as knew we both had to be in shape for
the rest of our stay here in the UK.
Now that decision was made though, we now needed to figure where we were going to stay for those few days. I scrambled to look for a place that wasn’t too far away from our next cat/house sitting and found an Airbnb in Reading. It was easy to get to, the place sounded like a great place to recoup and the host was very easy to communicate with. It also looked like a nice place to explore if we felt up to it. With that in mind, the place was booked.
Spencer very kindly picked us up at the Reading train station which we very much appreciated. We found that their Airbnb was the perfect place for us to rest up for a few days. We had our own private entrance and it was nicely laid out. The actual square footage of the place was small, but we marveled at how well designed it was as everything you would need was there and it was very comfortable indeed. To top it off, Andy and Spencer were wonderful. They had provided everything we needed to feel right at home. When
Spencer was running into town himself, he stopped by to see if we needed anything and picked up some more sinutabs at the drug store for me which was very kind. They many times sat outside and we were always invited over to visit with them. We enjoyed the conversations about their travels and work and anything else that came to mind! We also were treated to a great G&T which was very welcomed indeed!
They heard it was our anniversary on the 10
th and that morning we found a lovely card sitting on the outside furniture that we sat at. How very thoughtful of them. Then later that morning we found a wrapped package which was a lovely gift of homemade whiskey jam made by Andy. We will definitely enjoy that treat. I was finally feeling much better so decided to walk down into town to get something for our anniversary dinner! It was definitely not your typical celebratory dinner as we got two microwave meals to make it easy BUT we did treat ourselves to a lovely cheesecake and prosecco as we wanted to share it that evening with Andy and Spencer. That definitely made the day
much more memorable and special! Always nice when you can share your special day with others!
We had checked and found that there were some enjoyable things we could have done while in this area, but knew that if we pushed it, we probably would be sorry later. Thankfully by the end, we were doing well. Andy told us that he would drive us to the train station the next morning as we needed to leave to go to our next commitment. Andy is listed as a Super Host on the Airbnb site and we can see why. He knows what it means to open up his place to others, making it very comfortable and helping out when needed. The true benefit of Airbnb’s is having a chance to meet new people that enjoy travel and share good conversation. Both he and Spencer made our stay at their space a wonderful experience.
It was unfortunate that we didn’t see any of Lingfield or Reading, but the highlight was meeting wonderful people and having time to both get back to 100%. As they say, onward and upward (or in our case, another move in our journey through the UK)
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