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Published: June 13th 2017
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Geo: 51.5002, -0.126236
DAY TWO (Saturday, September 5, 2009)
If you can't beat 'em, join Thames.
Because of an 8-hour (!!) layover in London, we were lucky enough to join up with friends from Bonita Bay (our winter home in Florida) -- Terry and Sue Gallagher, who live in Streatley, outside of London. They picked us up at Heathrow and drove us through some beautiful English countryside, past the homes of many famous folks (Beatles' George Harrison, Wham's George Michael, and Spice Girls' Geri Halliwell). They all obviously made themselves a nice living.
But then so did our friends. They took us to the new home they are building on 2.5 acres on the Thames River. It's in a little town called Streatley, about 12 miles from Reading and not far from Oxford. The town, the home and the setting are all picture book.
The view is gorgeous … looking at the water and from the water. We wandered down to their boat mooring to wave at boats going by and to look back up at their magnificent "downsized" home (they sold their 9500 square foot home and are squeezing into just 4600).
We walked through the towns of Streatley and Goring, took in the small shops and lunched at Pierrepont's on hearty sandwiches made of homemade bread. Terry ordered incredible sticky pudding with toffee sauce which we were all forced to help him eat.
Next we drove through the Goring and Streatley Golf Club, where they play the game and live, in a house they are renting while building their new home. One of the highlights of the day was a chance to meet Stan and Ollie, their two elderly Golden Retrievers. They are both charmers, of course. And I got a Golden Retriever fix I so badly needed. I'm missing my pooches already.
Back at Heathrow I spent the better part of two hours wandering back and forth between American Airlines to British Airways, trying to improve our seating on our return flight from Nairobi. Because the flight is BA's, American suggested I deal with them. Because the frequent flier miles are AA's, BA told me to return to them. A vicious circle with nothing resolved.
Early evening we boarded a BA plane to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Fully loaded wide-body plane headed to a city I'd never heard of a short time ago. Different configuration – modules where two people face each other, but again,
Gallagher home
Downsized from 9500 to just 4500 each with our own entertainment and work station. Food was good, not great. I chose “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” as my entertainment. Enjoyable. Not what I had anticipated.
I had taken an Ambien on the Chicago-London flight but still didn't sleep soundly. Maybe 3 hours of on-and-off dozing, so about 3 pm today, I suffered a serious case of jet lag. I got a second wind and lasted until after dinner before crashing. Slept soundly on our way to Africa.
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