Family fun

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Saturday and Sunday were all about family. Staying with Harriet and Dom and their 2 little ones Emily and Ben, on Saturday we had a blessed morning in our PJs and were treated to the best bacon sandwiches ever made for brekkie. We spent the first part of the afternoon exploring the gorgeous gardens of Arundel Castle, where the annual tulip festival had just begun. Stunning. We continued the Mealing family tradition, and had a photo on the lawns in front of the Castle, where my dad was snapped having a family picnic with his mum, dad, brother and sister in 1949. My sister and brother in law recreated the photo when they visited with Harriet and Dom in 2010, then my brother and sister in law did the same a few years later. So generations of our family have now been snapped on this same spot. We had a refreshing drink and some snacks for a later lunch at a Beefeater then pushed on to Brighton. We got the train from Portslade so had our first experience of British Rail...still trying to figure out buying 2 return tickets means you end up with 5 pieces of paper (one each there, one each back and a receipt). Brighton was a mad mass of coolness. Tiny laneways full of markets and funky shops, selling everything from jewellery to skateboards to boho dresses to gothic treasures. SO AWESOME. After the lanes we headed for Brighton Pier where Evie proceeded to die squealing from the incredible fun of it all. At least a kilometre long pier swarming with people, music pumping, a massive arcade hall, rides, fairy floss and donuts... She had a couple of rides (accompanied by me on one and Dom on the other), and we headed back the long trip back up the station, seeing some fantastic street art on the way. Made it home to H & Ds by about 9 and had a couple of glasses of well deserved Rose, having a later dinner and heading to bed. What a day... Sunday was almost the polar opposite. We left early to drive back to Wargrave, unpacked 2 days of stuff and repacked 2 days of stuff in record time, and got the train from Twyford to Ealing , then Ealing to South Harrow, where we were met my my Uncle Roger (mum's brother). Back at his flat was his son Samuel (my cousin) and Judith, Samuels mum. There we had a light lunch and spent the afternoon chatting in quiet surroundings. We went for a walk in the local park and saw the garden allotment they rent to grow vegetables in an urban environment. Judith went home and Rog and I poured over old family photos, before taking us for dinner at the Mumbai Junction - an Indian Restaurant so famous for it's food that people travel from all over the country to eat there. I must admit the lamb sagwala was pretty impressive. Rog dropped us off at a station and we had our first tube trip into earls court, where we checked in to our hotel, which is seriously decent in size for London. Tomorrow the sight seeing begins....

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Comments

[Dad]

Arundel Castle
I love this family tradition! Evie, you have to take your kids there...

[jenandevie]

Okay
I will Pa, I promise

[Eliza Hoare]

Brighton looks fun by day! We went at night and not much was happening. But I bet you will like Camden if you liked Brighton too. I believe you 'pored' over the photos. Unless you sloshed your drinks over them. ?

[jenandevie]

I may have sloshed. Brighton was seriously great. Easier when kids are older or looked after though. We were also there on a positively balmy Saturday evening...