We returned to Heaven and Hell in Delhi for lunch the day that we flew home to London.  We had some more fun with ‘Manuel’ over a late lunch.  A delicious veggie tandoori platter and a final cheese garlic nan with a couple of Kingfisher Strongs before having a snooze and then showering and heading to the airport. 

Our flight was at 2.00am, not ideal, but we managed to have enough time in the lounge to sample a few wines before boarding. Sadly, our Swissair flight home was nowhere near as good as the flight out.  The Maitre D’ was frostier than a January morning in the Arctic.  Sadly, this attitude reflected on most of the other cabin crew and hardly a smile was seen the entire journey.  The onward flight from Zurich to London was totally different, smiles all the way and an insistence from ‘the girls’ that it was almost mandatory to drink bubbly at 6.45am!!  Hey, rude not to.

We arrived in London on a grey cold day only to find, along with 5 other travelers from the Delhi flight, that our luggage had gone AWOL.  We weren’t surprised as the flight from Delhi was late leaving giving us just 30 minutes to sprint across the huge airport to catch the final leg into Heathrow.  Thankfully, we only had to wait 36hrs before our luggage was delivered to us in London. 

Despite not having much to wear in the way of smart clothes we had a surprise early morning outing for the opening of the London Stock Exchange.  Alex now works for Forbes and every year they hold awards to highlight the most outstanding young entrepreneurs, the Best 30 under 30.  The event was to be launched at the Stock Exchange with Alex officially opening the day’s trading.  As you can imagine, Cheryl was the proudest mum on the planet that day!

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After a couple of days with Alex and Freddy we headed off to Gloucester to pick up the car from June and Roy’s and to endure some more very cold weather.  We had trips to Cirencester, Pershore and Evesham to see if we want to live there……definitely Cirencester and maybe, just maybe, the other two.  

Fortunately, the cold didn’t last too long and by the weekend we enjoyed a brisk walk across the Peak District from Leanne and Neil’s stunning new home followed by a delicious pub lunch.  Their house is a few miles from Macclesfield and sits alone overlooking Bosley Reservoir which is used to keep the nearby Macclesfield canal topped up.  The view from almost every window in the house is to the west over the reservoir…….it’s just the house we want but not quite so remote……we are very envious!

Then it was back to Bristol for some Toby time and to catch up with Miranda and Paul.  Trips to the doctors for a cholesterol test, some property jobs, sorting out the garage a little and a short trip to Wells so see if we want to live there……yes, maybe we do.  If you haven’t seen the film Hot Fuzz with Simon Pegg then you should.  The film was shot in Wells and we had lunch in the pub where the final crazy shootout took place.  It’s a mad, mad film and well worth 2hrs of your time.

Before we knew it we were on the rundown to leaving again so some more Toby time before heading back to Gloucester.  On the way we noticed several people standing on a bridge over the River Severn.  ‘Ah, it’s The Severn Bore’ Neil shouted as he quickly pulled over and parked the car.  Neil hadn’t seen it for 50 years and Cheryl had never seen it so the timing was perfect.  To be fair not many people have heard of it let alone seen it. 

So, what is the Severn Bore you ask?  Well, twice a day when the tide comes in the Severn estuary it creates a tidal flow that results in a wave that runs from the sea to the weir near where we were standing.  That’s around 14miles.  It can be several feet high, almost like a mini tsunami when the tides are high, but this time it was couple of feet….quite small.  However, people were still attempting to surf on it and if you’ve never seen it then it is an amazing phenomenon.       

Next was a lunch with Neil’s two brothers and sister.  Bill had booked the table for 8 people.  We were only 7 but he assured us that a mystery guest would be coming.  Time moved on and the spare seat was almost forgotten about.  Then, just after we had ordered our food, Neil’s nephew and Bob’s son, arrived direct from Heathrow and his flight in from Chicago.  Everyone was delighted especially those of us not in the know……a fabulous surprise! 

Then it was back to London to spend a lovely afternoon sitting outside a pub, yes, outside in February….18C……wow and people in shorts treating the day like it was mid-summer.  It’s been a busy 2 weeks, suffering cold weather, meeting family again, surprises and then enjoying unseasonal balmy weather before flying out to the US today.

Next stop……….New Orleans.