Stanley's pictures: My Trip To The UK,

part 2,

in the afternoon we popped down to see Phil and Ruby,

some time ago they moved and have a big fish pond on the property,

dominated at one end by a huge tree,

their new home is just down the road from Rudgwick,

as well as the natural pond there is a swimming pool,

and a huge garden with apples, pears, peaches and cob-nuts,

Ruby and Kai strike the pose,

lots of mature trees,

everywhere,

at the rear of the garden it also has a 'Wendy' house,

Phil loves working on cars, the one nearest to us is going to have a 400 bhp. tuned Lexus engine,

the second Rover has 215 cubic inch Buick engine,

as fitted to many more modern Rovers as the 3.5 litre SDI back in the 1970s and 80s,

Phil also has a Triumph TR6,

to tinker with in his spare time,

Ruby and one of the two cats,

this one was so affectionate, but we never caught sight of the second one,

we walked to Rudgwick for our evening meal,

to the King's Head,

a real typical English country pub,

with many quite frankly unheard of ales,

and pub sports like this skittle game,

the bar was of course fully stocked,

and had a seating area at the rear,

at the head of the shadow of the tombstone,

a black cat was lurking,

Steve chose the pie, guaranteed to weigh in at 1 pound!

I think this was a Thai dish for Kai,

Ruby went for a burger, which was as huge as the pies,

pie and mash for Phil,

pie and boiled potatoes for myself,

'Cheers!', from all of us,

to finish off a rhubarb and apple crumble,

we made our way back through the graveyard,

I am not sure how old the church is,

but the door hinges have an age to them,

as do the tombstones,

not that I hang around cemetery's, but I do not recall ever seeing double tombstones like these,

husband and wife, parent and child? may be they are common, just that I had not seen one before,

we made our way along the path,

I took a few pictures of the stonemasons craft on the way,

in the far distance,

a hot air balloon takes to the skies,

we woke early and made our way back to Bromley, we stayed at Phil's last night, Steve very kindly dropped me of at Bromley South,

as I had a wait for the next train a coffee at the Over the Moon next door, I was travelling to Rainham in Kent,

where Steve H had kindly offered to pick me up,

we called in at Steve's house where he is in the process of making a Japanese style garden,

complete with shed,

and sign,

unlike ours Steve has had a few good crops of strawberries, ours just died,

he has also had a few alternative signs made,

Steve H, Alan and Duncan, we had arraigned for Alan to bring Duncan to the pub,

as he did not know I had planned a trip over,

Duncan's wife Melina also joined us,

the Four Just Men the film was called,

and this was where we were having a drink, the Cricketers,

just over the road from the White Horse, or the Wobbly Donkey as it is affectionately known locally,

Duncan's youngest Amber,

who loves the family's cats,

in the evening we popped into town again,

for an Indian meal, Duncan, Alan,

Steve H and myself,

the food started to arrive,

prawn puri, one of my favourites,

tandoori chicken,

the food just kept arriving,

the owner called by to say hello,

'Cheers!', from all of us,

then over the road to the Wobbly Donkey,

where it was an Hawaiian theme night,

lots of tropical decorations,

and two of us just had to pose,

lots of disco lights,

but no dancers so far, well it was still early,

one for the road,

and goodnight pink flamingo,

I woke early next morning and had a read through Duncan's latest magazine that he publishes,

it is an offshoot from this, his main magazine,

it was Fathers Day and Amber had bought Dad a box of chocolates and written a card,

for lunch we went to the Spyglass and Kettle,

we were joined by Jade, the middle sister age wise,

Sunday roast all round I think,

I went with turkey again,

a drink new to me Kopparburg cider,

which Jade likes,

a fully stocked bar,

then home for a well earned rest,

I stayed the night at Duncan's on the way back I called into the shop, a quick look at one of the invertebrate aquariums,

and down some of the freshwater fish aisles,

Steve then called into the shop to pick me up, but first we had breakfast at the Moonlight,

unfortunately Steve had a business meeting in the evening but I was out for a meal with Mahendra and some of his friends, it was decided we would eat at the Spicy Affair in Addiscombe, we had eaten there before but it was now under new management,

okra or ladies fingers for starters,

followed by lamb,

the restaurant does a huge range of vegetarian dishes,

and I have to admit I do not know the names of many of them,

but I do know that these spicy peanuts disappeared in no time and were frequently replaced,

another dish I am not familiar with,

but I do know what these are called, potato bombs, they were cooked especially for us,

from the back left coming forward Asmita, Koki and Mahendra, on the right Shaku, Dika and Sunda,

on the left Kirit nearest, Madhu and where I was seated and opposite me Mayur and nearest the camera on the right Tejus,

'Cheers!', from everyone,

the green peppers at the top of the picture I now know you eat a little at a time, I did not know this and ate a whole one, twice, they were hot and lets leave it at that!

more dishes arrived,

as well as different types of bread,

a few more vegetarian dishes,

and time for desserts,

amongst others I had a Indian ice cream,

this is the front of the menu if you want to visit,

and the map, after thanking every one for their kindness and hospitality, Mahendra kindly dropped me at Steve and Kai's home,

it was now my last day which I spent packing, then in the evening a few of us were going to meet at the Beckenham branch of Miso noodle bar for a last meal,

but before that I meet up with Peter,

and Ian for lunch, both financial advisor's that I asked for information regarding pensions, sorry about the pictures but in a rare lapse of memory I forgot the camera and had to take these on my mobile telephone,

the restaurant was so nicely laid out,

we were joined by Neil and his wife Alison,

Bob seated next to Alison,

and his wife Debbie seated next to Neil,

Kai and Steve, also Steve H joined us,

Peking duck pancakes, always popular,

so a picture from one end of the table,

and one from the other end,

then it was time to say our goodbyes and for me to thank everyone for picking up my part of the bill,

we were up early,

for breakfast in Hayes again,

beef for Steve, lasagne for Kai,

scampi and chips for myself,

as we went to the car a few shops away they sold bicycles, although difficult to see I was staggered to hear that this one sold for several thousands of pounds,

we left at 4.00 in the afternoon, leaving plenty of time, we thought, but as we neared Kew bridge the traffic became grid locked, we barely moved more than a hundred yards in an hour, I seriously thought I might miss the flight,

but eventually the traffic cleared and we made our way over Kew Common,

where a cricket match was being played,

the sign we were all waiting to see, Steve and Kai dropped me off and I queued at the overweight counter, it was going to be a hefty bill as the charges were $45 or £25 a kilo, but the god news was that one of the staff looked up my name and realised I had been a frequent flier, so I checked in with no surcharge to pay, I am sure the next time we fly it will be with EVA, well done EVA Air!

EVA operate out of the new terminal 2 at Heathrow,

a very nice it looked too,

so much space,

I was under strict instructions to buy 3 Toblerones,

so many restaurants to chose from,

but I fancied a beer,

and a bite to eat at the seafood restaurant,

oysters, lobster, salmon and bubbly,

each seat has it's own screen,

the agony of choice,

I decided on a few slices of salmon,

with out shrimps and crab meat,

Caviar House, great place to eat,

I also ordered a half litre of white wine,

'Cheers!', I arrived at Bangkok with no problems on the flight, my new passport was accepted with no problems, I knew I had some duty to pay, so I like a few others walked towards the red desk, something to declare, I had packed my cases so the all of the chocolate was near to the tops of the cases and easy to see, the officer the just waved the few people in the red channel through, so I guess that was it,