Saturday, May 17, 2008

London with friends


Here we go...... my London adventure was wonderful. WONDERFUL!! And before you wonder, the complete picture above is so hideous, I had to crop it. Never let a completely strange man stand up and take a photo of you sitting down. It is an unfortunate aspect. Very unfortunate.

But, here we are. And the happy smiles say it all. I have had the most wonderful day with Morning Glory and Barbara, and I hated saying goodbye. Morning Glory is my very first blogging friend, and I am so glad we got to meet. It was quite amazing how we could read each other's mind instantly, and one look was all it took when we were walking down the street, and we both knew what the other was thinking. So there was much laughter, and the talking. Oh my word. There was a great deal of talking. And also a great deal of coffee. And did I mention the talking???

When I arrived at the hotel, I realised that I did not have a clue what MG's surname was, but fortunately she was there in the foyer waiting, and recognised me immediately. I had visions of holding up her photo and saying... I want to speak to this lady.....

We walked through Hyde Park, and talked all the way. Then we found a coffee shop and sat and talked. And we got on the tube, and you guessed it, we talked all the way.

MG and I met her husband in the Crypt of St Martin's in the Field, a famous church in Trafalgar Square for lunch, and there was more talking before her husband sprinted off up the stairs to hear and watch the bell-ringing, and we set off to meet Barbara at Canary Wharf. In the rain. We spent a great deal of time moaning about the state of our hair, which did not do well in the constant drizzle. And we made a fatal error not having some photos taken at the very start of our day, before the rain.

We had intended to walk along the river at the Docklands, and it would have been stunning had it not been so wet. I think MG was cold here. I certainly was. Barbara was waiting for us, and thankfully, she recognised us straight away, or I might still be trying to work out the map she sent me! We found a coffee shop, and we sat down to chat. Indoors. Where it was warm and dry. The hair did not recover. I had not realised just how huge the development is, or how many malls there are, all inter-linked. There are loads of restaurants with tables along the quaysides and I can just imagine how beautiful it would be on a sunny day. Like last weekend. However, it did not stop the talking. Or the laughter.

We didn't have a lot of time with Barbara, as we had to get back for our various plans in the evening, but it was wonderful to get together. 3 women from 3 countries, drawn together by the blog world. The fact that it was the FA Cup Final, also meant that we wanted to get back before the match ended and the trains all filled up to capacity. This photo was taken as a joint effort by us, as we sat on a bench at the top of the escalators at Baker Street tube station. We had to go in different directions there, and we decided we had more to talk about, so we sat down and carried on talking.

And it was hard to say goodbye. We knew it would be like this. We knew we would be friends. In real life. So much to talk about and so little time!

It was great. Just perfect.

11 comments:

Dawn said...

That is so totally awesome. I wish I had been there, too. But with a tad bit of sunshine! MG does look cold indeed!

What a fun day for all 3 of you. I read your previous post and had a good chuckle about the poundage and the elegance. I am in that same boat! I was hoping to lose 20-40 before I went to the doctor for my check-up. Not gonna happen!

Well, I am happy for you and for my brother and MG. And for Barbara, whom I do not in blogdom.

Thanks for the quick update! Thanks for praying.

Jeana said...

Oh how fun! There are things about London that I am already starting to miss.

Kelli said...

How completely fun! It so great when you get yo connect with people in person after talking for so long.

Needled Mom said...

It sounds as though you all had a wonderful visit with LOTS of talking. Isn't it fun to meet a blogging friend?

A belated happy birthday to Andrew. I think it was worth all the grey hairs to end up with such a fine gentleman.

Susie said...

What a wonderful post! I can see by your happy smiles that you had fun and connected just as I knew you would.
Thanks for sharing your happy times with us!
xo

Midlife Mom said...

What a great time! I can feel your excitement in every sentence!! Isn't it amazing how you connect with people through this communication process called Bloggsville!? I am so pleased for you that you had such a great time with your bloggy friends and hope you do it again sometime soon! Thanks for sharing your day with us!

Crystal said...

How marvelous that you got to meet and spend the day together! Too bad the weather didn't cooperate but friendships don't depend on the weather, do they? I hope one day I can do the Grand Blogging Tour and meet you too. Although I fear I might have to plan to spend a week with you - a day would just be too short :)) Happy Weekend to You!

Vee said...

I've just come from Barbara's where I read her side of this meeting. Yours sounds as if you had more time with MG so that made it better. How wonderful that you had such a fantastic time. Blogdom is an amazing world!

Barbara said...

Glad you had such a great time and that you were able to spend so much time with your first blogging friend. It was nice to meet you again and I really felt I knew you after our last meeting.

Donnetta said...

Oh I'm so glad you were able to have this opportunity!! It sounds like it was an absolutely marvelous time!! :-)

Susan said...

So very happy for the three of you. Thanks for the great pictures.
Susan