Paul arrived early to take us to the airport, helped us with our suitcases and we were off!
Checkin at Guernsey was quiet, but alison managed to get collared at security to help a trainee with the new body scanner, which identified a few spots for further investigation, purely for training purposes we suspect, while Peter sailed through with no problems, but had to help Alison with her plastic belt , which for some reason she had to remove.
We had time for a cuppa and sandwich in the much improved cafe area of the departures lounge, when all of a sudden Alison leapt up saying that she couldn’t find her rings. Of course they were still on the dining table at home, but the upside was there was less chance she would lose them in India.
We had a brief chat with Fiona, who had organized the data protection events for Pete many years ago at Castle Cornet and St. James.
A brief delay on departure as the crew searched for a missing passenger, who eventually was not traveling, and we were under way, landing at Gatwick on time and at the Sixt desk as planned by 4 pm.
Pete connected up the Satnav and set off towards Streatham, only to discover that the Renault Clio had a built-in Satnav. Nevertheless we carried on with trusted Mrs. Garmin, who predicted our arrival time as 17:14 with no delays. However roadworks and rush hour traffic conspired to make us 30 minutes late so that we eventually arrived at Alan and Catherine’s house at 17:40, giving just enough time for another cuppa before heading off to the Casa Degli Amici inTulsa Hill, while Daniel competed his clarinet lesson.
We drove down, directed by Alan, to find that Chris, Kerry, Gareth and their children were already there, Catherine &co. arriving soon afterwards.
Dinner was great fun, with the children as always enjoying each other’s company as much as the adults. Pete as the driver looked on with his tonic water, while the others enjoyed tasting a number of bottles of white wine with the Italian cuisine. Pete relented on the alcohol by having a delicious Zabaglione to finish his meal.
Alan took a photo, which we may well add in once he has sent it to us ( that’s a test to see if you have read the blog Alan)
Farewells were said and Mrs. Garmin informed us that, as the M23 was closed at night, we would be taking a country drive back to Gatwick. We arrived shortly after 10:30, in plenty of time to catch the 11:15 to Heathrow. However, not only was the M23 closed, but also the M25, so our one hour journey was more like 2 hours. We eventually sank into our very comfortable beds (after yet another cuppa) at the Sofitel by 1:30 for a rather sound sleep, especially Alison whose glass of wine has been topped up by Kerry rather more frequently than she had realized at dinner time.