WHAT A GREAT GOLDEN WEDDING TRIP THIS HAS BEEN!

A final collage to finish off our wonderful holiday - and then I am back to taking one photograph a day with the occasional collage, but I wanted to round off our Golden Wedding Celebrations and holiday, so again, hope you will forgive and indulge me just one more time as I document our journey from 35°C all the way down to -3°C!

Our taxi arrived at the hotel a few minutes early, but we were all packed and ready to go just after 4.30 pm yesterday.  We have been so fortunate with all the drivers we have had as they have been very obliging and chatty and this one was no different.  In fact, we were thrilled when he stopped outside Raffles Hotel so that I could take a photograph.  We had wanted to go there for Afternoon Tea, having been there 25 years ago to celebrate our Silver Wedding Anniversary, but unfortunately, they are closed for refurbishment until October of this year.  You may remember that we did set out to see Raffles Hotel on the 14th March, but got off the MRT at the wrong place, so abandoned that idea.

We were so pleased, therefore, that the driver was kind enough to go past it and even said he would stop at the side of the road so that I could photograph it - although there isn't much to see with the hoardings all round.  However, I also spotted this Chinese shop with the lanterns still hanging all along the front after celebrating Chinese New Year a few weeks ago, which typifies the older part of Singapore.

We were then on our way to Changi Airport and first saw Isabel, who had caught a train and bus just to come and see us, after she had been to Church - we were so touched that she would do that for us.  Isabel said that Jenny had mentioned they would see us at Terminal 2, but we were leaving from Terminal 4, so she had kindly Whatsapped Jenny last night and eventually they caught up with us at the right terminal.

We stopped for a coffee and had a good chat - Jenny bought us more presents - they really have been so kind to us.  As we were having our coffee we met an Aussie who was laughing joking with us and asked us what we were doing in Singapore, so when we told him we were celebrating our Golden Wedding his comment was "B***** me, that's two life sentences!"

There are some wonderful sculptures in Changi Airport, and Alfred told us that Terminal 4 had recently been upgraded - it was certainly very plush.  Jenny asked someone to take a photograph of the five of us and I took a last shot of them waving as we made our way to Passport Control.  Getting through was a doddle - we had been asked to make thumbprints on our way in, so just had to do the same thing on the way out and we were soon on our way.  They all said they would miss us and hoped to see us again soon either in Singapore or in the UK.

The flight to Ho Chi Minh was delayed by about half an hour, and we just happened to sit opposite the Aussie guy, whose name was Chris.  Whilst chatting, he told us that his son, Tae, who was a footballer, was coming to the UK in September this year for a trial with Tottenham Hotspurs - which just happens to be the team Mr. HCB supports, so you can imagine there was a lot of chat about football and other sports!

We were fortunate to be the first to check in for our flight in Singapore, and there was a delightful young man on the check-in desk, who told us that we wouldn't need to worry about our luggage again until we got to Heathrow and kindly gave our luggage a "Priority" Sticker so that it would be first off when we arrived and it was indeed very quickly found at the end of our journey.

Everything worked very smoothly and then just after midnight we boarded the VietnamAirlines flight, on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, ready for the final leg of our journey back home. It was a good flight, with some turbulence, but Mr. HCB told me it could have been worse!!  I really can't believe that in the time we have been away we have been on five flights - and I used to be really frightened of flying!  However, a few years ago, I decided that I needed to be more positive about the whole business of flying and since then, I have been fine, but I still can't say I am a fan of long haul flights.  

We were very well looked after - but it's the first time we have had pork in ginger sauce with noodles for breakfast and let me tell you, there is NO elegant way to eat noodles on an aeroplane - one has to slurp, as most Chinese people do - and it works!

It was freezing when we got off the plane and it didn't help that along with over 300 people, we had to stand in a draughty corridor waiting to be questioned by the Border Control staff.  Nothing wrong with that, but they could have taken us somewhere warmer!  Everyone was thoroughly questioned as to where they had been, for what purpose and asked where they were going next; we were temped to say "Home to our own bed" but just told the man who questioned us that we were on our way to Swindon!

We soon found Shaun, our lovely chauffeur, who had taken us to the airport on the 21st February, so he was anxious to know how we had got on and was very interested in our trip.  It was quite a tedious journey along the M4 motorway, as there were several delays, but it felt good to be home - and we were amazed to see all the snow, so I took one or two photographs from the car.  I don't think we have ever seen such widespread snow - in fact, it lasted from the airport until we got home!

I was hoping to take a photograph of Mr. HCB's mother's snowdrops, but they were under a blanket of snow, with just a few peeping out from the side of the pot.  The garden looked really pretty - and I had to take a photograph of the icicles, because I can never remember seeing any quite as long as this hanging from the guttering on our conservatory.

The footsteps across the garden aren't mine, but belong to our lovely neighbours, who have been feeding the birds whilst we have been away and keeping an eye on our house.  Our neighbours on the other side have been making sure the house was warm and it was lovely to walk into the kitchen and feel it was all "warm and toasty"!  

It reminded me of the theme from the Australian soap many years ago "Neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours....". We certainly have them and are so grateful to them and to everyone who has contributed in any way to our wonderful Golden Wedding Celebration - for the cards, presents, good wishes, kind comments, stars and hearts.  We opened a lot more cards when we got home and they will all be displayed on the sideboard for at least a month, so that we can enjoy them and of course, the added bonus is that I won't need to dust whilst they are there!  

With love and thanks to you all from Mr. & Mrs. HCB xx