Impromptu Visit To London

I woke up exceedingly early at 4 and decided to get up at 5 and get a head start on few tasks at my desk. I’d had high hopes of having lots of ‘desk days’ during my 4 weeks off but the virus I’ve had really slowed me down. So I tried to have a productive day today as I’ll be back to work on Wednesday. Thankfully it’s only one trip and then I have another vacation! I hope I can get more done in January!

I also made a quick decision to go into London later today as I have friends from the US who made an impromptu visit to London. That’s airline people for you! They woke up Saturday morning and decided to hop on a plane that evening. I haven’t seen them in years - since their oldest son was only a few months old, so I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to see them while they were so nearby.

Thankfully, our plans were for the evening after they spent the day sightseeing, so I still had a window of time for a walk along the river at Sonning. It was such a beautiful sunny and warm day, and I just COULDN’T spend ALL day at my desk! I walked for 45 minutes or so, and really enjoyed the sunset. This MAY be the last good sunset of 2019 because the forecast for tomorrow is for heavy cloud.

Once I got home I turned around almost immediately and walked to the station to go to London. Twyford (and Reading) are now on the London Underground map! Although we are outside of zone 6 and therefore ticket prices are higher, some of our trains are operated by Transport for London. Right now trains still terminate at Paddington but once the Crossrail project is finally finished, (delayed for another year or more!!) they will go all the way through the centre of London. It was very strange getting on a train at Twyford and feeling like I was already on the Tube!

Once at Paddington it was a quick trip onward to Gloucester Road where I met my friends at their hotel. We ate at Pizza Express which seemed like a good place to go with a family. We got caught up on news as much as we could from the last 13 years or so. The time went quickly but it was so good to see them again and to get to know their kids. I hope it won’t be another 13 years before we see each other again!