Arriving in London!<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
F<\/i><\/b>or two middle aged people who had only been overseas a couple of\u00a0 times to\u00a0 Australia,\u00a0 this\u00a0 trip\u00a0 to\u00a0 England was indeed the adventure of a life time. We knew no-one there and were landing cold\u00a0 turkey\u00a0 as\u00a0 it\u00a0 were, having to find our way around from scratch. But we were well armed with maps, pre-paid tickets and a wealth\u00a0 of advice from those in the know.<\/p>\n
From leaving New Zealand in autumn, it was a sudden jolt to be catapulted\u00a0 into\u00a0 spring\u00a0 with\u00a0 no winter! The blossoms were all out on the trees, and spring bulbs flowering in the gardens.<\/p>\n
We arrived\u00a0 at Victoria Street\u00a0 station after flying all night from Singapore and then catching this bus into central London. We got\u00a0 out,\u00a0 collecting\u00a0 our luggage\u00a0 around\u00a0 us, looking\u00a0 and feeling\u00a0 totally\u00a0 bewildered and confused, to\u00a0 say\u00a0 nothing of tired and jet lagged! The map we had didn\u2019t seem to make sense\u2026there were so many\u00a0 streets\u00a0 going\u00a0 off at\u00a0 all\u00a0 angles, and\u00a0 we didn\u2019t\u00a0 know\u00a0 which\u00a0 side of\u00a0 the station\u00a0 we\u00a0 were standing\u00a0 at!<\/p>\n
Just then a bespectacled, top hatted, long black-coated and obviously very English looking\u00a0\u00a0 gentleman came up and asked if he could help us. We showed him the map and asked in which direction the street we\u00a0 were\u00a0 looking for was. We must have shown every appearance of abject bewilderment because\u00a0 he\u00a0 took\u00a0 pity on\u00a0 us and\u00a0 said\u00a0 he would take us there in his car! Well! We were more confused than ever\u2026.people\u00a0 just\u00a0\u00a0 didn\u2019t\u00a0 do that to perfect strangers\u2026.was he really being helpful or was he going to hi-jack and rob us?<\/p>\n
Before we knew it, we were being bundled into an old fashioned black car (the description of automobile suited it better!) and driven down one of the streets which went out like spokes from the station. It wasn\u2019t very far before he pulled up at a wrought iron fence and gate outside one of the tall buildings. These buildings were\u00a0 all\u00a0 joined\u00a0 together to all the\u00a0 others\u00a0 in\u00a0 the\u00a0 street, and very different to what we were used to. He unloaded our bags, refused\u00a0 to\u00a0 take anything\u00a0 for his trouble and left us standing there. We looked at each other\u2026.was he an angel in disguise,\u00a0 we wondered out loud!<\/p>\n
We found ourselves\u00a0 in\u00a0 a\u00a0 very\u00a0 narrow\u00a0 lobby\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0\u00a0 boarding\u00a0 house,\u00a0\u00a0 and\u00a0 checked\u00a0 ourselves in.\u00a0 We\u00a0 were\u00a0 given the key\u00a0 and instructions\u00a0 to get up to\u00a0 our\u00a0 room. It was quite difficult to navigate the narrow and windy stairs, but\u00a0 after a\u00a0 struggle\u00a0 we\u00a0 finally made it, and threw ourselves down on the bed to relax at last! We couldn\u2019t help\u00a0 wondering\u00a0 if we had\u00a0 indeed been entertained by an angel unawares!<\/p>\n
After a good rest and a short sleep, we ventured out and made our way back to Victoria station to look around, making sure this time that we had our bearings correct. Was this REALLY London? Were we really here at last? It all seemed so much like a dream, we could hardly believe that our big adventure of discovering England was about to begin! Little did we know that there were more miracles and angels unawares to come in the days ahead!<\/p>\n
***\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ***\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ***<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arriving in London! For two middle aged people who had only been overseas a couple of\u00a0 times to\u00a0 Australia,\u00a0 this\u00a0 trip\u00a0 to\u00a0 England was indeed the adventure of a life time. We knew no-one there and were landing cold\u00a0 turkey\u00a0 as\u00a0 it\u00a0 were, having to find our way around from scratch. But we were well … Continue reading Was this an Angel in Disguise?<\/span>