Friday, July 28, 2006

Spanish visitors

We have a family from Spain staying with us this week. Mary was at college with Gael but they have not seen each other for 30 years! Gael moved to Spain, for her work, shortly after university and has been there ever since, married Juan and had a family, Norman and (little) Gael.

Gael was put in touch with us via Ros from Elgin when Ros heard they were coming to London and planning to stay in a hotel. We were delighted to be able to put them up. Why pay cental London prices when we have three spare bedrooms for guests!

We have been less successful in persuading them to use buses. It takes only a little tuition and street knowledge to work out which bus to catch from which stop but worth the effort. The London Underground is not air conditioned. Travelling by tube squashed in a super-heated tin can with above-ground temperatures of 35°C (95°F) is a *most unpleasant and sweaty* way to travel.

To get them out of London we and they have changed our plans and are going down to the cottage tonight to show them another side of England.

3 comments:

Rosa said...

Have fun! I'm sure they'll enjoy the cottage.

paris parfait said...

What fun! As for the cottage, best to enjoy it while you can. I still can't believe you're selling such a gorgeous place. Although of course your place in Italy probably helps make up for the loss.

Mark McLellan said...

Our guests did, indeed, enjoy seeing the cottage and the garden. Mary and I both worked at home Friday afternoon so we were able to escape the city in good time. We got to the cottage and sat on the garden swing with a pint of beer from the pub.

Did I mention the cottage is two doors away from a pub that sells real ale and good food! The Old Beams. We buy the beer, walk out with it and drink it in our own garden :-) I had a pint of Ruddles Best followed by a pint of Old Speckled Hen.

Our guests had originally planned to go straight from London to South Wales. Detouring via the cottage meant their new onward route took them past Stonehenge much to the delight of their son.