Visiting the Grand Old Parents

After school was over we headed over to the UK for 10 days. First to visit with my parents and then to stay with Gray and Julie. We had spent considerable time planning the first leg of the trip to Kettering. Andrew and Gill had very kindly offered us the chance to stay with them in Cambridge which would have been lovely but I was concerned that every minute spent fighting the traffic A14 was not time spent with my folks. I recalled that Kristie had put her sister up in a tent in her back garden and that sounded like a great idea (the tent, not Kristie's back garden). Alexander and I would sleep in the tent and Fiona and Dena would sleep in the house.

This year I was adamant that I wasn't going to be turned into a donkey and made to haul half of what we possessed all over the UK. Besides which I wasn't sure how much strain my heart would take in its drugged up, beta blocked state. Dropping dead wasn't on my vacation itinerary, so I insisted that we should get our luggage down to 2 large wheeled bags + tent. 36 hours before we left we found that taking a tent and the two giant inflatable mattresses Dena had bought to ensure Alexander and and I slept in the lap of luxury, meant we had no room for anything else so we scrapped the tent idea altogether and I found a room at the "Royal" Hotel in downtown Kettering for Alexander and myself.

After a bit of initial angst at the limited luggage space, Dena ralied and with a planned out list of attire for each member of the trip and a timetable of laundry at each stop we did indeed get out luggage down to 2 large bags and 4 carry on bags between the 4 of us. I was proud of her!

If you look at these pictures of my parents, you'll think my mother looks old. Well, she is old! But she looks a darn sight better than she did last time I saw her which was in a hospital ward back in March. The most amazing thing for me was that when we arrived she was reading a book; something she had been unable to do before nearly a year, but since she got the cataract in one of her eyes removed her quality of life has improved significantly. Sadly her short term memory isn't what it used to be and she repeated herself a bit and lost track of what day it was, but so what. I think at that age not having worry about what day it is should be a right!

The room at the "Royal" worked out well allowing Alexander and I to rest up in the evenings- him watching the European cup and me noodling with my 'puter. I never thought I would end up staying in downtown Kettering in my life and the hotel itself has many memories for me as teenager "out with the lads" on a Friday night. However the weirdest memory for me is hiding in hotel the night my cousin from Scotland started a disagreement with the local youth getting them barred from their only drinking hole. We escaped from the angry mob in a Taxi that we got from round the back I don't think I went drinking in Kettering again for many years.



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