Sat, Dec 20th (Part One)

What a day! We warned Brady and Jim that today would be a long one and they weren't mislead. Dawn and I woke a little later than usual around 5:30am, but were up within half an hour and doing our usual early morning things. Brady appeared a little later and poured herself a cup of coffee. Jim appeared a little later still and we thought all was going to plan. However, we didn't allow for Jim's morning routine. He disappeared back upstairs and then the rest of the morning was a rush. In fairness to him, part of the reason was that I also prepared a typical British fry-up (bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, egg, potato waffle, baked beans and fried bread), which we all had to eat before getting ready to go out. Somehow though we got out of the door dead on time.

At Hertford North the Kerrs tackled an ATM machine, and thankfully one of their collection of bank cards worked and allowed them to get their hands on some cash. We caught the 11:12am into Kings Cross and guess what we saw board the train? No, not a reindeer like Dawn and I saw last year, but something else more rare - someone wearing a Clemson baseball cap. I think the guy's brain power must have infected Jim. A little later as we waited for the tube to Kensington High Street we needed to give Mr Kerr a math lesson. The less said about his problem understanding which train would be number one and which would be two the better.

On exiting the tube, Brady and Jim were immediately bitten by the shopping bug. Which is not surprising when you think we had been teasing them with descriptions of Harrods and being streets away from Harvey Nicholls (Princess Di's old haunt) and countless other designer shops. However, little did we expect that both of them would want to stop at TK Maxx. While I waited outside so we didn't lose anyone, a heavily padded bobbie carrying an automatic machine gun approached where I was standing. I thought surely Jim hasn't upset any of the store staff, but thankfully the copper kept on walking. Which is a corny link to what followed for the rest of the day. Well according to the Kerrs anyway.

We walked to Kensington Gardens to see the Palace where Princess Di once lived before going in search of her memorial. With aching feet (and back, in Jim's case), we stopped at the Lido restaurant overlooking the Serpentine lake for a rest. It became a pattern that repeated itself more and more as the day wore on. The four of us enjoying a leisurely walk with someone bitching that we were trying to cripple them. Sorry readers, no names..........