People to see in London!

Catching up with friends and family!

A significant part of our time in London was spent catching up with people. This was great fun as we are getting tired on being tourists! It was great to catch up with friends (and a cousin/niece) to renew friendships and meet families.

Tony and Ulrika

Firstly, we met a friend of Tony's from Sweden, Ulrika, and her 12 year old daughter Sofia, in St James Park for a coffee. They were friends way back when Tony was on exchange in Sweden. In just a short time, our kids and Sofia were rolling and jumping around together on the grass, leaving the adults to chat and drink coffee!

myself with Tash

The lovely Quatro family

We had a wonderful night with my friend from uni, Natasha, and her husband Cesare and 11 week old Ferdi. I also spent the next day with Tash and had a great time chatting and catching up on many years. Little Ferdi is just beautiful and the calmest little man! A few readers will know Tash; believe me in saying that she has not changed, is as bright and bubbly as ever and its a delight to see her in the role of a mother! Ferdi is very lucky to have Tash and Cesare as his parents.

Gillian and Tony

We travelled by train to Sevenoaks, just outside the M25, to visit a friend of the whole Wilson family, and Tony's godmother, Gillian Willis. We have visited Gillian a few times over the years (she even came to Aust for our wedding) and she is a delightful host! Shortly after we walked in, Gillian handed Tony the phone and told him to make the most of an opportunity to call home and speak to his mother - which we did, to the pleasant surprise of his mother, Louise. Now in her mid 80s, Gillian put on a beautiful lunch for us all and made us feel very welcome. The children loved the toys and playroom in her house! Tony's niece Sarah came with to Sevenoaks also.

Our team with Sarah on a crowded
tube!

Sarah, who is working in London, then spent the rest of the day and evening with us, coming back to our apartment for dinner. She is loving London and was able to give us some suggestions on different ways of seeing London. Sarah is great fun and the children loved being with her. Sarah needs three sides to her body, as Olivia, Lach and Sophie all wanted to sit beside her on the tube, at the table or while we were walking! It is fun catching up with extended family members in other parts of the world, as we did with another niece, Sophia, in San Francisco.

Girls' shopping trip!

Finally, we caught up with my mum in London. Mum is actually joining us for a fortnight in France, from the beginning of September. She arrived in London and had one day with us, before we headed west to Bristol and she headed north to Scotland for a week on her own. Olivia, Sophie, myself and Gran had a girls shopping trip to Oxford St!

And a lot of chatting to catch up on also!