Travelogue Page 2

As I no longer had to teach in the evening we had a great social life. It started with meeting Helen Morrell for a leisurely evening drink on the Brighton seafront. Lila was enjoying the late afternoon too and then we had dinner with Jo and Norman and we had a great evening putting the world to rights.

On Wednesday we had lunch with Rufus in town and that was very nice too.

Then on the Thursday we went to spend the evening with Lucy and enjoyed sitting in her sweet garden watching Nia play with water and her new sandpit, a birthday present from her daddy. Then we settled into a children’s movie for Nia which was very enjoyable indeed. Fergus and I were very tired and so this was just lovely to relax with. We saw "Shreck" I liked it so much I would like to see "Shreck 2" next. Then we enjoyed a lovely meal with Lucy and Tim and we talked about all the exciting things to come.

Then there were just a few days left to pack and as you might imagine, the packing and re-packing was endless and then was all the cleaning as well. Linda and Wendy as per usual were complete stars and came to the rescue. Then Sonya arrived and cleaned the kitchen.

On Monday 15^th August Lissa took us out to dinner and we got spoiled by being taken to Brown’s one of my favourite restaurant in Brighton.

Early on Tuesday 16^th the shipping company arrived, two very big chaps, but with good humour. Both Fergus and I were allocated one packer each and so the day unfolded. My chap was like a gentle giant with a huge halo. He was incredibly patient and gentle with me and put up with my flapping all day. I made lots of cups of tea for him, which was all he required to do the job. Both packers were very efficient and professional. Friday the 19^th Sonya, Linda and I drove to Bracknell, to visit Anna Heaton. Anna and her husband John Field created the BBO syllabus for us and for me it was very important for Sonya should meet Anna. I have so often referred to Anna and in the more advanced classes we did have the phrase "Think Anna….". Anna was going to be one of our special gusts at the party and unfortunately she was unable to attend. Instead we went to visit her in her beautiful house and garden. She greeted us we Champagne and we spent a very elegant day with Anna reminiscing about her days as a prima ballerina with the Royal Ballet and all the dancers of the time. Wonderful stories and we came away all inspired. We also had to clean my "Dyson" and here Wendy was the expert. It would have made a comedy show as Wendy brought her "Dyson" and hovered mine out. Linda was just here to supervise and announced that today she would just watch. We had such a laugh and by the end of the day the packers accepted my "Dyson" fit for import to New Zealand. It all took longer than everyone thought including the packer. Gladly we moved our personal bits and pieces to Marie-Anne and Errol. They had kindly invited us to stay with them until it was time to leave Brighton for good. We had a lovely stay with them and they treated us with great kindness. We enjoyed their garden, the food and the cat called "Tootzy" Ely came home to for an evening and it was lovely to catch up with her.

On Wednesday evening Judy Rocher collected us in her car and with her friend Tony drove us out into the country for a lovely meal in a country pub. We spent a lovely evening together and it was lovely of Judy to give us this tasty treat.

Then somehow it was Thursday and Andy Davis, the new owner of the building, turned up at Dance Laines at 8:30 am all excited and desperate to get started. He was like a boy not being able to wait to open his Christmas presents. Completion happened at 12:45 and all we had left to do was introduce Linda to Andy hand over all the keys and walk out. It did feel very strange and one or two tears escaped as we walked out. Fergus decided to use distraction tactics and a nice lunch on the seafront was what was no needed. So we trooped off and it was a glorious day for that kind of lunch. The afternoon was spent pottering doing last minute bits of shopping and then preparing a meal for Marie-Anne, Errol, Linda and Phil. This took place in Marie-Anne’s kitchen and Fergus and Marie-Anne had great fun cooking together.

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