The Queen Has Left the Building

Dear ________,
I promise I'll finish up my travelogue (or should I say travelblogue) here. At least the Britain portion of my sojourn. *hint, hint* First off, I had initially planned to complete this travelling anecdote by Friday but I am currently down with round-the-clock flu which stifled my energy level as well as knack for writing. With Sadia in bed and my head a little less fuzzy, I'm now determined to put my thoughts onto paper...err, cyber-paper.

By the by, I had forgotten to mention in my previous correspondence about the dearth of rock pigeons at Trafalgar Square. This is apparently due to the enactment of a bylaw in 2003 by the first mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, which automatically bans the feeding of these pigeons. Bummer! I was really looking forward to taking photos of Sadia - the eager bird-lover - swarmed by them birds. And to think it was the pigeon 'colony' which turned the Square into a tourist attraction in the first place. Such is life!

Also, have I already told you how weird we felt upon arriving back into a country where everyone speaks and everything is written in English? Even watching ALL the tv channels in English was an odd experience. Try living in a foreign-speaking country, then you get what I mean. :)

Oh where was I? Oh yes. We decided to take it easy on our last day in London. We came to terms with the fact that we must forgo seeing the London Eye, the Buckingham Palace and Big Ben. It's just not feasible with Sadia's travel-weary temperament and the short span of time. We just have to come back.....we'll see how our scheduling and budget are after my husband's done with his Masters. Following a long breakfast, we kicked back, watched tv and took an equally long shower. Checking out of the hotel 30-minutes earlier than the normal time of noon, that gave us surprisingly just enough time to ride the tube, queue for train tickets at Waterloo Station (long-line!), go for bathroom breaks and buy a bagel.

Like clockwork, the train to Guildford departed at 12:33pm. After a noisy affair involving Sadia on board, Uncle David picked us up at Guildford's train station. We tried to put Sadia down for a nap but she was exhilarated to be back at her grandaunt's place. The deceivingly bright day induced us to eat lunch outdoors in Aunty Idai's quaint backyard. Over tuna sandwiches, juices galore and breadsticks, we chatted about the antiquing, botanical matters, London trip and 'aldesco' versus 'alfresco'. Hehe. The cold wind however sent shivers down my spine, signalling the end of our lunch.

After a hectic and frenetic schedule in London, the leisurely Good Friday was well-spent indulging in a refreshing two-hour nap. That evening, Aunty Idai proposed for us to saunter along the duck pond and feed the ducks and geese her stale bread. The faunae, unfortunately, were already surfeited from two heapfuls of birdseed left strewn on one side of the pond and other breaded gifts spotted uneaten, both inside the water and on the fringes of the pond. Again, we used this nature's walk as a chance to train Sadia to walk on the grass. Initially, she remained lock in position and yelped to be carried off the grass. When we prodded her on with a 'Oompa-Loompa' sing-stomp-and-walk-along game, she hooked on to the bait.





Heartened by her fast progress, we brought her to a playground, tucked away at the far end of the row of small houses where my aunt and uncle live. Her first time ever, Sadia enjoyed running around the recreational area immensely. She tried the swing, the 'bobbled-animals' and the self-maneuvered carousel! A quiet dinner with rice and the usual delectable complimentary dishes was followed by a supper of take-away traditional fish and chips. Since a trip to the UK wouldn't be complete without savouring this delicacy, our uncle volunteered to bring us to Godalming (not to be confused with Godda**ing), a neighbouring village, 10-minutes drive away. Dashed with the old-school style of salt and vinegar, I gobbled mine in one seating.



We spent the most parts of our last day in town the next morning for a quick shopping spree. The excursion was however marred by Sadia's tantrums which physically and mentally strained her parents. I think all the zipping about town stressed all of us to the point where we didn't snap any photos in the town of Guildford! (Those photos I posted earlier are stock photos off the internet)

On the other hand, two pleasant things did take place - (1) coffee break in Starbucks (ONLY our second time!) eating a chocolate (2) macaroon (YAY!) bought at an exclusive bakery chain called MaisonBlanc. In contrast to my French experience, this macaroon fell below expectations by skimping on the size and shortchanging on the flavour. Also, not to mention, the outrageous price of 2.15Pound per petite piece! Since I might be fixating on the what-ifs, I unwittingly parted with a large sum of money for a tiny piece of (sweet) heaven. I only found out back home that Harrods carries the world famous Laduree macaroons! If only I had done my homework.....



Sadia slept in the 'chauffered-driven' car (thanks Uncle for the pick-up!) on the way back to the house. A lunch of nasi lemak quickly followed by a quick getaway to the playground thereafter and lastly a scrumptious dessert of apple crumble ala mode before we headed out the door for Gatwick. My uncle took the scenic route on the way there, crossing into Dorking, Reigate and Salford. Though I appreciated the beautiful countryside especially the vibrant, undulating North Downs, I'd rather skip any protracted ride when I'm travelling with a toddler.



We said our goodbyes at the car drop-off zone of Gatwick's departure terminal. The slow-moving line to check-in our bags was compounded by the failure to locate Sadia's name as a co-passenger on the BA computer system. How grating! After discarding bottled drinks which contained more than 100ml, we crossed over the portal to enter our departure gate. Here at the security checkpoint, we first encountered the open-shoes policy (even Sadia wasn't spared) at the scan machine and walk-through metal detector. We sniggered at the incongruity of the security procedures.



To wheedle Sadia into obedience, we fed her current favourite fruit, banana, and chocolate digestives at Starbucks. Hurray for Starbucks! We're too happy to drink our third (ALAS!) cuppa of Starbucks brewed concoction before leaving for no-Starbucks-land. Thankfully, despite the delay in the plane's takeoff, our BA carrier managed to make up for loss time by arriving only 5 minutes late - 9:40pm. The same can't be said about the train service however. Lack of frequent services translated to a late home-coming. Indeed, it was almost close to midnight that we turned the key into our pine-fresh apartment. An exhausting end to a frenzied and harried vacation. Next time, I'll be ready with an arsenal replete with what-to-do-lists, baby accoutrements and a sturdy map!

Yours truly,
Eliza