well here i am ready for the off... but its only 09.24!?! i normally get the early flight back home and i was up by 6.30am today as usual, wish i had been on the early flight really, because now i am just left hanging...

nearly all packed have last few bits to do but don't want to wake up mates husband by banging around and creaking floor boards... so after a bit of hanger clanking decided to wake up my little note book here instead, and glad i did just had an hour chatting to Franco and Pippa on Skype, he was rushing around with the duster!!!

need to keep in his good books... although i think i can hear him moving around now already, hope i didn't wake him up he is taking me to bus depot down town at 1.30, my bus is coming at ten to two, and hopefully should get me to Luton airport by 20 past, although after i had booked the national express coach i noticed it said to leave at least an hour between getting on the bus and time of check in!

... talking of buses though the bloke whose bus i got on yesterday to go to Berkhamsted was a right grumpy of what's it! i had rung the bell to stop on the high street and still had to say as i was standing there, hey are you stopping? which he begrudgingly did! then as soon as i was off he drove off leaving two women standing there open mouthed! what a plonker!

took some lovely pics, will put on later or tomorrow... after i got off the bus i popped in to a wonderful shop in town called Temptations... which of course it is! then i walked down past Waitrose supermarket to get to the Grand Union canal tow path... lovely day and lovely walk along there... lots of moored up barges, looked permanently moored up with clothes rails on top, huge tv aerials... what will happen to their tv i wonder when its all digital here? lots of pot plants and general garden stuff all about the boats, actually looked quite idyllic there on the canal, the sun shining the birds and ducks etc, a glow about the place just there... stopped and watched as some poor bloke had trouble with the gear on the lock gates, looked a hard job for him whilst his wife watched by on board... and then moved the barge through after he his hard work!

i came down lower Kings Road to get back up to the high street and met Mom off her bus, we had a look around a few shops, a Cafe latte and pastry in Costas... where the old Woolworths used to be, but used to long long before the high street chain closed its doors around Christmas, must be nearly 30 since it left Berkhamsted? i remember going in while i was expecting Barry... but when he was small and he was sick in Waitrose, which took over that corner spot... so yes about 26 or 27 years... when i was on the bus back to Moms after a lady said "hello Marian" to me as she sat down in the seat in front! she said do you remember me? and i said i did but not where from... she used to be in the tea room at Welcome when i worked there! i was aged between 17 and when i left 29 years ago! heck and she still remembered my name?

also at the bus stop a lady i used to call Auntie Barbara, so you can tell how long i have known her!

in fact saw lots more people i remember from school days in town too yesterday, being a Saturday i suppose, some i look at and think OMG! (Sorry folks!!!) others don't seem to have changed at all...

Mom and i then popped into her mates house and i showed her the details of a lovely hotel they can stay in in Ramsgate for a week, they both seem pleased, so just a few details to complete and i can book them in, better than a coach trip which takes a day to get there and the same home, leaves them 3 days in the place and costs twice the price!

it was a visit into my Auntie Lindas next to Moms and a chat, back to Moms for an hour of R&R... then back on the bus! back to Janettes.

soon as i was in we headed off to Ashridge Forest, a beautiful place where i grew up near and have visited often over all these years! no sign of the deer that live there, this must be the first time i have been here on holidays and not seen them...

first we sat down in the shade of the tea rooms veranda and enjoyed a cold drink and, for her a huge scone with the full works of cream and jam, and for me... a small pavlova thingy! a round of meringue filled with cream and strawberry's... yummy yummy yummy!

we had a long walk around the forest, so many people there! was like a Sunday, i couldn't believe it! we were in great competition with cyclists along our path! and passed the creepy house there is the woods, took a few pics of that although not sure what was going on there, some one had their suitcase open on the deck in front? its like a log cabin, not sure what its purpose is or was...

then... just before we got home we popped in the see a friend who we both used to work with, was fantastic to see her again, i put a Christmas card through her door last year, but hadn't seen her for years and years...

we had a coffee and good old chat, she looked great! and next time i am here we will go out, the three of us for a girlie night out!

was sad this morning when my mate went off to work so early! she said she will miss me not being here when she comes home from work with the door open and with a cup of tea waiting... a few bits done around the house and a chat...

and now on my last day Franco says did i remember to buy the cannelloni! and no i haven't! only went in Tesco once! cannelloni is the only English, well Italian actually product i ever want to bring home with me, and i keep forgetting it! just cant get it en españa for a normal price, ok in some places for 5 or 6euros, but when its under a pound here thats ridiculous!

so, looks like its going to be another lovely day here in England, you know here they class a heatwave as having two days in a row of warm weather!!! and its based on high night time temperatures?

ok am getting a bit of a neck ache ahead of my flight, so better sit and relax a while... adios amigos... and
TTFN
Marian