A good nights sleep last night went a long way to make up for all the sleep deprivation on the flight over to London the night before.
We were definitely still jetlagged and it was tough staying awake at dinner. The warmth of the large AGA cooker in the kitchen, combined with a couple of glasses of wine, a very nice cabernet sauvinon and a fine Rioja that were left over from our first dinner in Guildford.
Today was a busy day as well because our daughter, Katie was flyng in today to join us for a few days in town before we all headed out to Karachi.
While we had flown into Heathrow, Kate was taking Westjet into Gatwick and apparently, getting to Gatewick was more of a problem to get to. We decied that we wold take the train, and that I would go to Gatwick to collect her with a set of tickets to come back to Guidlford.
After a bit of research, I managed to acquire tickets on the Great Western Railway website to head to Gatwick and collect Katie after her flight in. While it was a chilly morning, I collected the tickets from an automated ticket machine at the station and picked up my first coffee in the UK at the station.
I had a lovely direct train ride through the British countryside over to Gatwick and had a chance to once again marvel at the efficiency of the British Rail system, that we had used on our past visits.
When Katie arrived, we also had an opportunity to grab a snack and another cup of coffee at the airport.
The ride both ways was uneventful and 3 hours after I left, we were back at Guildwood train station, waiting for Ailsa to pick us up from the Guildford Central station.
Once back in Guidford, Stephen, Ailsa’s better half, suggested that we have fish and chips from one of the local shops. Seemed like a good idea…
We had a lovely lunch with fish and chips along with mushy peas and topped it all off with a selection of local beers. I had a lovely Hobgoblin beer!
There were so many chips that we could not eat them all.
No worries, as the chickens that Ailsa and Stephen kept in the back yard loved chips, and provided us with lovely eggs for our breakfast later in our stay!
The chickens were very happy outside, even with the colder temperatures that we were experiencing while there.
After lunch, we headed out to the main shopping street in Guildford, called High Street. It was about a 15 min walk from the house and the first thing we did was grab another coffee, the first of many. Our hosts were tea drinkers, prefering PG tips to coffee and so coffee was a priority for Katie and I when we went out.
In spite of lots of public campaigns, it appears that drones are still quite popular in the UK and I took a picture to get a price reference to take home, from a local store called Maplins.
Maplins is like our old Radio Shack at home, with all sorts of electronic gear, and was particularily note worthy in that it carried parts and components for DIY electronics hobbyists, something that has all but disappeared in Canada.
Today, I also decided to try Amazon.uk out to get some supplies that I needed for the trip to Karachi and was able to order a few things via Amazon Prime that arrived in time to take with us. (I will do a blog post up on that whole ecercise later this month).
After our shopping expedition, (there were many interesting shops on High Street in Guildford) including some cosmetics from Boots and a few clothing shops, we headed back home.
Quiet dinner, then off to be to get rested up for the next day, as we were heading into London for somesightseeing!
Campbell Family Travels 