The Last Week

So finally I left Sylvia, both of us trying to pretend that we would see each other soon, and was whisked off by Dean to Ely Station and my train to London. I do obsess a little when travelling by myself as to how to keep the luggage to a manageable weight and bulk and strangely I had added another whole bag to that wonderfully light amount that I left my home with so long ago.

Imagine my satisfaction at boarding an earlier train than I expected and being able to stuff my luggage into the rack AND find a seat amongst the quietly awakening commuters. The earlier train meant that I would have more time to get myself plus bags from one enormous London station - the newly refurbished Kings Cross

Kings Cross Station ready for Olympic Visitors

via the underground or bus to my more familiar station Paddington, of  bear fame.

Paddington at Paddington

I've got ahead of myself - there I was smuggly on the train thinking it's all downhill from here when the train stopped at an unexpected station and we were all asked to disembark and reboard a different train that would arrive soon! Using my familiar trick I followed a bloke who seemed to know what he was doing (turns out he didn't) to another platform where a train rolled in with signage nothing to do with London and going the wrong  way. Well, we all piled in and this time there wasn't such a good space for my bags and harder to find a seat and I'd lost my time advantage but nothing I could do except accept.

And I did have time to look at the enormous tubular metal structure and sparkly shops at KC. There was a charming man standing with a giant foam hand on his hand herding commuters to the new entrance, Monty Python like, so I went there to find a bus or an underground but only found chocolates for Ted. Had to come right out again and wait for a lift then find the appropriate underground tunnel with a train going in the helpful direction. And I did.

The underground always looks impossibly complicated at first then I find myself scooting around like anything. One disadvantage for a traveller is that you have no visual idea of where you are travelling. You just go down then along then up like a mole.

Paddington was familiar. I went to a shop to get a new card for my camera - you know the thing that stores photos on it? I made that sort of vague request to the salesperson who looked straight at me blankly whilst shouting to her co-worker 'See what she wants Sandra; I can't understand a word of what she's saying!' !!!

Anyway I was soon on the train back to Devon and Newton Abbot in particular. Did i say that Ted and I were going to France for one day in my final week? And that I was going to do my first recorded interview with a publisher of  profound fame and I was also having a one hour osteopathy massage in Ashbourne? So this week was going to be packed and at the end of it I would be heading back to Paddington Station and the Heathrow and then home.

We began with the trip to Roscoff the following day. Roscoff is an overnight ferry trip away from Plymouth. As soon as we had stowed the car and gone to out cabin we went up to the entertainment deck. The attraction for me was that this ferry was French and so there were beautiful duty free things to look at and a cafeteria full of French food. So there were delicious rolls and cheeses and little bottles of wine. For breakfast they served croissants and Nescafe.

We landed at dawn....

...expecting an industrial port and found this...

...and this...

This supermarket

For Evangeline

This fabulous church

After a breakfast of fresh coffee, crunchy baguette and a croissant, a wander around and then lunch - well one has to eat in France for goodness sake - Ted set off to drive to the next town while i decided to explore Roscoff on foot. It is a beautiful place and if I lived in Devon I would be extremely tempted to move there forever.

We had decided to board the ferry by 7 and so we met up in this pretty little park in front of a boulangerie. So we left this exquisite place to the French and slept in bunks then disembarked in a sleepy Sunday morning Plymouth and drove home, over Dartmoor through sunshine and daffodils. We had good sleeps that night!





Spring had well and truly sprung. Primroses on the sides of the roads where the sunlight could warm them  and in nooks and crannies in Ted's garden; and daffodils, daffodils everywhere. The rest of my stay passed too quickly and before I knew it I was clambering up onto the Newton Abbot Station and waiting for the final trip to London and on to that ghastly business of airplane journeys - well not always but I couldn't hope for such a trip again. The train passes along the coast and this gentleman and I enjoyed the view.

Nearly time to finish this leg of my life. I will wrap up with one more ep before continuing with this blogging fun. I must tell you about the absolutely amazing day I had yesterday - steam trains, friends, famous musicians ..... what a lucky life! X X X X X

CAMBRIDGE 5th/ 7th/13th March

I really enjoyed my visits to Cambridge. The bus trip from Sylvia's was long and I had to be on the bus by 8am so it was the school and college trip too. Each time it was a double decker. Sometimes it was unheated so that the windows had to wiped with whatever was handy. But what you could see! People making their beds in upstairs cottage windows, into gardens over the tops of walls, across wide, flat fields and through the hearts of waking villages.Then the bus would dump us unceremoniously right in the centre of one of the two oldest university towns in England. Why anyone would even consider driving I don't know.

What replaces the cars is the constant stream of people on bikes who ride quite assertively as if hitting pedestrians won't hurt much. As a tourist, the sight of piles of bikes leaning against walls and gates is charming. I don't know if they are pinched on a regular basis but I don't need to care.

There were two highlights of my first visit; a punt along the Cam and Carluccio's restaurant. First the punt. This is David and he had the job of pushing a large flat bottomed boat with me, wrapped in two blankets trying not to shiver, along the Cam behind all those prestigious colleges that make up the University of Cambridge. He kept up an interesting commentary which turned into a riveting discussion about the place of universities in the world. He had the charm to apologise for not sticking to his description and said that it was the best punt he'd had! Try to find him from this photo but you will have to lie on the ground at his feet and look up and back. It will be worth it!

The second highlight of my three trips was the opportunity to lunch at Carluccio's. Antonio Carluccio is a London chef who was born in Italy and I fell in love with his persona by watching a series of programs he made as he wandered around Italy with his stout walking stick. So I was drawn to try his restaurant when I visited Sylvia in 2010 and it didn't disappoint me.

The ambience is a wonderfully relaxed and people are happily eating and talking all around. The service is efficient but warm and the food is simple and delicious. Everything tastes! So happy but frozen to my very core by the river ride, I headed for Carluccio's and was eating my pate and cornichons and drinking a large glass of red wine before I began to thaw out. I had pasta Puttanesca then Tiramisu for dessert. I usually find this a bit too rich (who moi?) so decided to dress it with a shot of espresso which cut through the dish like a hot knife. mmmmmmm.

Bicherin

Then next time I followed lambs liver and mashed potatoes with a coffee combination that was heaven. A dessert and a coffee at the same time plus FUN! On a little tray appeared a cup, and 3 jugs - espresso in one, another of cream and the last full of thick rich chocolate. then you just mixed it in your cup. Genius! Check it out for yourself.   http://www.carluccios.com/menus/cambridge

Tiny Victoria sponge cake - oh yes, and lavendar hearts.

In the UK is a large business called John Lewis Partnership. John Lewis is a chain of department stores and Waitrose is the supermarket arm of this very successful enterprise. The staff all have shares in the firm and many other benefits and the stock is usually considered top class; you know, the best. The service is always good to excellent and the shop in Cambridge is a little beauty. My passion is fabric and there is an area where all kinds of dress fabrics can be found. This is where I went to participate in a Cath Kidston workshop. A group of us ladies sat and cut out hearts of material that we then sewed together and stuffed with lavendar. Gorgeous; so were the nibbles provided by the John Lewis catering service. Charming and fresh and delicious and up my end of the table. Many of the other ladies didn't seem too keen to bog in. There were individual Victoria Sponge Cakes. Someone had to eat them. Above are the hearts and below the lovely teachers. xx

So there you have my Cambridge and I haven't even mentioned the art galleries and the buildings and the museums. tut tut. XX