My arthritic leg is a lot better but still painful to walk upstairs and downstairs, I am hoping that it may be due to the recent drop in temperature – at least I have a nice new fashionable walking stick! Will be interesting to see how it is when we go to Madrid on Thursday. We had dinner at friends Sylvia and Rob's place on Saturday, very English, they live in a thatched cottage in a picture book village in Oxfordshire, Sylvia had cooked pheasant which was lovely, the gravy so tasty as she had boiled all the bits and pieces of a pheasant they had had the week before so really tasty stock used. Pheasant came from a 'Boundry shoot' of the Blenheim estate this is a shoot for the estate staff and invited locals and starts on the boundary working inwards. On Wednesday we had dinner with NZ friends Kaye and Bernie, they live in a lovely part of Gloucestershire, (could not believe I had left my camera in Caversham) another glorious cottage attached to a 'big house' where they are sort of caretakers, the owners live in Chelsea London during the week (coincidently she is a NZer) and they come to the house for the weekend, we met the owners' two delightful spaniels who occasionally stay down in the country rather than returning to Chelsea. Kaye had cooked duck, so tender, cooked for three hours slowly and gravy was made with chopped up beetroot, delicious and the mashed potatoes and celeriac Laurie says was very good. We have been making use of our £20.00 pensioner's train passes (save 1/3 the cost of rail travel), and went into Somerset House yesterday to meet Lois who runs the House Exchange website we use, and I also had a look at the Tiffany exhibition – beautiful... The weather has turned a bit colder although Sunday was beautiful but at last there is a feeling of Autumn in the air – clocks went back on Saturday night and now dark by about 4.30pm.

A change we have noticed over here this time is the change in bar staff – when we were were here 1990 - 2001 the majority were Australian, Kiwi or South African all on their OE, now the staff are mainly Eastern European – a result of the flood of Eastern Europeans arriving in the UK following their entry into the European Community – a very noticeable change. Not sure what the young Commonwealth people on their OE are now doing to fund their travels, in all our time here we have not come across one young person from the Commonwealth.

Another welcome visitor – we have had Libby from Auckland staying with us for four days on her way to NZ from Italy. Another excuse for Laurie to visit the National Art Gallery and me to spend the time in Oxford Street! I must say it has changed in the last 5 years, the major shops ie Selfridges, Debenhams, John Lewis have 'moved with the times' and not for the better for my age group unless you like LOUD modern music! Obviously aimed at attracting the younger people with the disposable income as the fashions are for the young trendy things, lots of makeup counters etc. Still it is enjoyable to walk along looking in all the shops.

We had some lovely drives into the country, pub lunches, tours around Barnes and the surrounding areas all this culminated in dinner at Rules Restaurant, Rules was established in 1798 making it the oldest restaurant in London. It serves traditional British food, specialising in classic game cookery, pies and puddings, Laurie had grouse, Libby had partridge and I had steak and kidney pie!

Laurie had an enjoyable evening at a formal dinner at the Clothworkers Guild – he does enjoy the pomp and ceremony of this ancient livery company and as always the food was excellent, drink flowing, interesting speakers and good company. Pre 1480 the Livery Companies of the City of London can trace an unbroken descent from mediaeval Trade Guilds. The history of The Clothworkers' Company goes back beyond its foundation by Royal Charter in 1528... The hall is a beautiful piece of architecture.

First photo shows the lead to the grand staircase at the Clothworkers Livery Hall, 2nd photo Libby and the Lawie-Phillips dining in style at Rules.

Blast from the Past, Laurie and David Griffin, they became friends at Heathhouse College Bromley, when they were 11 yrs, when they were 17 yrs David went out to Perth and lived with Laurie and his parents for about 15 months, until they moved back to the UK, and David stayed on in Australia. David returned to the UK and married his childhood sweetheart Sheila. Laurie and David lost touch in the mid 1970s so Laurie decided to have a go at finding them in Wonersh nr Guildford- and we found them. Lots of catching up to do and of course lots of memories to remember.

Visiting old friends in Bedfordshire and Essex. On the way to Pals we spent the night with Bryan - he was our bestman, worked with Laurie in BP, as always it was lovely to catch up with Bryan. On the way home we spent the night with Viv and Tom Flynn, they were also at our wedding, friends of Laurie from the 1970s in Auckland, at the time they were living there but have since returned to the UK and spend their retirement playing bridge, and keepfit for Viv and golf for Tom. Their other passion is their garden photos above.

Pals - A great revisit to our house exchange of last year in the medieval village of Pals. The old quarter, known as El Pedro, contains many historic buildings: walls with towers, an old castle or Torre de les Hores, a Gothic church, and a monumental cross commanding a fine panorama.
As well as views of the coastline and mountains, Pals has cobbled streets and ancient village walls and archways. Tina and Tony have a delightful home within walking distance of a great beach and there are several golf clubs in the area and we really appreciated their hospitality. Last year Laurie was unable to go on the house exchange because of business committments in Australia however I went and was joined by friends from NZ, USA and the UK. When Tina and Tony heard we were coming over this way they suggested we visit them so Laurie could get to know the place I fell in love with. Laurie was equally impressed with the area and it was great to experience the area together.