Many years ago, I lived in London and used to visit Uncle Noel at weekends. I'd stay at his house in Cheam, Surrey and go to St Andrews church on Sunday morning. This very pleasant arrangement suited both of us - he was the nearest member of the family I had and was at the time living on his own, his first wife having died some years previously.
After I moved back home I continued to visit from time to time, but once the children came along it wasn't really practical. I was pleased to hear he was getting married again - and rather surprised, as he was by now 70! I wasn't able to get down for the wedding, as by then I had a young baby and was pregnant again and it just wasn't feasible.
On a few occasions, I've revisited the places I lived and worked while I was in London, but I had never been back to the house in Cheam. So I was particularly delighted when I was invited to Uncle Noel's 90th birthday party, held at Cuddington Golf Club. As well as seeing Uncle Noel again, it was also going to be a chance to meet other relatives I'd never actually seen in the flesh.
Saturday 19th March started with an early flight down to Gatwick. Although there was fog around, the day actually cleared into bright sunshine and hot summer temperatures, which was the icing on the cake. From Gatwick I had to catch a train to Ewell East, the nearest station to the boarding house where I was staying the night. The first stage of the journey was the free British Airways train link from the north to the south terminal - an interesting experience.
In theory there should have been plenty of time between landing at Gatwick and the party starting at 12.30, but that was without factoring in my utter uselessnes at getting from Gatwick to Ewell East. With hindsight, I wish I'd simply caught a train to Sutton and taken a taxi from there. As it was, the journey had 3 changes, not helped by catching the wrong train from Gatwick (well - it was the right train, just going in the wrong direction!) and ending up miles and miles away from where I wanted to be.
I was told by the staff at Horsham that the quickest way to get back on track would be to return to Gatwick (advice I now know was rather inaccurate). So I once again found myself at Gatwick trying to catch a train to Dorking Deepdene. This time I managed to miss my station and ended up in Guildford, with time running out. The station staff weren't particularly helpful so I rang Andrew, who advised getting a train to Epsom from Guildford if I possibly could. Eventually I managed this and got to Epsom (travelling through Horsham for the third time that morning). There was a train waiting to go to Ewell East, so the remainder of my journey was completed quite easily. A quick change at the guest house and I arrived at the party before the pre-dinner drinks had finished.
The dinner was a great success, good service, nice food and enjoyable company. There were a few speeches afterwards, mostly given in a very professional manner, as some of Jane (Noel's wife)'s family were clergymen, very used to speaking in public! Afterwards the family members of the party were invited back to Noel and Jane's house - this was something I'd really been looking forward to, a real blast from the past. Although Jane had organised a few changes, the house was still the same and I enjoyed revisiting a snapshot of my life 25 years ago, seeing the garden, the room I used to sleep in, the kitchen I ate breakfast in etc. Cheam is a very leafy, prosperous, suburban area with a lot of very nice houses, within commuting distance of London.
Towards the end of the evening people finally began to drift away and Andrew, his partner (also called Jane) and their daughter Joanna and I took the opportunity to unwind and relax over a drink in a nearby wine bar, before returning to our respective guest houses for the night. Rather than risk another fiasco on the southern rail network, they very kindly offered to drive me to Gatwick the next morning - Joanna was flying back to Edinburgh uni, her flight was a couple of hours later than mine, but she seemed happy enough to kill the time in between.
The journey that had taken me three and a half hours the previous morning turned out to be a 25 minute drive in the car, and I was soon waiting to board my British Airways flight back to Newcastle where I was met by Philip. Back home, back to normal and back to work the following morning. All in all it was a wonderful weekend, great to see Uncle Noel and Jane again, fantastic to see Cheam again and the house itself, wonderful to meet people like Margaret and Christopher from Morpeth and Uncle Raymond and Auntie Eleanor and of course lovely to spend time with Andrew, Jane and Joanna.
Later in the week I received in the post, Andrew's latest walking book which is a must-have for anyone who enjoys walking in the Yorkshire area. South Pennines and the Bronte Moors features a wide variety of walks to suit all tastes and gives some interesting history of the area.
25th March 2005
