A week of celebrations

  Leatherhead, United Kingdom
Sunday, September 9, 2007

Luxury!  Our apartment for a week in Leatherhead near Jen's mum in Epsom was so spacious and comfortable after small hotels and B&B rooms. We had space to sit and eat as well as sleep, and a dishwasher as well as a washing machine. Pure luxury really.
 
We were also pleased that we had space for James to join us again, and could have Anne to "our" place for a meal or two.
 
We had a trip to Horsham to visit old family friends of the Hare whanau, Chris and her daughter Angela, and more tripping down memory lane to Slinfold and Billingshurst where Jen had been to school when she was 4yrs old. The old school had been offices and salesroom for Sotherbys but was now being turned into apartments.
Horsham was an enchanting old town with a medieval central area including the church where Donald, Jen's dad was christened.
 
Tuesday was Grayson's (Brian's brother-in-law)60th birthday. Grayson and Catherine were in Kingston visiting family, Fiona and Jake, and to turn it into a real antipodean event, Fe's sister Belinda with John, and another Wills sibling, Jeanette with Lee just happened to be in town. So there was a gathering of 18 Kiwis having an evening rendezvous and birthday bash in Richmond Park to mark the occasion. We hadn't seen so many Kiwi's in one place since we left Auckland.
 
James arrived from London that night and next day, Wednesday was Anne's 80th. We were joined by Andy at Burford Bridge for a very convivial lunch. It was at this historical coaching hotel that Anne and Donald (Jen's Dad) had their wedding reception over half a century ago. A wonderful occasion, and had always been part of the reason for our timing of the careerbreak.
 
On Saturday Anne very kindly hosted a small gathering for close friends and family from NZ as well as some of our UK friends to celebrate our marriage. This was in the pubover the road from her house to  and it was a wonderful convivial occasion