Day 472: Having the Thames of our life

09/11/2022

This morning it was an early start as we headed out of the house to catch the sun rising. We have been keeping an eye on the rail networks for the past couple of weeks, to say it has been chaos is an understatement. There were late planned strikes, strikes then called off at the last second and disruption as people did not know if they were supposed to be working. Pretty much sums up the whole of the UK at the moment. With a lucky late change of ticket, we headed off unsure how far we would get. There were no trains down the west coast, so it was across to Edinburgh before heading south to a family favourite again, an easy getaway, well easy most of the time, not today. Safe to say the trains were more than tricky this time. Eloise was disappointed that there would be no Hazel or Tom to greet us but was excited for another adventure.

The kids were confused, the sun was rising but the moon was still up, it was a “silly day”.

After a short delay, we lucked out on getting some seats together. The train station was a bit mental, no one knew what was going on, we happened to jump on a train that was heading in the right direction. The train conductor took one look at us and put us in the ‘Quieter Coach’, he obviously does not know a Lachnado when he sees ones. That is unfair, Lachlan is actually quite good on trains.

The kids were really good. Lachlan is a funny one, the boy can squat for hours. When he was not squatting he was train surfing. He is surprisingly good at standing on a moving train, it’s his party trick.

Once Eloise had finished drawing Elsa in blue, red, yellow and purple we arrived back at Platform 9 and 3/4.

It was noticeably warmer and brighter than sunny Glasgow. We made our way towards our hotel while lapping up the vitamin D, when all of a sudden, look who we bumped into! They had completed Eloise’s Brussels and Amsterdam FIK tour and we were reunited.

We caught up with some hugs and stories, checked in and made our way past St Paul’s Cathedral and over the Millenium Bridge.

We walked along the River Thames, having the Thames of our life, always good when you have to explain the joke, while the grandparents drew up a plan for their next few days in London.

It was getting dark quickly and everyone was hungry from a day of travelling, Eloise put in an early request for pasta and Lachlan eagerly agreed, surprise surprise.

After some well earned food, the grandparents got their first taste of the London Underground as we all headed back after a hard day in the offices.