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I am flying Ryanair from Biarritz to Stansted, London. First stop is to catch up with Freddie and Simon who live 10mins from the airport. I am a bit nervous as usually Bill organises everything to do with our trips - I'm the blog and fun element. Crikey, I have to be responsible and look at everything. After getting through security I head to the gate. Ryanair is like a bus. Everyone is piling off the flight from London. We are waiting to pile on.
After a one and a half hour flight Freddie picks me up. She has prepared lunch. A yummy quiche. We catch up. Both Freddie and Simon went to University College, Oxford with Bill. Over the years we have caught up, as well as with two of their children in New Zealand as part of their "OE".
Both are keen gardeners. We walk around their wonderful garden.
Then Freddie and I go for a long walk and chat the whole way round, about family and about Univ friends we know and did know. Including the gorgeous Alex, and Bex, both of whom have since died and who we all knew.
We pass berries and farmland. I am always surprised England has public walkways that feel as if you are walking on private land. We saw what looks to me like wild blueberries - they are called bilberries.
Wild boysenberries.
Sunflowers.
A llama playing rugby.
[From Wikipedia]: "In England and Wales a public footpath is a path on which the public have a legally protected right to travel on foot. In some areas public footpaths form a dense network of short paths. It is probable that most footpaths in the countryside are hundreds of years old. The legal right arising from a public footpath is to "pass and repass along the way". A user may, however, stop to rest or admire the view, providing they stay on the path and do not cause an obstruction."
After two hours of walking, we go to the pub and have a beer.
We return to Freddie and Simon's Orchard House in Mill Rd. We have a beautiful dinner cooked by Freddie, though Simon sometimes cooks he says. This is the sun setting over the garden.
The next day in the Kermode family chat, Anna had got into a TikTok thing where people are asking their partners how often they think of the Roman Empire and every boyfriend says 3-4 times a week apparently. She interviews Harry, her partner. He says he thinks about it "all the time". She doesn't believe him.
I ask Simon if he thinks about the Romans. He says he has three Roman Empire books on the go at the moment! He thinks about it 24/7. too
Bill says he thinks about them when he goes into a church or something old.
Simon is the winner of the Roman Empire Thinking Universe. I think Simon is an expert on Roman Times and could write a book about how we could apply Roman Thinking to this modern world to make it better. I am thinking especially about having a healthy planet for us all. Here is just one of Simon's current three books.
I have the next morning catching up on admin. We had another lovely lunch. Kath and Aileen pick me up at 3.00 pm. We drive to Swinton in Yorkshire, about 4 1/2 hours. We talk all the way about everything and anything. It is fun and glorious.