Ailish Saturday surprise

Because he lives so close to us in Portobello, we see much more of our nephew Paddy than we do of his sister Ailish (blipped).

It was therefore a lovely surprise when Ailish ambushed us at lunchtime today at Kings Cross railway station. We had arranged to meet our brother-in-law Richard (only) there for lunch. He thought it would be fun if Ailish and her boyfriend Danny joined us too. Richard treated us all to a meal at the Parcel Yard before Mr hazelh and I caught the second last train of our day to East Croydon.

Counting two longish breaks, we were on the 'road' today for about nine hours in total. Our means of transport were foot, train, foot, train, train, and car. I entertained myself while travelling by finishing off the three-episode documentary about the Maxwell family that is currently available on the BBC iPlayer.

Our earlier break was in Newark. Here we perused the charity shops, then shared a superb scone in the Old Bakery Tearooms - see the extra for a shot of this beautiful beamed medieval building.

We are now settling in for a few days with my Mr hazelh's mother and stepfather. This is the Christmas visit that we were obliged to postpone due to the rail strikes in December.

Exercise today: walking (10,193 steps).