London Or Was It Exeter Central!

A afternoon and evening out in London is coming to a close as we slide into Basingstoke station on our way to Salisbury. As a treat I cooked up a real English breakfast with back bacon, Cumberland sausage, egg, mushrooms and samphire.

So what was that about Exeter Central you ask? I think that South Western trains may have introduced AI a little early. We pulled out of Salisbury station on the London train or so it insisted but no sooner had we pulled out than the impersonal voice began to inform us, this train is for London Waterloo, stopping at Andover, Basingstoke, Woking, Clapham Junction and London Waterloo. And then much to our and most our our carriage’s consternation: “the next station is Exeter Central.” It was not until we pulled into Andover that we breathed a sigh of relief - but the voice continued to insist that the next station was still going to be Exeter Central despite moving in the exact opposite direction.

But we arrived and made it over to St Martin-in-the-fields church for evensong at 4 pm where Iris, Naomi’s partner was singing in the 10 piece choir. This proved to be a really memorable experience - reminding me of the times as a kid when I used to listen in awe to the choir of St Mary’s in Ashton on Mersey. The choir had 7 pieces to perform including a couple with solos for Iris. The music was a very high standard and capped off with the one opportunity for raising our own voices in one of my favorite hymns “Dear Lord and Father of Humankind” (used to be mankind but thankfully the Anglican Church seems to have paid at least some attention to the overly patriarchal nature of its liturgy.

This was followed by introductions and getting to know Iris, catching up with N and then we were joined by Katy (my niece) and her partner Ed for a memorable Italian meal at Ave Maria. Had one of the best Carbonaras I’ve had and the most enormously meringued lemon pie I have ever had in my life - see extra when I get to post it in a few mins - photo courtesy of L.

Really enjoyed seeing N and I relate so naturally with K and E - two completely different family nieces acting like old friends. Delightful.