Hammersmith 

Weather - Mixed - cloudy, cold - Min 6, Max 14

The nightly news announced that today is the the official start of the UK’s swimming season. It also announced May has recorded below average temperatures, rainfall and sunshine but it will be improving. We were lucky to have such brilliant weather for our walk at the start of this holiday. 

We spent the best part of the day at my longtime friend’s place at Mill Hill in north London. It took about 1.5 hours to get there via two trains and a bus. We arrived on time for lunch at Tom’s place at noon. It was lovely to see him again after many years. 

When I was in my late thirties and forties Tom and I used to travel together in Europe and we got on well. He and I shared a passion for art, architecture and food. We mostly travelled in France, Italy and Spain. I would drive and Tom would navigate as I was a lousy navigator and also used to get carsick trying to read the maps. 

Tom is now 86 years old and long retired from the priesthood. Age has caught up with him and he now has mobility issues but he’s still the same old Tom with a love for politics and royal gossip. We reminisced about so many things including Tom going to sleep and snoring at St George’s Chapel, Windsor during the Duke of Edinburgh’s speech and my talking at length to the Duke of Kent and I didn’t who he was! All good fun! Many of the stories Henk hadn’t heard of as I had forgotten some of them so he was bemused. 

Tom served an enjoyable lunch with Australian wines. Tom and I always enjoyed an Australian wine together. On Tom’s mantle piece was a photo of us taken at Doyle’s in Watson’s Bay, Sydney. I’ve never seen it and we both look very young and much thinner.

Tom and I compared publishing stories. Tom is an historian and showed me his most recent book which is titled, ‘Loyalty and Levy: West Derby in One Hundred in Lancashire Seen in the Succession Act Oath Roll in 1534 and the Lay Subsidy Returns in 1545”. I didn’t understand the title at all! 

Before we left Henk took a couple of photos of us in Tom’s garden. I wonder if I’ll make it to the mantle piece again! As I walked away I also wondered if I’ll ever see Tom again.

We didn’t get back to the flat until 5.30pm. For me it was a wonderful day talking about bygone days and Henk enjoyed listening to them.

As yet, we have no plans for tomorrow but it is going to be a day avoiding central London and its transport system as there are two large planned demonstrations with 4000 police in attendance. One of the protests, the ‘Unite the Kingdom’ protest has previously resulted in violence. There is also going to be the FA Cup final between Chelsea and Manchester at 3.00pm at the Wembley Stadium.