Back from London. All went well.
Late on Saturday afternoon, there was a little house party for Zachary when members of Sarah's family dropped by after the separately important engagement meal in an Italian restaurant in nearby Chelsea.
There was her mum and dad and two of her five brothers plus their partners and Zachary's only male cousin and the lovely girlfriend of another of Sarah's brothers. He is an officer in the British army and co-incidentally was at a stag do up here in Yorkshire.
I found myself talking to one of the girlfriends. She was about twenty five and very pleasant, asking questions that showed interest in who I was and the life I lead. It was only afterwards that I discovered she is a genuine "Lady" and a bona fide member of the British aristocracy. Her father is a duke and her family home is a sprawling stately home in Sussex. I have racked my brain but I do not believe that I have ever met a "Lady" before.
Zach's birthday cake was a work of art, decorated with animal figures from a BBC TV animated children's show called "Raa-Raa The Noisy Lion". We gathered round as the single candle was lit before singing the little fellow his first "happy birthday" song.
Shirley and I babysat for all of Saturday night as Ian and Sarah returned to a certain pub in Chelsea where the evening session of the engagement party was now in full swing. They got home just after midnight and this morning they both had raging hangovers.
Zach is coming along nicely and is much loved. It was great to spend more time with him. He is pretty mobile and has a happy, uncomplaining nature. He laughs readily and has everything that he needs though that list was supplemented with numerous generous birthday gifts.
At 3pm we were at King's Cross Station to catch our return train home. Because of Sunday engineering works, we had to come back via Doncaster on the main east coast line. Good heavens! What an impressive journey that was - speeding along in a sleek, new train at 200mph. We reached Doncaster railway station in just 1hr and 33mins. Fantastic!
from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/J1Srkod