With Mum back in fighting shape, the three of us headed down to Cobham to look after Rhubarb for the week, which is always a huge pleasure. We arrived late Sunday afternoon, and after giving Rhubarb a good cuddle—unfortunately, he’s lost most of his sight and hearing, but his nose is still good and he’s as gentle as ever. We also looked forward to catching up with Joel and hearing all about what he’s been up to.
The following day, after stretching and lifting some weights in the gym, while Rachel put Mum through her paces in the yoga studio, which Mum apparently really enjoyed the girls made their way to the jacuzzi. Meanwhile, I faced the ice barrel set at a barmy 8 degrees, with the option to slide it down to 4 degrees. Not a chance. On my first attempt, I think I managed about a minute before rushing off to find a warm shower. After throwing on some clothes and Rachel and Mum tearing themselves away from the Jacuzzi, we helped Rhubarb into his special car, and off we went to the woodland behind the golf course for the old chap to saunter through the forest. He used to be able to go for hours, but these days a good 45 minutes is fine.
That was pretty much the morning routine every day for the week. I also found Keith’s gloves and rediscovered the power of meditation, managing just under 9 minutes and really enjoyed the euphoric feeling during the experience. Mum and I went into Guildford to meet friends, and I popped into Crowthorne to visit an old friend. Christien stopped by one evening after golf, and together with Joel, we all had dinner, which was great fun.
We all enjoy the theatre, so we decided to make a day of it on Saturday. We drove 25 minutes to Morden before jumping on the Northern Line to Covent Garden. After spending a couple of hours wandering around, we headed to the St. Martin’s Lane Theatre to watch the longest-running production (72 years) and entered our matinee for the 29,451st production of Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap,” which we all really enjoyed. There’s nothing quite like a live performance. We then went to a lively restaurant for Mum’s first experience with Vietnamese food and chopsticks. She enjoyed the food, but the chopsticks, not so much. Before jumping back on the tube, the two ladies in my life insisted on stopping at the gelato shop apparently it was a must. Interestingly for me, it was directly across from Stringfellows, in infamous nightclub in its day and where I successfully interviewed to start what would be a 14-year career in casinos.
Dream Chasers 