My God , my family and my travels: Orpington , Hemel Hempstead and old friends

Today morning was a typical English weather morning...a bit gloomy....but we spent it with friends that we have not seen in awhile....and that brightened our day.

David and I started our morning by driving on the M 25 which is a ring road around the city of London and headed East towards Orpington..a town in the county of Kent to visit Mike and Wendy Periam. David met Mike who is an English policeman in Malaysia while David escorted a British Minister and they kept in touch eversince. The drive was as usual very pleasant and as I saw the signboard pointing towards Orpington...I realised that I had written it every year on a Christmas card that we sent to The Periams every year. And it was exciting that I was finally going to see them in their home.

We were greeted by Mike...a matured man of fine facial features and a physique of 6'3"....followed by his lovely wife Wendy...a beautiful Englishwoman with very motherly features...and the warmth I felt from the both of them was awesome. And we went into their very lovely English home...where everything was in place and so tastefully decorated...and it really felt like we were in an English cottage with a fireplace and all. We chatted and chatted ...and then were treated to a lovely lunch prepared by Wendy...grilled salmon and zucchini with couscous and salsa..and for dessert a lemon tart with lemon ice cream made by her too. What a wonderful meal..and Wendy admitted that she loved to cook and the meal explained it all. After which old photos were shared..with lots of lovely stories....of past and present. At about 3pm we had to say bye to this beautiful couple with promises that they would visit Malaysia some day.

After that we headed north on the M25 to a place called Hemel Hempstead..where I was going to meet my classmate from Convent Bukit Nanas...Josephine Harding...whom I last saw in 1977 when I left school. Thanks to Facebook we found each other last year through another friend. We arrived at her home and we were again greeted with warmth that I cannot explain...Patrick her husband came downstairs to welcome us and she came running after him and we hugged like two young schoolgirls would. We also got to meet 2 of their 4 children...Sonia and Jonathan...what beautiful and good children. We chatted and giggled about schooldays and 'got to know' each other after 34 years...it was fabulous. And while she was preparing dinner , her husband Patrick took us on a guided tour of the town.

We were taken to the beautiful English countryside that was draped with yellow fields of rapeseed and horses grazing. Then we came to Apsley Marina where people park their boats in canals and the scenery was awesome....the surrounding buildings complimented the canals and it felt like a dream. After a few photos we visited the Snow Centre which was just amazing as we saw young people skiing down slopes of 'snow' indoors. We went back to their home and there was a beautiful hot dinner waiting for us...rice , lamb curry , chappatis , steam fish and vege and it was so sumptuous. We chatted about old days and time just flew us by and it was time to say bye..and it was so great that we found each other after all these years.

Today I learnt about friendships and how important it is in one's life...and how a short visit can put the spark back into an old friendship..even when you are holidaying its good if you can make time for old friends....because old and long friendships take you a long way.