Granddad with his Granddaughter & Great grand kids

We woke up around 9 am today to some beautiful smelling, clean clothes. One thing I don’t like about traveling is having limited access to a washing machine and clean underwear.
Uncle Steve came home around midday-ish and we head straight out to see my Granddad who lives in Woking, around half an hour away from Banstead.
Nathan, Amy & I followed Steve in a different car as he had to head off for a tea party around 3ish. He had to pull over a few times to wait for us, we seemed to get every red light.
We arrived at Granddads half an hour later and it was great to see him. He had suffered two strokes last year and wasn’t doing to well so it was lovely to see him up & smiling.
We called around to a few local pubs to see if they had any tables free as it was a bank holiday weekend. Most didn’t answer or didn’t have a table free for a few hours, after calling a few places we finally got through to someone at the Cricketers, who would have a table for us in an hour so we took it as we wouldn’t get anything better.
We went down and sat at the bar for a drink before lunch, we had gotten in contact with one of my older cousins who were coming down to meet us with there kids. We just had to hope a table for an extra 6 people would become available!
Nathan ordered a 1664 beer, I hadn’t had an English beer yet so I ordered the same. Half way through I was feeling a bit tipsy, looking at the side of the glass I realized that this beer was 2.8 standards drinks! No wonder, I’m not usually a big drinker, especially on crutches. Drink-crutching is dangerous as drink driving. Especially trying to maneuver through a busy pub, with wet slippery floors, roofs that suddenly drop and bags left all over the floor. As you walk to the toilet going down the steps the roof suddenly drops a meter, I could only just fit on crutches.
Amy: “I feel like I'm in Tyrian Lannisters house!” (Game of Thrones reference) Me: “I feel like I'm in a scene of Alice in Wonderland, with the roof getting lower and the doors even getting smaller!”

The others arrived not long after us, this strange man was smiling at us and it took me a few seconds to realize it was my cousin Paul! He came with his partner Kerry and their two kids, Riley & Oliver, my cousin Emma also came with her little one Zachary. Riley, Oliver & Zachary were Granddad's great grand kids! Zach is adorable and looks so much like his mum, Emma! It had been three years since i'd seen any of my family from England so it was lovely too see everyone happy & healthy. Half an hour later our table was finally ready, Nathan & I sat opposite the three kids who all sat on their iPhones. Riley was telling us how he’s getting a new iPhone soon for 13 pounds! The other two sat quietly watching shows on the phones.
I ordered a full rack of ribs, another one of my favorite foods, any diet I was on before this holiday has been completely kicked, thrown and shoved out the window. All washed down with a coke, even healthier...
It was extremely hot in the pub with so many people around, but last time I saw my Granddad he told me that if any one of his Grandkids got a tattoo they’d be out of his will. So I had to keep my jumper on, not because I want his money, because I don’t want to upset him! I was scared he would disown me or something! (I’m sure he wouldn’t, but I was still freaking out a bit!!)
Steve had to bail around 3.30 to go to his tea party, he was already half an hour late! The rest of us left about half an hour later we were all ready for an after noon nap after such a big feed.
We took Granddad back in our car and went in for a cup of tea. Something I told Nathan he’d have to get used to as everyone drinks tea in England! Understandable, especially on a day like today, wet and cold.
We stayed there for a few hours, talking and reminiscing swapping stories. It was lovely. Can tell that Amy really looks after him, she helped make the tea and clean up. I feel awful not being able to move much or help out cleaning much! (Honestly!)
Granddad was telling us about his trip to Australia a few years ago and an up coming trip of his to France soon, was nice to see he’s still exploring!
We headed off around 6ish with Amy as our navman. We googled the directions before leaving, on the way there it was around a half an hour drive but Amy’s phone was telling us it was a 55 minute drive. Something wasn’t right but we went with it, almost all of the turn off’s we missed because Amy would tell us a few meters before or after we had to turn. She reminded me a lot of my self by doing this. It was a classic trait of mine to tell someone to turn after we had passed the turning. Must run in the family! We some how ended up back at Gatwick airport, we had gone completely the wrong way, luckily we got back on track, with Amy’s phone now on 9% battery it was touch an go for a while wether we’d make it back home. An hour later we made it back, Uncle Steve called to see if we wanted curry for dinner. I was still choc-a-block from lunch! but how can you say no to curry?! You can’t, that’s how.
It was heavenly too, we had chicken corma and a spinach & potato dish, with pashwari naan!! (ANOTHER of my favorite foods - No wonder I’m a chunky monkey these days haha) Curries just aren’t the same in Australia. Even though I was full before I started I still managed to finish a full plate.
Tummy stretched, pants hardly fitting I could feel myself gaining kilos by the day here. No one comes back from a Euro trip without putting on weight, its inevitable!
We sat down to watch some awful English television, watched Jen’s two adorable puppies run around the room and ate some delicious English chocolate.