The London Aunt

We had lunch with Aunt Jo yesterday - in London.  It was a beautiful day - dazzling blue sky, the odd white fluffy cloud - coldish - London very green with the Autumn colours everywhere.  Lovely rowan tree from Jo's window with the Autumn sun making the red berries shine.

We gave her a copy of the 2012 Butterfly Calendar, which has come out very well.

She gave us a quiche with salad, followed by creme caramel, with a very good red wine.  And coffee.   We talked about new things, and old things.

Every generation goes through this process - the layers and layers of memory accumulated.  Uncle Paul's funeral is now receding into the past. And we were remembering our time in the Lake District with them when we were all young.  And the lovely curries Paul used to cook for us.   And how, before I was married, Uncle Paul used to walk me home to my bedsit in Baron's Court.

The bus ride to and from Aunt Jo's was also a trip into the recent past - our expat past - as it is very Islamic now, with Arabic writing on nearly all the shops, lots of ladies in abayas, Lebanese restaurants, a prayer call going on somewhere, and verses from the Koran at the bus station.  I was hurtled past them by Captain Speedy before I could take in more than the first one - which is basically that there is only one God.