Next stop was to the place of my birth - no, not Watford Hospital, but my cousin Caroline's house in Watford! Last year we just had a lunchtime catch up because of limited time, so this time I stayed for a couple of days. We made the most of the weekend, meeting up with family members, shopping, going out for lunch and dinner, drinking many many glasses of wine, and watching Phil consume some pretty awful Australian beer (and apparently this is usual, and not just for my benefit!!). And needless to say, we spent some time going over childhood memories (I dragged a 13 year old Caroline around the sites of London when I first visited the UK when I was 19, but luckily she seems to have fond memories of trudging around museums and monuments) and catching up with what has happened to our respective families.

We visited a pretty neat indoor ski slope where Caroline's grandson Antony did a fabulous job of skiing, not at all perturbed by the minus two temperature on the slopes . We cheered him on from behind the glass in the very warm watching area, coffee in hand..... We also visited my Aunt Joan and Uncle Melv in their beautiful house near Harrow, topping off the visit with a couple of proseccos as we checked out family photos.

The weekend went by so quickly that in no time at all, I was waving Caroline and Phil goodbye from the train taking me back to London. But it was a great weekend, and so nice to catch up with them both and the kiddies!

Off to Bath tomorrow for the last couple of days of this holiday.