2nd July
The generative summary of our trip to London indicated that our flight would start at 11:15am from Delhi and land at Heathrow airport at about 4:30 pm local time in London. Before the flight could take off, some technical snag was detected which delayed departure by about 3 hours.
Earlier we had queried the travel agent as to whether we could take Gangajal in our baggage. He had replied that we could take it in the checked in luggage. As regards the charger etc. these could be taken in our hand luggage. We had taken TATA AIG Travel Insurance for both of us, my wife and myself.
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With Amolika on inauguration of the out-house on 2nd July
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We got up quite late in the morning at about 9:30am and met our grandchildren, I told my son, we should inaugurate the outhouse, it has been very well made with all the facilities and comforts. A garden is added to it as well as lawn.
As
we had not slept for long and tired, we look an early lunch and slept for over
6 hours and woke up at about 7 pm. We had a good chat with every member of the
family and after dinner, slept early.
4th July
Although Venita continued sleeping, I got up at 4:15am, the sun was just rising. This is the time when I do meditation. I felt as if I had been woken up by some force at that time to do meditation. While watching the sun rise in the east, I was reminded of my days with my father who used to wake me up early morning. I had to sit along with him and watch the sun rise, recite Gaitri mantra. The new generation of children are not used to doing this in present times. They rise quite late and start their work. I felt fresh in my mind and had a heartful chat with grandchildren, son and daughter-in-law. We had lunch together, in the evening I walked in front of the outhouse and after dinner, I retired to sleep at around 11pm.
5th July
We went out to Southfields and had coffee along there with Venita. Amitabh dropped us there and picked us up in the afternoon. We slept for sometime.
6th July
We got up early morning, the sky was overcast and could not see the sunrise. During meditation for an hour, and even after that I couldn’t see the sunrise. It was chilly and breezy.
Dalia Lama was in the news. He declared that he would soon announce his 2nd incarnation, as there was no information about Panchan Lama his younger brother, whom he had been declared to be his incarnation. However this had not been accepted by China, according to a news item in the Daily Telegraph.China had announced that incarnation would have to be approved by the government of China.
Another news item, was that future weapons of war would be the Interceptor Drones.
We went to Southside shopping centre, with Ruchi & Amitabh. We had scrumptious lunch at Wagamama’s. I had Ramen with noodles & soup, very delicious. Venita did some shopping, and we returned back around 5pm. We came back early as we were expecting guests to come and meet us. Dr. Rushmi and her husband came around six o’clock. Dr Rushmi is the cousin sister-in-law of Sungita. We had dinner together with Mohan and Sudha. Mohan is course-mate of Amitabh at Chetna Institute Bombay.
Emma
Raducanu, british favourite got defeated by the women’s number one Aryna
Sabalenka.
7th Julyi
It was again an overcast sky today, with no sign of the sun. Even after my meditation I could not see it, but the weather was good, slightly chilly and airy.
We went to Wimbledon Elys, and moved about in Wimbledon Sunday’s farmers market. We went to Elys after to buy a gift for Amolikaa, and had delicious food with sandwhiches, avocado, cheese toastes. We returned back at 4:30.
Cameron Norrie & Carlos Alcaraz proceeded to the quarter finals where they face each other. The oldest women playing in the tournament Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova proceeded into the quarter finals, beating the last british womens player in the fourth round.
8th July
For the third time in row, it was a rainy day, no sign of sun. Even during my meditation, I could not see the sun. It was drizzling during my meditation and only stopped around 7am.
We
went to Wimbledon village and had a cup of coffee in Café Nero. I had Camomile
tea, Venita and Amitabh had coffee. Venita did shopping in the village. We
returned by lunch time.
The grand-daughters have grown up, helping their mother in kitchen. There are critical of old attitudes of their parents and tell them about new things. I enjoyed the conversation among them.
My daughter-in-law is quite involved with the garden of the house. She has planted beautiful flowers, some fruit trees and also maintained lovely lawn.
Cookie has become quite old, while Winnie has become lazy.
The Keir Starmer labour leader, who leads the labour government, were considering to tax the wealth, but there was an opinion against it, as it said that it would harm the growth of the country. The latest Economist magazine wrote about the tragedy of labour, and that Sir Keir starmer is losing ground.
Djokovic, just managed to scrape through into the quarter finals after a tense match with Alex De Minuar.
9th July
Venita returned from Birmingham at about 8 pm. She had gone at London ‘Euston Station’ at about 9:45am to catch the train to Birmingham.
President, Macron of France was given warm welcome by the King, a banquet by the royal family. He spoke in English, and thereafter in French. Similarly, the King also spoke in French the first instance and later on in English. The object of President Macrons was to soften the blow of Brexit as it could not be undone. However the effect could be altered as far as possible.
10th July
Today was a clear sky. I could see the sun rise from the east and gradually go towards the west. This process started at around 21st June. This also announces the arrival of winters gradually. The huge oak tree in front of the outhouse was hiding the full view of sun.
Amitabh and I went to Starbucks at 1:30pm, he could not go earlier as he was waiting to help the guests to park their vehicles in the compound of the house to watch the Wimbledon Tennis matches.
Ruchi has changed the face of garden. She has put pretty flower pots & lovely cherry tree, tomato and basil plants. She has endeared herself much more by these activities.
Anna Stobart came and spent over 3 hours with us. We talked about her parents who were our very good friends. She was quite emotional during the talk. She is quite well informed. It was pleasure talk to her.
11th July
It was a bright sunny day.
Earlier during the day, we went for coffee at Starbucks near Elys. Curiously there is no Starbucks outlet now in Southfields (although there was one before). I used to go to it after a long walk in Wimbledon Park. Now the nearest outlet is near Elys. We had an early dinner after Anna left and retired to sleep.
12th July
I could see the sun rise well at about 4:15am, a bright sun moving towards the southern side of the horizon. Its movement started southern side on 21st January.
We went to Southside along with Amitabh and Ruchi, it was a hot day. We returned late from there late and had lunch around 4 pm.
13th July
Wimbledon Men's Finals were played today and results as follows :
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Men's singles final: Jannik Sinner defeated Carlos Alcaraz 4-6 6-4 6-4 6-4.
15th July
I watched the sun rising till it was in it's full glory. I felt its blessing. I did not think it would be setting for Alcaraz who was the defending champion. On 13th he lost to Sinner by 3-1 sets. I felt as if he had lost his mental strength to fight with which he started his game and won the first set. Anyway it was the day for Sinner who won the game. I managed to climb down to my seat in Centre Court of the match with tremendous effort. There was no difficulty in climbing up the stairs later. I left just before the end of the second set so that Venita could come and enjoy with my grandaughter Abhishree to watch the remaining games. I spent the remaining day in watching on Tv and relaxing as I had not gotten a good sleep during the night.
2 comments:
Beautifully written, amazing trip!
Nicely written about your London visit with nice photographs.
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