Realising what we remember

On the Sunday morning I was up fairly early, and  soon Ethan made on appearance with his Mum. he was given a brioche roll for his breakfast, and seemed to enjoy it very much. I was sitting in the living room when Son came down, and he presented Ethan with a brioche, I commented, 'He's already had one of those'. Son shrugged and said, ' He normally eats 2'. Later as he saw his Grandad slicing a banana onto  a brioche, he made complaining noises till he was offered a banana. What a little pickle he is!
Lunch all prepared we set off for church,and Son borrowed my keys to lock up,as they were going to the 11.15 service in St Albans. It was the first Sunday in the month, so we should have stayed for communion, but the preacher overran a bit, so we didn't stay. I'm always aware that our family have to travel back home. We had roast pork, same as last time they were here. It just worked out that way. I had bought a red velvet cake from Sainsbo's, a new line, so we had some for dessert, and all enjoyed it, especially Ethan. Not long after lunch they packed up the car and were off, Tom eager to go, even if he does love us. We both fell asleep, but quite a bit later than usual.
On the Monday morning, we met up with our Daughter at the main station. She had taken Nathaniel to school. We bought one day travel cards, and boarded the train for Euston. Then we waited for a bus, which seemed to go around half of London, I'm not sure where we alighted, but we had quite a walk to our destination, which was the Tower of London. We were there to see the poppy artwork, 'Blood swept lands and seas of red'. We walked in a clockwise direction around the tower, but didn't go down into the gardens. there were hordes of people there, but a lovely atmosphere, people giving way to others, being friendly, and pointing out gaps in the crowds for photo opportunities. Sadly when we reached the North side again, we missed the 'weeping window', but we got some pretty good photos, and the sheer scale of the poppies makes one realise, the scale of the loss of life.

My Grandfather, Mum's Dad, and his Brother, both fought at the Somme, and both returned. My Dad's Brothers all served, and all came home, but one had shrapnel injuries, and complications from those eventually caused him to die fairly young.
We decided to go to a Pret a Manger for lunch. I was cold; (I usually overdress for London and complain I'm hot,) so I chose a soup as well as a roll. The soup was so filling, it was mushroom and rice, very tasty and warming. We managed to find stools to perch on, Lydia wasn't terribly hungry, she ate a little whilst seated in my lightweight buggy. Afterwards, we set off for the underground, suddenly I gave a yell, 'Ouch'. I felt as if I had stepped on a drawing pin, but as I took my shoe off, felt something tear my foot. There was a sharp object sticking through the bottom of my shoe. Husband managed to pull it out, it looked like a piece of wire. He threw it away where it could do no further harm, and I limped along.
Soon we reached the underground, and husband helped lift the buggy down the steps. We got off the train at Euston Square, as we left, the heavens opened, once again I was minus waterproof, and got yet another drenching. I got a paper and a magazine, then we boarded the train. It was a train which only stopped twice before our town, so a fairly quick journey. By the time we reached our stop, the rain had soaked through my fleece, and I felt really cold.
The heating hasn't been on much, as it's been so mild, but when we got home, I put it on, got changed, put a warm sweatshirt on, and stayed snug the rest of the day.
On the Tuesday I decided to dismantle the spare bed on my own, big mistake! I suffered with pain in my back afterwards, which made looking after the children a little bit more difficult, but I managed to take Lydia for a walk in the buggy on the Thursday, she fell asleep eating her lunch, so Husband took her up for her nap. So I had a rest and a bit of a doze too.
There was nothing remarkable about the next day's childminding, and on the Friday we were busy tidying, packing,and traveling to see Mum in Law on the South Coast. we stopped at the usual services for lunch. I threw the staff into confusion at the Costa, by asking if their chicken was halal. they really didn't know, so I chose cheese. Husband had a bacon toastie.
We arrived at the bungalow just after 3 pm. Mum in Law was pleased to see us and never complains about the amount of stuff we take. She was thrilled to get more pictures of her Great grandchildren, and especially the school photo of Nathaniel. comparing it to the Nursery picture from last year, we can see how much he has changed.
Unsure what to take for dinner, I had bought a couple of lasagnes from Sainsbo's,  so we had that with salad. I saw later that there was to be a 'Lewis', in ITV, so asked if I could watch it. It was a two part episode, but it got husband interested enough to want to watch the second half.
When we went to bed, I took something to help me sleep,as I find the bed uncomfortable, but there was thunder and lightning to keep me awake. Oh well, I did get some sleep. Enough to get me through the next day.