Saturday, 2/21/15 - 12:30 pm. Our
Eurostar train arrived
St. Pancras Station bang-on at 12:30pm. We made our way for the
taxi stand and loaded our 5 roll-aboards and 5 backpacks into a black cab to take Kate and Ellie to our
hotel in Hammersmith. The boys and I headed back into St. Pancras to find the Underground station for the Victoria Line. We quickly bought three single-ride tickets and boarded the first train that came along. At Victoria Station, we got off, in search of the District Line, where Charlie spotted guys with Chelsea kit on the platform... “that’s where we should be, Dad!” Given it was less than two hours before the start of the match, the train line was very busy, as was the car we boarded. There were two Chelsea-clad blokes standing in the doorway of an already-bursting train car. Bloke #1 spotted the boys’ home and away jerseys,
and made room for them... “come on lads, you are okay here” ... as if, they would squeeze a little more for two of their own. We proceeded, sardine-like for six stops to
Fulham Broadway,
where we alit into a bright sunny day and a mass of people headed for the stadium. Not knowing what the food situation would be inside, we opted for takeaway from Sainsbury’s and Pret a Manger from the Fulham Broadway mall next door. After pounding the sandwiches on the sidewalk and watching people dodge dung from a recently-passed unit of police horses, we moved to the
Peter Osgood statue where we would rendezvous with my Virgin Media client who bought us tickets. Trevor was right on time, and after a few minutes of chit chat, he gave us our tickets and we went through the turnstile. Our seats were at the top of the West Stand near the mid line, so we had a great view of the entire patch, but had to climb the entire vertical height of the stadium. We had a great time watching the warmup and eventual start of the match. For Chelsea, the
resulting 1-1 draw was probably a blown opportunity to help themselves in the standings, especially against their bottom-dwelling opponent, Burnley. But for the boys, the chance to see Stamford Bridge and a team they both follow intently, it was a magical afternoon, only to be further enhanced by a late substitution bringing in Didier Drogba, a living Chelsea legend, nearing the end of his career.
After the match, we were out of the ground by 5:15 and walking north toward Hammersmith, in search of a taxi or bus that would deliver us to the Novotel where Kate and Ellie were. We purchased three Oyster Cards from a convenience store and hopped aboard a 295 bus at Shorrolds Road. By 6pm, we were in the room readying for our dinner party invite at the Mason Pearson’s, our friends from Putney Park days and our life in Barnes.
The dinner at Lucy and Nick’s house was exceptional, as the kids got to reacquaint themselves after an
7.5 year gap (which in Charlie’s case, was more than half his lifetime since he last saw the Keller and MP kids). It was as if they were together just last week, picking up old friendships from long ago. Common interests in FIFA, GTA and Instagram probably helped the kids realize they are not too different given the time and distance. The meal put on by the MP’s was fabulous in every regard, from starters, to the main course to the yummy desserts and cheese. Nick never stopped pouring wine. The feast was such a happy time as 17 of us sat at one long table, recounting endless stories of Putney Park and life as we knew it when the kids were in the same school in ’06/’07. We probably overstayed our welcome, but we left the MPs after midnight and quickly returned to our hotel via a
209 bus to Hammersmith.
Sunday, 2/22/15 9 am. We had one objective for the day, to see where we lived in Barnes and retrace our steps from our happy time living in London. From our hotel, we took a 209 bus back to Glebe Road, where we jumped off in our our old neighborhood. We walked over to our favorite pub, the
Red Lion,
for a spectacular
Sunday brunch at 12 Noon. There is something about a Sunday afternoon in a London pub, as everyone seems intent on a relaxing, slow-paced, good time. We found the same vibe, having a leisurely meal over the course of two hours. Charlie got his beloved bangers and mash, while Peter had fish and chips. The local beer and was excellent as well.
After lunch, we walked along Church Road and then Glebe Road, where the boys rang the bell of our old house and charmed their way inside to see their room.
From there, we went by the duck pond where Peter took some great pictures of the resident mallards and swan, while I took refuge from a quickly-emerging rainstorm at our #2 pub,
The Sun Inn.
At 4pm, we took a taxi to the Keller’s house for families-reunion part two. Here the same set of kids, sans Olivia and Louis Mason Pearson, had a great “tea” and a “pudding” consisting of Tiffany’s just baked, double-layer white cake, and Matt’s espressos in girly cups (Matt’s words). It was Sunday night and back-to-school for the MPs and Kellers, so we said farewell around 7pm. We were back to the hotel after stopping at the Barnes Pizza Express for an additional moment on memory lane. We returned to the hotel and packed our bags for an early departure in the morning.