Just checking in to my blog briefly to say that I flew into London on Monday and saw a friend of mine after her gender surgery. It was a total but wonderful coincidence that the trip I planned months ago was at the same time that Roz got called in for her operation.
After landing at London City Airport (and there are some spectacular photos below of Nice's Bay of Angels and London's Tower Bridge as we pivoted round the Shard skyscraper) I checked in at my hotel which happened to be just a few miles from where Roz was recovering. I arranged to see her early evening with Grace who lives in the area.
I'm pleased to say that Roz looked well, said the op had gone to plan, her daughter Ele was with her and we had a nice catch-up as I hadn't seen her since last year in Scotland.
Her gender clinic is on the edge of Wimbledon Common and as we are of a certain age there was a lot of reminiscing about the Wombles, too, who were a cultural phenomenon of 1970s Britain and the "Keep Britain Tidy" campaign. Small furry creatures who did meet, though, were Roz's ubiquitous Beaver and Ele's Topsy the Triceratops whom I introduced to my Lugubrious Crab from Monaco who is accompanying me on this trip. It might cheer him up! I won't post a photo of Roz in bed in her hospital gown but she looked well. Instead here she is at my home with Beaver in 2022.
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| Hospital visitors 2025 |
I brought Roz some presents from the Riviera, including characteristic soap from Nice that's made of asses' milk, just like Cleopatra used for her beauty regime!
Well done, Roz, and wishing you a full, successful recovery at home.
Grace and I went on to Putney for an evening meal. At the Prince of Wales pub - and I have thought carefully before making this bold statement - I had the best plate of fish and chips I have ever had in my life. It was perfect - and proof that British food if done well can be really good.
So that was a wonderful start to my trip to the UK.
Here is the Bay of Angels in the sunshine as we climbed out of Nice airport ...
... and here we pivot round the Shard in Central London towering over London Bridge Station, with museum warship HMS Belfast in the River Thames, Tower Bridge centre left, the Docklands skyscrapers and Isle of Dogs in the background, and the Thames estuary in the distance. An amazing view.
I'm in South West England now for the next couple of weeks. More on that next time. Skirts have been packed ...
Sue x
I don't know Roz, but congrats to her on her surgery. It reminded me of a friend, Lindsay, who had her surgery ? 10-12 years ago and it may have been at the same hospital (somewhere in South london, a distant, exotic place to a N Londoner - it was quite an adventure driving there from Kent, luckily I had big ball of string so I didn't get lost). Talking of exotic places - SW England, Sue? I've just come from there, driving from near Cape Cornwall to Kent on the very same day you travelled down there! One day we shall meet!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Nikki. I shall pass on your good wishes. Roz was a stalwart on Angels way back when we were both live there, and Flickr too, so you probably have interacted with her.
DeleteI'm not as far South West as you have been. I try to cover different parts of the UK on each trip so this autumn I think it will be the South East and we should try again to meet, maybe round your way.
Sue x