SomersTownLisa

London Life
2022-07-06 20:40:30 (UTC)

Jack back home

Sat 02/07/2022
I was marshalling at Hampstead ParkRun, and left in good time at 08:00, but got a train in the wrong direction and then the first one back was cancelled. At Hampstead Heath station, I saw Steve C and Rosie, but had to run on, and I got there ten minutes late having taken a roundabout route. I saw beautiful Sophie at the start, and Simon on his way to a marshalling place.

I was sent to a spot which was hard to find, supposedly near another marshall, and I followed the path until I realised I must be wrong. I walked back and saw the first runners, so I decided to stand at a junction and although it looked quite obvious which way you should go, I did have to direct a few stragglers who asked the way. As well as the people I’d already seen, I saw Charlotte (after second look) and someone else called me by name, who I later worked out was Mia (Charlotte’s flat mate).

Afterwards I made a quick exit, as Mia and Charlotte had gone and I didn’t want to go for a drink only with Simon. I had a bit of time to do home admin before getting the train to Grantham. Jack got on with his Dad (which I wasn’t expecting) and we walked to his brother’s house. We then went to the house they’re renting for him. They’d brought all his furniture and family pictures, to make him feel at home.

I went out with him and his two grandsons, and we took him to a park which he seemed to like. There were a lot of people at the house including Sarah, Rob and Rebecca, but he was still saying he’d be going home laterThen when most people had gone, he was angrily saying he was going home, and even walked outside looking for a bus stop. He forgot about that later, but it was hard to get him to bed. I couldn’t get to sleep until about 5:00.

Sun 03/07/2022
I knew that if I was going to do a 105-minute run, I needed to get out soon after breakfast. It worked perfectly; it’s usually difficult to time a run if I’m somewhere unusual, without having to return the same way or get back too soon, or too late. This time, I went up a road next to the park we went to yesterday, because I’d seen hills behind it. I ran up a quiet ‘A’ road, then turned left when I saw a sign for a village. I passed through it and then to another, then I had a choice about whether to follow a sign back to Grantham, or go diagonally on to Harlaxton, which I decided to do.

After passing through there, I had an option of an ‘A’ road back to Grantham but it looked busy so I took the risk of carrying on, which could have taken me off track but amazingly took me to the Grantham canal. I wasn’t fooled by the old stone sign saying “II miles to Grantham”, it was in Roman numerals. I was also pleased with my pace.

I phoned Jack who was waiting near the visitor centre, as his Dad’s scooter had run out of battery. I asked two sweet girls if they knew the right direction to the visitor centre, and they kindly offered to look it up by phone, but obviously I’d done that already. I found the scooter, charging in the visitor centre, before I saw Jack and his dad sitting in the sunshine. We went back to the house but soon ahd to take him out again, to the park where there was a fete going on. Soon we got the train back to London. At one time, Jack’s dad phoned up and said “I think I’m at home, but my memory’s so bad”.

Mon 04/07/2022
Great to have Jack back home and we went out to Ellie’s (which was packed) for the first time since April. I thought my tough work period was over, having closed a lot of applications last week, but apparently there were a lot of letters to compile and send out, which I wasn’t aware of. I was even checking them in late evening after getting back from a task at Mile End.

None of my favourite people were there as chopped away at hogweed in the cemetery but I had some chat with Sara, C, Alex the man and a confident girl, Sarah doing her second ever task. Beforehand I did a training run with, again, a decent pace. Again I got on a wrong train, and got to Cannon Street before I realised.

Tue 05/07/2002
I went into the office so I could go to lunch with Bertha, who said she didn’t mind where we went, but then flinched at going to the salad place which Elina likes. Bertha suggested Pizza Express but we went down to Strutton Ground, and eventually queued at an Indian stall. I noticed after a while there was a green line through the vegetable paneer, and the man confirmed that this meant it had run out.

So I just got a samosa and a large onion bhaji which was very filling. I’d got a vegan poke in the fridge anyway, which I ate later. I finally got up to date with my work about 16:45, and then put together my article about Valencia, which I’d already researched and had largely written in my head. I hadn’t been happy about the series I’ve been told to write this year, but I did enjoy compiling this one in the end.

Jack phoned to say he’d be a bit late so I sat downstairs until I got fed up and went to sit in Pret. Eventually he turned up about 19:30. We walked through St James’s Park, where there was some kind of parade going on, and ended up at Vantra. While I was waiting in the office, Sajid Javid resigned, then Richi Sunak, which means it is now the beginning of the end for Johnson.

Jack’s brother was on the phone, saying he couldn’t cope with his Dad – this after only two days, when we’ve had our life stopped for abut ten weeks. He is still demanding to go home and has been sitting in Jack’s brother’s van. The phone calls with Jack and his sister went on until 23:30, so we had to wait until then to watch the BBC1 News and Newsnight, after today’s dramatic developments. It needed the cabinet to make a stand, or they would have to wait to change the party rules about how to trigger a leadership contest.




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