A flying visit

Our very good friends Todd & Clare spent Wednesday night and Thursday with us on the last leg of their month long honeymoon. You may recall that we spent four days with them in Copenhagen just before Christmas. We had a wonderful time together. James particularly loved seeing them again. It was certainly hard to see them go and I guess emphasized to us the family and friends we miss so much back in Australia.

On Wednesday night we went to the Hinds Head pub. It's a bit of a favourite of ours in nearby Bray and serves superb food in a 15th century pub. It's owned by Heston Blumenthal, whose 3-star Michelin star restaurant, the Fat Duck, is next door.

Thursday was rather gloomy so we toured Windsor and on to Eton. As we approached the college students appeared from the narrow alleys dressed in their formal uniform; dark gray pin strip trousers, white collars with bow ties, and black tails. Amazing! They appeared to be on the way to class and were all carrying notebooks and texts. No bags or satchels to be seen. Teachers were similarly dressed in black suits and white bow ties.

Following on the pub theme we had lunch at the Royal Standard of England pub in Forty Green. It claims to be the oldest ale house in England at over 900 years old. It has tremendous atmosphere with wonky exposed beams and and eclectic assortment of ornamentation. The food is good too. I had rolled lamb shoulder and Todd the kitchen made pork sausages. Washed down with a pint of Chiltern Ale it was the perfect way to spend the afternoon.