Olympics time.

We left Auckland at midnight on Friday night. Singapore airlines flew us to Singapore in an uneventful,trip and a little bit of sleep was had by all. With a little shuffling of people and PPS club and Star Alliance gold cards we were all allowed into the Business class lounge for a shower. We got to see the lighting of the Olympic flame on TV. Soon enough the 2.5 hours were up and we were boarding the A380 for the flight to London. Ethan Mitchell's parent Jason and Sandra were on the same flight having overnighted in Singapore. It was my first flight on a A380 and I thought it not too bad. Of course the overall impression was improved by 7 seats for the 4 of us. Some impressive amounts of sleep gained on this leg. Arrival at Heathrow was fine, maybe 30 minutes queuing for immigration but our bags were through once we got there. They had television showing the Olympics so waiting was not a problem. We were met at the airport by Marion Smith, a friend of Merens from Girl Guide days. Marion brought us back to her lovely home in Woking. We all slept like logs on the first night. Nothing like sleeping on a plane to make you appreciate a real bed. The next day Marion took us to Windsor where the girls showed what they have been training 4 years for. Both have peaked for this event and managed to find lots of interesting shops and make several purchase. James and Sean naively thought we were there to see the castle. We then did a tour of the castle which was superb especially the audio commentary which gave lots of detail about each section. We started in brilliant sunshine and it was hot in the castle. Then there was thunder and then heavy rain. It was a great visit. On the way back to Woking we took a brief detour and drove through the grounds of Royal Holloway College, which is where Sam and I stayed in 2007 when following the Tour De France with Auckland Grammar School. Very beautiful old building. We even popped into the. Courtyard for a quick photo. Once back at Marion and Sams house we had a brief cup of tea and then walked into Woking for familiarization and wait for it......more shopping. Great success was had by Nicola with some clothes from Top shop. That night Sam and Marion had a BBQ with their neighbors Julian and Jill and daughter Esmay. A very pleasant evening with a few laughs and gentle ribbing. The Websters were wilting by 10pm so it was off to bed after watch a quick round up of the Olympics. Tomorrow we are planning to visit Mercedes world and Ealing to catch up with Teva Loos and Merryn Price, who were our neighbors in Auckland for many years.