Visit to England - October 8th to 13th

On Saturday, October 8th I arrived at Byrnes Railway Station in south-east London to visit Ingvild and Irene. It was a long trip: first the train from Stange to Rygge, then Ryanair to Gatwick. Then the train to Byrnes Rail station with several changes along the way. On the plane I had the opportunity to be a good samaritan when one of the passengers fainted. A young man with wild eyes started calling "hey" a couple seats behind me so I got up to see what the problem was. A young woman, his fiance, was lying on the floor with her eyes closed. I talked to her, and though her eyes remained closed she responded by shaking her head so I knew she was resonsive. Her puls was strong and steady, her breathing a little fast, her skin warm and dry: just a fainting spell then. According to the fiance she had fainted before, just not on an airplane. Meantime the Ryanair staff had come running, they were definitly stressed out, and a man joined me, whom I assumed must be a doctor. The fiance held her legs up, the ryanair staff wondered if she needed sugar or anything. The doctor and I agreed she was most likely dehydrated. By this time she was opening her eyes and responding verbally. They gave her water and she went back to her seat. The doctor turned out to be a psychiatrist. I think he was quite happy to have an ER nurse on his team.

Irene and Ingvild came to meet me a the station and we walked to Ingvild's university to dump my stuff before heading back into the city to take in a show. I had discovered on my last visit that I had seriously neglected their education by not introducing them to "the wizard of Oz" stories when they were children. We made up for it by going to see the musical. It was really great with a real live ToTo!


Sunday Irene had to go back to Cornwall, where I was to join her on Monday night. In the meantime though I would have 24 hours alone with Ingvild. We took the bus to Paddington with Irene. First you cross this Bridge into the part of London called Hammersmith, where we had to change busses. From there the bus winds on until it eventually arrives in Paddington.

On the way back to Roehampton we went shopping at the Whole Foods Market. Both girls have embraced a vegan lifestyle and this is a fantastic market, full of organic goodness.




There is even a bin where you can throw away your traditional toiletries before buying the healthfull ones sold at the whole foods market.
We got up early on monday, and were just sitting down to breakfast when the fire alarm went off. Ingvild's first reaction was "just ignore it". Then she looked out the window and said: "I guess we have to go down". Slowly but surely all the students came out of the dorms, most of them in their pyjamas. It turned out to be just a drill. An official looking person thanked us all for eventually showing up before dismissing us to go back inside.


Above is the area where everyone gathered for the fire drill, the blue doors are the entrance to Ingvilds dorm house. She lives on the third floor on the right hand in a flat that she shares with several other students.
Below is the Sociology building where she has a lot of classes.


We took a long walk around the campus on monday morning before I went back to Byrnes station to take the train to Cornwall, where I would be visiting Irene on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Irene met me at the train station and we walked to her house. There was a birthday party going on for one of her housemates. Below is the front door to her house in Falmouth



Irene has 3 housemates: 2 guys and Krissi. I met them all. They seem really nice. The picture below is of Krissi and Irene in the Kitchen.

Irene studying in her bedroom. They have a guest room too, but while Irene was at class on tuesday I sat in her bedroom doing reasearch on lifestyle and diet for menopause.



I also spent some time on tuesday morning wandering around in Falmouth, shopping, and getting my hair cut. I bought some delicious cornish fudge at the farmers market below.

Lunch was an organic cornish pasty eaten at the harbor while listening to a street musician play the classical guitar.

Wednesday, Irene had more time off and we walked up to the castle that you can see from the town. In the evening she took me to a poetry reading. Some of the poetry was really quite good. Then thursday morning at the crack of dawn I had to get back on the train to London. Food didn't used to be something I particularly went to England for, but this time I have found some favorites. The bagel factory (a chain) at Paddington Station sells the yummiest bagels with melted cheese! And of course there is Starbucks. Anyway, I took a Brittish Airways flight home, noticing that they are much better prepared for emergencys with 2 overhead compartments dedicated to first aid equipment and an AED (defibrillator). I can only assume that the staff recieve appropriate training as well. I still like Ryanair though.