London — Day three
May 28, 2011
On Saturday, we traveled to Reading (just outside of Oxford) to see my college friend Darren and visit with his family.
After a late night the night before, it took us a little while to get moving Saturday morning, but we were able to catch the train and get into town by 11.30. Darren picked us up at the station and we got to ride to the house with him and his 9-year-old son, Andrew. Andrew was quite the talker and bonded with Tim during the ride over his tennis lessons.
After catching up over coffee at the house, Darren’s wife Jenni grabbed the dog and we all rode into town to have lunch at the local pub. Unlike at home, the dog was able to join us at the bar, sitting contentedly at our feet and occasionally nuzzling with the black Lab at the neighboring table.
Afterwards, we walked off the meal by meandering down the Thames. The dog was excited to (repeatedly) jump into the river to retrieve sticks and logs and more sticks. We walked for about an hour, watching the dog play and enjoying the scenery, before turning around and heading back to the house for some F1 racing (Tim and Darren) and conversation in the kitchen (me and Jenni).
We headed back to the city to arrive just in time for the big soccer match, the UEFA championship between Manchester United and Barcelona, which was being played in town at Wembley. It was fun watching with the local fans (and a few UCB ones); a Man U fan helped us out by giving us stats and filling us in on the rules. Saddened by the Barcelona win, we headed back to Belgravia for a late dinner and went to bed.
