It’s light dreadfully early.
The sun illuminates my room well before 5 am. For a morning person, it is like a siren going off. I usually drag my tired body out of bed to keep my cousin company downstairs while he entertains the little ball of fur.
The plan for today was to be rustig. We had spent most of yesterday on our feet, and we were tired. So much so that Ruan only rolled out of bed at 8:30! Trust me – when the sun rises early, it seems late.
I enjoyed my morning granola with sliced nectarine and organic yoghurt. I have been relishing the fresh food here. The fridge is stocked with greens and fresh produce that gets delivered here. Yes. They have a delivery service for groceries that are on time, efficient and serves excellent food.
Lunch was served outside where the sun decided to grace us with its presence. Leftovers from Sunday thrown into a healthy salad and we enjoyed the warmth.
Chris had made up his mind. He set aside his work for a spell to take us to a local park. BY LONGBOARD.
I have always admired how people seemed to glide effortlessly on these boards, sliding between cars and drifting around corners. I was green with jealousy. But standing on one myself made my stomach flip. The last time I had stood on a board was when I was 8… that is fifteen years ago.
Luckily, I had patient teachers. Soon, I was gliding along (although not quite so elegantly) and my fears melted away in the sunlight.
Our destination looked like a location that inspired Lewis Carrol, C.S. Lewis and Tuck Everlasting. The entrance way opened up into a large field, where children in little hats skipped around their picnicking parents. The odd cyclist and jogger curved past us as we drifted along the dirt track.
This entire estate had once belonged to a single family. There was only one mansion on this whole property. I could imagine the kids growing up on the estate: playing in the rose garden, swimming in the river, riding horses in the field and getting up to mischief in the forest. The story pretty much wrote itself.
My brother and I were posing at the entrance to Morden Park with our longboards.
Beautiful stables graced the yard that also looked like it was written here by an English novel. It was unlike any stable yard that I had seen in South Africa. However, now it only housed a furniture store and a quaint second-hand bookstore filled to the top with old hardcover books that left my brother and I promising ourselves we would return.
We paused our tour for a sweet refreshing drink, before pressing onwards. I am proud to say that I am getting the hand of the longboard. A few slips and trips but no falls luckily.
Morden Hall Park is every dog and family’s dream!
We took a leisurely trip home and passed a zoo along the way with pigs, goats, geese, horses and dinner (cows). It is a little place called Deen City Farm. It was hard to believe that such a little peace could exist amidst the ‘big city life’ of London.
Where we live, we often hear police and ambulance sirens as they speed past to some emergency. Here, there was a surprising silence that hung in the air, apart from the nickering horses and the quacking ducks.
Looking out of place at Deen City Farm with our city slicker outfits.
Ruan and I took the longboards for another ride later in the afternoon when Chris and Anni had Chewie’s puppy training session. We wove around the confusing streets, crescents and cul-de-sacs of Colliers Wood, familiarising ourselves with the area. It is quite hard to get a grip on the layout because many houses are so generic, from one street to the next. Only the cars parked outside seem to change.
We took turns following our noses, eyes and ears. We wound through little-forested ways near Morden Hall Park, narrowly missing pedestrians and cyclists. Then we followed our noses to discover the source of a bakery preparing fresh bread. I’ve learnt how tricky it is to navigate the pedestrians and cars – it feels like I inconvenience everyone. But I enjoyed sailing along the sidewalk, inhaling the London air.
I’ve grown to love the late setting sun. We got home just after 8 pm, and the sun sat high above the horizon. We had stopped at the nearby corner shop to buy ingredients for dinner and dessert. Apparently, the “Chocolate” Ben&Jerry’s we had the night before wasn’t enough the best flavour, so we were sent to collect another. We returned with “Chocolate and vanilla and fudge cookie and chocolate chip cookie dough” – which was scrumptious – but was still not the right flavour.
Ruan and I are eager to see how life can get any better. We’ll keep you informed.
Myself, our cousin and host Chris, and Ruan on the right – in Morden Park.
