We arrived in England and were picked up from the airport by Henry’s Nanny Dottie and Grandad Roger. We then went out for dinner at the Harvester, a restaurant that Henry used to go to often with his grandparents. The next day we ventured into Watford town center and went to the mall where we picked up a pair of Watford F.C. jerseys that we would wear to the game on Saturday. After the shopping, we went to Henry’s other grandparents’ house to pay them a surprise visit.

The next day we went to Henry’s aunt and uncle’s (Sarah and Paul) house, where we would stay for most of the remainder of our time in England. That evening we went out with Joe, Henry’s cousin, and Hannah, his girlfriend, to St. Albans for some drinks. It was really fun getting to see them and go for a night out.

The Watford vs. Sheffield United game was upon us at last. We went to a pub called Bosley’s on Watford High Street before the game to get a few drinks and meet up with Andy, Becky and Florence Garlick along with Stuart, Amy, James and George McBain, four of whom would be going to the match with us. Henry’s family used to live next door to Becky and Amy, along with their mother, Gill, and have remained close family friends ever since, despite all of them moving considerable distances. The atmosphere was great, the team not so much. A disappointing 0-0 draw against a team the Hornets should have beaten left them still winless and us with a lot to talk about at the pub afterwards (that’s right, it’s a before and after deal). When we got home we were greeted with the news that a curry was on the cards for the evening, which made it all okay again.

The next week we saw St. Albans with Nanny Dottie and Grandad Roger, which was really cool. The cathedral is the oldest one in Britain, and Saint Alban the first saint. He became a martyr after hiding a priest while the Romans were in power in the British Isles and Christianity was illegal.

On the Tuesday we visited the Harry Potter studios in Leavesden. Having not read the books or seen the movies myself, I didn’t get as much out of it as Henry did, but it was a really fun afternoon nonetheless, finding out how they made such incredible special effects and sets. Henry said that it was like reliving his childhood from the other side of the screen.

A few days later, we were picked up by Nanny Dottie and Grandad Roger again to be taken to their house, where Gill came by while babysitting Florence. While Gill got to know me, Florence played religiously with Henry, it was really sweet.

That weekend we got the train into London with Joe and Hannah, where we met with one of my friends, Joni. The five of us looked around London, stopping at Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square (which was festooned with tents and protesters due to the Extinction Revolution group), the Thames and the Houses of Parliament, before heading back to Kings Langley.

With Nannie Evie and Grandad John, we visited the city of Oxford, which was absolutely filled with history but incredibly aware of it. We had a look around the chapel and made it halfway up the road towards the actual Oxford University building before the heavens opened. Within minutes we were soaked through, and Henry found out his kagoul was not waterproof, which was… unfortunate. Nonetheless, it was a really interesting city and getting to spend the day with Nannie Evie and Grandad John was very nice as well.

The next day, the other set of grandparents took us to Windsor to see the castle. When we arrived (around 11am) we began walking up the hill and were just in time to see the changing of the guard (if you’ve already watched the video, it’s the part without the backing music) which surprised us. After seeing this, we got in line to go and see the castle itself. It was spectacular. Our tour began by going through the royal bedrooms and looking at Queen Mary’s doll house. What we saw with the doll house was far from what we expected. The house was over 3 feet tall and was a really accurate scale model of the castle itself. Designed by an actual team of architects and furnished by actual furnishers, the young Queen Mary must have been impressed.

The next few days were spent in Newcastle and shall be discussed in the Northern blog post, but we returned to Kings Langley on Saturday at around midnight. On Sunday, Nannie Evie and Grandad John took Henry, Joe and me into London to see Camden Market. The market was a lot like a much bigger version of the LX Factory in Lisbon, with the vendors selling everything from t-shirts to paintings. On the outside, it was exclusively food vendors. There was every type of food one could imagine there; Henry and I shared a Thai meal, while Eve and John had Chinese and Joe Greek. After stopping for yet another obligatory pint, we headed back home.