Week 36 Really was Back to Normal

This week was one without too much fan fare.  We digitized, worked on our family history, helped in the London Family History Center, had a major grocery shopping day, and Paul got a haircut. Paul also did his Tuesday afternoon class at the Archives. 

Saturday night was exciting and different.  We made plans to attend a jazz concert that our dear friend Helen Baden was singing at.  We got out the trusty computer and did a journey plan program through the London public transportation system.  We noticed the bus route possibility, but it left us walking and making lots of turns  late Saturday night.   The  train route looked much more promising.  We had a very short walk at the end of the train ride with little possibility of getting lost.  All started out well.  We bused to our nearest train station in Richmond.  When we looked at the electronic schedule board, we noticed that our train said "please inquire".  In fact, nearly all the trains said "please inquire." We asked about it and they said we needed to take the train towards Kingston and get off at Twickenham and then take another train to Whitton (our destination).  This seemed fairly simple since we had extra time.  The train left almost immediately and we were on our way.  Twickenham was the first stop.

We got off and asked where to catch the train to Whitton.  They directed us to the other side of the track.  When we got there, the electronic sign said the train had been cancelled.  We asked again and found that there had been an accident (a man killed by a train) and the train would not be running.  The next train to travel there would not get us there on time.  They told us to go out and catch a bus to Whitton.  In looking at the bus route, we realized we would not know where to get off, nor where to walk to get to the concert.
We knew two other couples from  our Ward were going.  We had the phone # for one of them, called and no answer.  We then called the bishop's wife to get the other person's number.  We reached them and they told us to take a different bus than what the train station attendant told us, that took us toward their home.  We followed his directions and he even walked to meet us and we walked to their home. We rode to the concert with them.  Thanks for good members!

Helen sang beautifully.  She has an amazing voice.  It was a great concert with lots of interesting refreshments served.  Someone came to our table every few minutes each time with a tray of unique and different appetizer type of food.  Lots of fun!

Helen singing at her concert

Helen again

Another highlight of this week is listening to conference.  Such powerful words come from the pulpit.  We are listening to both of Saturday sessions this morning.  We will be connecting to the Priesthood session shortly and then watch the Sunday morning session, live at 5:00 this evening.  It is wonderful to be able to connect the computer to the TV and watch conference just like we were at home in Utah.  We particularly enjoyed Elder Bednar's talk about the "windows of heaven".  We hope that each of our families and our friends have experienced or will experience the wonderful blessings that Elder Bednar referred to in his talk.

Thanks for being such good people!  We love you all!  (According to Elder Nielsen's talk, the exclamation point has special meaning.)

Happy Birthday this week to CJ.

Love from Grandpa and Grandma, Mom and Dad, Paul and Annie, Elder and Sister Smart