Julia and Oscar

How many friends have you made on Twitter with whom you interact with but have never actually met?
Well, in the case of Ishbel and myself we have around 400 followers between us and a fair proportion of those that we interact with.  The ones that we haven't interacted with is not to be judged, we hope, as rudeness on our part or we trust on their part.  It's just that you get 'talking' to and engaging with some and you and the ones that don't always interact are following each other hopefully because we like what they say, and how they say it, and again, hopefully, sooner or later we will each catch up with the other and have a bit of chit chat and really get to know each other.

But, how many of them do you personally know and make real, rather than virtual friendships with? Well, obviously we know family members and close friends. But for many of us we may have 'friends up and down the length of breadth of our country and many many more all over the world.  A large proportion of them we might be fortunate enough to meet in the country and we may even get to meet and get to know a few more across the world if we are fortunate enough to be able to travel to their country of origin/ residence.

If you do get that opportunity, will you worry that when you actually meet that you might not 'click' in person. Or that on meeting you, or they might take an instant dislike to the other, it happens in real life sometimes, you meet someone for the first time and there is just something about the other person, you don't know what it is, you can't put it into words, but there is something there that you don't like. Or you meet up and invite them back to your home and they don't like it for whatever reason and they can't hide a hint of disappointment and that serves to make the visit a little awkward, it happens, I'm sure......

But no worries on any of that score when Ishbel and I met the totally gorgeous and beautiful Julia Barrett and her equally handsome other half, Oscar.  They had planed a trip to do a bit of trekking in Wales but couldn't get a fight to Manchester which would have been a better airport to fly into and then a short trip to Chester before meeting up with their guide and starting their trekking from their tomorrow. So they flew into Heathrow and we offered them a bed for the night and duly met up with them at Heathrow Airport.

Surprisingly, it didn't take them long to get their baggage and get out onto the concourse to meet up with us, with everything we hear about arrivals and the time it takes them to clear customs after landing at 11 AM they were out and clear by 11.45, so well done to Heathrow for that.  And then knock me down with feather but the M25 was surprising fast moving and with no hold ups or delays going round clockwise and we were back in the house in an hour.  One can only assume that the Olympics and Para Olympics have had such a positive effect on the country which has even been embraced by road users, it'll probably be back to being Europe's biggest car park on Monday tho!

As soon as we met we met and introduced ourselves we were chatting like long lost friends who had just got reacquainted, and that was the theme throughout the short visit.  Interestingly we also found out that we share the same wedding anniversary, we each have three kids of similar ages to our own; girl, boy, girl and their youngest is a Jennie too, who knew we had that much in common, we like similar TV shows but like me in the past, their faces contorted on learning that beautiful smart Ishbel likes WWE wrestling, although I suspect it is the hot ( or so I believe) sweaty muscular bodies more than anything else that attracts her, the only question is why when she has me?

Last night, not worrying about the effects of jet lag we had booked tickets for The Jersey Boys about Frankie Valli (with an 'i' and not with a Y as Italian names must end in a vowel, as we discovered) and it was a great show thoroughly enjoyed by us and the rest of a very appreciative audience.  Before the show we went for a meal in a Thai restaurant at 42 Rupert Street overlooking the Gielgud Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue before heading round to The Prince Edward Theatre on Old Compton Street

After the show we meandered back down the street and went for a PINT in The Duke of Wellington which was loud noisy and very very busy both inside and out with the 'doormen' continually trying to keep the large number of drinkers on the pavement off the road! It was only later that Ishbel informed us that it was a GAY bar, she does know these things, but hey who cares!

A quick stroll round Piccadilly Circus and then it was back on to the underground, the train and home by midnight before we all turned back into pumpkins.  Julia and Oscar were by then beginning to feel the effects of their long flight but clearly Oscar has less stamina then Julia as I had, eventually to prise both her and Ishbel's death grips from their wine glasses and send them off to bed at 1.30 AM, gosh, even when knackered women refuse to stop talking, WHAT!

We were all up around 8 AM today and then had a nice leisurely scrambled eggs and salmon with a glass of bucks fizz and more talking  before heading back in to London for them to catch the train to head of on their trekking and hiking ( no one will mention the fact that I missed two turn off's and we missed the train they were to catch - No one will mention that - and any way the women were still gassing while me and Oscar on the other hand were having some intelligent conversations, WHAT!)

SO a great time was had by all and Ishbel and I had a fantastic time with our new REAL friends and hope that it is not to long until we meet again.....