It flabbergasts me that we ever despaired of these long, sunlit days. The winters seem to linger in England, and whilst we experienced much too much snow this year, we have now had so much sun that we are having to water the grass in the garden, and on this sunny afternoon, I feel content to stay inside. I don’t need to desperately cling to these summer days; the forecast predicts them all this week!

Last weekend, my Aussie friend showed up in our lives for a few hours, bringing her family and causing Jorien, Carrissa, and I to clutch hands as we waited for her to come down the stairs (from where, we didn’t know; she’d just said she was coming down the stairs. It turns out she was coming down the stairs of Waterloo Station, a fifteen minute walk away, and Jorien had misread the message).

Maddie was in our Discipleship Training School and internship a few years ago, and for nine months, she, Carrissa, and I had photo adventures in London and in Puerto Rico. I also had the honour of mentoring her, and we’ve never lost contact since then. Every time she pops back into our lives, it feels as if she’s gone round to the shop and come back home. She has a gift for bringing people together. She also has the cutest accent, which we love to imitate, and she brought her sister with her this time. Two accents for the price of one!

We wandered around Southbank, drank too much coffee, and found ourselves on the banks of the Thames at low tide. It is our very own London beach. Apparently it pales in comparison to Australian beaches, but I was happy to just be by the water.

On Monday, when the press of the city became a bit too much, I hopped on the Overground and met Jorien, and we traipsed through Epping Forest. We wandered for a few hours without a map. Whilst we were sure that we had traversed the whole of the forest, we eventually found ourselves back at the road we’d come in on, so we grabbed sandwiches at a local bakery and headed back into the forest, only to find ourselves at old tribal ruins when we should have been heading back to the train.

To be honest, we spent a good portion of the day sitting in meadows in the quiet. And that was just what we needed.