#128 Nomad Diary. 1-7 April 2023. Arrive Southampton, England by Cruise. Train Travel to Bells Yew Green. Begin Month Long Stay Near Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Denture Trouble and Resolutions.

 

Back in England and riding the train from Southampton through Brighton and St. Leonard’s Square, to Frant where we arrive to our month long airbnb in Bells Yew Green.

Today’s view from the train shows the cloudy gray day.

View from the St. Leonard’s Square train station where we changed trains on the way to Frant.

Our airbnb is the unit on the left. We enter the door and go upstairs to a two bedroom, two bathroom apartment. The train is directly behind this house. Our hosts are in this housing complex to the left. The train is surprisingly quiet inside our place. It sounds sort of like a dishwasher or central heating starting up.

Saturday. 1.

Today I got very tired, had a bit of a rest and a second wind of activity. We disembarked from our two weeks on the Sky Princess. We came off the ship into the Southampton, England covered port. It was raining quite steadily and we each carried our backpack and pulled behind a large roller suitcase. We made our way to the shuttle bus stop. Within a couple of minutes we had decided with another couple to share a taxi to the Central train station. It’s just a few minutes drive from the ship and we arrived, paid and got inside the station out of the rain. For the rest of our day the rain wasn’t a concern. Darrell purchased tickets for our train journey that avoided London! We like avoiding the crowds of London and this was a way that we had never traveled by train. We have two changes, one in Brighton and one in St. Leonard’s Square. Much of our journey was scenic as we passed by farm fields filled with sheep and other times we hugged the coastline of the English Channel. 

I contacted our airbnb host and got approval for an early arrival of 1:30 by train. Our apartment was ready and we arrived and moved in by 2pm as the walk from the train was less than two blocks. Here’s when I was very tired. We unpacked and sat and had a cup of hot tea. Our host had provided us with items for Sunday’s breakfast which was great! But we still needed to do some grocery shopping and have some dinner. By about 3:30 I was okay to go on the train to Tunbridge Wells to do some shopping with Darrell. Our walk to the Frant train station is about 5 minutes. Then we wait for the train going towards Tunbridge Wells, board with our pre-purchased online return tickets and ride about 5 minutes to the next train stop. It’s convenient and close! 

We were wanting a walk, and we got one here. We walked about ½ mile downhill to a Sainsbury grocery. Did our shopping by using our e-list and filling 2 tote bags and a backpack with enough for us to carry in one trip, then we walked back up the hill to the train station to go back to our apartment. We decided to cook a fresh vegetable soup for dinner, and it was very good! We also purchased a small whole chicken that I baked in the oven for use later. We rested for the evening very well. The train runs immediately behind our house and it is surprisingly quiet. It sounds like a dishwasher or a heater starting up. We have two bedrooms and two bathrooms here. It’s roomy for us, and I am enjoying the space! I set up my clothes in our second bedroom and I claimed the larger bathroom that has a deep tub as mine. 

Darrell working inside our BYG airbnb.

View from our kitchen window with the fresh flowers left by our host.

View from the Tunbridge Wells train station platform. This is one stop (5 minutes) from our stop at Frant.

Sunday morning church. Emmanuel an immigrant from Nigeria is leading class today. We met him and his family last summer while visiting here. This is near the High Brooms train station, just 12 minutes and 2 stops from our stop at Frant.

Left to Right: Samuel, our youngest son, celebrating his 30th birthday. Wesley, son #2. Erin, our daughter in law, holding Owen, completing Eric, our oldest, and his family.

Birthday celebration picture sent from Alabama where 3 of our 4 sons live and where we lived for 15 years and sold our last house in September 2020.

Sunday. 2.

We wake up early and exercise together as we have done for more than a decade. It really helps me to wake up and feel a beginning of accomplishment for my day. We dress and prepare a nice breakfast meal for ourselves. We discovered during our England travels last year that it is hard to find early breakfast restaurants here. People tend to sleep in later than we do, and breakfast is served from 8-10am in many places. This pushes lunch to begin at noon in most places. So we have gotten used to having our morning routine and getting out later in the morning. This works best for us riding public transportation too because we miss the commuters on buses and trains. The price for train tickets goes lower after 9:30 am on weekdays. This is a weekend during spring break with it’s own variables. This weekend and next are covering the local Spring break and many families are traveling. We are really glad to be here and settled just as these two weeks are starting. 

We get to the church building a few minutes before 10am. We have arrived two stations from our airbnb and walked a couple of blocks to the building. The sun is shining today! Yay! A few others arrive and we introduce ourselves. Some are new to us and some we are meeting again from last year. It’s lovely to be welcomed so warmly and it is for this reason that we chose to come back to this area and to visit with these people. 

We have a nice Bible study and worship time with singing, communion and a sermon. I write down as many names of people that I can. I speak to some and get some ideas about what we can do in the coming month to encourage and visit the members here. We get a couple of invites for lunch during the week with different people, and a possibility of visiting Margaret, an aged member at her care facility.  Last summer we were guests in Margaret’s home with help from her daughter Hazel and another friend Gill.

Us visiting at M&S cafe with Grace who we met last summer at church. She treated us to lunch and we spent hours visiting today! 

Me and Grace walking to M&S from her apartment.

1 ½ year old Owen on a video call. He’s learning new things everyday!! Today he’s saying ‘uh oh’ over and over. 

Monday. 3. 

30th birthday for our youngest son Samuel. We called Samuel on the weekend to talk and give him a birthday greeting. He had dinner out with Eric’s family and Wes. Eric sent us a picture from the event. Today I shopped online to dropship Samuel a gift. I mostly use Amazon.com shopping to accomplish this kind of task. This month I will be shopping for several birthday gifts online. I’m so happy to be able to send gifts to my closest loved ones! 

Today we take the train to High Brooms, two stops away, and walk about a mile to visit with Grace, a woman we met last summer at the church. Darrell and I find her apartment as she is expecting us around 11am. I go in to visit with her and her puppy while Darrell walks on to meet us later for lunch at a close M & S cafe. We have a sweet visit and then Grace and I walk to the cafe. We meet up with Darrell there and have lunch, then tea, and keep on talking for 2-3 hours. We all decide that it’s time to go and we reluctantly leave each other. We have discussed Bible topics, our faith and our life experiences. Darrell and I do a little shopping here and then walk about a mile back to the train station. Grace is available as she is on hiatus from work. She is walking even with some knee or ankle issues. We make plans to eat together again at a Thai restaurant she knows of, and maybe take a trip together to Hastings later in the month.

     

Darrell prepared our lunch salads and I made Italian dressing. There is also hot tea, sliced cheeses and crackers. 

Beautiful scene on our 3 mile walk through the country from Bells Yew Green to Tunbridge Wells.

Tuesday. 4.

Today I feel rested from our travel and time zone changes of 6 hours from Central Time zone in the US. We wake up at 5 am and enjoy getting up to do our weekly ab routine workout. Breakfast is poached eggs, avocado for me and a slice of cheese for Darrell, and sourdough bread. Darrell does work on the computer and reads up on world news and other interesting articles. Today he shares with me about emotional stages of retirement that author Dahmer has listed as: hesitation, anticipation, realization, reorientation, and reconciliation. It gives us some things to think about as we are 1 year out from our retirement. It was Darrell’s retirement and accounting of our savings that afforded and allowed me the ability to also retire from my worklife and set out on this adventure we dreamed up together. 

In the evening we sign in online for a Bible study with the church at Tunbridge Wells and several other individuals also take part. Tonight is the 2nd of 6 lessons presented by a 93 year old peacher named Sewell Hall. The topic is on ‘Godly and Ungodly Worship’. It is informative and specific with terms and scripture references. 

After dinner on this day, my lower denture plate broke in half. This should not happen with this set of dentures. My current story is that while we were in Alabama for the past month of December, I went to a ‘denture clinic’ and had a set of teeth made to replace a set made about 3 years earlier. Honestly I knew better than to go to this clinic again. Teeth like this should last at least 7 years. These teeth broke in half in February as we were getting ready to leave Jeremy’s house in Portland, Maine and travel to Texas. I was able to get squeaked into a denturist’s practice to repair my bottom plate and get us on the road and on with our trip. He let me know that these teeth I had were of the worst and lowest quality. Well, I suspected that but I have them now and I’m trying to make the best of it. Fast forward to today and the plate has broken again about 6 weeks from the last break. This changes our plans for tomorrow. There will be no visiting tomorrow as I need to get into a denturist and get my plate fixed. I look online and find out that there are a lot of choices and even some 24 hour/7 days businesses and some in vans that will come to you, close to us. I select 3 or 4 businesses that we can get to by train or bus, and I send out texts and voice messages to see who can get me in for my repair. On Wednesday I get a call from Maidstone Denture Studio and I have an afternoon appointment. It takes us a train ride with 2 changes to get to Maidstone. It’s sunny today and a nice adventure for us. We have lunch at a nice Thai restaurant with a view of the river and castle. We go to my appointment and I meet Pawel, the husband of the team in this business. He is a skilled denturist and artist that has me feeling relaxed and grateful for him. He tells me that my set of dentures are junk. He is astounded at how poorly they are made, and suggests that he can make me new ones which is what I really need. We consult with Darrell as we have already had this conversation in the past day. Since we are here for a month, and Pawel and his wife, both Polish, have excellent skills, I decide to get new teeth made here. They fix my lower plate, and complete the first 2 of 5 appointments from impressions, to delivery. He compresses my calendar of appointments with his travel schedule. His wife Sylwia will see me with my new teeth on the 20th. After that I will have options for adjustments until we leave this town on the 28th. 

View of Maidstone castle from the Thai restaurant.

Bridge in Maidstone leading to Maidstone Denture Studio.

A super sweet picture of Owen, 1 ½ years, having his breakfast. Eric, our oldest son, is a ‘house husband’ and he keeps pictures of Owen posted regularly on an app called ‘Family Album’. 

Wednesday. 5.

I look online and find out that there are a lot of choices and even some 24 hour/7 days businesses and some in vans that will come to you, close to us. I select 3 or 4 businesses that we can get to by train or bus, and I send out texts and voice messages to see who can get me in for my repair. On Wednesday I get a call from Maidstone Denture Studio and I have an afternoon appointment. It takes us a train ride with 2 changes to get to Maidstone. It’s sunny today and a nice adventure for us. We have lunch at a nice Thai restaurant with a view of the river and castle. We go to my appointment and I meet Pawel, the husband of the team in this business. He is a skilled denturist and artist that has me feeling relaxed and grateful for him. He tells me that my set of dentures are junk. He is astounded at how poorly they are made, and suggests that he can make me new ones which is what I really need. We consult with Darrell as we have already had this conversation in the past day. Since we are here for a month, and Pawel and his wife, both Polish, have excellent skills, I decide to get new teeth made here. They fix my lower plate, and complete the first 2 of 5 appointments from impressions, to delivery. He compresses my calendar of appointments with his travel schedule. His wife Sylwia will see me with my new teeth on the 20th. After that I will have options for adjustments until we leave this town on the 28th. 

Quinn, 2 ½ years, grandson in Portland, Maine on a video call with us smiling big!

Frant Train Station. Our airbnb house is about the 3rd chimney seen on the opposite side of this track.

Me at Leah’s Bistro in Maidstone, England

My Greek Salad with grilled halloumi cheese at Leah’s Bistro.

Darrell’s lunch at Leah’s Bistro. A jacket potato with vegetarian chili on top. Two salads on the side.

This is Charlie Bigham’s brand of quick fix and fresh meals. We bought this one for dinner today.

A nice rainbow that we saw from the High Brooms/Tunbridge Wells church building.

Thursday. 6.

We travel back to Maidstone today for more fittings and adjustments for getting my new dentures made by Pawel and Sylwia at Maidstone Denture Studio. We also decided to shop at a Waitrose grocery at the Paddock Wood train stop which is also a train change for us. We have dinner at our airbnb and then at 6:30 we go back to High Brooms for evening Bible study with our church friends there. 

Spending time today with Grace, who we met last summer and are able to expand our friendship now.

It’s a beautiful sunny day and Grace is bringing extra enthusiasm to our walk in the park at Tunbridge Wells.

Our 3 mile walk view from Tunbridge Wells to Bells Yew Green.

Friday. 7. Birthdays for today are my sister Annette, Darrell’s sister Cyndy and my Dad’s wife Donna Belle. We meet up with Grace for lunch at Wagamama chain restaurant. We had planned to go to a different Thai place but it looked closed for the day. After we had lunch, we walked back towards the restaurant that we thought was closed, but it was open! We went in and had hot drinks and dessert. Then we went for a walk in a park close to the train station. Darrell and I walked 3 miles back to Bells Yew Green and fixed salads for dinner. 

Owen showing us his new book!

Nomad Notes:

Motherlove note to self. About a week ago, while on the cruise ship, I wrote this note to myself. My mother died in 2005 at the age of 67. She heartily told me everyone of these affirmations of love through her lifetime. There are many friends of mine who have not had a mother with such amazing and loving affirmations fed to their spirit. As adults we each become aware of our missing emotional needs and learn to fill in the missing love and affirmation for our own nurturing. How lovely to hear good and godly affirmation from a mother or mother-figure. Thank you Mom! I’m glad you were here for me all those years! I’m glad that you gave me love and affirmation so freely and allowed me to learn, know and care for others with affirming love. 

My denture saga! 

I got my first set of dentures at age 13. I knew from a young age that this would be my path. I am the youngest of four children. Three of us have the genetic teeth inherited from our Dad’s side. By the time I was six, I was going to specialized dentists at University schools where they documented and treated our family’s issues. Since there were three of us siblings with this genetic disease, we were a case of study and treated special at the Indianapolis Dental school that we went to for the four years we lived in this city. I saw my older brother get his first dentures at age 14. I saw how he was in pain and bled after having all of his teeth removed and having his newly crafted dentures inserted into his mouth to help compress the wounds that were left by this radical outpatient surgery. 

When I was 13 we lived in West Virginia and I was taken to a Dental University hospital to receive my treatment, surgery and first set of dentures. In the 45 years since this childhood experience, I’ve moved multiple times, been seen by multiple dentists and denturists with varying skills of making dentures to fit my mouth. I’m still learning how to find people with the skills to serve my needs and at a cost that is moderate for this service.