Jane and I just got back from a fantastic 10 days in the UK. The purpose of our visit was to celebrate our Aunty Josephine Coelho’s 95th birthday on March 5th. Aunty Josephine is an alum of SJCS Zanzibar. Though she was thrilled to see us, she was over the moon with her family tree portfolio that Jo so arduously compiled over the years with her interviews and gathering a plethora of photographs that she meticulously inserted appropriately onto pages of texts in the family tree.
Joe & Chavie Futardo, who, with their daughter and SIL, - Charlene & Nick, afforded us the warm and very much appreciated, Zanzibar/British hospitality. Joe was so attentive to or stay; he called daily to make sure we were fine and quarried if there was anything that we needed him to do to make our stay comfortable. Bless him. Having rented a car, I got over the apprehension of driving in England and readily adjusted to maneuvering the very narrow lanes and challenging multitude roundabouts. We got to visit a good number of cousins that we have in Leicester, Birmingham, and Hayes.
When I Birmingham we toured the Cadbury World. What a disappointing experience. – a total waste of 27 BPS. The next day, we met some cousins for lunch at the famous “Kings and Castle Pub” at the back of Windsor castle. We had to skip the tour of Windsor Castle having supper commitment with my cousin in Birmingham to a Goan feast. It was indeed a spread I couldn’t cook.
On Sunday , we were fortunate to have one of my Kenyan friends, take us on a 3-hour driving tour of London. I was a bit disappointed that we couldn’t get close to Buckingham Palace. King Charles was at the palace. We finished off the day spending the evening, experiencing Betty and Benito’s gracious Zanzibari hospitality. Certainly, was so very good to catch up on the good times with them, too. And yes, indulged in another a scrumptious meal, finishing off with a dessert combination of Betty’s homemade ‘Pistachio Kulfi’ and mango ice cream. We were privileged to visit Benito’s security guarded, hideaway, to view his years of collectables and treasures. He entertained us with his newest ukulele, and it truly was amazing to see his studio of instruments and collection of music recordings. Having a passion for cake decorating, it was quite an experience to see Betty’s treasured confectionary kitchen that was constructed by their son during the covid era. Wish we could have had more time to spend with them.
On Monday we squeezed an afternoon trip to Reading. Had had an early Zanzibari Biryani supper with Precy Figuera and her husband Peter. Her youngest sister “sushi” popped in to visit us too. Clarisse, brought over dessert – Victoria Sponge cake. It was delicious! Reminiscing the good times in Zanzibar was so very special.
The next day we tubbed to Waterloo station, walked over to experience the amazing Eye of London. The views of London were absolutely spectacular. Couldn’t get over at the fact that I saw Big Ben and the Parliament building in stone and mortar that were only seen in photographs before. From here we went on the gut-wrenching tour of the Imperial War Museum. It housed memorabilia and horrific pictures of WW I, WW II, but the most troubling to me was the Holocaust exhibit.
Our last day, Wednesday was an afternoon to remember. Joe and Astrid arranged the SJCS alumni luncheon at the Weatherspoon restaurant located in the Waterloo train terminal. What a fantastic time it was meeting up with (as I go around the table ) Derek, Agnes, Kamal, Avito, Astrid, (Me), Jimmy, Joe, Susan, Leslie and (Jane). Thank you all for coming to make the luncheon as special as it was to me! This was the 3rd meal that I indulged in the British Fish and chips, a side of mushy peas and a pint of the local brew. Treated them to a taste of American made chocolate –Macy’s Frango Mints. Since from the group, only Avito attended the 2005 SJCS reunion in Toronto, I had a drawing of the medallion that had been casted with the picture of (“Where it all Began” as Zeno put it on the souvenir T Shirts) that each attendee received at the reunion. Jimmy was the lucky winner. Here is his contribution to the photo collection of our luncheon.
AUNTY JOSEPHINE
Jane Collins post below.
Dear Betty and Benito,
It was so great to see you both again.
Thank you so much for taking time to have us over. Dinner was just so delicious topped only by your company.
You have a lovely home and Betty, your confectionary kitchen and Benito your hideaway is amazing. So glad we were able to see all this and meet up.
Thanks again for a lovely and memorable evening.
Untll we meet again.
Warmest regards,
Love,
Jane
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