We then walked around the nearby town, Dorking (Arthur kept calling it "Dorkville;" was it his usual sarcasm, or did he really keep forgetting the actual name? Another fun neighborhood name: Cockfosters, the last stop on one of the tube lines---nothing quite like hearing the loudspeaker announce "This is the Piccadilly line to Cockfosters." Alex could barely contain himself). There was a beautiful cathedral in Dorking, but also lots of regular folk out on a Saturday afternoon. I love to soak up the normal life of a place, to see how similar we all are, the world over: spoiled kids crying, parents pulling their hair out, teens hanging with their friends. In fact, one day I went to the Shepperton Library to ask about printing something, and one of the older employees was a bit short and rude, I thought, saying, without me ever having said where I was from or where I was staying, "Don't you have internet in your hotel room." I thought that was a bit presumptuous, and I was telling the story to Arthur and the kids when Anna said, "Well, old ladies who work at libraries are always rude." Yes, that has been my experience as well. And now I know it is not just American old ladies who work at libraries.
To top off our last day of soaking up "normal life" in Britain, the kids and I went to the movies. Many movies already open in the U.S. hadn't reached the UK yet. Cowboys & Aliens wasn't opening until August 17. Super 8 opened while we were there, even though it's been in the U.S. for a couple months. But "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" had just opened, so we went to that. Many years ago, I had gone to a movie in Ireland, and the tickets gave assigned seats, so I wondered if it would be the same in Staines, the nearby town with a large cineplex. Although there wasn't assigned seating, there was "VIP" seating, premium seating in leather seats in the more desirable sections of the theater. The regular seats were in the front and way in the back (no leather, but rather large, comfortable seats). We had barely gotten to the theater in time, so when we saw all these vacant seats in the center of the theater, we thought this was our lucky day. Nope. I asked if the seats were taken, and the woman politely said they were the VIP seats and I had to pay extra. Had I? No, I hadn't. I asked how I could tell the difference, and she noted the leather seat thing. Still, we found fine seats and enjoyed the show (well, I mean, I liked the night out; the movie left a lot to be desired).
I really enjoyed being less of a tourist and feeling at least the teeniest bit more like a local, doing what local people do, feeling that we could navigate the roads and go to movies, etc.
Our last day before cleaning and packing we spent at the Royal Airforce Museum. The kids learned about the Battle of Britain and saw a lot of airplanes from all eras. It was free and quite well done.
Next, if I may, I'll try to sum up and note some of the random things I'd like to remember but that didn't merit mention already.
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