One of the things Pat was most excited about during our visit to England was returning to the city of Epsom where the Raymond family had lived for 2 1/2 years when Pat was in 6th grade and Scott a senior in high school. Their father was supervisor of church building construction for all of Britain - and it was a real adventure and sacrifice for their whole family. We traveled by train from London to Epsom, Surrey.
It was a beautiful sunshiny day and the Epsom street market was filled with tables of bright flowers. Seeing the summer flowers was a little strange for us considering it was October, but the climate is milder and there were flowers everywhere - one of the delights of the trip for me.
Another delight - T K Maxx. Pat and I hustled in there looking for a few little things we had forgotten and wanted for the rest of the trip...me, some sunglasses and a dressy sweater and Patty, a small bag.
While we shopped, Scott tried to figure out how we'd get to 24 Mosby Crescent - the address of the home they lived in over 46 years ago. A man directed him to the clock tower where he found, in a funny little office right under the clock tower, a cab company that would drive us to the places we wanted to go.
Epsom is famous for its racetrack - Epsom Downs where once a year the queen visits.
Our taxi driver found the home where the family had lived. We took photos and talked to some neighbors about why we were visiting their street.
The street was charming with tidy yards and very green grass. Of course, everything seemed much smaller to Patty and Scott than they remembered it. But otherwise, the same.
Next we found our way, thanks to GPS, to the second home they lived in - the house with a wonderful address: 3 the Ridings. Scott only lived here for a month - since he graduated from high school there in England, he returned home to Logan to attend college.
This is the school that Patty attended - St. Christophers. She was so excited to see it and that it looked the very same. We knocked on the door and were allowed to take a tour of the school. Patty remembered the staircase, classrooms and play yard in the back.
The children were darling with their lilting British accents and gray wool uniforms - jumpers for the girls and shirts and ties for the boys. Of course we couldn't take photos of them, but this photo of their hats and coats shows how sweet everything was.
